Spitfires rule OHL West
Windsor Spitfires are sitting comfortably in the cockpit atop the West Division standings of the Ontario Hockey League. As for the other four teams of the Wild West, only four points separate the Saginaw Spirit, Flint Firebirds, Soo Greyhounds and Sarnia Sting.
With the OHL at the Christmas holiday break, Windsor has 49 points from a record of 23-7-3 and, led by the likes of goalie Joey Costanzo, defenseman Anthony Cristoforo and forwards Liam Greentree and Ilya Protas, is well ahead of the rest of the West.
Saginaw Spirit (16-16-1) has 33 points, followed by the Flint Firebirds (15-15-2) with 32, the Soo Greyhounds (15-18-0) with 30 and the Sarnia Sting (11-18-7) with 29 — representing an air tight race for positioning.
Notably, all five West Division teams are currently in possession of playoff spots within the 10 member Western Conference.
ICE CHIPS: Players from teams in the West Division are among the league leaders in a number of areas. Saginaw forward Michael Misa leads the OHL in goals with 30 and points with 61. Liam Greentree of Windsor is fifth in league scoring with 52 points. Joey Costanzo of Windsor leads all OHL goalies with 20 wins while Nathan Day of Flint is tied for fourth with 14. As far as save percentage, Windsor’s Costanzo is third with a .915 mark while Charlie Schenkel of the Soo is fifth with a .912 … Edmonton Oilers of the National Hockey League have signed Flint forward Connor Clattenburg to a three year entry level contract … The Firebirds went into the holiday break with four straight wins while the Spitfires have been flying high with a 7-2-1 record over their last 10 outings … First year Spitfires head coach Greg Walters is heading towards a fifth straight winning season. Through four full OHL seasons as a head coach — two with the Oshawa Generals and two with the Owen Sound Attack — Walters has never had a losing record …