Spitfires raise Taylor Hall to the rafters

By Todd Shearon

The WFCU Centre was filled to capacity to honour the “greatest Spitfires’ player of all time.”

During a pregame banner raising ceremony, the Windsor Spitfires enshrined Taylor Hall’s No. 4 in the rafters alongside the other Spitfire greats.

Fans lined up outside of the arena hours before game time in hopes of being one of the first 2,500 fans to receive a free Taylor Hall bobblehead, then they lined up again in the corridor to get an autograph and meet the NHL star.

The New Jersey Devils forward, who is currently on a 21-game point streak, shared fond memories of his junior hockey home.

“I always love coming back to Windsor,” said Hall. “To have my number up in the rafters is a tremendous honour, along with the other guys who are up there. Every time I come back here it brings back great memories. It’s going to be an awesome day.”

During his career with the Spitfires, Hall earned many accolades including CHL Rookie of the Year, OHL All-Rookie Team, OHL First-Team All-Star, CHL Second-Team All-Star and Wayne Gretzky 99 Award.

Hall, 26, also led the Spitfires to back-to-back Memorial Cup Championships in 2009 and 2010 when he was also awarded the Stafford Smythe Memorial Trophy both years as the tournament most valuable player.

The Spitfires went on to defeat the Erie Otters by a score of 7-3, while Hall now heads to Pittsburgh on Tuesday night in hopes of continuing his point streak against Sidney Crosby and his Penguins.

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