Game day photos courtesy Dave Pickford.
click here to view more pictures from this game

(Windsor) The Windsor Spitfires showed confidence goes a long way, no matter if it’s the home opener or the final game.

In front of a sold-out WFCU Centre, the Spits came back from a four-goal deficit to force a shoot-out against the Plymouth Whalers. Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the two points, losing in the end, 6-5.

Before the game, the team showed a video tribute to the Memorial Cup Championship team, which drew a huge applause from the crowd. They also brought out the Wayne Gretzky Trophy, awarded to the OHL Western Conference champion, the J. Ross Robertson Cup, awarded to the champion of the OHL, and the Memorial Cup, awarded to the CHL champions. Soon after, it was time to drop the puck on another big season of Spitfires hockey.
 
It didn’t start quite the way they wanted, though. Whalers’ forward Tyler Seguin found the back of the net early, beating goaltender Josh Unice at 5:57 while on the power-play. That gave Plymouth the early 1-0 lead. Not to be outdone, Spits’ forward Taylor Hall found the mark, also on the power-play, at 9:42 and we were tied up at one. That didn’t last long, though. Whalers’ rookie Sean Myers got his first OHL goal at 11:43 to give Plymouth the one-goal edge. They added to that a minute later when Tyler G. Brown found the twine on the power-play. The Spits were down 3-1. Right after the goal, Windsor native and newest Spitfire tough guy Ryan Baldwin came out and dropped the gloves with Tyler J. Brown. While it brought back some of the momentum, it wasn’t enough to get Windsor a goal before the frame ended.

Less than a minute into the second, the Whalers continued to turn on the red light. Josh Bemis found some room under Unice 46-seconds in and it was 4-1 Whalers. That spelled the end of Unices night as he was replaced by rookie Troy Passingham.

“I just went in there to help the team any way I can,” he said after the game.

“I was a little nervous, but excited at the same time. I just went out there to do my job.”

He said there was some pressure, given it was his first OHL game, but he just had to keep them in the game. That’s exactly what he did. He shut the door for most of the second period, using his giant frame to his advantage. Sometimes, though, there’s only so much one human can do. Seguin made it a 5-1 game at 16:16, giving Plymouth the four-goal edge. Enter Taylor Hall! He was out to prove why he’s one of the top NHL prospect for the 2010 draft. He took a pass at the side of the net from Justin Shugg at 18:17 and made no mistake. Perhaps it was just the answer Windsor needed?

This wouldn’t be a Boughner-coached Spitfires team if it didn’t give everything it had. The 08/09 Spitfires were known for never giving up and excelling when danger was thrown in their face. This squad is proving that could continue this season. The first 15-minutes of the third were back-and-forth hockey with a few penalties on each side. At 16:39, though, while on the power-play, Austin Watson continued the comeback. He made it a two-goal game with Greg Nemisz and Hall getting the assists. Only 20-seconds later, Hall completed the hat-trick, sending the crowd into chaos. Michael Whaley and Cam Fowler drew the assists to make it 5-4 Plymouth. With the energy rushing through the crowd and the players sensing it, there was just one more thing to do – tie it up. Austin Watson made sure that would happen. With Fowler and Hall assisting, Watson put his second of the night past goaltender Scott Wedgewood with 1:24 remaining and we had ourselves a tie game. We were off to overtime.

In the final frame, the teams battled it out 4-on-4, making for a wide-open game. An unsportsmanlike penalty to Nemisz at 3:19 had Plymouth on the power-play for the rest of the extra frame. Despite numerous attempts, they couldn’t put anything past Passingham. Bring on the shoot-out!

Nemisz had Windsor’s lone shoot-out goal, while Seguin and Myles McCauley found net, giving Plymouth the 6-5 win. It was a tough loss for Windsor and it’s faithful but they still get a point, which, as we know, could prove very handy come March.

The team has no time to rest as they board the bus and make their way up the 401 to battle the London Knights on Friday night.