Spitfires swat away Sting in Sarnia
DiPietro, who admits chip on shoulder from Team Canada snub, makes 43 saves
SPITFIRES 5, STING 0
Goalie Mikey DiPietro is clearly motivated.
The 18-year-old DiPietro has said little since being cut from Canada’s world junior team, but his effort on Thursday spoke volumes.
In his first start since rejoining the Spitfires, DiPietro made 43 saves to lead Windsor to a 5-0 win over the No. 6 nationallyranked Sarnia Sting before 3,219 at Progressive Auto Sale Arena.
“I’ve always been a motivated person,” DiPietro said. “When that happens to you, and I was confident in the camp and things didn’t work out in my favour, that’s kind of the first time I’ve ever been cut. I came into (Thursday) night with a chip on my shoulder.”
It has not been a calm and relaxing season with injuries, NHL camps and trades having left the team with plenty of upheaval to deal with, but DiPietro has been a constant.
“He’s the backbone of this team,” Spitfires assistant coach Jerrod Smith said “With the disappointment, we knew he would just bounce back stronger and he showed that (Thursday) night.”
The club has already dealt away captain Aaron Luchuk and more trade rumours were swirling around the team on Thursday, which was the first day the Ontario Hockey League trade window was open leading up to the Jan. 10 deadline.
For weeks, the club said forward Gabriel Vilardi was supposed to make his season debut on Thursday, but general manager Warren Rychel said now that Vilardi is not ready. As well, defenceman Sean Day was scratched for what the team called an illness and overage forward Jake Smith was also a scratch due to illness.
“Whenever you’re tapped on the shoulder, just go,” DiPietro said. “Our lineup’s been kind of mismatched lately, but (Thursday) was a gutsy effort. Everyone had to step up.”
With few veterans to lean on Thursday, the Spitfires rode DiPietro early before finding some unexpected offence late in the first period.
Windsor, which had lost the first two meetings this season against the Sting, scored three goals in a span of three minutes and 14 seconds late in the first period.
Kirill Kozhevnikov’s attempt to centre the puck from the corner hit two Sarnia defenders and bounced under the arm of goalie Justin Fazio.
“He made some huge saves in the first period,” Smith said. “That one flurry, he made three or four saves in a row. You get a big save, you come down and get a goal and that shifts momentum.”
Centre Curtis Douglas, who came over in the Luchuk trade, made a behind-the-back feed to Connor Corcoran, who buried it to put Windsor up 2-0. Douglas has produced a point in all three games with Windsor.
Tyler Angle then pushed the lead to 3-0 as he finished off a two-on-one with Igor Larionov.
“Mikey’s just unbelievable the saves he makes,” Angle said. “Having Mikey back is just is a guy you can rely on if you make a mistake he’ll back you up.”
DiPietro was solid in the second period and Angle extended the lead to 4-0 after 40 minutes and defenceman Austin McEneny closed the scoring in the third period.
DiPietro finished with 43 saves for his third shutout of the season and it’s the most saves he’s had to make in his 11 career shutouts with the Spitfires, which is a club record.
“I was really happy to be back and play with the boys again,” DiPietro said. “I really missed them and it was a big win for us.”