Memorial Cup Notebook: Spitfires earn championship berth

WINDSOR, Ont. – One streak was going to come to an end on Wednesday night at the 2017 MasterCard Memorial Cup.

With a 4-2 victory over the Erie Otters, the Windsor Spitfires ended a streak of 10 consecutive wins by the Ontario Hockey League champions at the annual event. In addition, it extends the Spitfires winning streak to 11 games at the tournament, which includes an unbeaten run to win the 2010 tournament and four-straight wins in 2009 to win after starting that tournament with an 0-2 record.

The Otters struggled out of the gate, falling behind 2-0 in an opening period that saw the OHL champions struggle to get shots on Windsor netminder Michael DiPietro.

“In the first period, we struggled and we didn’t come out the way we wanted to,” said Garden River product, and Otters defenceman, Owen Headrick. “In the second and third periods, we started to play more of our game.”

“We did a lot things well tonight but our start was not what it needed to be,” said Erie Coach Kris Knoblauch. “We dug ourselves a hole that was much too big to recover from. After that we played well.”

The Otters managed just five shots in the opening period before producing 30 in the final two periods.

Taylor Raddysh and Kyle Maksimovich completed the scoring for Erie.

Goaltender Troy Timpano made 15 saves.

DiPietro made 33 saves for the Spitfires.

"Mikey DiPietro was the reason we were able to hold onto that lead,” said Windsor Coach Rocky Thompson.

Jeremiah Addison paced the Spitfires with three goals.

“He’s the captain of our hockey club and an inspirational leader for sure,” Thompson said. “He plays in all situations for us and he came through.”

The Spitfires line of Addison, Gabriel Vilardi and Julius Nattinen combined for nine points as Vilardi assisted on all four Windsor goals and Nattinen added a pair of helpers.

Mikhail Sergachev had the other Windsor goal.

With the win Windsor advances straight to Sunday’s championship game while Erie will face the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League’s Saint John Sea Dogs in semifinal action on Friday night.

“We just have to go back to playing our game,” Headrick said of the game plan against Saint John. “We’ll be a lot more prepared for the semifinal and ready to go.”

The Otters beat the Sea Dogs 12-5 on Monday night in the round robin in a record-setting game. Erie’s 12 goals set a new tournament mark while the 17 total goals were also a new record. Otters forward Dylan Strome had seven-points to eclipse a tournament record as well.

Puck drop for Friday’s semifinal is set for 7 p.m.