HOSTS WITH THE MOST AT MEMORIAL CUP
Spitfires shake off rust to become national junior champs with 4-3 victory over Erie
The Windsor Spitfires did not win a thing all season until the biggest prize of all was on the table.
Shaking of a 44-day layoff, the Spitfires put together a perfect 10-day run at home to shock the field and claim the 99th MasterCard Memorial Cup.
“A lot of people didn’t have us getting a bye for Sunday, or even playing for Sunday or maybe not even winning a game,” Spitfires forward Jeremy Bracco said. “I think we’ve proved a lot of people wrong.”
Windsor completed another historic run to win the team’s third Memorial Cup title in nine years on Sunday with a 4-3 win over the Erie Otters before a sellout crowd of 6,519 at the WFCU Centre.
“I don’t really know what other teams faced throughout the year, but I know what we did and it wasn’t easy,” said Spitfires defenceman Logan Stanley, who returned from knee surgery in January to play a pivotal role in the tournament. “For us to be here now shows the character we have in the room.”
There was no division title for the Spitfires to celebrate. No high fives for winning a playoff series and with that no celebratory team photo for a conference title or league championship.
“We’ve battled with the most adversity between injuries, suspensions and all kinds of stuff,” Spitfires co-captain Jeremiah Addison said. “We battled through all kinds of adversity.”
Jeremy Bracco had the Spitfires up early, but the Otters answered with a goal by Dylan Strome to tie the game at 1-1 after 20 minutes.
Warren Foegele appeared to kick a power-play goal in for the Otters. But the play was reviewed and the goal stood, much to the displeasure of the crowd.
Before the booing could subside, Stanley had the Spitfires even again at 2-2 just 52 seconds later.
T.J. Fergus made it 3-2 Erie, but Graham Knott’s power-play goal once again pulled Windsor even at 3-3 after 40 minutes.
Bracco would go wide on the defence on a line change, hold the puck and finally deliver the puck to Luchuk racing from the bench and he fired home the winner.
The Spitfires made tournament history by becoming the first host team to lose in the first round of the playoffs and rebound to win the Memorial Cup. In fact, the club hasn’t won a league playoff series since 2011.
“Four years here and you reflect on it a little bit,” Spitfires centre Aaroun Luchuk said. “How much good times and bad times we’ve gone through in this organization since I’ve been here. It’s been unbelievable.”
When the club went out in the first round of the playoffs, it looked as though the plan backfired and then came the improbable run at the Memorial Cup.
“We just focused on what we could do,” Spitfires co-captain Jalen Chatfield said. “Get bigger, stronger and come together as a team.”
“We’ve battled with the most adversity between injuries, suspensions and all kinds of stuff,” Spitfires co-captain Jeremiah Addison said. “We’ve battled through all kinds of adversity.”