The Windsor Spitfires are looking forward to a little practice time.

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The Windsor Spitfires are looking forward to a little practice time.

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Friday’s OHL trade deadline watched defenceman Adrian Manzo and forward Ethan Martin traded away.

“It was emotional for our guys,” Spitfires’ head coach Greg Walters said of the deadline. “It’s a very close team and losing Manzo and Martin was tough on the guys.”

Newcomers Wyatt Kennedy and Luke McNamara made their Windsor debut in Friday’s 5-1 loss in London to the Knights. The other new addition, rookie forward Shawn Costello, got into the action on Saturday in an 8-6 road win over the Firebirds before 3,173 at the Dort Financial Centre.

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“I was really excited to play with them and I thought the game was great,” said the 17-year-old Costello, who was acquired form Oshawa with two draft picks for Martin. “You know, coming in as a new guy and not knowing the team is hard, but once I got to Windsor it felt like a family. I’m ready to take the opportunity and run with it.”

After Ryan Abraham opened the scoring for Windsor, Costello picked up his first point with a nice feed to set up Carson Woodall to make it 2-0 for the Spitfires.

Costello’s night ended in the second period after he and Flint’s Max Anderson were given game misconducts for fighting prior to the puck being dropped.

“Even before his fight, that line got us a big goal with (Ethan) Garden and (Nathan) Gaymes and he was doing little things and fell right into our structure,” Walters said.

Not long after Costello’s fight, McNamara, who came over from Kingston, also got into his first fight since joining the club.

“All three guys bought right in and have been very effective,” Walters said. “Wyatt Kennedy’s a perfect fit for our team. Big, unbelievable kid, good stick, defends well, physical and moves the puck well. Mac’s skilled, a big kid, skates extremely well and I think there’s a lot there.

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But while the newcomers have shown promise, Saturday’s game was still a wild ride for the Spitfires, who built a five-goal lead only to see the Firebirds rally to make it a one-goal game twice in the third period.

“We played extremely well for 50 minutes in London and played well (Saturday),” Walters said. “We made some mistakes there, but for the most part I loved the way we played.”

However, Gaymes was given a game misconduct and likely faces a suspension for a kneeing major on Flint’s Christopher Thibodeau in the second period. Later in the period, Thibodeau collided with Cole Davis. No penalty was called, but Davis had to be helped from the ice favouring his right leg. Walters was not sure of the severity of the injury, but expects Davis to miss time.

“Definitely a physical game,” Costello said.

Anthony Cristoforo and Ilya Protas stretched Windsor’s lead to 4-0 before Nathan Aspinall got Flint on the board.

Kennedy, who came over from North Bay for Manzo and draft choices, picked up his first point with the Spitfires with an assist on Noah Morneau’s goal to make it 5-1 and Liam Greentree’s 30th of the season put the Spitfires up by five goals late in the second period.

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“I felt good and was able to adjust to the new systems fairly quickly,” Kennedy said. “The guys were also all very welcoming and made it easy for me to jump into both games with confidence.

“It’s a really exciting group to be a part of and I hope I can continue to contribute in any way possible.”

Flint’s Matthew Mania, Hayden Reid and Evan Konyen scored to make it a 6-5 game midway through the third period. Protas restored Windsor’s two-goal lead only to see Aspinall make it a one-goal game just 32 seconds later.

With Flint’s goalie on the bench for an extra attacker, Protas, who had five points in the game, completed his second hat-trick of the season with an empty-net goal to help Windsor to its ninth win in the last 10 games.

“It was very exciting to get the win, (but) it will definitely be nice to have some practice time to hone in on the little details within the team’s systems,” Kennedy said.

After four games on the road, the Spitfires return home to face the Sudbury Wolves on Thursday. Game time at the WFCU Centre is 7:05 p.m.

jpparker@postmedia.com

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Game Summary

Saturday Result

Spitfires 8 Firebirds 6

Windsor 4 2 2 – 8

Flint 1 1 4 – 6

First period: 1. Windsor, Abraham 15 (Walton, Davis) 6:00, 2. Windsor, Woodall 3 (Costello, Gaymes) 6:53, 3. Windsor, Cristoforo 8 (Protas, Greentree) 8:40 (pp), 4. Windsor, Protas 27 (Belchetz, Greentree) 17:07, 5. Flint, Aspinall 10 (Mania, Kostov) 19:03 (pp). Penalties: Spellacy W (roughing), McCue F (roughing) Pitre F (cross checking) 7:39, Cristoforo W (tripping) 11:48, Kennedy W (tripping) 17:30.

Second period: 6. Windsor, Morneau 14 (Garden, Kennedy) 14:55, 7. Windsor, Greentree 30 (Protas) 16:11, 8. Flint, Frolov 2 (Flugins) 16:50. Penalties: Gaymes W (kneeing major, game misconduct) 4:04, Protas W (roughing), D’Arcy F (roughing) 7:20, Costello W (too many men) 10:57, Costello W (fighting, game misconduct), Anderson F (fighting, game misconduct) 14:17, McNamara W (slashing), Kostov F (slashing) 14:55, Belchetz W (tripping), McNamara W (fighting), Kostov F (fighting) 17:02, McCue F (misconduct) 18:31.

Third period: 9. Flint, Mania 4 (Aspinall, Smith) 6:34, 10. Flint, Reid 5 (Konyen, Martin) 7:32, 11. Flint, Konyen 10 (Kostov, Mania) 9:48, 12. Windsor, Protas 28 (unassisted) 16:48, 13. Flint, Aspinall 11 (unassisted) 17:20, 14. Windsor, Protas 29 (unassisted) 18:38 (en). Penalties: Walton W (roughing) 4:32.

Game stats – SOG – Windsor 13 9 16 – 38 Flint 11 9 9 – 29 Goal (shots-saves) – Windsor: Costanzo (W,24-6-1-1) (29-23). Flint: Day (L,16-16-2-1) (22-16), Bender (0:00 of third period) (15-14). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 1-1. Flint 1-6. Referees: Kurtis Pare and Andrew Willmetts. Linesmen: Riley Brass and Andre Grougrou. Att.: 3,173 at the Dort Financial Centre.

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