The two teams met up last Friday night in Owen Sound and the Spitfires grabbed an 8-4 win. The Attack seemed to have extra motivation tonight, though. They wanted to show the Spitfires they weren’t about to give the points away.

Jesse Blacker and Ben Dubois made their first appearance at the WFCU Centre since the trade to Owen Sound last week and helped the Attack beat the Spitfires 5-4 in a shoot-out.

Before the clock hit the three-minute mark, Spits’ tough guy Ryan Baldwin dropped the mitts with Attack tough guy Jason Wilson, getting the crowd in to things. Windsor fed off the emotions but couldn’t beat Attack rookie goaltender Jordan Binnington. He stood tall as the Spitfires put 15 shots on him in the frame. The only goal of the period came at 17:03. A miss play by the Spitfires in the Attack zone led to a two-on-one break for the Attack heading up the ice. Mignardi took a pass from Steven Shipley and put it over goaltender Michael Nishi’s glove, giving Owen Sound the 1-0 lead. Nishi was making his first start at the WFCU for the Spits. Despite being down 1-0 after the first period, the Spitfires outshot the Attack 15-6.

It’s strange how one period can have so little scoring and then it comes in waves. At 2:43, Spits’ forward Greg Nemisz walked into the slot and put one over Binnington’s blocker to tie it up at one. The announcer had barely announced the goal when Attack rookie Chris Brown skated in on Nishi’s glove side and put it upstairs to give Owen Sound the 2-1 lead. Once again, before the announcer could get that goal out, Mark Cundari tied it up. He put a shot on net and it found its way past Binnington at 4:21 to tie it up again at two. That was the end of the goal scoring for a few minutes. The teams continued to battle but both Nishi and Binnington were up to the challenge. The Attack would find a way to take the lead, though. Adam Wallace was handed two separate minor penalties during one play, resulting in a four-minute power-play for the Attack at 8:03. At 10:50, Wilson scored his third of the season, putting it over Nishi’s glove while falling down, giving Owen Sound the 3-2 lead. Once again, Windsor outshot the Attack 20-11 in the period and 35-17 in the game but the Attack had the lead where it counted the most.

In the third period, the Attack started right where they left off the second. Marcus Carroll found the puck after a bounce off the end boards. He was on the blocker side of Nishi and bounced the puck off Nishi’s pads, into the net. That made it 4-2 Attack at 1:17. Cue the Spitfire comeback. While on the power-play from a Brandon Childerley tripping minor, Cam Fowler put a shot home from the point at 3:42 and it was a 4-3 game.  Then, at 6:34, Eric Wellwood took a pass in the slot from Richard Panik. He put a back-hand past Binningtons glove to tie it up at four. The teams continued back-and-forth hockey with the goaltenders coming up big on each end. Nobody could turn on the red light, though, and we were headed for over-time.

Despite the Spitfires outshooting the Attack 6-5 in the over-time, neither team could end it.

The only player to score in the shoot-out was Shipley, putting the puck between Nishi’s legs. The goal gave Owen Sound the 5-4 win. The final shots on net were 50-32 Windsor.

For Blacker, it was nice to come back to get the win. He said the fans were on him a bit but that’s one thing he loves about playing in Windsor. He was also having fun with the Spits on the ice, but he said when it came down to the final minutes, “it was pretty serious.” He’s been in Owen Sound for a week and, so far, so good. 
“I’ve adjusted well,” he said.

“The fans there are really good to you as are the billets. I’m going to get all the opportunities I can handle there.  We’re playing well and I’m looking forward to continuing.”

Dubois’ adjustment has been going well, as well. He said his family went up there for many years so he’s familiar with the area. It’s a quiet area and now he’s getting a chance to show the league what he can do.  He was pretty happy taking the two points.

“Playing in front of my friends and family was a great opportunity,” he said.

“It was great to win today. The boys are ecstatic tonight, beating the Spits.”

With the win, the Attack improve to 5-10-1-2 on the year. The Spitfires get a point and are now seven points up on Plymouth with a 12-3-0-2 record. Windsor hits the road for a big contest against the Sault Greyhounds on Friday night. Windsor makes a stop in Saginaw Saturday night for game versus the Spirit. The boys are back in Windsor on Thursday when the Hounds make their first visit to the WFCU Centre this season. Game-time is 7:05 p.m.