The Windsor Spitfires have moved on from last season in a big way.

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The Windsor Spitfires have moved on from last season in a big way.

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A year ago, the Spitfires slogged through 68 games to reach 44 points while finishing 19th in the 20-team league.

With Thursday’s 5-1 win over the Erie Otters before a crowd of 4,518 at the WFCU Centre, the Spitfires officially surpassed last season’s point total before the midway mark of this season.

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“It’s crazy,” said Spitfires’ forward A.J. Spellacy, who had two goals on Thursday. “I think we try not to think too much about last year. We’re focused on this year, but looking at it that way is great to see how we’re off to a good start.”

With a double-digit lead atop the West Division, the Spitfires, who are ranked No. 7 in the Canadian Hockey League, improved to 21-6-2-1 on the season for 45 points.

“Obviously, we look at that and kind of laugh,” said Spitfires’ goalie Joey Costanzo, who made 24 saves for his league-leading 18th win. “We have a great group in the room and we really haven’t tried to put any numbers in our head and just play the game and that’s what it’s all about.

“We’re just feeding off the adrenaline and confidence from the start of the year and even now really just trying to pile up wins.”

The Otters took an early 1-0 lead on Thursday with a defensive breakdown by the Spitfires leading to a Pano Fimis goal.

“Three-on-three and we lost coverage,” Spitfires’ head coach Greg Walters said.

And it stayed that way until the final minute of the second period as Costanzo and Erie goalie Noah Erliden traded saves.

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“The competition’s raised when you face another great goalie,” Costanzo said.

With a faceoff deep in the Windsor zone late in the second period, the Spitfires won the draw and defenceman Anthony Cristoforo flipped it deep down the ice. 

“Cristoforo just told me, ‘I’m going to flip this, so go and get it,’” Spellacy said.

The Chicago Blackhawks prospect used his speed to split a pair of Eire defenders and beat Erliden on the glove side to tie the game at 1-1 after 40 minutes.

“One goal felt like nothing,” Spellacy said of the early deficit. “We just looked in the mirror and said we have to be better. It was actually a little frustrating, but it’s a good group of guys and we were able to reset.”

After splitting up Liam Greentree and Ilya Protas to start the game, Walters put the duo back together and the duo combined for the game-winning goal.

Protas dropped a pass to Greentree, who used a quick release to give Windsor a 2-1 lead midway through the third period.

Spellacy added his second and Greentree followed again, into an empty Erie net, for his 20th of the season with Protas drawing another assist.

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“They’re a real fit together,” Walters said. “Pro and Greenie are our top offensive guys. Sometimes we just want to break them up and see if we can create some offence from different sorts of ways. But, in a close game, we’re always able to go back to them because we know how good they are together.” 

Spitfires’ rookie J.C. Lemieux finished the scoring with just 14 seconds to play as the club is now set to face Western Conference-leading London Knights in a home-and home series. The Spitfires are in London Friday at 7:05 p.m. with the Knights set to play in Windsor on Saturday with a 7:05 p.m. start at the WFCU Centre.

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Game Summary

Thursday Result

Spitfires 5 Otters 1

Erie 1 0 0 – 1

Windsor 0 1 4 – 5

First period: 1. Erie, Fimis 11 (Alfano, Spence) 2:17. Penalty: D’Alessio E (high sticking) 7:00. 

Second period: 2. Windsor, Spellacy 9 (Cristoforo, Abraham) 19:21. Penalties: Sauder E (holding) :26, Gaymes W (delay of game) 12:16.

Third period: 3. Windsor, Greentree 19 (Protas) 10:13, 4. Windsor, Spellacy 10 (Morneau, Cristoforo) 16:06, 5. Windsor, Greentree 20 (Walton, Protas) 19:06 (en), 6. Windsor, Lemieux 5 (Garden, Manzo) 19:46. Penalties: Frasca E (slashing) 6:15, Holemego E (roughing), Nesbitt W (roughing) 8:18, Eichler W (cross checking) 11:16.

Game stats – SOG – Erie 8 11 6 – 25 Windsor 7 15 16 – 38 Goal (shots-saves) – Erie: Erliden (L,13-5-3-1) (37-33). Windsor: Costanzo (W,18-4-1-1) (25-24). Power play (goals-chances) – Erie 0-2. Windsor 0-3. Referees: Nicholas Bet and Alex Ross. Linesmen: Will Lamoureux and Phil Nadeau. Att.: 4,518 at the WFCU Centre.

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