Spitfires Sputter In Loss To Kitchener
Friday February 21st, 2014, 8:18am
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This article is 3709 days old.
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Windsor was out of the hangar and ready to fly, but at the last second, the planes couldn’t take off. Former Spitfire Jordan DeKort stopped 29 of Windsor’s shots to lead his Kitchener Rangers to a 4-3 victory over the Spitfires.
The Spitfires were on the board first as Slater Koekkoek’s shot slowly made its way to the net. The puck redirected off of Cristiano DiGiacinto’s skate and crossed the goal line. A review of the goal determined no kicking motion. Later, following a disallowed goal due to a high-stick, the Rangers fired back at Windsor, trying for another. Once the Rangers were able to set up, Frank Hora took the shot, and Curtis Meighan made the tip to get the puck behind Dalen Kuchmey. The game was notched at one goal apiece at the end of one, with the shots favouring Kitchener 5-4.
The evenly matched game continued in the second period as each team scored a pair of goals. Early on, it was Meighan again putting the Rangers on top. He whacked at a couple of rebounds and eventually beat Kuchmey. The wheels were rolling later in the period and the Spitfires took off, scoring two goals in a span of 21 seconds. First, Josh Ho-Sang kept his hot streak going when he picked up a loose puck from the boards, skated in, and put it past DeKort. Before the goalie could regain his composure, the Spits broke into the offensive zone. Brady Vail set up Ben Johnson for a slapshot that cleanly found the back of the net. The winds soon shifted when Dominik Kubalik intercepted a pass and bested Kuchmey on a breakaway. After two periods, the game was tied at three.
One period remained for the two teams as both tried to get the go-ahead goal. It came early in the period – but not for the Spitfires. A turnover led Matia Marcantuoni to a breakaway goal to give the visitors the upper hand. Windsor came close to tying it after the puck crept into the net. However, this time, the Spitfires weren’t as fortunate as the review verified the kicking motion. The final seconds ran down as the Kitchener Rangers hung on to beat the Windsor Spitfires 4-3.
The Spitfires return to the WFCU Centre this Sunday, February 23rd to take the Sarnia Sting at 2:05pm.
