Windsor Spitfires 2024-25 Season Thread, Part IV

[ohloutsider]

Windsor at Saginaw, Costanzo starts,Belchetz is back in,Mathurin is out on the D probably from shot blocking last night vs Sarnia especially the 1 shift where he got nailed twice with a hard shot,Spits going with 12F,6D,Costello, Winegard and Outwater the other scratches.

Need Mathurin healthy for these key games. Been mostly out it the lineup lately. Next man up has worked for the most part. The addition of Kennedy has helped.

 

[BoogieB]

The interesting thing to me is the parallel to Ben Johnson. Johnson's case was more heinous IMO, and it happened during the off season. To my knowledge, Johnson never missed a game due to suspension. He was found guilty after his OHL career was completed and served jail time.

The OHL has suspended Allen but he has never had a trial. While I don't disagree with the suspension, it is inconsistent to Johnson's case,

I am not sure I fully understand. If this happened in the off season , I would assume after the season ended ? Did he play in the league the following season while he had charges pending ?

 

[OHLTG]

I am not sure I fully understand. If this happened in the off season , I would assume after the season ended ? Did he play in the league the following season while he had charges pending ?

The incident happened in March 2013 and, after various legal situations happened, he was sentenced in October 2016. Yes, he played between those dates.

 

[Fastpace]

I agree completely. Sure, 20 year old kids will make mistakes. I made mine.

But, that doesn’t mean to forget about it. As mentioned he’s also in the limelight and his decisions have impacted himself, and with the media coverage it’s got in Ontario and in the states, linked to the Knights, OHL, CHL… there should be consequences. I’m not saying this should prevent him from ever seeing the NHL, but I think it should be addressed seriously. This isn’t some random kid at university, he’s a highly ranked NHL prospect, playing in the CHL, representing his team, community, the league, etc. It’s great to see all the positive publicity this league gets for community participation, and unfortunately for every team trying to recruit, this is a big mistake that’s received a high amount of negative press.

I am just curious, how much more in penalty must that big mistake be worth, and for all account his first, hopefully his last ?

First, he has to face his teammates, relatives and friends, then face his team management for breaking the curfew as well as breaking the law. After he must answer to the law and what the court will decide, his paying back to sociality should be. If that is not enough, he now has to face league for more punishment in the form of a lengthy suspension. Did I forget something? Oh, what about seeing his name drag down through public pages because of all the bad negative press? Is it possible to use his one mistake as an example to teach our children and remind us of our community? I don't know this kid, never met him, and I am starting to feel for him right about now. I am not about to defend his grave mistake, however, I am beginning to wonder if other potential young OHLers might think this public attention, may not be so great after all.

It is a very serious matter, I get it, I am sure he is getting it too right now. How much more of this junior public league can he learn from, because that is why he is in OHL, to learn to be a professional hockey player among the professional public. Please don't chew me up a bunch, if you take a look under my picture on the left, it says I am the devil's advocate in person. Cheers, everyone, and have a nice game !

 

[OHLTG]

Joey has to be better than this. A point shot that beats him and then a toe-drag in tight that finds a hole glove side? No.

 

[windsor7]

Joey has to be better than this. A point shot that beats him and then a toe-drag in tight that finds a hole glove side? No.

Windsor players standing around..

 

[windsor7]

44 needs to handle stick better..

 

[ohloutsider]

Saginaw has the Spits number. Have to play with more grit.

 

[windsor7]

Windsor crawled back in game due to a strong 3rd. Forgetting to play the other 2 periods..

 

[StingUpdates]

Gotta say I'd be down for 7 games of that! What a great hockey game. Don't see many in the regular season with that type of energy, intensity.

 

[ohloutsider]

Now it is 14 points to clinch the division.

 

[donjohnson]

Gotta say I'd be down for 7 games of that! What a great hockey game. Don't see many in the regular season with that type of energy, intensity.

Agreed... Inside the building it was awesome to watch...lots of action, good hits and the good guys won...Costanzo made some good saves to keep Chernyshov off the scoresheet.

 

[Knownothing]

Joey has to be better than this. A point shot that beats him and then a toe-drag in tight that finds a hole glove side? No.

. If he started the way he finished it’s 2 points. Too many point shots elude him with clear lines to the shooter. Does he need glasses maybe?

 

[spits]

I have no issues with the OT defeat. Had 45 shots on net and kept Parekh and Misa pointless after 60 minutes, and that was without best defensive dman in Mathurin. Play like that and you win most of the time.

