The stellar play of third-year defenceman Anthony Cristofaro was one of the many reasons that the Windsor Spitfires improved so dramatically in the 2024-2025 Ontario Hockey League season as the team finished in first place in the OHL’s West Division after finishing with the worst record in the league the season before.
The 19-year old rearguard from Woodbridge, Ontario, who was the Spits’ first round pick, 20th overall, in the 2022 OHL Priority Selection finished the recently-concluded OHL regular season with 12 goals and 49 assists in 65 games enroute to finishing as a plus 53. Those lofty statistics were a marked improvement over his previous campaign with the Spitfires when he had seven goals and 31 assists in 67 games while finishing as a minus 56.
After notching one assist in the Spits’ first two OHL quarter-final games against the Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds, Cristofaro missed game three in the Soo with an upper body injury.
In Play! Magazine: What is your reaction to the recently-concluded 2024-2025 regular season the Spitfires just had?
Anthony Cristofaro: Obviously there was only one direction for our team to head after last season and that was up. I think it is great that we finished in first place in the West Division in the regular season because I don’t think that a lot of people thought that we could improve that much in just one season but in training camp we realized that we had a special group of players and we were capable of accomplishing a lot.
In Play! Magazine: How do you feel about your own personal regular season that you just had?
Anthony Cristofaro: We had a long off-season so that gave me a lot of time to work on my overall game. I had to work on improving both my offensive and defensive game and also on my shooting and skating too. There’s always room for improvement in everyone’s game and you should never stop trying to get better. I had a great summer of training last year and I’m happy how that helped me have a better regular season as a result.
In Play! Magazine: You attended the rookie camp of the Ottawa Senators last fall. How did that go?
Anthony Cristofaro: It was a great experience to be playing and working out in an NHL rink (Canadian Tire Centre). I learned a lot by listening to everyone – the coaches, trainers and players and I think I brought the knowledge that I learned there back to me in Windsor this season.
In Play! Magazine: What’s been your role on the Spitfires this season?
Anthony Cristofaro: I’m honoured that the coaches trust me to play in every single game situation and I play on the first powerplay and penalty killing units in addition to my regular shift. I get to play a lot of minutes and I’m out there whether we’re up by goal or down by a goal. I like to contribute offensively and play hard defensively.
In Play! Magazine: Who was your defence partner this season?
Anthony Cristofaro: I played most of the regular season with Tnias Mathurin and it was great because he is so skilled and experienced and has been around the league so long (Mathurin is an overager who just completed his fourth season in the OHL although he has been out of action for weeks due to an upper body injury and his return status in the play-offs is questionable) and I could ask him any question about improving my play.
Recently I have been playing with Wyatt Kennedy (acquired in a trade on January 9) and he has been awesome too because of his experience from having gone to the last three Eastern Conference finals with the North Bay Battalion.
In Play! Magazine: Maple Leaf Wrestling superstar PCO- the French Canadian Frankenstein – recently butchered your name while he was calling out the starting roster in the Spits’ dressing room before the regular season game against the Greyhounds. While you were seen laughing heartily, did you ever consider calling him out and kicking his butt?
Anthony Cristofaro: (Laughs) Not a chance! I did tell him, though, that I’ve had my last name mispronounced many times over the years and that was the first time I’ve ever heard it pronounced that way. So no, I wasn’t about to take him on! (laughs)