Spitfires Suffer Dispiriting Loss to Saginaw

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Time is ticking for the Windsor Spitfires. After a disheartening beginning and middle to a three-game weekend, the Spits almost needed a win. Monday night, the end came early for the hometown boys. Garret Ross scored three goals, while Jake Paterson made 31 saves as the Saginaw Spirit flew by the Spitfires 4-2.

The game certainly started favouring Saginaw as the Spirit took an early lead just 42 seconds into the first. Garret Ross scored his first of three goals after receiving a centering pass in the slot from Jimmy Lodge. Down 1-0, the Spitfires had ample opportunities on the power-play, even getting a 5-on-3 advantage. With Jake Paterson on his game though, Windsor had a tough time putting the puck behind him. The Spits went to the locker room behind 1-0.

The Spirit began to take flight, while the Spitfires were grounded in the second period. Incomplete passes and giveaways gave Saginaw some chances – chances which eventually developed into a goal. A cross-ice pass in Windsor’s end was followed by a shot that initially hit the post. However, former Spitfire Eric Locke was on the doorstep, and so the puck was easily slapped in. later in the period, once more, the Spits had a 5-on-3. The two-man advantage was cut short by a Windsor penalty. The penalties kept coming and cancelling each other out, one after one, for both teams, but no pucks were going Windsor’s way. The team took control of the shots, but still trailed 2-0 after two periods.

Following a discouraging start to the game, the Windsor Spitfires hoped luck was going to be on their side for the final 20 minutes. Unfortunately, it was not. For the second time in the game, the Saginaw Spirit scored early – 1:19 in to be exact. A slap-shot by Dalton Young hit the cross-bar and found its way straight to Ross’ stick for his second of the evening. Being down by three, the Spits just fired the puck towards the net. And it paid off less than a minute later. Josh Ho-Sang let a little wrist shot go from the blue line that hit Kerby Rychel and ended up in the back of the net. Over 17 minutes remained for the Spitfires to claw back into the game. Back and forth, the team took their shots. Ultimately, Windsor would pull their goalie for the extra attacker. Ross managed to pick up the puck from some tired Spits, and fired a shot into the empty net. Only a minute was left to play in the third, but Windsor continued to attack. Patrick Sanvido flipped the puck into the Spirit zone. Emerson Clark raced for it, and threw a pass out front to Mitch Graham, who scored his first goal of his OHL career with 6.2 seconds left. The Spitfires would lose another heart-breaker 4-2 Monday night, at the WFCU Centre.

The Spitfires are back in action this Thursday, February 21^st when they play host to the Erie Otters.