MC Smitty and the Spits
The 1990-1991 season was one of substantial rebound for the Windsor Spitfires. After missing the Ontario Hockey League playoffs in 1989-1990 with a record of 17-41-8, head coach Brad (Motor City Smitty) Smith and the Spitfires ascended the Emms Division ladder in ’90-91 with a 28 point improvement from a record of 33-29-4.
While Windsor general manager Wayne Maxner aided the turnaround with key additions via the trade market, it was Motor City Smitty as the quintessential “players coach” who got the most out of the Spitfires.
Quite simply, the Spitfires as a team related very well to Smith, who knew how to treat his players and extract maximum effort from them at the same time. A Windsor product, who played for his hometown OHL team before going on to become a grinding forward who toughed it out for 242 games in the National Hockey League while racking up more than 600 minutes in penalties, Smith was someone for the Spitfires of that ’90-91 season to look up to and respect.
With Motor City Smitty at the helm, the Spitfires followed their fourth place Emms Division finish from the ’90-91 regular season with a dramatic upset of the third seed — and arch rival — London Knights in the first round of the OHL playoffs.
Windsor’s opening round conquest of London in the ’91 playoffs was a see-saw series that went back and forth. The Spitfires were able to take a three games to one lead on the Knights thanks in part to a pair of overtime road victories at the old London Gardens. Undaunted, the Knights fought back with successive victories in Games 5 and 6 to force a seventh and deciding match on their home ice in London.
Defying the odds, Windsor skated into London for the Game 7 showdown and it was the Spitfires who scored yet another road victory, a decisive 5-2 decision to take down the Knights. (Windsor would lose to the top seed Niagara Falls Thunder in the second round of the playoffs but Smith as the head coach certainly put spit and fire back into the franchise.)
A number of players had an impact on that Windsor team of ’90-91. Future NHL’er — and current Guelph Storm head coach — Cory Stillman led the Spitfires in scoring with 31 goals, 70 assists, 101 points. Tyler Ertel — who is now an assistant coach with the OHL’s Soo Greyhounds — led the Spitfires in goals with 42 and and was second in scoring behind Stillman with 94 points.
All of these years later, Ertel still recalls the whack and smack that Smith as the head coach had on the Spitfires of ’90-91.
“We loved playing for Motor City Smitty, absolutely loved him,” Ertel relayed to me during a recent chat. “Smitty is someone who I looked up to back then and who I still think of as one of best coaches and best people who I have ever been around in the game of hockey.”
To be sure, Smith as the head coach and Stillman and Ertel as the scoring leaders were not the only ones who made an impact for the Spitfires that season.
Others were defenseman and future NHL’er Jason York, who rang up an amazing 93 points from his blue line post; 38-goal scorer Kevin MacKay; another future NHL’er in 36-goal scorer Todd Warriner; Jason Cirone, who had 27 goals, 23 assists, 50 points in just 23 games after being acquired in a trade with the Cornwall Royals; defensemen Mike Speer and Jason Stos, and goalie Jeff Wilson.
All in all, it was an awesome season of turnaround for Motor City Smitty and the Spitfires.
What you think about “MC Smitty and the Spits”
Comments are closed.
BRAD GREW UP WITH OUR FAMILY IN SOUTH WINDSOR, BEST FRIENDS WITH MY BROTHER JEFF, GREAT GUY, MY MOM LOVED HIM LIKE A SON.