Spits set with overages
It was just last month over lunch at the Loose Goose Resto Pub and Lounge in downtown Windsor that Spitfires general manager Billy Bowler told me that one of his priorities was to have the team’s three overage players in place in advance of the start of the ’24-25 Ontario Hockey League season. Mission now accomplished.
With two of the overage spots already taken by holdover forwards Ryan Abraham and Noah Morneau, Bowler recently addressed a need to add more experience to the Windsor blue line. And the Spitfires’ GM not only did that by obtaining defenseman Tnias Mathurin from the North Bay Battalion for future draft picks but he solidified the third overage position in fine fashion.
Abraham. Morneau. Mathurin. A tried, tested and true trio of 2004 birth year skaters that are poised to help the Spitfires ascend from their last place finish of ’23-24 to an elevated Western Conference position in ’24-25.
Abraham and Morneau are bookends from the Spitfires priority selections draft class of 2020. Abraham was a first round pick, 14th overall. Morneau, meanwhile, went 294th overall in the 15th and final round.
The 5 foot 8, 170 pound Abraham was second on the Spitfire scoring slate in ’23-24 with 31 goals, 35 assists, 66 points in 64 games. Hailing from the Detroit suburb of Livonia, the former first round pick has played in 182 career games — regular season and playoffs included — for Windsor and has totalled 162 points while becoming an all around dependable player.
As for the 6 foot, 170 pound Morneau who is a local product, he has exceeded any and all expectations for a player taken in the 15th round of the 2020 OHL draft from the Under 16 Windsor Jr. Spitfires of the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario.
After spending the ’21-22 season with the LaSalle Vipers of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League — the Spitfires’ affiliate team — and clicking for 16 goals, 29 assists, 45 points in 39 games, Morneau has since taken his game to the OHL level and a player worthy of a coveted overage spot.
Following a ’22-23 rookie season in the OHL in which he netted seven goals, 18 assists, 25 points in 65 games, Morneau upped those numbers to 13-21-34 in ’23-24. Already known for his defensive skills, Morneau was also one of the Spitfires better offensive producers over the final quarter of the ’23-24 campaign.
Bowler, as the Spitfires GM, told me that Morneau “exemplifies what it is to be a Spitfire. Not only is he a great kid but he is a great ambassador for our program and for his hometown of Windsor.”
Over to the 6 foot 3, 190 pound Mathurin who is now a Spitfire by way of North Bay, he was a third round pick of the Battalion at the 2020 OHL priority selections draft. He was then chosen by the Detroit Red Wings in the fifth round of the 2022 National Hockey League draft. Mathurin, who did not sign with Detroit, will instead attend the main NHL camp of the Chicago Blackhawks in the fall.
The book on Mathurin is that he is a smooth skater with size and presence and with the character to be a perfect fit in Windsor for the Spitfires and new head coach Greg Walters.
As of now, the Spitfires have six defensemen with OHL experience, albeit some with more than others. Besides Mathurin and his 2004 birth date, there are Tanner Winegard and Josef Eichler who were both born in 2005, and a troika with 2006 birth dates — Anthony Cristoforo, Conor Walton and Carson Woodall.