2009 Memorial Cup Champions - Mickey Renaud's Jersey Front & Centre

It had no effect on the players, of course.  It couldn’t have – most of the guys wearing Spitfire sweaters today weren’t even born when it happened, so how could it have any effect on them?  Nonsense.  It did, though, have an effect on their fans.  I know that to be true.

“It” was the 1988 Memorial Cup Final game.  Two months ago, I wrote that the City of Windsor needed a Memorial Cup Champion more than any other place in this country.  The case that I laid out for a Rose City Champion included consideration of economic factors (heavily dependent upon the suffering North American auto manufacturing sector, Windsor has the worst unemployment in the country);  it included consideration of the tragic death of the team’s young captain last year (Mickey Renaud, from a hidden heart defect);  and it included reference to some dicey circumstances for the franchise itself (a notorious hazing incident and some ownership instability, along with the perennial struggle to get a new place to play in).   All of those things are true, and all of them make a compelling case for the Spitfires as Memorial Cup Champion.

But the factor that tipped the scales, in my humble (and biased) opinion, was the gut-wrenching history of the Spits in the Memorial Cup tournament.  After years of mostly disappointing teams (only one trip to the league final, in 1980), the Spits finally had a powerhouse team in 1988.   The one and only time the club had made it to the big dance in 1988, the team was a prohibitive favourite.  That team won 39 of its last 40 games.  It went undefeated – UNDEFEATED – in four rounds of the OHL playoffs (just imagine that).  It skated through the round robin portion of the Cup undefeated as well.  And it jumped out to a 3-0 lead over its opponent, the Medicine Hat Tigers.   Coached by Tom Webster (later the bench boss of the Rangers and Gretzky-era Kings – just prior to Barry Melrose’s Mullet -  in the NHL).  The Spits were a lock to hoist that Memorial Cup trophy that day;  I remember it.  I remember lusting after that moment on that day.  As a Spits fan, someone who had followed the team as a young boy since the inception of the modern franchise in 1975, it was finally going to be our turn to hold the trophy that ordinarily got won every year by somebody else from a bigger, better city or a more famous junior hockey program.  It was time to walk on to the big stage with all the other Grade “A” franchises.

The thing is, though, the hockey gods do not like it when things are so predictable and certain.   And so the hockey gods threw Spitfire fans a curveball that day.  I remember they were leading going in to the third period, and I remember thinking they had the game in hand.  When the buzzer sounded at the end of the game though, they had lost 7-6 to Trevor Linden’s Medicine Hat Tigers.  Somebody else was carrying our trophy around the ice;   the team that had lost one game in forty was only second best.

It was a gut punch.  Red Sox fans used to talk about Bill Buckner and the grounder that got through his legs in 1986, or Bucky Fucking Dent (his middle name has legally been changed by sheer force of usage in New England) hitting a homer in the 1975 divisional playoff.  Obviously, Ontario Major Junior “A” Hockey had (and has) a slightly lower profile than Major League Baseball, and where Red Sox fans were legion (even BEFORE they essentially became the Yankees’ doppelganger since 2004), Spitfires fans numbered in the mere thousands.  I am here to tell you, though, that the 1988 Memorial Cup Final has been a bad taste in the mouth of anybody who has followed Windsor Spitfire hockey.

And now it’s gone.

After an arduous and well-documented difficult route to the Cup Final, It really only took about seven minutes and eleven seconds to finally get the job done.   Coming out of the gate, the Spitfires exploded for three early goals against an opponent that seemed to struggle initially to shake off the rust from a five day layoff.  The biggest casualty of the early Spitfire onslaught was Rockets’ goalie Mark Guggenberger, who allowed goals on the firstl three shots he faced in the Memorial Cup Final, and then got pulled.  That .000 save percentage in the big game is going to dog him for a while, and it’s a shame; he played well in the tournament and really couldn’t be faulted on any of the goals he surrendered.  In the end, damage to the young goaltender’s psyche had to be risked by Rockets coach Huska;  he had to make a desperate attempt to shake his club up and get back in the game.  It didn’t work, but Guggenberger is a better player than that summary line reflects.  Here’s hoping he gets a chance at some point to chase those demons.

But I’m getting ahead of myself.

The first Spitfire goal came from an excellent play by Greg Nemisz, who I thought was a standout for the Spitfires in this tournament, especially since game two.  Nemisz chased down a Rocket player from behind in the offensive zone, made a nice stick check and then a quick backhand pass to Adam Henrique, who made no mistake with a quick wrister low on Guggenberger’s glove side to make it 1-0 Windsor at 3:22 of the first.  A minute and a half later, Dale Mitchell again showed some finish after a nice bit of determined hustle;  he rushed the puck up the right wing boards and fought through a check along the wall to retrieve the loose puck, take a couple of steps in towards the net and unload a wrist shot high over Guggenberger’s glove, making it 2-0 Windsor.   Kelowna was forced, not even five minutes into the game,  to take its time out in an effort to quell the urge to panic among the young Rocket players.  A short time later, with Windsor again pressing in the Rockets’ zone, Kelowna’s Kyle St. Denis tried to separate Mark Cundari from his knee and tooka penalty.   On the ensuing power play, the puck was shot hard around, dug out along the wall by Henrique and Loktionov, then sent back to the point for defenceman Rob Kwiet who took two or three steps to his left and lofted a relatively harmless low shot that found its way through a forest of legs into the back of the Kelowna net:  3-0 Windsor, only seven minutes and eleven seconds in to the game.

As mentioned above, Kelowna pulled Guggenberger at that point, putting backup goaltender Adam Brown in a terrible position – apparently, he hadn’t played a single minute in the entire post season.  Minutes later, he was facing a Dale Mitchell breakaway, and – needing to make a save to keep any hope at all for his team – he came up with a beauty pad save, and stopped Mitchell on the rebound to boot.

At the end of the first, Kelowna’s Long and Benn had been cycling the puck low in the Spitfire zone, finally creating some offensive pressure for the Rockets and ultimately drawing a holding penalty from Windsor’s diminutive defense superstar Ryan Ellis.  The Spits killed that penalty and got a powerplay of their own (on a Jamie Benn boarding call) but failed to convert and soon after, the Rockets were cycling again down low in the Windsor zone.  Lane MacDermid scooped up a centering attempt by Benn but promptly coughed the puck up to Long in the slot in front of Engelage;  MacDermid then felled Long with a knee on knee hit that seemed to really hurt Long, though he would return for the beginning of the next period.    In fact, when the second period began with MacDermid still in the box, Benn got a great jump on  the drop of the puck off the opening draw, gobbled up the disc as it lay loose in the feet of  the centremen fighting over it and drove in rapidly on Andrew Engelage in the Sptifire goal;  he dished to a wide open Long who pounded it home to make it 3-1 and I had visions of 1988 all over again.

