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Two games into the season and things are simply not clicking for the Windsor Spitfires.
For the first time since the 2014-15 season, the Spitfires have opened the campaign with back-to-back losses after Saturday’s home-opening 4-2 loss to the Guelph Storm before a crowd of 5,198 at the WFCU Centre.
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“Certainly not the result we wanted,” said Spitfires’ head coach Jerrod Smith, whose team opened with an 8-2 road loss to Sarnia on Friday. “It was better than (Friday), but it goes to show there’s a lot to work on.
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“I don’t want to use the word shocked. I’m disappointed in the start for sure. I thought we were going to come out of the gate a lot quicker. It’s evident against a good team like (Guelph), that we’re just a step behind.”
A new season brings on new challenges for players, who are a year older and need to take on a larger role and sorting those duties out sometimes takes a little more time.
“A lot of guys are playing more minutes than they did last year and that’s kind of how the OHL works,” Spitfires’ overage centre Jacob Maillet said. “We’re OK. I think we’ll keep getting better and building on games.”
Aside from bigger roles, the Spitfires are also dealing with a few other issues early in the season. One was the trade of popular defenceman Nicholas De Angelis on Friday just before the team left for Sarnia. Rookie defenceman Trevor O’Dell was also sent out in the deal for defenceman Conor Walton, who made his debut on Saturday, and five draft picks.
“You hate to lose a guy like him,” Maillet said of De Angelis. “I’m going to miss him a lot, but Wally (Walton) came in and played well. We’ll be OK with the group we got.”
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The 17-year-old Walton arrived just five hours before the start of Saturday’s game.
“It was a lot of fun,” Walton said. “You have to go into it confident or you’re going to make mistakes. I had a few hours to sit on it, which I think helped.”
Aside from the trade, Windsor is also working to get players on the same page with some missing training camp time to NHL camps like Rodwin Dionicio, Oliver Peer and Maillet. However, Maillet was hurt in his first game back from camp while Colton Smith, Ethan Martin, Cole Davis and Josef Eichler all missed considerable time during the exhibition season if not all of pre-season action.
“I think our older guys haven’t played up to their ability yet,” Smith said. “The guys that we really need, but I’m not concerned about it because some of them are coming off injuries and they were off the ice. Those guys are so important and they know that. They’re going to be key pieces that carry us.”
For the second-straight game, Liam Greentree had the Spitfires up early in Saturday’s game, but Hunter McKenzie pulled the Storm even after the first period.
Adian Castle gave Windsor its final lead at 2-1, but Zackary Sandhu again pulled the Storm even again. Jett Luchanko picked off an errant pass by Spits’ goalie Joey Costanzo and put it past him. Vilmer Alriksson’s power-play goal had the Storm up three goals after two periods with Essex native Charlie Paquette picking up a pair of assists. The two teams played through a scoreless third period.
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“We didn’t find a way to swing the momentum in the third,” Smith said. “Just execution wise, we have to be a lot sharper. I think, even just simple plays, open passing lanes, we’re hesitating and not passing hard and flat. That’s just an execution thing and I think we have to come with a little more swagger.
“When it comes down to the 50-50 (pucks), you throw x’s and o’s out the door and systems. When the puck is sitting there and two guys are going for it, whose going to win and who wants it more and we haven’t been good enough in that area.”
The Spitfires will get some practice time before returning to the ice on Thursday to face the North Bay Battalion. Game time at the WFCU Centre is 7:05 p.m.
jpparker@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarparker
Game Summary
Saturday Result
Storm 4 Spitfires 2
Guelph 1 3 0 – 4
Windsor 1 1 0 – 2
First period: 1. Windsor, Greentree 2 (unassisted) 3:10, 2. Guelph, McKenzie 1 (Buchinger) 6:16. Penalties: Jodoin W (slashing) 1:02, McGuire G (interference) 10:55.
Second period: 3. Windsor, Castle 1 (Peer) 4:45, 4. Guelph, Sandhu 1 (McGuire, Paquette) 7:54, 5. Guelph, Luchanko 1 (unassisted) 11:58 (sh), 6. Guelph, Alriksson 1 (Paquette, McFadden) 14:25 (pp). Penalties: Castle W (holding) 2:36, McGuire G (high sticking) 10:43, Jodoin W (cross checking) 14:09, Luchanko G (high sticking) 16:43.
Third period: No scoring. Penalties: Namestnikov G (delay of game) 6:33, Spellacy W (cross checking) 9:26.
Game stats – SOG – Guelph 10 11 10 – 31 Windsor 5 14 10 – 29 Goal (shots-saves) – Guelph: Gilespie (W,2-0-0-0) (31-29). Windsor: Costanzo (L,0-2-0-0) (29-25). Power play (goals-chances) – Guelph 1-4. Windsor 0-4. Referees: Chris Chapman (30) and Matt Scott (24). Linesmen: Will Lamoureux (85) and Kurtis Pare (70). Att.: 5,198 at the WFCU Centre.
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