Spitfires set for exhibition
Subsequent to the reassignment of 21 players following their recent intra-squad match the Spitfires will play the first of five Ontario Hockey League exhibition games this Friday.
With 30 players still on the roster, the Spitfires will play host to the Sarnia Sting with a scheduled 7:05 p.m. start time on Friday at the WFCU Centre. The game will be the first in the Spitfires cockpit for incoming head coach Greg Walters.
Spitfires’ general manager Billy Bowler told Hockey News Windsor that “there are some players we want to take a look at in game situations before we make any further roster decisions.”
Meantime, presumptions and projections are high for Windsor ahead of the ’24-25 OHL season. Bowler has set the table for the Spitfires with a roster that is an inviting mix of OHL tested and rookie talent.
The most experienced group includes overage forwards Ryan Abraham and Noah Morneau plus a third 2004 birth year skater in defenseman Tnias Mathurin, who is a recent acquisition via the North Bay Battalion. The Spitfires also have three 2006 birth year forwards who were among the top 75 picks at the 2024 National Hockey League draft — Liam Greentree (first round, Los Angeles Kings), A.J. Spellacy (third round, Chicago Blackhawks) and Ilya Protas (third round, Washington Capitals.)
On the blue line, besides the recently acquired overage Mathurin and his 2004 birth date, there are Tanner Winegard and Josef Eichler who were both born in 2005, as well as a trio with 2006 birth dates, namely Anthony Cristoforo, Conor Walton and Carson Woodall.
Of the veteran defenders, Mathurin has played in the most games — regular season and playoffs included — having suited up for 136 matches over parts of three OHL seasons with North Bay. Meanwhile, Cristoforo, who is two years younger, has already skated in 134 games — just two fewer than Mathurin — over two full OHL seasons in Windsor.
Windsor is also fresh from a 2024 OHL priority selections draft harvest that yielded six players who have already signed with the team, led by first overall choice Ethan Belchetz, who is a hulking forward destined to be an impact performer at some point.
Besides Belchetz, the other signees from the 2008 age group are second rounders J.C. Lemieux and Carter Hicks, third rounder Max Brocklehurst, seventh rounder Jake Windbiel and ninth rounder Ethan Garden. Belchetz, Lemieux, Brocklehurst and Garden are all forwards, Hicks is a defenseman and Windbiel is a goalie.