Spits Vail steps up in New Year

by Evan Mathias

Despite the Windsor Spitfires only having three wins in their last nine games the players and coaches are finding positives on which to build.

One of the big positives for this team has been the offensive play of 19-year-old centre Brady Vail. The fourth-year Spitfire has 16 points in the New Year and now leads the team with 60.

“Im just trying to take care of my own end first,” said Vail. “The puck has been finding the back of the net for me which is nice.”

Before defeating the Plymouth Whalers 6-2 Jan. 18, the Spits had dropped six straight games. It was the team’s longest losing skid of the season.

Spitfires’ assistant coach Jerrod Smith said there are things the players have to do better to get out of the slump.

“Over the course of the losing streak a lot of things have obviously gone wrong,” said Smith. “The main thing is to get our compete level back to where it should be here.”

Vail has been forced to step up offensively after Spits captain Kerby Rychel was traded to the Guelph Storm along with defenceman Nick Ebert early in December. At the time of the trade, Rychel was the Spitfires’ points leader.

“He’s carrying the load offensively for sure but as a team we have to get better on both sides of the puck,” said Smith.

Vail has found success with a number of different wingers throughout the course of this season.

“My wingers have been creating some good offence and some good opportunities for me,” said Vail.

Vail’s most common linemates this season have been third-year forward Ben Johnson and rookie Cristiano DiGiacinto who is currently serving an eight-game suspension for his hit on Erie Otters forward Andre Burakovsky.

The former Hamilton Red Wing DiGiacinto was signed as a free agent in October and has found success along side Vail, scoring 24 points in 34 games so far this season.

Vail said they have to get back to playing their style of game and doing little things to continue to win games.

“We just have to get back to our systems. We’re not playing hard enough away from the puck and that’s the main reason why offence wasn’t going our way,” said Vail.

Windsor’s offence has shown signs of life, winning back-to-back games against the Plymouth Whalers and the Sudbury Wolves by scores of 6-2 and 3-1 respectively.

Despite having only three wins in the last nine games, the Spitfires still hold fifth spot in the Western Conference, seven points behind the London Knights for fourth place.