Spits top 67’s in shootout

by Rob Benneian

The Windsor Spitfires won for just the third time in 12 games when Brady Vail scored in the fifth round of a shootout with the Ottawa 67’s Dec. 2 at the WFCU Centre.

The victory was Windsor’s first in six shootout attempts this year, with their most recent attempt coming in Kitchener two nights prior.

Despite firing 42 shots at 17-year-old netminder Jacob Blair, the Spitfires were held to just one goal. Chris Marchese knocked in a power play tally from the side of the goal at 11:11 of the first period to give Windsor a 1-0 lead.

The Spits would hold that margin until Ottawa’s Taylor Fielding scored his eighth of the year with just under six minutes to go in the second frame.

Windsor goaltender Jaroslav Pavelka earned third star honours despite making just 22 stops on the afternoon. He kept the Spitfires in the game when Ottawa was trying to pull away in the third period with a flurry of pad saves.

Windsor’s Zach Lorentz and Josh Ho-Sang and Ottawa’s Dante Salituro and Fielding were stopped in the first two rounds of the shootout. Both teams scored in the third and fourth rounds before Vail netted the eventual game-winner. Pavelka sealed the deal with a stop on 67’s forward Steven Janes. All three Spitfires shootout goals came on shots through Blair’s legs.

“I used that move in Kitchener (Nov. 30) and it worked cleanly, so Kerbs (Rychel) was like ‘Should I do it?’ and it worked,” Marchese said. “(Brady) Vailer, we just told him go with it. Two guys beat him clean with it so might as well give it another try.”

Ottawa, with the second-worst record in the Ontario Hockey League’s Eastern Conference, was playing without Sean Monahan and Tyler Graovac, two of their three top scorers. They only dressed 15 of a maximum 18 allowed skaters due to injury and suspension.

“The guys played hard,” said 67’s head coach Chris Byrne. “‘We know we’re a young team this year. We expect guys to compete and work hard and I thought we did that today.”

The Spitfires are off until the Soo Greyhounds roll in to town Dec. 6 for a date at the WFCU Centre.

Both teams have 28 points in 29 games and have losing records in their last 10 games.

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