One race has ended for the Windsor Spitfires and another has begun.

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One race has ended for the Windsor Spitfires and another has begun.

The Spitfires fell 5-2 on the road Saturday to the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds before a crowd of 4,017 at the GFL Memorial Gardens. Coupled with eighth-seeded Flint’s 2-1 overtime win over Kingston, the Spitfires were mathematically eliminated from the Western Conference playoffs.

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“It’s obviously tough and not the season we wanted,” Spitfires’ second-year forward A.J. Spellacy said. “We’ve been through a lot and it’s important to leave it all out there these next six games. I have no doubt that next year we will come out strong and hopefully have a deep run.”

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Out of the playoffs for the first time since 2015, the Spitfires will now compete for the first time in the weighted OHL Draft lottery for the four teams missing the playoffs. The team with the worst record, which is currently Niagara, will have a 40 per cent chance of the top pick. The Spitfires, who have the second-worst record, would have a 30 per cent chance if the standings do not change. Peterborough, with the third-worst record, would get a 20 per cent chance and Sarnia, which has the best record of the four teams not in a playoff position, would get a 10 per cent chance.

“You hope to get a player that will make a difference and, when you’re picking this high, you hope to land quality,” Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler said. “We have a lot of picks and hopefully we land a player.”

Four wins in the club’s first 21 games put the team behind the eight-ball to start the season and cost Jerrod Smith his post as head coach.

Bowler then traded away several veteran players to restock the team’s draft cupboard, which was emptied in building back-to-back Western Conference regular-season title.

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Add that overaged Pasquale Zito’s decision to leave the team after five games, a few suspensions and the loss of few players due to illness or injury and the club seemed to be in constant chase mode all season.

“The start we got off to and deciding to move some players throughout the year it was probably inevitable,” Bowler said. “We gave it our all, but the math tells us it’s over.”

But that doesn’t mean it was a lost season. So many of Windsor’s first- and second-year players were given ice time and played in situations that few players the same age get on older teams. That experience can only help down the road.

“It’s definitely beneficial because a lot of young guys, including myself, have been playing a lot of minutes, which has helped us develop and will help us going into next year,” Spellacy said.

And despite the club dropping three-straight games on its road trip, defenceman Adrian Manzo came up from junior B LaSalle and was plus three in Friday’s wild 9-8 overtime loss in Sudbury. In that game, former 15th-round pick Nathan Gaymes, who also came up from LaSalle, potted his second goal with Windsor.

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“Gaymes had two goals in three games and Manzo played 14 minutes (on Friday),” said Spitfires’ interim head coach Casey Torres, whose team opened with a 7-2 loss in North Bay on Thursday. “You can practice and do skill things, but nothing takes the place of in-game experience.”

But that experience often means learning from mistakes and the Greyhounds took full advantage on Saturday.

Captain Liam Greentree got Windsor on the board just 10 seconds into the game, but Brady Martin tied it before the end of the period and Julian Fantino and Jacob Frasca has Sault Ste. Marie up 3-1 after 40 minutes.

Spellacy scored his fourth short-handed goal of the season to make it a one-goal game and the Spitfires had another shot to get even before Jason Beck and Matthew Virgillio put the game away for Sault Ste. Marie.

“Tough road trip,” said Torres, whose team was outshot 47-19 and played the third period without defenceman Antony Cristoforo after needed medical attention for what the team was calling dehydration. “Three really good teams, sickness, injuries, suspensions and travel and it just makes it a tough road.”

The Spitfires return home on Thursday to play the Guelph Storm with game time at the WFCU Centre at 7:05 p.m.

jpparker@postmedia.com

twitter.com/winstarparker

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