Now what for the Windsor Spitfires?

By Kenton Wolfe

The best and perhaps only way to describe the Windsor Spitfires current situation is utterly atrocious.

Missing the playoffs for the first time since 2007, this edition of the Spitfires is as confusing as it is depressing.

The question marks surrounding the team are endless – who replaces the lost bodies of scorers Alex Khokhlachev and Alex Aleardi? Who will replenish the grit lost from Emerson Clark and John Bowen? With sub-par goaltending from Jaroslav Pavelka and Jordan Dekort, where will Windsor find a goaltender who will give the Spits a fighting chance at a win every night?

Worst of all – they have no draft picks in the top two rounds of the Ontario Hockey League Priority Selection. Losing several players to aging out or professional hockey, the biggest question arises – who is going to play for the Spitfires next season?

Windsor’s biggest downfall this season was playing shorthanded for over 25 games – clearly a problem that not only isn’t going away, but is actually getting worse.

General manager Warren Rychel and head coach Bob Boughner are left with a choice – stick with their current core of ’94s Kerby Rychel, Brady Vail and Nick Ebert, or ship them off to contenders and appoint Josh Ho-Sang as the face of the franchise.

At the same time, the current core of ‘94s has been anything but disciplined. The team was one of the most penalized clubs in the OHL last season and often times looks disinterested. Obviously the family ties of Kerby and Rychel would make for an uncomfortable trade-scenario, especially with Kerby being vocal against playing elsewhere in the past.

Whatever happens, the Spitfires will not be getting out of their current predicament without a serious change in either culture or personnel.

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