Rookie Greentree sparks, Spitfire beats Generals to record 3rd straight loss

tomtidgewellDecember 2, 2022

Windsor Spitfires rookie forward Liam Greentree scored his second goal against Oshawa Generals goalkeeper Patrick Lieber as Callum Ritchie put the pressure on him in Thursday’s 7-2 win at the WFCU Center. decided. Photo by Dan Janis /windsor star

Rookie Liam Greentree wasted no chance.

With veterans Ryan Abraham and Thomas Johnston sidelined by injury, Windsor Spitfires head coach Mark Savard pushed the 16-year-old Greentree to the top line alongside Matthew Maggio and Jacob Mylett.

“I’ve always liked Greentree,” Savard said of the team’s second-round pick in this year’s OHL Draft. “I always liked his game.

That’s how I became successful in the NHL, and half of the guys who play in the NHL must be because of injuries. ”

The Oshawa native Greentree produced the first multi-goal game of his young junior career with two goals seven minutes before the game started. This gave the Spitfires his 7–2 victory over the Oshawa Generals and his 3,738 crowd at the WFCU Center on his third straight loss.

“I’ve played a lot with them over the last few games, and I’ve had a lot of chances and I really like it,” said the 6-foot-2, 198-pound Greentree of playing on the top line. The first few games I played there was a little bit of pressure.

Greentree redirected Bronson Ride’s point shot to put the Spitfires on the board just 88 seconds into the game. It snapped a three-game stretch in which the Spitfires conceded their first goal to the opposition within the first two minutes of the game. He then pushed the lead to his 2–0 by slamming home a cross-ice his feed from Myrett. Three goals in the last two games.

“I think it gives our group a lot of confidence to get off to such a good start,” said Spitfires center Oliver Pia, who had two assists. “We scored some[goals]early on and then we built it up.”

Colton Smith pushed the lead to 3-0, trailing Generals starting goaltender Patrick Leaver with just eight shots. Smith added a second goal in the final minute of the period against backup Carter-Bickle to make Windsor 4–0 after 20 minutes.

“I think we’ve had some good practice this week and I think we’ve shown it,” Pia said. “I think we’re just going back to basics.

“We focus a lot on everyone doing their part and not worrying about other people’s work. It was really good.”

It was a strong performance in what was the club’s seventh defeat in 11 games for the Spitfires, who held a closed meeting after their loss at Saginaw on Saturday.

“I think it’s been with everyone,” Savard said. “They had a great week of practice and actually almost got into a fistfight a few times. Everyone was digging in, so you need that. You don’t want to see your mates fight, but they really I’m spending my time and that’s great. Everyone says I’m going to work hard in practice, and that came out in the game (Thursday) and I thought I did it.”

Windsor continued to roll in the second period, scored by rookie AJ Sperathy and then scored by Mylett, who scored three points, picking up Bickle’s clearing attempt and scoring short-handed.

“Right now, when you’re going through a tough time, your thought process is ‘Oh, if only I could do a little more,’ and I think the big focus this week, along with work, is to just do your job,” says Savard. I was. “I thought if we just do our job and everyone does their job, we’ll be fine, and in our defensive zone, we’re better off for that reason. Everyone does their job.” If we had a little breakdown, we were in the right place instead of trying to do more.”

The Generals scored third-period goals from Thomas Stewart and Brett Harrison to end Matt Onuska’s shutout bid, but Alex Kristopoulos scored on Windsor’s only power play of the game, and the play ended. completed the scoring in the last minute of .

“I think it was very important to get this, but I think you have to bring it in every game.

“I think this will motivate us, but I think the next one needs to have a fresh mind. I think.”

jpparker@postmedia.com

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Game overview

thursday results

spitfire 7 generals 2

Oshawa 0 0 2 – 2

Windsor 4 2 1 – 7

Early period: 1. Windsor, Greentree 5 (Ryde, Mylett) 1:28, 2. Windsor, Greentree 6 (Mylett, Maggio) 6:10, 3. Windsor, Smith 7 (Christopoulos) 11:37, 4. Windsor, Smith 8 (Renwick, Peer) 19:02. Penalties: none.

Second period: 5. Windsor, Spearacy 4 (Cristoforo) 10:09, 6. Windsor, Mylett 9 (unaided) 15:57 (sh). Penalties: Sobolev W (stumbling) 1:35, Renwick W (slashing) 12:12, Peer W (stumbling) 15:24.

Third period: 7. Oshawa, Stewart 3 (Butler, Danford) 7:39, 8. Oshawa, Harrison 10 (Ritchie) 15:19, 9. Windsor, Christopoulos 17 (Smith, Peer) 19:36 (pp). Penalties: O’Flaherty W (stumbling) 2:38, Sennecke O (slashing), Sobolev W (slashing) 5:38, McIntyre O (stumbling) 18:22.

Game Statistics – SOG – Oshawa 10 9 9 – 28 Windsor 11 8 11 – 30 Goal (shot save) – Oshawa: Lieber (L,6-10-1-1) (8-5), Bickle (11:37 of first period) (22-18). Windsor: Onuska (W, 9-4-3-0) (28-26). Power Play (Goal Chance) – Oshawa 0-4. Windsor 1-1. referee: Chris Ferreira (14) and Ryan Jenken (36). line judge: Kyle Flood (66) and Jordan Hartubies (57). attribute: 3,738 at the WFCU Center.

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