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The Windsor Spitfires quickly turned the page on the 2023-24 season.
A day after Saturday’s season-ending 8-5 road loss to the Saginaw Spirit, the players went through exit meetings on Sunday at the WFCU Centre and left town after missing the Ontario Hockey League playoffs for the first time since 2014-15.
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“The everlasting message is it stinks,” Spitfires’ interim head coach Casey Torres said. “Don’t get used to it and our day will come to better sooner than later.”
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For Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler, it’s already shaping up to be a very busy off-season before the club ever hits the ice next season.
With the club ending the season winless in its final 13 games, the Spitfires finished 19th in the 20-team league and will have the second-best odds t 30 per cent to get the top pick in this year’s OHL Draft when the lottery is held on Wednesday.
Bowler will be in Toronto when that decision is made. He left town quickly after Sunday’s exit meetings to attend the OHL Cup, which gets underway on Monday and features some of the top players available for this year’s draft.
“There’s no real message,” Bowler said of exit meetings. “Considering the circumstances with what the players and the staff dealt with, they continued to showcase and work their tails off for the organization and shown well. It wasn’t a lack of effort or commitment.”
A 4-16-1-0 start that cost first-year head coach Jerrod Smith his job in November proved to be a hole too deep to dig out from.
Torres guided the squad to a 14-26-4-3 record, but just 6-22-2-2 from Jan. 7 as veterans Jacob Maillet, Oliver Peer and Roberto Mancini were dealt away at the OHL trade deadline to help the club put its rebuild into high gear and restock a draft cupboard emptied from back-to-back Western Conference regular-season titles.
Ryan “Pucks” Pyette on the OHL
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The 18 wins tied the 2006-07 team for the second fewest in club history and the league-leading 360 goals against in 68 were the fifth-most allowed in club history.
“We knew we might take a step back,” said Bowler, who thought his team could contend for a playoff spot when the season began. “It was inevitable to acquire the (draft) assets again. It sped up a bit (making deals) with the start we had, but it hasn’t been difficult. Just sometimes these things happen in life and you deal with it. Time will tell if these were the right decisions.”
While the Spitfires sank in the standings, the club turned to its younger players for bigger roles, more minutes and greater contributions. The hope is that experience pays dividends down the road.
But players must commit to a summer of getting bigger, stronger and faster and not expect to simply improve by being a year older next season.
“You’ve just got to work,” said Windsor centre Ryan Abraham, who is the longest-serving member on the team. “You’ve got to work for it. It’s not going to come easy. When I was on that team that went all the way (to the league final in 2022), it was every single day working. There were no days off.”
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The hope is that off-season work will help turn games like Saturday’s 8-5 loss in Saginaw into a win next season and beyond.
Former Spitfire Alex Christopoulus, who was traded to Saginaw in November, scored three goals against his former team to lead the Spirit on Saturday.
Windsor fell behind early 3-0, rallied to tie the game at 3-3 only to see Saginaw scored the next four goals. The Spitfires made it a two-goal game late, but the Spirit sealed the game with an empty-net goal.
Valentin Zhugin scored twice for the Spitfires while Jack Greenwell, A.J. Spellacy and captain Liam Greentree added single goals.
“I think we have a motivated group,” Greentree said. “They all want to be the best they can. This summer, it’s how much they want to push each other.
“I won’t babysit. If they want to become the best and win a Memorial Cup, they’re going to train and do what they have to do.”
jpparker@postmedia.com
twitter.com/winstarparker
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