OHL
The Kitchener Rangers skated to another win, but the vastly improved Windsor Spitfires fought the Canadian Hockey League’s top-ranked team every step of the way.
Kitchener needed an overtime goal from Stephen Tarasuk to finally put away the Spitfires 6-5 Thursday in Ontario Hockey League action.
Last season this game might have been a one-sided affair in the Rangers’ favour. Windsor finished with the second-worst record while Kitchener finished third overall.
This season is a different story in Windsor, where the Spitfires are ranked sixth in the CHL and have the second-best offence in the OHL, behind only the Rangers.
Kitchener head coach Peter DeBoer said he’s impressed by the Spitfires’s turnaround.
"They really are a solid team. They are getting solid leadership from their veteran players and contributions from their first-year players too," said Deboer, who played in the Memorial Cup tournament with the Spitfires 20 years ago and then captained the team the following season. "The Spitfires are a team to contend with this season and are only going to be better in seasons to come."
Elsewhere in the OHL it was: Brampton 2 Oshawa 1, Plymouth 5 Peterborough 2, Saginaw 7 Erie 3, Niagara 2 Belleville 1 and Owen Sound 6 Barrie 2.
At Windsor, Ont., former Spitfire Thomas Battani staked the Rangers out to a 1-0 lead with the opening goal of the first period.
The teams then exploded for six second period goals with Bradley Snetsinger, Greg Nemisz, Matt Bragg and Joshua Bailey scoring for the Spitfires and Mikkel Boediker and Brandon Mashinter replying for the Rangers.
Nazem Kadri and Mike Duco scored for Kitchener (25-4-1-2) while Snetsinger scored his second goal of the game in the third period for Windsor (21-6-3-3) to send the game into overtime.
Kitchener’s Josh Unice faced 28 shots in picking up the win while Andrew Engelage had to contend with 28 at the other end.
Battalion 2 Generals 1
At Brampton, Ont., Bryan Pitton made 35 saves, including a sprawling pad save in the game’s dying seconds, to preserve a 2-1 victory for the Battalion over Oshawa.
Whalers 5 Petes 2
At Peterborough, Ont., Chris Terry had three goals and an assist Plymouth dumped the Petes.
Spirit 7 Otters 3
At Saignaw, Mich., Brad Smith, Jack Combs and Nick Crawford each had a goal and an assist as the Spirit hammered Erie.
IceDogs 2 Bulls 1
At St. Catharines, Ont., Jason Bergeron’s goal 1:57 into overtime gave the IceDogs a victory over Belleville.
Attack 6 Colts 2
At Barrie, Ont., Frankie Santini scored twice and added an assist as Owen Sound Attack defeated the Colts.
Source: OHL: Rangers edge improved Spitfires