Here’s where the story was different than ’88, though:  the Spitfires, to a man, kept to their early pressure, quick-forechecking system and challenged the Kelowna puck carriers early and often, everywhere on the ice surface.   They really did basically throw a blanket over the Rockets from that point forward, and kept the pressure up by using their transition game to create offensive pressure of their own.   It wasn’t perfect, and I’m not going to claim that I knew, sitting on my couch with my beer in hand, that the result was predetermined;  the Rockets did generate some chances, but they were generally few and far between.  I recall Engelage making a great glove save on Benn when the big Kelowna star was sprung up the left side, and I remember somewhere near the middle of the period Kyle St. Denis gathered up the puck in the neutral zone, swung wide on Windsor point man Mark Cundari and got a terrific backhand off that Engelage re-directed with his left shoulder.    There were some tense moments when Lane MacDermid was called for tripping, essentially for dropping his stick and having Kelowna’s Grantham trip over it.   At that point, I could feel Kelowna gathering some momentum and I wondered whether the Spitfires’ legs – six games in eight days – could withstand the barrage that woudl come if Kelowna potted a powerplay marker.  But Cundari, Nemisz, Timmins and Young were brilliant in the first minute of the penalty kill for Windsor, and Hall Wellwood finished the job.   The best scoring opportunity in this sequence came at the end of the Kelowna powerplay when MacDermid stepped out of the box and immediately took a pass that sprung him on a partial two on one with Spitfire phenom Taylor Hall as his attack partner.  Kelowna’s Brandon MacMillan made a terrific diving play to break up the rush, and the Rockets got a bit of a break when the referee (who was behind the net and screened ) whistled the play down though the puck lay loose at Brown’s  feet with Hall in tantalizing proximity.

That penalty kill, and the huge pendulum swing of momentum that shifted the other way when MacDermid broke in on the rush really was essentially it for the Rockets.   Not long after that play, Ryan Ellis unleashed a bomb from the Kelowna blueline that Adam Brown had no chance at;  Windsor’s three goal leadd was restored.  Soon thereafter, with a puck high in the air in front of Andrew Engelage, Jamie Benn took a careless swing with his stick and smashed Cundari in the face, evidently drawing blood from the Spitfires’ defenceman.  The Spits went to a four minute power play for most of the remainder of the second period and – offensively, at least – the Rockets really weren’t heard from again in this game.

The third period began with little or no pace.  Kelowna’s forays into the Windsor zone were not threatening, per se;  rather, they threatened to develop into something threatening, as when Mikael Backlund darted around low in the Spitfires’ zone, twisting and turning, but not really generating any actual chances.  Instead, the Spitfires patiently stayed with their checks, refused to be drawn out of position for the most part, and waited to counter-attack on turnovers, trying to take advantage of the aggressive play of the  Rockets’  defense.  Dale Mitchell had two quality opportunities that developed out of such  situations, but Brown was equal to him on both (including one clear breakaway from just over centre).  In fact, Mitchell was hauled down on the play by the Rockets’ Tyson Barrie, and Windsor went to the powerplay for what would essentially be the rest of the game.  Before all was said and done, though, Kelowna took one more penalty – a delay of game call – to go down two men and to remove any opportunity whatsoever for the Rockets to mount an attack.   The clock ticked inexorably down, and the Spitfires became Memorial Cup Champions.

I thought Harry Young and Mark Cundari were standouts on defence for the Spitfires today;   keeping in mind that Jesse Blacker was unable to play the final game because of an injury suffered in the semi-final against Drummondville, Cundari and Young played a lot of extra minutes today.  Cundari in particular seemed to me to be entirely in control of his game;  I think one of the Sportsnet announcers remarked that Cundari was having the game of his life, and I would hazard a guess that he’s right about that.   Nemisz and Henrique were good again for Windsor, as was Ryan Ellis, who is an absolute workhorse back there with a cannon for a shot.  I also thought that Andrew Engelage continued to play strong for the Spits in goal – he didn’t have his best stuff in the first three or four games, I didn’t think, but certainly showed up for the last two.   Dale Mitchell also seemed to be full of hustle for the Windsor side.

Congratulations to the City of Windsor, to Warren Rychel’s ownership team, to the dedicated young players who showed grit, talent and determination to make it happen, and most of all – to the fans of the Windsor Spitfires.  It was a long time coming, and the hockey gods made us travel a hard road to get there, but what a sweet victory it is.   I was  thrilled to have watched this team march toward a Championship;  in a lot of ways, it was like being a  kid again, only the crystal radio has turned into an Internet stream and instead of sitting with my back to the wall of the last row of the old barn eating cardboard popcorn with my Dad and my Uncle Frank, I was either watching in hi-def or at a gleaming new purpose-built hockey facility in Brampton, eating hot dogs that were cooked some time this century.   I guess some things have changed, but not so radically in the end;  tonight, I have a huge smile on my face because the Windsor Spitfires are Memorial Cup Champions.   Way to go, Spitfires – and enjoy it, Rose City!

Go Spits Go, One More Time This Year!

I will be watching on a slight tape delay for much of the first part of the game – yard chores kept me a little bit later than I thought today – so don’t nobody call me on the phone and be giving me updates about what’s happening.

One game for the big trophy.  Winner takes all;  the Memorial Cup delivers up a notional game 7 for the Championship each and every year.  I can’t bear blogging along with the game;  my father-in-law and I are camped out on the couch with beers in hand ready to take it all in.  I hope it’s a good game, and I hope my Spits are holding the hardware at the end of the day.  I’m gonna say it again:  this tournament owes us one.  It is dangerous to demand satisfaction from the hockey gods, but perhaps a subtle reminder of an existing imbalance in the hockey cosmos will persuade them to rectify the historical imbalance of karma.

Go Spits Go!!!

UPDATE: Twenty minutes to go for a Memorial Cup Championship?  Kelowna is going to come at us like crazy, but that late goal from Ellis is huge and makes the Rockets’ mountain a tall one to climb.  I am not assigning any numbering to any sort of poultry, but this is an excellent position for the boys to be in.  Go Spits Go!!!!

The OHL Champion Spitfires dropped their first two games of the Memorial Cup tournament (to Drummondville and Rimouski) before beating Western powerhouse Kelowna to force a tiebreaker on Thursday night vs. Rimouski.  The Spits were down two goals entering the 3rd period in that game, but Leaf prospect Dale Mitchell scored 3 goals in 3:33 of the third period to propel the Spits into the lead;  Windsor won the game 6-4 to earn a berth in the last night’s semi-final vs. Drummondville.  In other words, the Spits have taken the hardest possible road to get to the Cup Final.   A physically large and very talented Kelowna Rockets club has been waiting since Wednesday night, watching the other 3 teams clobber each other in an effort to get to the Final.  If the Spits win the Memorial Cup, they will be the first team to do so by going through the tiebreaker procedure in the history of the tournament.

Here’s Adam Henrique’s winning goal from overtime last night:

Go Spits Go!!! I believe!

First period: Two early chances for Taylor Hall, then a frantic series in the Windsor zone at about the 3 minute mark in which Engelage is down and out and Adam Henrique collapses to the front of his goal (I think) and makes a terrific block on a sure goal from Riendeau.  Drummondville is buzzing;  I believe they have the generally superior team speed.  If they are able to keep that kind of pace up, Windsor will be in trouble.  On the other hand, if the Spitfires are able to keep the pressure on Drummondville over the entire ice surface, disrupting their flow, the Spitfires will win.

Things seem to be settling down a wee bit;  the teams are racing back and forth a bit.  It is encouraging to see the Spitfires breaking up some of the Drummondville rushes, but these wide open opportunities at the feet of Engelage are obviously not on the menu.  As an aside, why the hell are we doing an in-game interview with coach Bob Boughner less than seven minutes in to the game?  Is he really likely to have gained a lot of insight into the game at that point?

