wINDSOR Spitfires Repeat as OHL’s Western Conference regular season champs

The Windsor Spitfires captured their second straight Ontario Hockey League Western Conference regular season title in their second last game of the 2022-2023 OHL regular season.

After starting out their last week of the regular season with a 4-1 win over the Guelph Storm, the Spitfires defeated the London Knights 6-3 at the Budweiser Garden before losing by the same score to the Knights at the WFCU Centre the following night.

Shane Wright, Aidan Castle, Matt Maggio and Alex Christopoulos all scored as the Spitfires defeated the Storm at the WFCU Centre on Wednesday, March 22. Joey Costanzo made 27 saves to pick up the win while Brayden Gillespie had 32 stops for the Storm, who received their only goal from Walker Cooper.

Christopoulos scored three times while Wright, Maggio and Noah Morneau all scored as the Spitfires defeated the London Knights 6-3 at the Budweiser Gardens to claim Windsor’s second straight OHL Western Conference regular season title. George Diaco scored twice for the Knights while Easton Cowan added a single marker. Costanzo made 37 saves to pick up the win while Belle River native Brett Brochu made 12 saves for the Knights before being replaced by Zach Bowen made 10 stops in a relief effort.

Brett Harrison, Maggio and James Jodoin scored for the Spitfires, but it was enough as the London defeated Windsor by the same 6-3 the following night at the WFCU Centre. The game concluded the Spitfires regular season and had little significance that except for providing Christopoulos with an opportunity to score his 50th goal of the campaign

Cowan scored twice to pace the Knights offensively while Jackson Edward, Brody Crane, Isaiah George and Jacob Julien all scored once for London, who will enter the 2023 play-offs as the second seed in the Western Conference.

Matt Onuska made 31 saves for the Spitfires while Bowen stopped 26 pucks for the Knights.

In addition to the Spitfires’ repeating the OHL Western Conference regular season champions, the team also had the top scorer in the OHL for the second straight year. Overage left-winger and team captain Matt Maggio won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy as the OHL’s leading scorer after netting 54 goal and adding 57 assists for 111 points in 66 games. Last season Spits centre, Wyatt Johnston also won the Eddie Powers Memorial Trophy with 46 goals and 128 points in 68 games during the 2021-2022 OHL regular season. Johnston currently leads all National Hockey League rookies with 21 goals for the Dallas Stars in 2022-2023.

The number one seed in the OHL Western Conference Spitfires will play the eighth-seeded Kitchener Rangers in the opening round of the 2023 OHL play-offs. Games one is Thursday, March 30 at the WFCU Centre with game two set for Saturday, April 1. Opening face-off is set for 7:05 pm