U16 Spits are ascending
Home ice has been nice for the Windsor Under 16 Jr. Spitfires over the past three games. The U16 Jr. Spitfires improved their record to 3-5-2 in the Minor Hockey Alliance of Ontario standings on Friday with a 7-4 victory over the Elgin-Middlesex Canucks.
Windsor is now 2-0-1 over its past three games, all at home.
Roman Shtefan and Kingston Smith paced the U16 Jr. Spitfires with two goals apiece in the high scoring win over Elgin-Middlesex, which now has a record of 5-3-2. Carter Trudell, Alex Smith and Lucas Guevremont also found range for Windsor.
Shtefan now has nine goals on the season and Trudell has seven — and they are tied for the team scoring lead with 15 points apiece.
Trudell, who plays with an edge, is among the 2010 birth year players in Alliance Hockey who are being talked about in positive terms by more than one Ontario Hockey League scout ahead of the 2026 OHL priority selections draft. (His dad, Brett Trudell, played in the OHL from 2000 to 2005, suiting up for the Soo Greyhounds, Guelph Storm and Oshawa Generals as a good size forward with skill and scoring ability. He was part of an OHL championship team with Guelph in 2004.)
Meanwhile, as for the triumph over Elgin-Middlesex and the team’s improved play as a whole over the past three games, U16 Jr. Spitfires head coach Matt Zuccato told Hockey News Windsor that “we are finally making some progress at home. Home cooking helps. We hope to build off this. We still have a couple of guys out of the lineup but our (2011 birth year) call ups made a big impact in the win over Elgin-Middlesex.”
Up next for the U16 Jr. Spitfires is the Western Michigan Showcase Tournament that is slated for November 14-16.