Spits blown away by Storm for fourth consecutive loss
Windsor won first three meetings, but teams on diverging paths since deadline
GUELPH That roller-coaster ride that has been the Windsor Spitfires’ season is once again headed in the wrong direction. Following a three-game winning streak, the Spitfires are now headed downhill as the club dropped its fourth straight game on Friday, in blowout fashion, an 11-4 loss to the Guelph Storm at the Sleeman Centre.
“We’ve had a lot of ups and downs, that’s for sure, and I think, as hard as it is, you’ve just got to stay on the right course and try to grind through it all,” Spitfires captain Luke Boka said.
The landscape has changed drastically since the Ontario Hockey League’s Jan. 10 trade deadline. Prior to it, the Spitfires had taken all three meetings with the Storm, but Guelph is a much different team since that last meeting. The club has since added standouts Sean Durzi, Nick Suzuki, Fedor Gordeev, Markus Phillips and MacKenzie Entwistle to go with an already solid lineup. Meanwhile, the Spitfires were again playing with just 18 players as overage defenceman Sean Allen sat the first of a two-game suspension for verbal abuse of an official in Thursday’s loss to Peterborough. That forced the club to recall defenceman Dylan Robinson, who was a third-round pick in 2018, from junior B LaSalle just to have five players on the back end dress.
Rookie goalie Kari Piiroinen also got his first start in nearly a month after Spitfires head coach Trevor Letowski opted to give Colton Incze a game off after eight straight starts.
Guelph’s upgraded skill was on display early as the Storm needed less than 12 minutes to take control. For the second-straight game, the opposition scored on the first shot of the game as Liam Hawel beat Piiroinen.
The Storm had a 12-4 edge in shots and a 3-0 lead as Isaac Ratcliffe and Cedric Ralph scored 21 seconds apart to make it 3-0.
“We need to bear down,” Spitfires rookie forward Will Cuylle said. “We just have to stick with the same approach and treat it like a regular game and bring intensity up and fight for our lives here.” Tyler Angle got the Spitfires to within two goals in the final minute of the first period with his 20th of the season, but Windsor would get no closer.
Two power-play chances produced nothing and the Storm exploded for four unanswered goals in the second period to take a 7-1 lead with Hawel, Dmitri Samorukov, Entwistle and Alexey Toropchenko beating Piiroinen. “They are must-win games and I feel like we have the right attitude trying to get ready for those games and some days we just don’t have it,” Boka said. “We need to find a way to contribute on offence and it’s somewhat been a problem for us this year.”
The third period basically turned into a glorified game of shinny. Nathan Staios and Curtis Douglas scored for the Spitfires, but each was countered by the Storm, who got goals from Nate Schnarr and Entwhistle to chase Piiroinen after 36 shots and nine goals. Guelph hit double digits on a late goal by Ralph before Robinson scored his first OHL goal. He added an assist and has three points in four games with the Spitfires. Ralph finished the scoring with his third of the game.
“At this point, games mean so much you’ve just got to flush it down the toilet,” Boka said of a lopsided defeat.
The loss certainly didn’t help Windsor’s quest for a playoff spot. The club has just six games left and Erie, which is three points back in the standings for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference, has three games in hand.
“It’s frustrating,” said Boka, whose team is 0-7 against the top four teams in the Western Conference since the trade deadline. “You’ve just got to keep trying to find a way to get into a rhythm here and we’re running out of time here. It’s definitely going to be a challenge, but we just have to win some games.”