Dale Mitchell is down and hurt at the Drummondville blue line after a collision with Drummondville defenceman Ryan McKiernan, resulting in the game’s first penalty (for kneeing).  Nemisz blasts one wide left from the slot.  The power play - for a change – is actually maintaining control of the puck in the offensive zone.  The PP is over now, Cousineau wasn’t seriously challenged, but he was required to make a couple of quick saves;  the penalty has been served.  Windsor seems to have begun dictating play once again, but then a loose puck is recovered by Jonathon Brunelle in the Windsor zone and a battle for the puck in the corner leads to a Windsor penalty.   Engelage makes a huge save on a wide-open Vachon to keep the game scoreless.  Timmins and MacDermid manage some good pressure down ice while shorthanded and force a couple of face offs.  The penalty is killed successfully.   A minute or two later, Johnathon Brunelle is trying to do a preview of the Indy 500 in the Windsor zone;  he’s carrying the puck around and around the perimeter of the zone, occasionally centring the puck dangerously and – just as often – recovering it himself.  Thankfully, that little flurry ends harmlessly.

With four minutes remaining, Taylor Hall finishes off a give and go after a nice feed from Cundari;  1-0 Windsor.  The Spits follow up that goal with a decent energy shift from MacDermid, Mitchell and Loktionov.  Drummondville is forced to ice the puck to relieve the pressure.  Nemisz, Hall and Henrique are thrown out for the draw.  Another faceoff gets forced and Ben Shutron scores on a nice feed from Loktionov on a wrist shot from just inside the top of the circle.  With 1:50 to go in the first, the Spits have a 2-0 lead.   Windsor goes right back to the attack, cycling the puck effectively in the Voltigeurs’ zone, and the period comes to a close.  As it stands, the Spits have the Voltigeurs on the ropes;  we need a third goal early in the next period to crush Drummondville’s will to rally.

Second period: The Hall/Nemisz/Henrique unit begins the period.  Timmins, MacDermid and Watson follow up;  Drummondville is pressing and Samson Mahbod scores a meaningful goal early in the second.  The Timmins unit seemed uncharacteristically lackadaisical on the Drummondville puck carrier on that sequence.   Samson Mahbod and Jessie Blacker are both injured on a play where Mahbod checks the Windsor defenceman from behind;  I have no idea how Mahbod injured himself, but he seems to have taken a blow to the knee.  Mahbod can’t even go to the box to serve his own minor.  A good powerplay opportunity is foiled by Cousineau and Drumondville goes down shorthanded and forces Engelage to make a good stop of his own.  Windsor pushes back and Rob Kwiet walks in to the top of the circle and hammers a slapper that Cousineau snares with a nice trapper save.  Timmins, Mitchell and Henrique (line change?) are finishing up the powerplay and get another couple of good chances;  they force a draw in the Drummondville zone.  Windsor controls but loses posession, regains and advances once again into Drummondville territory  but can’t get an opportunity.  Eric Wellwood rushes the puck up ice but coughs it up at the blueline, and the play heads back in the other direction; that rush is foiled, but there soon follows another that looked like a partial 3 on 1 defensed brilliantly by Mark Cundari;  he prevents a clean pass across to the open Levesque until the very last moment, giving Engelage a chance to cheat a bit and get across to make the stop.   Engelage makes another stop at the top of his crease.  Drummondville is definitely carrying the balance of the play at this point;  Engelage has come up large so far.

Henrique, Hall and Nemisz get a great chance in the Drummondville zone but can’t convert.  Energy is needed, and like clockwork, here comes Timmins’ line.  MacDermid drills Ryan McKiernan and knocks him silly; the camera briefly shows one of McKiernan’s teammates trying to grab him and pull him on to the bench as he wobbles in the direction of safety.   Here’s a TV timeout:  let’s see if that hit gets the Spitfires a little more focussed on the job at hand.

Drummondville coach Guy Boucher looks like he could shoot lasers out of his eyes as he’s interviewed on the bench.  Note to self:  don’t mess with that guy.  Taylor Hall and Dmitry Kulikov draw coincidental penalties as Hall stupidly shoots the puck after a whistle and Kulikov hammers him into the boards after that.  Lots of soon to be high-priced NHL talent in the sin bin here.  Windsor controls the draw and Nemisz has another great chance in tight on Cousineau that he can’t convert.   The game is getting decidedly more chippy as the Voltigeurs were ( a few moments ago) treating Ryan Ellis like a paddle treats a pinball and Ellis has now decided to try and intimidate a guy who’s about a foot taller than him.  I wouldn’t say it’s working, but I wouldn’t say it’s failing either.  Play enters the Drummondville zone, the Spits cycle the puck for a couple of great chances but can’t get a shot, then Loktionov just misses a bouncing puck to the right hand side of a wide open net.  The pace is picking up again.  TV timeout.

Most of the next sequence is played in the Drummondville zone.  Ryan Ellis has a couple of good wrist shots directed at the net through traffic, and Nemisz has a good chance too.  The sequence ends as Windsor turns the puck over at the blueline, almost surrenders an odd man rush the other way, but recovers the puck and turns it in to a wrist shot attempt by Taylor Hall.  Nice save by Cousineau.  On the following shift, Drummondville rushes the puck up ice and Harry Young hauls Riendeau down.  Voltigeurs powerplay.  Masse just misses Riendeau for a dangerous attempt.  Scott Timmins makes a brave shot block off each of the Voltigeurs defencemen.  Excellent penalty killing by Windsor leaves Drummondville unable to recover the puck and gain unchallenged possesion in Spitfire territory.  Cundari gets a delay of game penalty after making a terrific play to recover the puck, but slapping it over the glass at the other end of the ice.  Drummondville will be up two men for about twenty seconds.  Timmins is out with Nemisz and Ellis (interesting:  two forwards and a D-man).   Yannick Riendeau recovers a loose puck and bangs it home past Engelage before the first Windsor penalty expires, leaving a lengthy Drummondville powerplay still to come.  With four and a half minutes to go in the second, it’s tied at two.

Engelage denies Masse and Riendeau in front on a scramble.  Henrique makes a nice play to recover a loose puck without his stick and kick it back to a defenceman;  the Spitfires look like a lock to kill the rest of this penalty, but there is another mad scramble moments later in front of Engelage as the Spits fail to clear a loose puck.   Penalty killed. TV timeout.

Hall and Nemisz have a shift with heavy pressure, ringing one shot off the bar.  Boughner follows up with Loktionov and  MacDermid, and Loktionov has a chance off the rush that Cousineau has to make a nice save on.  Drummondville generates another couple of chances from behind the net.  Windsor better close that area up in the third, Drummondville has killed them from behind the goal.  As the period ends, Nemisz fires the puck on goal and Riendeau thumps him to the ice afterwards.  Henrique foolishly gets involved with Gabriel Dumont in a post-buzzer scrum – we’ll see if he draws a penalty too.  The replay shows Taylor Hall was wide open at the side of the net but Nemisz likely didn’t have time to pass to him;  he had to shoot in order to have any chance to beat the rapidly expiring clock.  Should be a good third period coming up;  here’s hoping the Spits start on a power play.

Just checked the Memorial Cup website:  according to the gamesheet posted there, the refs have called coincidental minors – two to each team – and the clubs will be at even strength to start the 3rd.  Dammit.

Crystal ball department:  thus far, Drummondville hasn’t been able to maintain the pace they started the game with, but neither has Windsor been able to keep up the early forechecking pressure.  The Voltigeurs were the better club in the second, but they got a couple of lucky breaks, in particular the penalty to Cundari – I don’t think I’ve ever before seen a defenceman shoot the puck out of the opposite end of a hockey rink for such a penalty.  If I were forced to lay a bet, I’d lay a wager that before the game is over, Taylor Hall will score.  I have a hunch that the Spits are going to pull it out, but this one is very even and may be headed for overtime.  The major area of defensive concern for the Spits has to be behind their own goal;  for some reason the Voltigeurs are recovering pucks there very frequently and centring them for big opportunities.  Those of you paying attention will recall that it was just such a play that resulted in the winning goal when these teams met in the round robin.

