Spitfires motor into 2025
They have been referred to by many — and rightfully so — as the surprise team of the Ontario Hockey League through the 2024 segment of this season. And while the Spitfires record of 26-7-3 was the second best in the OHL as the calendar year turned to 2025, I for one am not astounded by the winning ways of Windsor.
It was several months before the start of the ’24-25 campaign that I wrote on Hockey News Windsor — and elsewhere — that I thought the Spitfires would be a top two or three contender this OHL season. And after having a few early summer beers with Spitfires general manager Billy Bowler at a downtown Windsor watering hole, there was nothing that he said that made me want to back away from my thoughts.
Looking back, the Spitfires of ’23-24 finished 19th among the 20 teams of the OHL and missed the playoffs by a wide margin with just 44 points from a record of 18-42-8. But a number of younger Spitfires — particularly those in the 2006 birth year group and another with a 2007 birth date — showed potential aplenty in ’23-24 on a lowly Windsor outfit that wasn’t nearly as bad as its 18-42-8 record.
Add in the belief by Bowler that 2005 birth year goalie Joey Costanzo would rebound from a sub-par year in ’23-24 and be among the OHL’s best in ’24-25 — which he has — and that the overage crew of 2024 birth year skaters would step up, the Spitfires were certainly well positioned by their GM with a first class flight plan for this season.
And oh, the Spitfires 2024 OHL priority selections draft class that has yielded at least a half a dozen present and future plums — led by first overall draft pick Ethan Belchetz, a 2008 birth year man among boys and a budding OHL super star forward — has been icing on the cake. It says here that as the Spitfires of ’24-25 are a legitimate OHL contender, they could and should be even better in ’25-26.
As previously noted, it is the 2006 birth year class that has the numbers led by the likes of high end forwards Liam Greentree, Ilya Protas, Cole Davis and A.J. Spellacy, depth forward Nathan Gaymes, as well as ace defenseman Anthony Cristoforo, fellow defenders Conor Walton and Carson Woodall and backup goalie Carter Froggett.
The Spitfires are a tad light on the 2007 birth year side — they were minus second, third and fourth round picks at the 2023 OHL priority selection draft — but there is point per game first round forward Jack Nesbitt from that group. As Greentree (first round), Protas (third round) and Spellacy (third round) were all National Hockey League draft picks in 2024, look for Nesbitt to achieve that distinction in 2025.
This is a good Spitfires team, this ’24-25 club. And a lot more good is likely to come — this season and beyond with Bowler as the astute GM and journeyman Greg Walters as a winning head coach.