Windsor Spitfires win the first game of the 2024-25 OHL season against the defending Memorial Cup Champions Saginaw Spirit
The 2024-25 OHL season began in exciting fashion, with the 2024 Memorial Cup Champion Saginaw Spirit taking on the Windsor Spitfires.
Before the game started, Saginaw held a ceremony and raised their Memorial Cup Championship banner to the rafters of the Dow Event Center in front of 5,000 fans in attendance.
It was a memorable night not just for Spirit fans and the organization, but for those making their OHL debuts. No debut was bigger than Windsor's first overall pick Ethan Belchetz, who displayed his playmaking when he set up defenseman Anthony Cristoforo for a pretty tap-in goal in the second period.
The Spitfires quieted the crowd two minutes into the game when Spitfires overage forward Noah Morneau pounced on a rebound to put the away team up 1-0, marking the first goal of the OHL season.
However, it didn't take long for Saginaw to respond, and who else other than the man who will have all eyes on him as he enters his NHL draft year, Michael Misa.
Misa scored two goals within 1:17 of each other and had the crowd cheering for the first time since Josh Bloom scored the Memorial Cup game-winner with 22 seconds left on the clock.
The intensity level of the game started to rise and tempers rose after the whistle. Clearly, these young men were itching for the season to start and junior hockey was back on.
Windsor's Cole Davis tapped in a rebound at the far post on the power play, leveling the game at 2-2 going into the second period.
In the second frame, on another Spitfires powerplay, the puck rolled to Ryan Abraham at the top of the faceoff circle and blasted his shot through traffic to put his team up by one. Registering his first career OHL point on the goal was the Jack Ferguson Award winner, Ethan Belchetz.
Saginaw's veteran defenseman Will Bishop responded with a seeing-eye shot from the point of his own just 28 seconds after Abraham scored.
With the game tied up at three and Windsor heading to yet again another powerplay, Ethan Belchetz curls towards the boards after a won faceoff by Abraham, spots Anthony Cristoforo pinching towards the back post, and lays a perfect pass onto the tape for his defenseman to tap in and give Windsor a 4-3 lead heading into the final frame.
The home team was down by one with 20 minutes remaining to the team that finished second-last in the previous year. They needed a push and they got it from 2007-born winger Jacob Cloutier.
This was Cloutier's second career OHL goal. Interestingly enough, his first OHL goal was the game-winner in Saginaw's home opener last year against Sarnia.
After being outshot 32-17 in the first two periods, the Spirit came on strong in the third, outshooting Windsor 16-10. Spitfires goaltender Joey Costanzo came up with a few big saves to keep his team in it and get the game to overtime.
In the five-minute overtime period, Jack Nesbitt, who had been Windsor's best player all night, worked hard to steal the puck on the forecheck and set up Tnias Mathurin. Although Mathurin couldn't score on the backhand, his shot created a rebound that Nesbitt put into the open net, securing the Windsor Spitfires' first win of the OHL season.
Game Notes:
-Michael Misa starts his quest to being a top 10 pick in the 2025 NHL Entry Draft with two goals, six shots, and was 19-for-30 on the draw.
-Another 2025 NHL draft-eligible, Jacob Cloutier, was impactful in his opening game with one goal and an assist.
-Saginaw defenseman James Guo carried over his strong pre-season with two assists.
-Windsor defenseman Anthony Cristoforo had a game-high three points and also was on the receiving end of a lot of blocked shots.
-2025 NHL draft-eligible Jack Nesbitt had a game-high seven shots and two points.
-2024 First overall pick Ethan Belchetz recorded two assists and six shots in his OHL debut.
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