Ugh, those were two bad goals to allow in the 1st period. It's ok to happen in a season game but in the playoffs, giving up goals like that could have big ramifications. He did make some good saves in the 3rd.

My one issue is why have Davis and Spellacy on the ice to begin the OT, no Morneau, Greentree or Protas? Doesn't make any sense. Spellacy works hard and is a great skater, but the offensive creativity is not there. He has 3 points in his past 15 games. Need to see more offensively.

Again, not really playing for a whole lot, not catching London, and too far ahead of Saginaw.

 

[DetSpitsFan]

My guess on Davis/Spellacy, was the goal was to contain Misa and Saginaw’s top line, and then have Greentree/Protas go up against a tired Misa/Parekh, or Saginaw’s next pair which is more of a drop then Windsors second pair. Also a ton of speed with Davis and Spellacy. Thought they had a decent chance, just went the wrong way and I was surprised neither of them caught up to be honest.

Joey looked shaky on the first one, second one, not too upset about. After that he looked great. Better than Oke IMO. Joey was tested more throughout. Lots of shots but not a lot of great chances, and Oke lost the puck a good chunk on shots off his shoulder, and looked to be scrambling at times, that the Saginaw D made up for.

Assuming Mathurins out from the blocked shot yesterday, he looked visibly banged up from it, and well… first is nearly out of reach in the conference and second is nearly out of reach in the division.

Hate to think we’re not playing our best hand, but if we got valuable players that are hurting, makes no sense to push them through it.

That’s a game where if I feel we were more physical, we would’ve won it. Not mad about the OT loss, glad we got a point. onto the next.

 

[OHLTG]

I seem to recall Costanzo having issues with distance shots in past seasons? Is my memory off on that? I think he should have had both goals but that's just me.

Coming back shows the club's character. They know what they're capable of. Sometimes, you're going to run into a strong D/G and that's what Saginaw showed early. I'll take the point, though.

Regarding Spellacy - I think it's just that his hands need to catch up to his feet. You see him fly into the zone, but then have to stop and find a way to get the puck on net, or he keeps going and misses the net entirely. He doesn't produce often at full speed. Once those two areas can mesh well, he's going to be fine.

Some quick math here (I think it's all accurate?! I'm tired)...

London - 51gp, 85pts, 17 games left. Could reach 119.
Windsor - 53gp, 78pts, 15 games left. Could reach 108 pts.
Kitchener - 54gp, 79pts, 14 games left. Could reach 107pts.

Saginaw - 52gp, 60pts, 16 games left. Could reach 92pts.

Saginaw is currently playing .750 hockey in their last 10 (7-2-0-1). Over their final 16 games, that translates to 12 wins, which would give them 84 points. If that happened, Windsor needs six points if they use the ROW tiebreaker and seven without it over their 15 games. That's roughly 2-11-2 or 3-11-1. I don't see Windsor slipping that far.

If Saginaw wins out, Windsor would need 15 points in 15 games (.500) to get the division. That's something like 6-6-2-1? Seems fairly doable for Windsor.

Windsor is currently playing .700 hockey in their last 10. Over the final 15 games, that's 21 points. If they do that, nothing Saginaw can do.

Again... IF I'm doing the math correctly here which I can't guarantee LOL

 

[hockeylegend11]

While I hate losing at any time was very pleased with the overall effort of the team last night at Saginaw,kept 3 of their top offensive guys Parekh,Cherynkov and Epperson off the point board,came back from 2 down late,didn't get a PP opportunity the last 2 periods,they got 3,playing the night before with travel against the highest scoring team in the league (Saginaw)rested not the best thing.
Spits now 8-0-2-0 with Mathurin out of the lineup a quirky stat,Morneau has certainly upped his game lately.
In the last 4 games where the Spits are 3-0-1 they have scored 20 goals and have allowed 9.
However in the same 4 games they have allowed only 3, 5 on 5 goals and 1 3 on 3 goal.
Should mention Windsor has scored 12,5 on 5 goals and 1 3 on 3 goal in this stretch too.
Bottom line for me will gladly take 7 of 8 points every day of the week,felt they deserved better fate last night,proud of the no quit attitude displayed.

 

[Cherrydon]

One thing I was peeved at was 3 absolutely unnecessary penalties we took. The Eichler roughing penalty and the 2 stick penalties by Cristoforo. The second one was more accident but swinging yiur stick around at shoulder height never works out well. That's 6 minutes we have to defend against a potent PP. The discipline needs to tighten up.