Third period: Twenty minutes to play for a berth in the finals.  Loktionov makes a great play to Wellwood who tries to roof it – and does, but the roof in question is not in the net, but rather the arena.   On another rush shortly thereafter, Hall has yet another chance, stopped by Cousineau.  Masse rushes back in the other direction and walks into the slot unchallenged for a clear chance, stopped by Engelage.  The nerves seem to be getting to both teams as there follows a minute or two of play back and forth between the blue lines;  both teams seem a little tentative and neither is generating a lot of speed through the middle of the ice.   Wellwood generates a great chance with outside speed and a good puck recovery;  a minute or two later, Dale Mitchell gets a semi-breakaway by splitting the defence and goes in on Cousineau who makes a great pad save, coughs up a rebound that Mitchell retrieves and fires at the net while moving in the wrong direction.   Moments later, Mitchell has another quasi-breakaway but fires it wide.  The Timmins unit is on and ramping up the pressure.  Mike Hoffman tries to go wide on Rob Kwiet, who loses his stick as he pokes at Hoffman’s feet;  Hoffman goes down like he was shot and Drummondville will go to the powerplay once again.  TV timeout, and I won’t be breathing for the next few minutes.

They show the replay of Hoffman’s dive;  I am convinced he is related to Dustin Hoffman now more than ever.  Windsor wins the draw and clears it out.  Timmins, Cundari, Young and Nemisz are on the ice for the Spits.  Hoffman the big cheater is out there with Masse, Riendeau, Vachon for Drummondville.  A very dangerous Drummondville rush is broken up and Dany Masse takes a hooking penalty to make it four on four.   Before play is stopped, Windsor has a dangerous three on one but the shot is high over the crossbar.   Windsor goes to an abbreviated poewrplay with about 11:40 to go in the game.  The puck is in the Drummondville zone, then knocked out, then back in again, where it is recovered by Hall and cycled along the wall.  Ellis gets it to Kwiet, to Ellis, to Loktionov, to Ellis and tipped by Nemisz on a wrist shot from the point.  Nemisz carries it in and is dumped driving to the net, no penalty.  Ellis retrieves the puck and drives in deep, Drummondville is barely holding on here.  The penalty is over, teams are at full strength.

Lane MacDermid, Scott Timmins and the rookie Austin Watson are out there against Frenette and Couturier for Drummondville (can’t make out the other forward).  Windsor is carrying the majority of puck possession here.  With 8:47 left, TV timeout.

Right now, the Spits are outshooting the Voltigeurs 7-0 in the third.  Loktionov wins a faceoff against Masse in the offensive zone.  It’s cleared out, then carried back in by Loktionov, who tries to go five hole on Cousineau but the Drummondville goaler is equal to the challenge.  Another draw in the Drummondville zone is won by the Spits.  Windsor is owning the puck right now;  they need to cash it into a goal and soon.  With seven and a half minutes to go, we’re surely approaching next goal wins teritory.

Another draw is won by Windsor in the neutral zone and hammered in to the offensive zone.  A Drummondville counter is broken up at centre and MacDermid carries in on the left wing.  His shot is blocked, and the Spits fail to recover but break up another counter immediately.  Shutron’s pass to Wellwood fails to produce a goal, but it’s a good one.  It’s cleared out and recovered by Windsor.  Cundari carries in one on four and forces Cousineau to make a terrific glove save.  Drummondville is standing around and watching right now.  Drummondville  wins the faceoff to Cousineau’s right, but can’t get the puck through centre.  They recover the puck again and get a rush that fails to produce a shot.  Hall gets the puck on a Windsor rush and has a glorious chance to win it, but can’t get good wood on it.  On the next foray, the puck lies loose at the feet of Cousineau for a tantalizing second before it’s chipped out and recovered again by the Spits.  Ellis clears it deep and Masse mounts a rush that ends with a weak wrist shot from just inside the blueline;  that might be the Voltigeurs’ first shot on goal of the period.  TV timeout.

I am strangely uninterested in the adventures of the Russell family at Boston Pizza at this time.

Sporstnet shows a clip that indicates Riendeau may have hurt himself in a collision with a teammate.

Austin Watson carries two on one with Shutron, Watson shoots, Timmins follows up and can’t get the rebound past Cousineau.    Windsor wins another draw, Ellis fires from the point and it’s tipped.  Mitchell has an opportunity in the slot, Drummondville penalty coming with 3:55 to go in the 3rd.  This, as they say, is it.  Windsor has had all the mojo this period;  it’s time for the powerplay to put this game in the bag.   Loktionov, Nemisz, Kwiet, Ellis and Hall are out there.  Ellis dishes to Hall who just misses low and to the left of Cousineau.  It’s cleared.  Ellis shoots it in, Dumont can’t clear, it’s blocked on a shot from the point.  Hall carries in, Ellis can’t shoot it in to the corner cleanly and there will be a faceoff outside the zone as the puck goes over the glass.  Windsor takes its 30 second time out to keep the number one unit out there.  Drummondville has Vachon, Levesque, Kolikov and one other player I can’t make out on the ice.  It’s Prokop;  he recovers a shoot in and clears it out.  Twenty seconds remaining in the PP, just over two minutes in the game.  Hall carries up the right wing.  Nemisz keeps it onside, dishes deep to Mitchell who feeds it over to Lotionov who fans off the right post.  The penalty is killed.  Riendeau carries up ice and fires wide off of Cundari, out of play.  1:25 remaining.

Wellwood carries up the left wing but is knocked over.  Windsor has the puck in the neutral zone and shoots it deep with a minute to go.  Wellwood tries to send it back to the point, but it’s turned over, then recovered by Windsor.  A pass is deflected over the glass and there are 30 seconds left.  Hall faces off against Vachon at centre ice with MacDermid and Nemisz on the ice too.  It’s flipped out of play.  There’s another draw at centre, Harry Young shoots it from the point and MacDermid has a great chance but seems to kind of fan on the puck.  The period is over and it’s official we’re going to overtime.

According to the online scoresheet, the shots were 16-2 in that period for Windsor;  the Spitfires dominated and deserved more than they got in that frame.  Credit Marco Cousineau for some tremendous work in the Voltigeur net.

Overtime: I am going to bet on Dale Mitchell as the goal scorer for the Spits.  I choose to disregard the glaring 41-20 Windsor shot advantage and I tell myself that the history of such shot imbalances leading to the team that got outplayed winning it means nothing.

Windsor wins the draw and Henrique has a drive saved by Cousineau.  Shutron can’t hold it in, Drummondville’s rush is broken up at centre and it’s carried in by Hall and shot off Cousineau’s glove and out of play.   Windsor wins the draw.  Carried in by Mitchell and when the Voltiguers reover, they almost clear it over the glass.  It’s back in the offensive zone, Hall, Nemisz and Loktionov on the ice.  Nemisz carries up the right side, followed by Hall, it’s flipped out and Couturier has it, banged at the net and a scramble in front that’s cleared.  Cundari from the point, Nemisz at the side of the net is robbed by Cousineau.  MacDermid shoots it in and chases.  Watson and Timmins are there with him, to Ellis at the point, over to Young, back in deep.  Watson in front sweeps it past the far post.  Ellis has a long drive stopped by Cousineau’s pad.

