Articles by Bob Duff & Jim Parker

The Spitfires came to the MasterCard Memorial Cup with high hopes, but quickly found themselves on the defensive. With a week off after wrapping up the Ontario Hockey League title, the Spitfires opened the tournament against the Drummondville Voltigeurs, champions of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League.

Never looking confident on the ice, the Spitfires twice let a one goal lead slip away and lost 3-2 in overtime before 4,559 at the Colisee de Rimouski.

Third-year centre Adam Henrique would be the offensive catalyst for the Spitfires and scored both goals. His power-play marker with two-tenths of a second left in the second period opened the scoring. Drummondville’s Gabriel Dumont would tie it in the third period just as a Voltigeurs power play had finished. Henrique would redirect a Cundari shot to put Windsor up with less than eight minutes left in regulation, but the Spitfires could not nurse the lead to the finish as Windsor’s overall play was too tentative.

"That first 10 minutes of the (third period) we spent in our end," Spitfires coach Bob Boughner said. "That’s when you have to pour the gas on a team. We gave them a little life." A turnover would lead to the tying goal as Phillippe Lefebvre took a quick pass from Patrik Prokop on a neutral zone turnover. He stepped over the blueline and beat Windsor goalie Andrew Engelage to force overtime.

"We had too many turnovers in the neutral zone," Henrique said. The Spitfires, who boasted a 5-1 record in overtime during the OHL playoffs, would find no luck in this extra session. "We just didn’t play good enough," Spitfires second-year defenceman Ryan Ellis said. "We weren’t sure what to expect and maybe we were a little nervous."

Maxime Frenette grabbed a loose puck off a scramble and lifted it home 8:56 into overtime.

"We were a little off our game," Henrique said. "We have to come out more physical and play with more energy."