Hounds, Spitfires stay hot
Soo Greyhounds and Windsor Spitfires both returned from the Ontario Hockey League’s Christmas holiday recess on Thursday and picked up where they left off with impressive road victories.
• The Greyhounds went into Saginaw and cuffed the 2024 Memorial Cup hosts by a 5-2 score to move to within a single point of the first place Kitchener Rangers among the 10 teams of the Western Conference. The second seed Hounds, who have a 7-0-1 record in their last eight outings, now have 49 points from an overall mark of 23-8-3. Up next for the Hounds are a pair of home games this weekend with the Sudbury Wolves in the Soo on Saturday night and the Spirit of Saginaw heading north on Sunday afternoon.
• The Spitfires skated into Mississauga and soared past the Central Division leading Steelheads by a 5-3 margin. Windsor now has a 7-4-0 record under interim head coach Casey Torres. Torres took over as the Spitfires bench boss after Jerrod Smith was fired after a 4-16-1 start to the season. The Spitfires now have a record of 11-20-1 and are still in last place in the Western Conference but have moved to within six points of the Flint Firebirds, who hold the eighth and final playoff spot. Windsor plays at Saginaw on Saturday night before returning home to play the ninth place Sarnia Sting on Sunday afternoon.