Henrique Scores in OT - Spits Will Play for the Memorial Cup

Loktionov carries over the line and shoots, directed to the corner by Cousineau.  Windsor cycling the puck, a shot from the point is taken in the belly by Cousineau in the butterfly and frozen.  Nemisz wins the draw, Henrique carries it in front, gets it to Hall, who takes the shot on Cousineau and the rebound is tucked home by Henrique for a Spitfire win.

The Spits will get a chance to make history!!!!  They need to win one to be the first team to come from down 0-2 to win the Memorial Cup.  Go Spits Go!!! Go Spits Go!!!  Go Spits Go!!!

Hipster Doofus Makes Good With Clutch Hattie

First period: The best early scoring chance went to Rimouski;  Spitfires goaltender Andrew Engelage stood tall on a long two on one and made an excellent save with his right arm on a quick wrist shot.  There was another amusing moment when Windsor’s Adam Henrique finished his check with authority on Oceanic defenceman Emmanuel Boudreau, sending Boudreau into the boards heavily where Rimouski backup netminder Matthew Dopud was standing, toppling the bench-bound Dopud unceremoniously to the seat of his pants in the process.

The opening goal came from Windsor’s Eric Wellwood on a nice pass from Henrique;  the feed put Wellwood in tight alone on Oceanic goaltender Gougeon, where the Windsor forward made a quick move to his backhand and deposited the puck deftly in the net between Gougeon’s legs.  Rimouski roared right back with a goal from Piche, but the Spits had a quick response of their own:  a soft goal on a right-wing wrist shot from Scott Timmins past Gougeon’s glove.  The game was off to a great start with three goals in a minute and seventeen seconds, all in the first nine minutes of play.  Not long after, Lane MacDermid took a boarding penalty in the Oceanic zone that Rimouski converted almost immediately into a power-play goal by Caron;  that marker was produced by Spitfire forward Greg Nemisz’ failure to clear the puck on an opportunity immediately after the face-off, and a nice bit of passing by Rimouski’s Cornet and Cormier.  Eric Wellwood had another terrific opportunity late in the period that he produced almost entirely by himself with his explosive speed, but his shot high to the blocker side went over the crossbar.   Less than a minute later, Emmanuel Boudreau’s shot from the Windsor blueline went through a forest of players past Engelage for a 3-2 Rimouski lead.    The Oceanic had an excellent opportunity to go up by two goals near the end of the first while shorthanded when Nemisz handled the puck carelessly from the point position on the power play, had his pocket picked by Boudreau and Boudreau fed the puck to Caron on an odd-man rush.  The conclusion of the play saw Engelage down and out and clearly unaware of the whereabouts of the puck, but the disc was recovered and cleared to safety before the Oceanic forwards could retrieve it and fire it past the prone Windsor netminder.

Windsor seemed to begin the period applying excellent early pressure on the Rimouski puck carrier all over the ice.  As much as I like the way Scott Timmins plays, it has to be said that the Spits seemed to sag perceptibly following Timmins’ careless boarding penalty and the quick Rimouski powerplay goal that followed.  When the pressure evaporated somewhat, Rimouski seemed to get its skating legs and to generate some consistent offensive pressure of its own.

Second period: Early in the frame, Sptifires winger Austin Watson – who has been in the lineup since Justin Shugg injured his collarbone earlier in the tournament – took a delay of game penalty;  Watson got caught  clearing the puck directly over the unusually low glass in the Rimouski Colisée.   The Spits killed that penalty thanks to some nice work from Ryan Ellis, Scott Timmins and Lane MacDermid.    Much of the first half of the period was spent with the teams basically trading end to end rushes, though near the 12 minute mark sonsecutive shifts by the Timmins line and the Loktionov/Hall/Nemisz trio generated some sustained cycling pressure in the Oceanic zone.  The Spits made a strong bid for the tying goal with seven and a half remaining in the period when Hall recovered a puck in the Oceanic zone, cycled it to Ryan Ellis on the point and Ellis launched a bomb that rang off the post behind Gougeon.  The Spitfires very definitely began applying significant and sustained pressure in the offensive zone during this period.  The Timmins/MacDermid/Watson forward line managed to draw a holding penalty from Patrick Delisle-Houde with a little more than 6 minutes remaining in the frame.  Some terrific penalty killing by Oceanic captain Olivier Fortier produced some dicey moments directly in front of Andrew Engelage on the powerplay as Windsor’s powerplay again struggled to control the puck for sustained periods in the offensive zone.  Strangely, with the penalty killed and Timmins’ line on the ice again, the Spitfire pressure seemed to immediately return and Oceanic goaltender Gougeon was called upon to make a terrific pad save on Lane MacDermid who recovered a loose puck in the slot on a scramble and whipped a shot right on target that Gougeon not only blocked, but controlled and froze.  Ben Shutron got his stick up on Boudreau off the ensuing face-off and Rimouski went to the powerplay.  Veilleux had two excellent chances, one of which was defused by Timmins and the other of which resulted in an Engelage save.  Moments later, Sebastian PIché hit Cormier in stride up the middle to put the Oceanic forward in alone on Engelage.  Cormier made a backhand to forehand deke to fool Engelage and deposited the puck in the empty net behind him to put the Oceanic up two goals.   With a little more than a minute to go in the second period, Ryan Ellis had a wide open chance from the high slot and drilled one shoulder high at Gougeon, who seemed to get a small piece of it on the way by.   To add insult to injury, Rimouski appeared to have cleared the puck over the glass in the final minute in such a fashion as to warrant a delay of game penalty call, but none was forthcoming.

Windsor must have felt unlucky to find themselves another goal behind as the second period drew to a close, having generally been at least as good as (if not superior to) the Oceanic throught the game and the period.  Cue the 3rd period magic.

Third period: The Timmins/MacDermid/Watson line produced some early pressure in the first two minutes of the period.  With 18 minutes to go in the period, Rimouski’s Caron recovered a loose puck in the Windsor zone and attempted to feed it to an open man in front but Dale Mitchell alertly deflected the centring attempt to defuse a dangerous opportunity.  Less than two minutes later, Wellwood rushed up the left wing, lost the puck after a heavy check but it was recovered by his linemate Loktionov, as Windsor pursued the puck smartly.  Loktionov circled the Oceanic net and centred it.  Dale Mitchell had stealthily positioned himself at the top of the crease;  Mitchell showed good hands under pressure to recover the puck and slip it past Gougeon to draw the Spits within one.  The Timmins line again produced pressure on the very next shift, causing Cormier to draw a hooking penalty on Austin Watson off the left post.  On the ensuing power play, Loktionov recoverd a puck on the left wing boards and fed it to Taylor Hall, who showed excellent vision dishing the disc to Mitchell – alone again – in the slot.  Mitchell’s quick wrist shot beat Gougeon cleanly high to the glove side and the game was tied six minutes into the third.  On the very next shift (and only thirty seconds or so on the clock later), Rimouski took another penalty, this time following a neutral zone hook on Windsor defenceman Mark Cundari by Oceanic winger Logan MacMillan.   Moments later, Ryan Ellis took a wrist shot from the point that Gougeon had difficulty controlling;  when it dropped to his feet Mitchell was again standing on the doorstep to bang the biscuit home.  In three and a half minutes, the Spitfires had gone from two goals down to a one goal lead.   All of a sudden, the Spitfires could do no wrong and the Oceanic were clearly stunned by their reversal of fortune.   The Oceanic had their chances to tie the game up, particularly on a powerplay with about seven minutes to go (Rob Kwiet had been sent off for tripping);  Engelage made a couple of terrific stops and Windsor’s recent success seemed to go to their legs, as the early pressure throughout the ice surface seemed to return to the Spitfires’ game.  The game seemed to be setting up for a pretty dramatic finish when, with two minutes to play, Boudreau took a hooking penalty (and a highly questionable one at that – a one handed dig in the corner that seemed not to interfere with the Spitfire player’s progress at all).  Desperate to try and even up the manpower situation, Rimouski coach Clément Jodoin called for the measurement of Andrew Engelage’s goal stick.  The goalie’s cue was ruled to be legal and the Oceanic were accordingly assessed a two minute minor for delay of game, leaving them two men down for basically the remainder of the game.  In the dying seconds of the game, Loktionov found Greg Nemisz standing unmarked off the left post for an exclamation point goal at 19:59 of the 3rd.

