Spits Jousted by Knights, Lose 5-0 Thursday Night at the WFCU Centre

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Photo: Kevin Chauvin

On an already chilly Thursday evening, London made it colder for their western rivals. Knights goalie Michael Houser held his sword and shield sturdy all night, not allowing a goal on Windsor’s 25 shots, and shutting out the Spitfires 5-0 at the WFCU Centre.

From the drop of the puck, the London Knights took control of the game’s pace, having great puck movement and creating chances. They struck first when winger Jared Knight sped across the blue line and let a low shot go that beat Spits goalie Jaroslav Pavelka through the legs. London scored again under five minutes later, this time it was Josh Anderson. To end the scoring for the first period, former Spitfire Austin Watson tried a backhand that was saved. Unfortunately, Seth Griffith was there for the rebound as he scored his first of three. The Spitfires changed goalies after Pavelka allowed 3 goals on 8 shots. Despite a couple fights to try to regroup the squad, the Spitfires were down 3-0 after one.

Early in the second, Griffith came back for more, getting his second goal of the night after beating goalie Jordan DeKort. The story at this junction of the game was Windsor’s visits to the penalty box. London had only scored once on the powerplay, but Windsor could not generate any offense because of those infractions. After 40 minutes, the Spits had taken 4 penalties, while London had taken 0.

No matter what Windsor tried, it seemed like London was one step ahead. The Spits attempted passes and forechecks with no results. Just past halfway through the third period, Seth Griffith scored his hat trick goal  that gave London their commanding 5-0 lead. With little over than 3 minutes remaining, the Knights took their first single penalty, and shortly after, their second. By then, however, it was too late; the tanks of the Spitfires were empty. They could not mount much offense on the penalties and so London skated away with a shutout victory in front of a crowd of 6221.

The Spits will look to retaliate their loss on Saturday when they face the Erie Otters at 7:05 pm, at the WFCU Centre.