Hughson Shuts Out Flint in Spits Debut

Garret Hughson took to the ice Oct. 29 for the first time in an OHL uniform and turned in an impressive debut.
Hughson turned away all 28 shots the Flint Firebirds threw at him as the Windsor Spitfires shut them out 3-0 in front of 4,378 fans at the WFCU Centre. Daniel Vertiy scored twice in Windsor’s first shutout of the season.
Hughson gave all the credit to his teammates.
“It was a good game. The team played great in front of me and kept chances to the outside for the most part,” said Hughson, a native of Foremost, Alta. “I think as the game went on, we got stronger and stronger and played a good team effort.”
Hughson played for portions of four seasons with the Western Hockey League’s Spokane Chiefs, playing a total of 105 games. Hughson was waived by the Chiefs earlier this season and was picked up by the Niagara IceDogs, who traded him to Windsor last week for their 15th round draft pick in 2017.
Spitfires head coach Rocky Thompson praised his rookie goaltender.
“Hughie was just great the whole time,” said Thompson. “He played well, he held us in early and then he cemented it late so it was good. It was a really nice win.”
The first goal came in what would become a penalty-free first period. Vertiy scored in the third minute of the game. There was no scoring in the second period but the Spitfires killed off two Flint power. The Spits had three power play opportunities in the second but failed to capitalize.
Windsor would break it open in the third period with Mikhail Sergachev’s third goal of the season halfway through the period. Vertiy’s second goal of the night came at 13:04 into the third period. He credits a lot of offseason conditioning for keeping him focused this season.
“Obviously I worked hard in the summertime,” said Vertiy. “I didn’t have goals the first 10 games and Coach (Thompson) just kept telling me, ‘Don’t worry about it, it’ll come.’”
Following the win, the Spitfires maintain a four-point lead over the Sarnia Sting in the OHL West Division. The team travels to London Oct. 30 before returning home the following day for a Halloween matinee against the Guelph Storm.