The karma of the Memorial Cup seems to slowly be shifting in the Sptifires’ favour;  after failing to win the Cup in 1988 after losing only one game of their last 40 (and that coming from a bad third period in the final) and dropping their opening two round-robin games to opponents generally believed to be inferior this time around, the Spits are starting to get a couple of breaks.  Leaf fans should be thrilled at the performance by Leaf prospect and noted hipster doofus Dale Mitchell, who showed that he could find open spaces and that he can put the biscuit in the basket from in close, all while under pressure in key situations in the season and game.  He’s not going to be Brett Hull, but he might just have a few twenty goal NHL seasons in him;  more importantly, he might be the kind of guy that can be counted on to find a spot to shoot from and to make no mistake in hotly contested playoff matches, should post-season hockey ever become part of the Toronto hockey experience again.

On to tomorrow night and a rematch against Drummondville.  I am convinced that the Spitfires have yet to play their best game in this tournament;  they started strong tonight but got a little derailed after running in to penalty trouble and getting burned.  They seemed to be getting rattled again in the second period when they were clearly the better team but saw no success on the scoreboard, then felt they were getting hosed by the refs.  Somebody said something in that dressing room at the end of the second period that focussed the team on the job at hand.   Huge kudos to Windsor coach Bob Boughner, who seems to understand very well the role of a responsible energy line in getting a team pulling all together on the same rope;  Boughner consistently goes to the Timmins/MacDermid line (recently rounded out with rookie Andrew Watson) to produce pressure and get his skill players going.

Here’s hoping the Spits can keep their heads and play through their fatigue tomorrow:  win one more and we get to play for the Big Trophy.  Go Spits Go!!!

Go Spits Go!! I still believe...!!

This tournament owes us one, dammit.  I still believe.

After dropping round robin games to Drummondville and Rimouski to kick off the tournament, the Spitfires faced off tonight against a Kelowna Rockets team that had already clinched a berth in the Tournament Final on Sunday.    Whereas the Spits had to win to keep any hope alive of moving along in the tournament, the result of the game was meaningless to Kelowna.  It looked to me as though the Spits had actually caught a bit of a break in that regard;  the asymmetric motivation showed, as the Rockets seemed to lack a sense of urgency at times in their play.

I couldn’t bring myself to live blog the game; I had to do something to change the mojo after two live blogs and two crushing losses.

An even first period produced no scoring, with fairly even – but tentative – play on both sides.  In the second period, with Windsor forward Adam Henrique off for hooking, Kyle St. Denis tipped in a Tyler Myers drive from the point to give the Western Hockey League Champs an early lead.  The Spitfires had been pressing somewhat, and a team of lesser character might have sagged then and there, decided it wasn’t to be and prepared to go home.  These Spitfires, though, refused to die.

Taylor Hall hit two goalposts in the second frame.  Kelowna’s Mark Guggenberger also lived up to his nickname – The Guggenburglar – on a couple of occasions, stopping quality Windsor bids to score.  Finally, a Spitfire goal was had in the way goals are often scored in such circumstances, by crashing the net and getting a crazy bounce into the net.  Hall was credited with the goal, and the Spitfires seemed to draw energy from both that and a series of penalty kills as the second period drew to an end.

Ryan Ellis scored for Windsor early in the third, giving the desperate Windsorites a tenuous 2-1 lead.  After only a few more minutes, Kelowna was in penalty trouble and the Spitfires began pressing to score an insurance goal.  There were  a couple of extended 5 on 3s, the second of which featured the most inspired bit of penalty killing I have seen in quite some time.  Remember this name:  Cody Almond.  The Kelowna defenceman blocked 4 shots, all of which were heavy blasts from the high slot, all of which Almond blocked at point blank range, and all of which he got in a single shift.   Remarkably, the Spitfires failed to score.

The game came to a conclusion with some intelligent forechecking on the part of the Spitfires;  pressure in the neutral zone and up ice prevented the Rockets from getting goaltender Guggenberger out of the net and mounting a serious bid to tie the game.

So now the Spitfires will play a tiebreaker game on Thursday against either Drummondville or Rimouski.  They will have an opportunity to move on.  They will have an opportunity to control their destiny and mount a challenge for the Memorial Cup.  It will be a difficult road and a LONG road if the Spitfires are to play in the Championship Final – they will have to win the tiebreaker and then the sem-final before playing for the Cup on Sunday.  Teams do not generally take this road to a Memorial Cup championship; but like I said, this tournament may owe the Spits one yet.  I remember the way this tournament took a championship from the Spitfires in 1988.  I’ll say it again:  the Spits won 39 of their last 40 games that fateful season;  the only one they lost was the Memorial Cup final – and they had gone into the third period leading in that one too.  It’s been a rocky road so far in this tournament, with many folks writing that the Spitfires were favourites who had disappointed;  there still remains an opportunity for the Spits to achieve something very special.

They could win one the hard way.   Go Spits Go!!!!

Notes: Strong play again tonight from Scott Timmins  and Craig Nemisz.   Ryan Ellis was an absolute beast;  he made one diving play on the third period powerplay to keep the puck in at the Kelowna blueline that showed he has the heart of a champion.  That kid can play.  Taylor Hall continued to get a raft of scoring chances, but showed some immaturity, I think, taking a couple of foolish penalties late in both the second and third periods that could have proved fatal.   For the Rockets, Myers and Benn both look like rock solid pro prospects, and – if Cody Almond hasn’t already been drafted – he should be simply on the basis of that one penalty-killing shift alone.  Leaf fans will be a little disappointed to hear that 3rd-round pick Dale Mitchell had little impact on this game.  He did take an elbow to the throat that went unpenalized, but beyond that didn’t generate energy the way he did in two previous games.

NB:  I booted up the computer and sat transfixed during the first six minutes or so of this game.  The action was back and forth like crazy to begin with.  The first couple of paragraphs are a summary of what happened to that point;  thereafter, the time-denoted comments came as the game unfolded.

First period:

A frenetic opening 6:20 saw an immediate chance off the opening draw for Rimouski (which I think was blocked by Engelage) and two other odd man rush opportunities.  One rush in particular seemed sure to produce a Rimouski goal;  the two Oceanic forwards were well separated and the puck carrier beat the Windsor defender with the pass.  It was obvious that Engelage would not be able to go side-to-side to stop the sure goal, but the pass deflected off the Oceanic player’s skate and – instead of a goal – there was no shot whatsoever.