 

[ohloutsider]

While I hate losing at any time was very pleased with the overall effort of the team last night at Saginaw,kept 3 of their top offensive guys Parekh,Cherynkov and Epperson off the point board,came back from 2 down late,didn't get a PP opportunity the last 2 periods,they got 3,playing the night before with travel against the highest scoring team in the league (Saginaw)rested not the best thing.
Spits now 8-0-2-0 with Mathurin out of the lineup a quirky stat,Morneau has certainly upped his game lately.
In the last 4 games where the Spits are 3-0-1 they have scored 20 goals and have allowed 9.
However in the same 4 games they have allowed only 3, 5 on 5 goals and 1 3 on 3 goal.
Should mention Windsor has scored 12,5 on 5 goals and 1 3 on 3 goal in this stretch too.
Bottom line for me will gladly take 7 of 8 points every day of the week,felt they deserved better fate last night,proud of the no quit attitude displayed.

I agree with some of this but they did not have a good effort in the 1st period. They again started the game flat including in net and that was the difference. They cannot continue to start slow and assume they can come back in the game in the second and third for the win. It's great they have the confidence to do this but as we saw last night it is not the recipe for success and that will become a glaring issue in the playoffs if they are not " ready" to play a 60 minute game. We already have the t-shirt from 2 years ago.
They did play great later on but that needs to be 60 minutes great. Be safe.

 

[Knownothing]

I seem to recall Costanzo having issues with distance shots in past seasons? Is my memory off on that? I think he should have had both goals but that's just me.

Coming back shows the club's character. They know what they're capable of. Sometimes, you're going to run into a strong D/G and that's what Saginaw showed early. I'll take the point, though.

Regarding Spellacy - I think it's just that his hands need to catch up to his feet. You see him fly into the zone, but then have to stop and find a way to get the puck on net, or he keeps going and misses the net entirely. He doesn't produce often at full speed. Once those two areas can mesh well, he's going to be fine.

Some quick math here (I think it's all accurate?! I'm tired)...

London - 51gp, 85pts, 17 games left. Could reach 119.
Windsor - 53gp, 78pts, 15 games left. Could reach 108 pts.
Kitchener - 54gp, 79pts, 14 games left. Could reach 107pts.

Saginaw - 52gp, 60pts, 16 games left. Could reach 92pts.

Saginaw is currently playing .750 hockey in their last 10 (7-2-0-1). Over their final 16 games, that translates to 12 wins, which would give them 84 points. If that happened, Windsor needs six points if they use the ROW tiebreaker and seven without it over their 15 games. That's roughly 2-11-2 or 3-11-1. I don't see Windsor slipping that far.

If Saginaw wins out, Windsor would need 15 points in 15 games (.500) to get the division. That's something like 6-6-2-1? Seems fairly doable for Windsor.

Windsor is currently playing .700 hockey in their last 10. Over the final 15 games, that's 21 points. If they do that, nothing Saginaw can do.

Again... IF I'm doing the math correctly here which I can't guarantee LOL

Memory is correct. Has always struggled with point shots, even with clear views. It’s odd unless he needs glasses

My guess on Davis/Spellacy, was the goal was to contain Misa and Saginaw’s top line, and then have Greentree/Protas go up against a tired Misa/Parekh, or Saginaw’s next pair which is more of a drop then Windsors second pair. Also a ton of speed with Davis and Spellacy. Thought they had a decent chance, just went the wrong way and I was surprised neither of them caught up to be honest.

Joey looked shaky on the first one, second one, not too upset about. After that he looked great. Better than Oke IMO. Joey was tested more throughout. Lots of shots but not a lot of great chances, and Oke lost the puck a good chunk on shots off his shoulder, and looked to be scrambling at times, that the Saginaw D made up for.

Assuming Mathurins out from the blocked shot yesterday, he looked visibly banged up from it, and well… first is nearly out of reach in the conference and second is nearly out of reach in the division.

Hate to think we’re not playing our best hand, but if we got valuable players that are hurting, makes no sense to push them through it.

That’s a game where if I feel we were more physical, we would’ve won it. Not mad about the OT loss, glad we got a point. onto the next.

Mathurin took that shot to the foot. My guess, swelling an issue.

 

[OHLTG]

Mathurin took that shot to the foot. My guess, swelling an issue.

He wasn't on the ice today for their outdoor practice but seemed in good spirits otherwise. Costello was out there in a yellow jersey, for whatever it's worth.

 

[OHLTG]

On a similar note, props to the club for holding the outdoor event today. From the snow to the short night, it could have been postponed or cancelled, but they stuck with it. A fair number of families came out and the players/coaches had some fun for 90 minutes or so. Solid job!