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From near rock bottom to the top of the mountain.
The Windsor Spitfires now boast the best record in the Ontario Hockey League after Friday’s 4-1 road win over the Guelph Storm before a crowd of 4,665 at the Sleeman Centre.
Coupled with Niagara’s loss in Kitchener, Windsor now boasts the OHL’s best record at 7-1-1-0 after finishing 19th in the 20-team league a year ago.
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“I’m really proud of the guys,” Spitfires’ first-year head coach Greg Walters said. “I just don’t want them to get comfortable because it’s a long year and there’s a lot of work to do and still room for improvement.”
Traffic issues got the Spitfires to Guelph just an hour before the game and Walters said that partly contributed to a sluggish start for the team.
The Spitfires were outshot 15-9 in the first 20 minutes, but emerged with a 1-1 draw with Ilya Protas scoring for Windsor and Carter Stevens netting a power-play goal for the Storm.
“Traffic was bad and we didn’t start well, but (goalie) Joey (Costanzo) was outstanding,” Walters said. “We played a really good second period and a back-and-forth third to score good win.”
Walters put captain Liam Greentree with Ilya Protas and Ryan Abraham before the Thanksgiving Day game with Oshawa and the trio produced three goals and eight points.
The unit stayed dominant on Friday combining for all four Windsor goals and finishing with 10 points.
“They’ve been explosive,” Walters said. “They’re all offensive-minded guys and with Protas and Greentree, with their size and speed, when get going they’re hard to stop and Abe’s makes plays.”
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As with the first goal, Abraham and Greentree assisted on the second goal of the game by Protas that gave Windsor a 2-1 lead. Abraham, with assists from Greentree and Protas, added a power-play goal to push the Spitfires’ lead to 3-1 after 40 minutes.
Greentree ended things with an empty-net goal and now leads the OHL in scoring with 20 points in just eight games. Costanzo finished with 32 saves to improve to 7-0-0-0 on the season.
“It’s a huge game,” Walters said.
Windsor remains on the road Saturday for a 7 p.m. game in Owen Sound against the Attack.
jpparker@postmedia.com
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Game Summary
Friday Result
Spitfires 4 Storm 1
Windsor 1 2 1 – 4
Guelph 1 0 0 – 1
First period: 1. Windsor, Protas 7 (Abraham, Greentree) 9:19, 2. Guelph, Stevens 1 (Karabela, Singh) 12:14 (pp). Penalty: Nesbitt W (checking from behind) 10:33.
Second period: 3. Windsor, Protas 8 (Abraham, Greentree) 6:39, 4. Windsor, Abraham 6 (Protas, Greentree) 18:47. Penalties: Johnston G (tripping) 8:00, Topp G (tripping) 12:14, Namestnikov G (holding stick) 17:13, Belchetz W (head check) 19:06.
Third period: 5. Windsor, Greentree 4 (unassisted) 19:03 (en). Penalties: Spellacy W (cross checking) 4:24, Eichler W (fighting), McGuire G (fighting) 9:08, Gaymes W (too many men) 11:03, Alriksson G (head check) 15:41.
Game stats – SOG – Windsor 9 14 12 – 35 Guelph 15 5 13 – 33 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Costanzo (W,7-0-0-0) (33-32). Guelph: Gillespie (L,3-3-0-0) (34-31). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 1-4. Guelph 1-4. Referees: Sean Reid (26) and Ben Wilson (32). Linesmen: Mason Hardy (81) and Dustin McCrank (68). Att.: 4,665 at the Sleeman Centre.
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