The hitting is heavy – Ryan Ellis takes out Rimouski’s Veilleux when Veilleux glances down at the puck as he skates over his own blueline and into the neutral zone;  Ellis seems to pounce on him and nails Veilleux with a clean check that seems to stun the Oceanic forward, possibly causing some dental damage.  Veilleux gets up and heads down the corridor to see the dentist and to reconsider the wisdom of looking at the puck with Ellis on the ice.

12:45 remaining – Loktionov and Taylor Hall in on 2 on 1 on Oceanic goaltender Gougeon, Loktionov’s pass makes it to Hall but Hall cannot bang the puck home as he careens past Gougeon.

9:27 remaining -Rimouski’s Boudreau takes a penalty for hooking that gives Windsor its first power play opportunity.  The unit looks much more organized than it has in the last few games.  Nemisz, Loktionov, Ellis, Hall and Kwiet work the puck around the Rimouski zone but produce few shots that actually get through and on net – Hall has one from a sharp angle off the right wing post that is easily blocked by Gougeon.  Rimouski manages a couple of effective shot blocks that produce rebounds that either clear themselves out of the zone, or are easily cleared.

7:00 remaining – as the Windsor power play ends, Veilleux returns to the ice for Rimouski.  The Oceanic produce some pressure.

5:24 remaining – after some end to end action, Gougeon has to make a nice splits save on a shot by Windsor’s big defenceman Harry Young.

4:33 remaining – Windsor gets caught with too many men on the ice.  Rimouski seems to prefer to carry the puck in rather than dumping and chasing, with mixed results.  One effort is easily cleared, another produces a near opportunity as the Rimouski forward drives in from the right wing past a retreating Windsor defence.  The puck is turned over and Windsor has a partial 2 on 1 shorthanded the other way for MacDermid and Wellwood;  Gougeon makes the stop on MacDermid and the puck lies tantalizingly free but is cleared before Wellwood can find it.  Penalty killed.

1:14 remaining – Some more end to end action and Rimouski forces Windsor to ice it.  The Oceanic can’t keep the play in the Windsor zone.

:25 remaining – Mitchell and Piche get into it in the neutral zone, as do Henrique and Caron.  A lot of wrestling, but no actual fights seem to occur.  Four on four.

Not sure exactly what is going on here – it looks like Kwiet trips one of the ‘Nics while going off the ice, but I can’t tell if this is at the end of a period or while the players are supposed to be lining up for a faceoff somewhere.  Sportsnet doesn’t seem to want to supply that kind of information, (WTF?) or whether Kwiet has been penalized for the blatant shit-disturbing penalty.   Apparently, the period is over now though, because they’re showing NHL highlights and a piece on Jordan Caron.

Referring to CHL’s official gamesheet online, it looks as though Timmins and Cundari have been assessed penalties at the 20:00 mark for high-sticking, which would seem to suggest that Windsor will be two men down for a full two minutes to start the second;  there is no mention of a penalty to Kwiet.  I am very confused.  How the hell did this happen?  I may have to back the DVR up here…

Okay, I got it now.  With about 13 seconds remaining in the period, Rob Kwiet tripped Cormier as Kwiet was leaving the ice and Cormier was lining up for a faceoff.  That shit-disturbing play wasn’t penalized.  The officials then dropped the puck and the teams played the remaining few seconds (I must have missed this while typing something) and – at the 20:00 mark, as time is expiring, the official was calling a high-stick on Cundari when Timmins demolishes another guy in the corner.

Second Period:

Rimouski begins with a 4 on 3 powerplay, as the teams had been at 4 on 4 when Windsor took these two dumb calls.   On the ice for Windsor I see Ellis (surprise), Spits Captain Harry Youndgand Nemisz.  Rimouski has Veilleux, Cormier, Cornet and Piche.   The Sportsnet announcers don’t seem to really even be discussing what idiotic penalties these are and what a critical juncture of the game it is.

18:05 remaining – big shot block by Ellis on a shot from the point, he seems hurt.  Penalty killed.

17:40 remaining -Gougeon just stoned Taylor Hall on a breakaway, shorthanded I think – Sportsnet is doing a terrible job letting me know what the situation is here.  How ’bout mentioning the manpower situation, guys?

16:42 remaining – Cormier is sprung on a play up the middle and scoreson a nice backhand through Engelage’s legs.  I am now being advised that was a powerplay goal.  Timing is everything, guys.

15:40 remaining – Ellis is on the ice again, Windsor is applying pressure.  The unfortunately named Luca Cunti takes a high sticking call for Rimouski.  Ellis, Loktionov, Hall, Nemisz and Kwiet take the ice for the Spits.  Nemisz knocks down a clearing attempt by Gougeon, faceoff coming outside the Rimouski zone.  Hall gathers the puck and carries up the left wing, offside.  The second PP unit comes on – Timmins, Mitchell, Henrique take the ice, D seems to be the same.

13:41 remaining – Ellis has a huge shot, then another – he scores.  Nice job to get that shot through traffic, it goes top cheese to Gougeon’s glove side but he never saw it.  Big powerplay goal for the Spits.

13:30 remaining – Windsor right back into the ‘Nics zone and looking for more.  A good shift by Wellwood, MacDermid and Shugg goes to hell when Wellwood hauls down a Rimouski defender (Boudreau) while pursuing the puck behind the Oceanic net.  Not good.

12:00 remaining – Huge pressure by Rimouski against the second PK unit.  Hall finally manages to clear it, and the next up-ice pass fails to connect for Rimouski and leads to an icing.

11:15 remaining – 3 on 2 Windsor shorthanded, Mitchell scores.  He made the play by knocking an airborne puck down and causing the turnover, then manages to get up ice to receive a cross-ice feed from Timmins and pound it home from the high slot, using Cundari as a decoy.  The goal will not be officially shorthanded, as it enters the net at the 8:50 mark, when the penalty is expiring.

1):53 remaining – Windsor is right back in looking for more.  I think it’s important not only for this game, but for the Spits’ confidence, for them to get on a roll here and now, and if I was Boughner I’d be coming back with Timmins’ line.

10:33 remaining – that’s who Boughner has out there.

9:35 remaining – Henrique, Hall and Nemisz follow up and have a little bit of pressure but then surrender a weird looking 3 on 2 rush the other way and Rimouski’s Caron scores over Engelage’s left shoulder (top right corner of the net) with 9:15 remaining.

9:08 remaining – Jesse Blacker is in a fight standing up for Mitchell, who was dumped heavily into the boards off the ensuing faceoff by the Oceanic forward McMillan.

Boughner has juggled the lines, moving Loktionov  out from between Hall and Niemisz.   Windsor is pressing still, but seems to have lost some steam after that Rimouski goal.  I would bet Boughner rides Timmins pretty hard for the next little while.

5:13 remaing – Rimouski scores again.  A little sequence of pressure in the Windsor zone produces a faceoff in the Spitfire zone, the draw is controlled by Windsor’s Shutron but turned over in the slot and Oceanic left winger Patrick Delisle-Houde rips one past Engelage’s blocker.

5:00 remaining – next shift and it’s MacDermid, Loktionov and Mitchell – lines continue to juggle for the Spits.  Ellis blasts one from the point, glove save by Gougeon with 4:02 to go.

3:44 remaining Rimouski comes deadly close to picking up another goal when Cunti circles the net and dishes out front.  The puck is cleared but when Rimouski comes back up ice, Cunti scores as this time Veilleux is able to find Cunti wide open on the left-wing for a tap in that Engelage hasn’t got a hope of tracking down.  Windsor is on the run and needs a goal immediately.

3:05 remaining – the home crowd is really chanting for the Oceanic.

