Spitfires look to next season after playoff exit

By Jordan Ferris

After being eliminated from the playoffs, and with their 2018 season over, the Windsor Spitfires have a lot to look back on.

Most would agree after drafting Jean-Luc Foudy 10th overall and trading for Will Cuylle who was drafted third overall, the Windsor Spitfires offseason was successful. Combined, the two rookies provided the team 34 goals and 90 total points.

Trevor Letowski, the Spitfires head coach, said he was happy with the progress his rookies made and expects them to take another step forward next year.

“You know what I think we have a long ways to go,” said Letowski. “It’s going to be exciting here in Windsor and that can be hard to understand now it’s so fresh. But I think we we learned a lot from this series. That is a real good hockey team, and you know we didn’t back down.”

All year the Spitfires sought a clear path into the postseason and had to battle hard non-stop to secure a spot. Letowski said this helped him gauge the development of the players, but also understand he will have a good base for the 2019-2020 year.

Heading into the playoffs the Spits were the clear underdogs. Sliding in at the eighth seed no one had even been competitive against the first place London Knights. Letowski said it’s battles like this that show a coach what players can do.

“You can talk about it all you want that the playoffs just feel different but it isn’t until your on the ice playing those games until you understand.” said Letowski. “So now when we get into these current type of games next year that they’re going to know what that feels like and those players that you just mentioned in particular I feel that’s what makes them great.”

Spitfires Tyler Angle said even though it’s a hard way to end the season he is excited for what’s next.

“It’s tough creating these all relationships with these guys in the room especially Sean Allen who won’t be here next year with us and It’s just a tough one,” said Angle. “But just looking into the future and you have all these young guys coming up I think of the future here in Windsor and I think we got another championship coming down the road.”

As the London Knights pack their bags to play Guelph, the Spitfires pack theirs and head home for the long summer.