Windsor crushes Brandon in Memorial Cup Opener 9-3

Windsor is looking primed and willing that a 2nd straight Memorial Cup Title is in their reach after a 9 goal outburst in this year's Tournament Opener. All the usual weapons were on hand for the Spitfires with Taylor Hall, Adam Henrique and Scott Timmins each scoring twice in the victory.

Goals also came from Kenny Ryan, Zack Kassian and Dale Mitchell as well. In addition to the win as well saw Philipp Gruaber who's having a monster playoff run with 30 saves in the game to keep the Wheat Kings far and away from impressing the huge crowd of nearly 5400 quiet and stunned in the opener.

The only time that Brandon was able to comeback and fire some of their own was in garbage time Matt Calvert, Jay Fehr and Aaron Lewadniuk who scored late in the 2nd and the 3rd.

Goaltending wise it was a very rough day for the Wheat Kings as the goaltending duo split the time and nothing could help them out. Jacob De Serres gave up 4 goals on shots while Andrew Hayes gave up 5 in the first period which included 4 in the first 5 minutes.

Up next for Windsor is the Calgary Hitmen on Monday Night while the Brandon Wheat Kings will need to comeback for Sunday's Game against the Moncton Wildcats.


From the Memorial Cup Website: www.mastercardmemorialcup.com

From Brandon, Manitoba: The Windsor Spitfires scored four unanswered goals in the first five minutes of play to open the 2010 Mastercard Memorial Cup, defeating the Brandon Wheat Kings 9-3 in front of a crowd of 5381 at the Westman Place inside the Keystone Center.

Although the Wheat Kings made their presence felt in the opening minute of the game with several bone crunching hits, the Spitfires put the game out of reach early as Kenny Ryan, Scott Timmins, Adam Henrique and Taylor Hall all recorded markers within the first 5 minutes of play. Taylor Hall scored his second goal of the night at 18:23, putting Windsor up 5-0 after the first twenty minutes.

Wheat Kings Head Coach Kelly Mccrimmon gave the nod to back up goaltender Jacob De Serres in the 2nd period. But that changed little to disrupt the Spitfires who registered their sixth goal of the game at 1:15 courtesy of Adam Henrique.

Scott Timmins and Dale Mitchell added markers before the Wheat Kings finally got on the board thanks to winger Adam Lewadniuk. Unfortunately for the hometown Wheaties, Zach Kassian scored a late one to put the Spitfires up 9-1 late in the 2nd period.

Goal Scorers in the third period included Matt Calvert and Jay Fehr.

Philipp Gruaber made 30 saves to earn the win goal for the Spitfires.

Adam Henrique was named the game's first star, with Spitfires defensemen Mark Cundari named the games 2nd star, and Hall was named the Third Star of the Game.

The Wheat Kings commemorative jersey in honor of the Canadian Military. The jerseys are currently available for bid at www.mastercardmemorialcup.com

Game 2 of the 2010 Mastercard Memorial Cup hits the airwaves of Rogers SportsNet and RDS tomorrow at 2:00 PM CT as the WHL Champion Calgary Hitmen will play the QMJHL Champion Moncton Wildcats

The Game can also been seen live on www.sportsnet.ca and on the NHL Network on the USA.


Round Robin Record: Windsor is 1-0-0 Brandon is 0-0-1

Game Boxscore

Windsor Spitfires 9 Brandon Wheat Kings 3 (5-0, 4-1, 0-2)

1-0 WSR: Kenny Ryan (Kassian, Nemisz) 2:01 1st

2-0 WSR: Scott Timmins (Mitchell) 3:25 1st

3-0 WSR: Adam Henrique (Cundari) 4:27 1st

4-0 WSR: Taylor Hall (Cundari, Henrique) 4:45 1st

5-0 WSR: Taylor Hall (PP) (Fowler, Shugg) 18:23 1st

6-0 WSR: Adam Henrique (Shugg) 1:15 2nd

7-0 WSR: Scott Timmins (Wellwood, Cantin) 14:49 2nd

7-1 BRN: Aaron Lewadniuk (Rajala) 14:57 2nd

8-1 WSR: Zach Kassian (PP) (Nemisz, Mitchell) 16:21 2nd

9-1 WSR: Greg Nemisz (Mitchell)

9-2 BRN: Matt Calvert (Schenn, Glennie) 0:35 3rd

9-3 BRN: Jay Fehr (Lewadniuk, Rajala) 13:28 3rd


Game Stats

SOG: WSR 44 BRN 33

PP: WSR 2/5 BRN 0/3

PIM: WSR 13 Minutes on 5 Penalties BRN 17 Minutes on 7 Penalties

Goalies: WSR Philipp Grubauer 30 SVS on 33 Shots BRN Jacob De Serres 16 SVS on 20 Shots Andrew Hayes 18 SVS on 23 Shots

ATT: 5381

3rd Star: Taylor Hall (WSR)

2nd Star: Mark Cundari (WSR)

1st Star: Adam Henrique (WSR)


Tournament Round Robin Standings after Day 1

1. Windsor 1-0-0 2 PTS 9-3

2. Calgary 0-0-0 0 PTS 0-0

3. Moncton 0-0-0 0 PTS 0-0

4. Brandon 0-0-1 0 PTS 3-9


Tournament Schedule

5/14: Windsor Spitfires 9 Brandon Wheat Kings 3 (5-0, 4-1, 0-2)
www.leaguestat.com/chl/memcup/en/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=107

5/15: Calgary Hitmen VS. Moncton Wildcats 2:00 PM

5/16: Brandon Wheat Kings VS. Moncton Wildcats 2:00 PM

5/17: Calgary Hitmen VS. Windsor Spitfires 7:00 PM

5/18: Moncton Wildcats VS. Windsor Spitfires 7:00 PM

5/19: Brandon Wheat Kings VS. Calgary Hitmen 7:00 PM

5/20: Tie Breaker (If Necessary) 7:00 PM

5/21: Semifinal: #2 Seed VS. #3 Seed 7:00 PM

5/23: Championship: #1 Seed VS. SF Winner 2:00 PM