Spitfires to Play Firebirds in Western Conference Final After Eliminating Kitchener Rangers
The Windsor Spitfires will play the Flint Firebirds in the Ontario Hockey League Western Conference Final that opens this Saturday, May 21, at the WFCU Centre.
The Spitfires advanced to take on their cross-border rivals after eliminating the Kitchener Rangers in five games in the OHL’s Western Conference semi-final series. The Spitfires, the number one seeded team in the West, won the last three games of the series against Kitchener to take out the feisty but overmatched Rangers.
Despite losing in five games to the Spitfires, it was still a productive spring for the Rangers. The number- seven-seeded blueshirts knocked off the London Knights, the number two-seeded team in the Western Conference in overtime in game seven in the series before taking on the Spitfires.
After losing at home in game two to Kitchener, Windsor responded with back-to-back victories at the Memorial Auditorium in Kitchener before returning home to eliminate the Rangers in a 3-2 win last Saturday.
In the series-deciding fifth game of the series against the Rangers, Matthew Sop and Ty Hollett scored in the first period for the Rangers (1-4) to give the visitors a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. The Spitfires (4-1) got back to even terms in the second frame on goals by defencemen Louka Henault and Michael Renwick before fellow rearguard Andrew Perrot scored what turned out to be the game-winning goal midway through the third period.
Matt Onuska made 30 saves to pick up the win in net for the Spitfires whil Pavel Cajan made 40 stops for the Rangers at the other end of the ice.
Among the numerous highlights for the Spitfires in the series against the Rangers was the play of both centre Wyatt Johnston and Onuska. Johnston, who won the OHL scoring title during the 2021-2022 OHL regular season, scored six goals and added 10 assists in the five games against the Rangers while Onuska, who has played all 11 post-season games for the Spitfires this spring, had a 1.64 goals against average (GAA) and a save percentage of .923 in the second round games.
The Western Conference championship series against Flint opens with games one and two at the WFCU Centre on Saturday (May 21) and Monday (May 23) before the series shifts to the Dort Financial Center for games three and four on May 25 (Wednesday) and May 27 (Friday) Opening face-off for all games is 7:05 pm.