Windsor’s media rally cry
Whether the Windsor Spitfires can rally back from a 3-0 series deficit against Kitchener is in the hands of the hockey gods.
What you can kind of take to the bank is the media reaction will have the same reflexive fallback. It's not so much as a dig at anyone, just a comment on the dance the media has to do when it is 3-0 in a series and you're afraid of losing the audience.
Step 1. Point out past instances where the same loose collection of individuals wearing the same uniform found their way out of a sticky situation. Presume it's relevant to the current season.
The Spitfires know how good they are and where they've been.
Anyone who saw Dale Mitchell score three times in the third period of a tiebreaker in Rimouski last spring to rescue the Spitfires from the Cup brink witnessed the tenacity in its top players.
Step 2. Seek out a player who has experience in these matters for comment.
"Two years ago, Spitfires defenceman Marc Cantin and forward Stephen Johnston were part of the Belleville Bulls team that rallied from a 3-0 deficit against Kitchener in the OHL final before losing in Game 7.
"We were down three games to Kitchener," Cantin recalled. "The team they had that year was unbelievable and our Belleville team that year was not even close to being as skilled as we are now. We battled back, but unfortunately, in Game 7, we lost."
It’s a tale that Cantin has shared with his Spitfires teammates.
"I’ve told them a couple of times,” he said. “Taylor Hall asked me about it (Sunday). He asked me the exact same thing, 'What did you guys do to battle back against Kitchener?' I told him. 'You can’t take a night off.’ They didn’t get the bounces like they’re getting now. We were playing hard every shift. We were thinking it could be done and we had nothing to lose. "
Step 3. Stress they'll need to take it, wait for it, one shift a time.
The crazy part is, Windsor is fully capable of winning four consecutive games. The nonexistent margin of error it has left itself against Kitchener, which has two chances (Game 4 tonight and Game 6 if it needs it) to close out the series in its home rink.
