Spitfires leapfrog Hounds for fourth place

Despite the turmoil and circus-like atmosphere that has surrounded the Windsor Spitfires in recent days, the Spits were able to rally in the third period and defeat the Soo Greyhounds 2-1 on Thursday night in Windsor.

The Spitfires victory jumps them ahead of the Greyhounds for fourth place in the five-team Ontario Hockey League west division.

With the much publicized hazing incident and subsequent brouhaha in practise between Steve Downie and Akim Aliu during the preseason, the Spitfires have been in the national spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

The team grabbed plenty of attention again this week when suspended coach and general manager Moe Mantha was fired by owner Steve Riolo after last Friday's game. A potentially nasty legal battle was avoided on Tuesday when both sides came to amicable settlement on a buyout.

Despite the distractions, the Spitfires used a pair of goals, including the game winner on the power play, from Cal O'Reilly 2:16 apart in the third period to erase a 1-0 Hounds lead and escape with a 2-1 win in front of their home faithful.

Cody Thornton's power play marker, his 12th goal of the season, 4:45 into the first period gave the Greyhounds a 1-0 lead that held up until the 8:10 mark of the third period.

The loss, which ended the Hounds two-game winning streak, also spoiled another solid performance from goaltender Kyle Gajewski, who kicked aside 22 of 24 shots and was named the game's third star.

The Greyhounds managed to only fire 18 shots at Spitfires netminder Anthony Guadagnolo, who picked up second star honours.

The Hounds continue their road trip on Friday in London at 7:30 p.m. before meeting the Saginaw Spirit on Sunday at 2 p.m.

Next home action for the locals is Wednesday, Dec. 7 when the Spirit visits Memorial Gardens for a 7 p.m. start.