PHOTO BY SCOTT VANKOUGHNETT
Brandon, Man. — What a difference a year makes.
Last year at this time, the Windsor Spitfires were mired in an 0-2 hole, needing a victory to force a tiebreaker game to stay alive.
Now, they are 2-0 and have advanced to Sunday’s final after a 6-2 victory over the Calgary Hitmen. (Watch the post game video here)
It was the Taylor Hall show once again, as he scored two goals and assist to pace the Spitfires to their tenth win in a row dating back to the OHL playoffs.
Cam Fowler was also strong for Windsor, recording two assists and a plus two on the night.
They jumped on a flat-footed Hitmen team early in the first period, as Dale Mitchell scored his second goal of the tournament.
He spoke after the game about how important it was to go up early like they did on Friday night.
“We play really well with a lead,” Mitchell said. “It was good for the team and good for our morale. Grubie [Philipp Grubauer] kept us in it or else they probably would have been up.”
He was also happy to have found his scoring touch again.
“It was big,” he said. “I mean I had a rough playoff there with goal scoring and to open with two in the tournament has been good for me and my confidence.”
At the other end of the ice, Hitmen goalie Martin Jones had a rough outing.
The former Canadian World Junior goalie surrendered the aforementioned early goal to Mitchell and then one later on to Hall – both of which he should have stopped.
Jones didn’t make excuses after the game, explaining that they maybe weren’t as prepared as they should have been.
“Obviously you respect your opponent but at the same time we know we’re a good hockey club and we can play and beat those guys,” he said. “I think we learned some things tonight and it was a good wake up call and we’ll keep going here.”
Forward Kris Foucault felt they were victims of a few untimely plays leading to goals.
“It was no ones fault really it was just an unlucky bounce and we got a couple of those tonight,” he said. “It was definitely tough when they scored right off the bat especially with the game so close. It probably took the wind out of our sails a little bit.”
Before Windsor can worry about the final however, they have a date with the Moncton Wildcats, who are in a similar position to that of the Spitfires from last year; sitting 0-2 and in a must-win scenario.
There were some thoughts that the Spitfires may take their foot off the gas pedal, but forward Adam Henrique says that’s not the case at all.
“We have nothing to save it for,” he said. “After tomorrow we’re going to have four or five days off. We need to empty the tanks and take the opportunity to send those guys home.”
Asked if the team was worried about the layoff between games, Henrique said they would welcome the break.
“We’ll have some fun and stay away from the rink a little bit,” he said. “We’ll have some hard practices like we’ve had all year and be able to fix up some bumps and bruises we have and go from there.”
He said that they are looking forward to tomorrow’s elimination game.
“We have a chance to close out a good team and we need to take the opportunity to do that.”
With a Moncton loss tomorrow, Calgary and Brandon will face each other twice in a row; Wednesday in the round robin game, and then Friday night in the semi-final.
Jimmy Bubnick scored both goals for the Hitmen.
Grubauer stopped 23 of 25 shots for the win, while Jones stoppped 26 of 31 shots in the loss.
First Stars – 1) Taylor Hall, 2) Jimmy Bubnick, 3) Dale Mitchell
Topics: Adam Henrique, Brandon, Dale Mitchell, Manitoba, Martin Jones, Memorial Cup 2010, Taylor Hall, Windsor Spitfires
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