2:17 remaining – Rimouski appears to have too many men on the ice; no call.  Dale Mitchell is working the refs, to no avail.  Nemisz, Hall and Loktionov on the ice for Windsor.  Loktionov digs one out of the corner, walks out and wrists one high over the glove of Gougeon for a desperately needed goal.   I don’t know where the hell Loktionov has been, but now was an excellent time for him to show up.  Gougeon got a piece of the puck, but not enough.

1:21 remaining, Windsor is pressing again with Wellwood, Mitchell and Henrique cycling.  Huge opportunity for Wellwood to tie it with 1 minute remaining.  Another rush up ice for Wellwood during which he appears to be getting ridden like Space Mountain by the Oceanic defender – no call.  One more rush by Niemisz, he’s crushed by Brunetand the period ends with a wee bit of nastiness at the end of the period.  The ref seems to be calling some penalties, I wonder if Sportsnet will share with us what they might be?

Third period

According to the CHL’s website, Rimouski has drawn the extra penalty for the scrum at the end of the second – specifically, Cormier has gotten a roughing penalty.  Windsor will start the 3rd with a powerplay and a fresh sheet of ice.  The Spits desperately need a powerplay goal.

Going in to the 3rd, my thinking is that Windsor defenceman Ryan Ellis has definitely stepped his game up after a disappointing performance yesterday, and Taylor Hall has been fantastic again.  Other than his brief but important appearance to fire home the 3rd goal, Loktionov hasn’t been much of a factor.  The Spits need another great period from Timmins, Mitchell and Nemisz, all of whom have been generating energy and getting things moving in the Windsor direction when given the chance.  Eric Wellwood has also played well – except for the stupid penalty he took at the start of the second that seemed to really derail some momentum.   I am cautiously optimistic that Gougeon will need to play an excellent 3rd to keep the Oceanic ahead;  I know Engelage still has a key save or two in him.  I hope.

19:26 remaining – Loktionov, Nemisz and Hall start the 3rd on the PP.  Loktionov’s soft pass in the neutral zone is picked off by Logan McMillan who walks in on Engelage, has a first attempt partially blocked by Ellis, but McMillan gobbles up the loose puck and rips it past Engelage on a bad angle.  So much for my theory, it’s 5-3 Rimouski on a shorty.  The camera shows Loktionov seated on the Windsor bench;  I doubt that’s likely to change much in the next little bit.

18:00 remaining – penalty killed, Windsor was never able to generate any sustained pressure on the PP.

15:40 remaining – Shugg, Wellwood and MacDermid manage to generate some sustained pressure at least, and Cundari gets a great drive on net but it’s easily stopped by Gougeon.  Small steps will be needed to change the tide.

15:58  remaining – Hall carries the puck up the right wing and is hauled down;  he gets a shot off as he’s going down but Gougeon stops it.  Henrique and Piche get in a scrap in front of the net.  Rimouski’s Marc-Andre Bourdon will take the additional penalty for hauling down haul.  No question about it, Windsor’s power play MUST click or there will be no Memorial Cup for the Spits.

15:40 remaining – Ellis bangs one off the crossbar from the point

14:53 remaining Ellis has a chance to shoot again, and there’s traffic, but it doesn’t go in.  Another shot from Loktionov who is on the other point gets blocked.  He and Ellis play pitch and catch until Loktionov gets another chance, Gougeon saves it with his right shoulder.

14:18 remaining – another Rimouski penalty, Brunet for high sticking.  5 on 3 for the Spits.  Ellis gets another chance from the point, blocked.  A chance in tight goes wide on a cross-ice feed to Loktionov, whose stick shatters, preventing him from taking the pass.  The first penalty has been served.  Ellis shoots again, blocked by Cormier.  Ellis feeds low to Loktionov, to Hall, shot stopped by Gougeon.    Cundari carries up the right wing, shot by Mitchell deflects wide, Spits can’t collect the puck for another chance and the penalty is killed.

12:10 remaining – Rimouski fans are on their feet cheering.  Mitchell a chance on the right wing, blocked by Gougeon.

11:11 remaining – big scramble in front of Windsor net. The puck is cleared, but carried back in to the Spitfire zone.  Loktionov picks the pocket of a Rimoski forward, Hall goes up the left wing, circles the net, feeds to Young, shot off the bar and the puck falls to the left of the net.  Loktionov picks the puck up and banks it off somebody in front for a goal, 5-4 Rimouski with just over 10 minutes remaining.  Fasten your seatbelts.

9:16 remaining – Mitchell goes up the left wing, is knocked down and Wellwood takes it, loses it and Henrique almost steals from the third Rimouski forward to touch the puck in front.  The puck is then turned over, leading to a scramble in front of the Rimouski net, but Windsor can’t bang it home;  MacDermid goes so far as to raise his stick and the play by play guy is assigning the Spits a goal, but they’re not going to post that one on the scoreboard because it didn’t go in.  Fantastic glove save by Gougeon while on his back lying in the net.   Whoa.

8:56 remaining Windsor wins the draw and is raiing shots on Gougeon.  Nemisz deflects one just wide on a shot by Young.  Hall to Loktionov to Ellis, cycled again to Nemisz and Ellis, centred in front but nobody home.  Windsor is pressing like crazy.

7:16 remaining – Veilleux and his mates have the puck in deep on Windsor again, relieving some of the crazy pressure.  Timmins’ line takes the puck back up ice and freezes it behind the Rimouski net.  Windsor ultimatley contols off the draw (though the puck is cleared first) but can’t get an opportunity.  It’s cleared down the ice.  Hall is chasing it in the left wing corner but can’t get it and it comes out but goes riht back in again – and again.  Cleared into the Rimouski bench, faceoff in Oceanic territory upcoming.

About 5:00 remaining – Off the draw, the play comes up ice on a pass from Bourdon, it goes to Veilleux who’s in alone on Engelage.  The Spits goalie makes a great stick save to deflect it over the top of the goal and save any chance for the Spits.

Fortier, Delisle-Houde and MacMillan have the Spits runing around in their zone.  Mitchell carries up ice for Windsor.  Wellwood chases it into the right wing corner.  Nemisz controls in the right wing corner, a shot from the point is blocked by Gougeon.

2:30 remaining – Windsor can’t get organized to get the puck deep on the Oceanic.  Credit Rimouski, they are playing a high-pressure, high-risk forecheck in the neutral zone – and it’s working.

2:20 remaining.  Faceoff at Rimouski blueline won by the Oceanic, they carry it up ice and take a long shot on Engelage, it’s rushed back up by the Spits and Henrique gets a slapper from the top of the circle on Gougeon, who stops it.  Faceoff controlled by Windsor, and there’s another point sot on.

1:30 Goalie out for the Spits.

Ellis to Loktionov to Hall, just missed a wide open net.  Another bouncing puck just to the left of Gougeon, Mitchell dives but can’t get it.  Rimouski almost gets the puck in the Windosr zone, but Spits recover.  Ellis and Kwiet trade it, then shoot on Gougeon, Hall has a near miss to Gougeon’s left.

That puck that Mitchell couldn’t get?  Bourdon deflected it.  The guy has 3 assists for Rimouski and saved the game there.  Rimouski is 5 seconds from winning the game, the faceoff is outside the Oceanic zone.

:05 remaining – Timmins will take the draw.  He  wins it and gets it to his winger who shoots it in, but it’s partially blocked and Gougeon gets the puck and clears it out.  Rimouski wins 5-4.

Windsor will likely finish last in the round-robin now.  Dammit.