The 2024-25 OHL season started in thrilling trend, with the 2024 Memorial Cup Champion Saginaw Spirit taking over the Windsor Spitfires.
Earlier than the sport began, Saginaw held a ceremony and raised their Memorial Cup Championship banner to the rafters of the Dow Occasion Heart in entrance of 5,000 followers in attendance.
It was a memorable night time not only for Spirit followers and the group, however for these making their OHL debuts. No debut was greater than Windsor’s first total choose Ethan Belchetz, who displayed his playmaking when he arrange defenseman Anthony Cristoforo for a fairly tap-in objective within the second interval.
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The Spitfires quieted the gang two minutes into the sport when Spitfires overage ahead Noah Morneau pounced on a rebound to place the away staff up 1-0, marking the primary objective of the OHL season.
Nonetheless, it did not take lengthy for Saginaw to reply, and who else apart from the person who could have all eyes on him as he enters his NHL draft yr, Michael Misa.
Misa scored two objectives inside 1:17 of one another and had the gang cheering for the primary time since Josh Bloom scored the Memorial Cup game-winner with 22 seconds left on the clock.
The depth stage of the sport began to rise and tempers rose after the whistle. Clearly, these younger males had been itching for the season to start out and junior hockey was again on.
Windsor’s Cole Davis tapped in a rebound on the far submit on the facility play, leveling the sport at 2-2 going into the second interval.
Within the second body, on one other Spitfires powerplay, the puck rolled to Ryan Abraham on the prime of the faceoff circle and blasted his shot by means of site visitors to place his staff up by one. Registering his first profession OHL level on the objective was the Jack Ferguson Award winner, Ethan Belchetz.
Saginaw’s veteran defenseman Will Bishop responded with a seeing-eye shot from the purpose of his personal simply 28 seconds after Abraham scored.
With the sport tied up at three and Windsor heading to but once more one other powerplay, Ethan Belchetz curls in direction of the boards after a received faceoff by Abraham, spots Anthony Cristoforo pinching in direction of the again submit, and lays an ideal cross onto the tape for his defenseman to faucet in and provides Windsor a 4-3 lead heading into the ultimate body.
The house staff was down by one with 20 minutes remaining to the staff that completed second-last within the earlier yr. They wanted a push and so they obtained it from 2007-born winger Jacob Cloutier.
This was Cloutier’s second profession OHL objective. Curiously sufficient, his first OHL objective was the game-winner in Saginaw’s house opener final yr towards Sarnia.
After being outshot 32-17 within the first two intervals, the Spirit got here on robust within the third, outshooting Windsor 16-10. Spitfires goaltender Joey Costanzo got here up with a couple of huge saves to maintain his staff in it and get the sport to time beyond regulation.
Within the five-minute time beyond regulation interval, Jack Nesbitt, who had been Windsor’s greatest participant all night time, labored laborious to steal the puck on the forecheck and arrange Tnias Mathurin. Though Mathurin could not rating on the backhand, his shot created a rebound that Nesbitt put into the open web, securing the Windsor Spitfires’ first win of the OHL season.
Recreation Notes:
-Michael Misa begins his quest to being a prime 10 choose within the 2025 NHL Entry Draft with two objectives, six pictures, and was 19-for-30 on the draw.
-One other 2025 NHL draft-eligible, Jacob Cloutier, was impactful in his opening sport with one objective and an help.
-Saginaw defenseman James Guo carried over his robust pre-season with two assists.
-Windsor defenseman Anthony Cristoforo had a game-high three factors and likewise was on the receiving finish of quite a lot of blocked pictures.
-2025 NHL draft-eligible Jack Nesbitt had a game-high seven pictures and two factors.
-2024 First total choose Ethan Belchetz recorded two assists and 6 pictures in his OHL debut.
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