For many members of the Windsor Spitfires, it was a long time coming.

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It was a long time for many members of Windsor Struggle.

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Despite the club’s regular season success, 17 of the 20 players dressed up for Windsor on Thursday never won a playoff game, despite a total of 1,800 league experience.

“Sometimes, that’s it,” said Captain Liam Greentree, Spitfires. “Obviously, my first year (first round sweep) was not ideal, and last year (absent from the playoffs) was just a tough year.”

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However, on Thursday, the stat was quickly put into the rearview mirror, and the club beat Sault Ste with a 7-2 title. Marie is in front of a greyhound in the WFCU center.

“Obviously, it’s been a long time, and that makes it even sweeter,” Greentree said.

The second seed Spitfires led seventh-seeded Greyhounds 1-0 to seven Western Conference quarter-finals series. Game 2 of the series is Saturday at 7:05 pm at the WFCU Center.

“It feels really good,” said Spitfires’s over-project forward Noah Morneau. “A lot of people here have never won a game in the playoffs, and that’s a lot of confidence.”

Spitfires made progress early in the game’s first five shots and took a two-goal lead with less than four minutes of defensive Carson Woodall and forward Cole Davis, which forced Greyhounds to call timeout.

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“We know exactly what Scotland is all about,” said Spitfires head coach Greg Walters. “I think our guys compete very hard, we match their bodies, we are disciplined, our best players are our best players.”

When Greentree scored 37 seconds in just 37 seconds in the second stage, Spitfires seemed ready to run away. However, Travis Hayes scored 16 seconds after a strong goal from Greentree and Owen Allard, with more than 6 minutes left in the second quarter, the Greyhounds were within 3-2.

Greentree said it could be some experience with the first round of playoff spots in 2023 that may have helped some players who are still on the team.

“It was a tough series and I think the biggest thing that happened that year was that when we came down we were too much with ourselves,” Greentree. “It’s a big deal for us to stay calm and collect.”

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Before the end of this period, Morneau regained Windsor’s two-goal lead as he buried his rebound in the shooting, which gave Windsor a 4-2 rise with 66 seconds left in the interim.

“This goal is huge for us,” Grintry said. “(Morneau) on the board is huge for us. You can’t be too comfortable with the two senior leads, but we took it and ran away.”

The Fierce Man shot 37-16 from the field in the third stage. Morneau scored second, Greentree added the second goal to an empty net, and then Luke McNamara scored.

While 11 different players scored at least a little bit in the win, Windsor’s three-man trio, Moreno, Grinterry and Ilia Prota dealt the damage.

Greentree had two goals and two assists, while Protas had four assists as the trio had four goals and 10 points.

“That’s one of the top games we’re going to play in the playoffs,” Greenentree said. “I think we broke their spirit very early and we have to come out (in Game 2) to do the same thing.”

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jpparker@postmedia.com

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Game Summary

Thursday’s results

Spitfires 7 Greyhounds 2

Sault Star. Mary 0 2 0-2

Windsor 2 2 3 – 7

Issue 1: 1. Windsor, Woodall 1 (Cristoforo, Protas) 2:08, 2. Windsor, Davis 1 (Spelacy, Garden, Garden) 3:34. punish: Carlisle S (Ballet) 18:07.

Phase 2: 3. Windsor, GreenTree 1 (original): 37, 4. Sault Ste. Mary, Hayes 1 (Martin, Smith, Martin): 53, 5. Sault Ste. Marie, Allard 1 (Nordh, Reid) 13:54 (pp), 6. Windsor, Morneau 1 (Protas, Greentree) 18:54 (pp). Punishment: NESBITT W (trip) 1:00, Evans S (rough) 9:03, Cristoforo W (match delay) 13:08, Davis W (rough) 15:22, Charron S (Charron S (rough), Smith S (double small rough), Hicks W (Roughing) W (Roughing), Nesbitt S (nesbitt S (rough) S (rough) 18:07.

Stage 3: 7. Windsor, Moreno 2 (Protas, Greenree) 9:50, 8. Windsor, Green 2 (helpless) 14:12 (EN), 9. Windsor, McNamara 1 (Nesbitt, Abraham, Abraham) 14:28. Punishment: Martin (Tripping), Cristoforo W (Behavior of Non-motion) 1:41, Spellacy W (Head Check) 5:40, Gillen S (High Viscosity) 19:20 19:20, BR Smith S (Rough), Garden W (Rough) W (Rough) 19:32.

Game Statistics – SOG – Sault Ste. Mary 4 5 7 – 16 Windsor 12 10 15 – 37 Target (lens) – Sault Ste. Mary: Laronde (L, 0-1-0) (36-30). Windsor: Costanzo (W, 1-0-0) (16-14). Powerful match (goal chance) – Sault Ste. Mary 1-4. Windsor 1-4. referee: Mike Cairns and Pat Myers. Informer: Dustin McCrank and Geoff Rutherford. arrive. : WFCU Center 4,586.

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