Garret Hughson made an impressive debut with not only the Windsor Spitfires but also the OHL, shutting out the Flint Firebirds 3-0 before 4,378 at the WFCU Centre.
Hughson turned away all of the 28 shots Flint threw at him while Daniel Vertiy scored twice in Windsor's first shutout of the season. Hughson gave all of the credit to his teammates.
"It was a good game, the team played great in front of me and kept chances to the outside for the most part," said Hughson, a native of Foremost, Alberta. "I think as the game went on we got stronger and stronger and played a good team effort."
Hughson played for portions of four seasons with the Western Hockey League's Spokane Chiefs, playing a total 105 games. He compiled a 2.80 goals against average with 23 wins last season. Hughson was waived by the Chiefs earlier this season and was picked up by the Niagara IceDogs, who traded him to Windsor last week for a draft pick.
Spitfires Head Coach Rocky Thompson praised his rookie goaltender.
"Hughie was just great the whole time," said Thompson. "He played well, he held us in early and then he cemented it late so it was good. It was a really nice win."
The first goal came in what would become a penalty-free first period. Vertiy scored for the first time just into the third minute of the game. There was no scoring in the second period, but the Spitfires killed off two Flint power plays while going 0-for-3 on the extra-man advantage themselves in that period.
Windsor would break it open in the third period with Mikhail Sergachev's third goal of the season halfway through the period. Vertiy's second goal of the night came at 13:04 into the third. He credits a lot of offseason conditioning for keeping him focused this season.
"Obviously I worked hard in the summertime," said Vertiy. "I didn't have goals the first 10 games and Coach (Thompson) just kept telling me, 'Don't worry about it, it'll come.'"
With the win, the Spitfires maintain a four point lead over the Sarnia Sting in the OHL West Division. The team travels to London Friday night before returning home on Saturday for a Halloween matinee against the Guelph Storm.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfWIIo0N5WU
(Video highlights courtesy TVCogeco Windsor YouTube)