Ex-Spits come back

by Rob Benneian

Whether the roots were there all along or they developed over time, former members of the Windsor Spitfires seem to find their way back to town.

Hunter Smith, 17, was born and raised in Windsor and is a product of the Windsor Minor Hockey Association. The Spits made him their second round pick in the 2011 Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection. He didn’t make the team that year and was assigned to Windsor’s Junior B affiliate, the LaSalle Vipers.

Prior to being traded to the Oshawa Generals Sept. 19 in exchange for forward Emerson Clark, Smith had never lived away from home. An injury during a game against the Plymouth Whalers Oct. 21 gave him the rare opportunity to return home during the season.

“I was chasing (Whalers defenceman) Connor Carrick in his defensive end on a dump in. I didn’t want to run him from behind and take a penalty, so I just tried to guide him into the boards and he ended up slithering out of the way,” Smith said. “We both went down and he stood up and stepped right on the inside of my glove. I knew something was wrong right away.”

Carrick, a fifth round pick of the Washington Capitals, had gashed Smith’s wrist open, severing two tendons. The wound required 14 stitches to close. The injury will keep the 6’7” Windsor native on the shelf until Christmas.

“I was up for the surgery so I got to see it all happen, got to see the insides,” Smith said. “They opened the cut and they had to tug the tendons from both sides, in my fingers and up my forearm, to a neutral point and sew them together.”

The Generals allowed Smith to return to Windsor for five days, where he was able to visit with family, see some old teammates and take in a Vipers game.

“I was fortunate they gave me the opportunity to go home and see my family because they weren’t here when I got hurt and they were concerned,” Smith said.

Before he was injured Smith had become an every-game presence in the Generals lineup after suiting up just 15 times for Windsor the year before. He was also excelling off the ice, despite trying to adjust to a new city and a school.

“I went down from three classes to two and an online class. Only one of my courses matched up so I had to do a lot of homework to catch up,” Smith said. “I got caught up and won academic player of the month my first month here.”

Smith and goaltender John Cullen, 21, were teammates briefly last season when the young winger earned a late season call up to the Spitfires. The New York-born Cullen had bounced around the OHL for three years, including stints with the Niagara IceDogs, Kingston Frontenacs and Sarnia Sting, but midway through the 2010-11 campaign he found a home with the Spitfires. He would go on to play 40 games for Windsor, his most with any OHL franchise.

“The community, the people here have been nothing but amazing to me and my family,” Cullen said. “I’ve forged a lot of close friendships throughout the Windsor-Tecumseh area and those hold true today.”

Since graduating from the OHL at the conclusion of the 2011-12 season, Cullen has been pursuing a degree in neuroscience while playing for the University of Western Ontario Broncos hockey team. He recently took advantage of a day off to visit his girlfriend, Halle Pittl, who is studying at St. Clair College.

“My time here in Windsor, I wish it could have been longer. I wish I could have played my whole four years here,” Cullen said. “I made sure to tell all the young guys last year coming in on the Spits ‘enjoy your time here, it’s the best junior hockey city in Canada.’”