The Windsor Spitfires are at the end of what they hope will prove to be a magical run. The trip, mind you, involved a lot more sitting around than your average sports journey.
The Spitfires will try to win their third Mastercard Memorial Cup since 2009 on Sunday night in Windsor when they face the Ontario Hockey League-champion Erie Otters. By virtue of beating Erie 4-2 on Wednesday night, the Spitfires will have a three-day break between their last round-robin game and the final.
Of course, that’s nothing compared to the 44-day hiatus the team had between losing a seven-game series to the London Knights in the first round of the OHL playoffs and opening this tournament with a 3-2 victory over the Saint John Sea Dogs on May 19.
Despite having a talent-rich roster, Windsor faced the same questions any automatic-entry team would—especially one that got bounced so early in the post-season.
“A lot of people didn’t have us getting a bye to Sunday or [playing in the final] or even winning a game,” said right-winger and Toronto Maple Leafs prospect Jeremy Bracco. “We’ve proved a lot of people wrong in [taking] that [host-team berth] route and a lot of guys are in better shape and better players for that layoff.”
Programming Note: Watch the Mastercard Memorial Cup Final Sunday on Sportsnet and online at Sportsnet NOW starting at 7 p.m. ET.
While the Spitfires have established their credentials, the high-powered Erie offence is hard to overlook when picking favourites. Dylan Strome, Taylor Raddysh and Alex DeBrincat lead an offence that can explode at any moment, as was required in the third period of Erie’s 6-3 semifinal win over Saint John on Friday.
Windsor built a 2-0 first-period lead on the Otters during the win that clinched its berth in the final, but the final two frames of that contest saw Erie pepper the Spits net with 30 shots. Windsor coach Rocky Thompson knows the Otters attack is fuelled by skilled players having the puck on their stick.
“How do you nullify that? You have the puck,” said Thompson. “So if we have the puck, they can’t do those things. If we’re deep in their zone, it’s going to be a long way to come 200 feet in order to execute.
“Our team has prepared all year to play without the puck and we’re pretty stingy in doing so, but, really, the game plan is to play with the puck.”
Breakdowns, however, are somewhat inevitable and when they’ve occurred thus far, Spitfires goalie Michael DiPietro has been a wonderful safety net. In a tournament where the second-best goals-against average is the 3.54 mark belonging to Erie’s Troy Timpano and three of the five goalies have a GAA over 4.0, DiPietro clocks in at a sparkling 1.67.
“Mikey’s been spectacular for us all season,” Bracco said of one of the top-ranked goalies for the 2017 NHL Draft.
Michael DiPietro has been excellent between the pipes for the Spitfires. (Adrian Wyld/CP)
The other lead horse has been left-winger and captain Jeremiah Addison, a seventh-round pick of the Montreal Canadiens who has five goals in three games thanks largely to a timely hat trick against the Otters.
[relatedlinks]
“We could use three more on Sunday,” said Bracco with a grin.
Every Spitfire who spoke on Saturday mentioned the excitement around a city that’s pumped to have its boys in the showcase game. The WFCU Centre will be bursting Sunday night and assuming they can channel their nervous energy, the setting figures to be a boon for a Windsor team that is the home squad in spirit and reality thanks to its perfect record.
“It’s a special event when you host and now that we have an opportunity to win, it ups it that much more,” said Thompson.
Securing that victory would make for an over-the-moon group of youngsters when their next long break starts on Monday.
