Spitfires head straight to Memorial Cup final with win over Otters

Jeremiah Addison skated past his bench after scoring in the third period with a message for his teammates.

"Make the hats rain baby," he told them.

Addison scored three times — his last coming in the third to give his team a sigh of relief — as the Windsor Spitfires beat the Erie Otters 4-2 on Wednesday to advance directly to the Memorial Cup final.

Gabriel Vilardi set up all three of Addison's goals and earned a fourth assist on Mikhail Sergachev's first of the tournament as well.

"I couldn't do it without my linemates," said Addison, Windsor's 20-year-old co-captain. "I think I owe [Vilardi] a coffee."

The Spitfires went 44 days between games after being eliminated in the first round of the Ontario Hockey League playoffs. But they haven't looked out of sync as tournament hosts, finishing round-robin play undefeated at 3-0.

The championship tilt goes Sunday.

'Well-deserved rest'

"Three days [rest] to us is nothing," said Windsor coach Rocky Thompson. "It's a well-deserved rest now. We're excited about the opportunity to play for the Memorial Cup."

OHL champion Erie (2-1) will play the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League champion Saint John Sea Dogs (1-2) in Friday's semifinal, with the winner grabbing the second spot in the championship.

The Otters hammered Saint John in record-setting fashion in the preliminary round, which played into their loss according to coach Kris Knoblauch.

"I think we felt really good about ourselves after the 12-5 game... I don't think our work ethic was where it needed to be. We didn't work as hard as we had been."

Michael DiPietro made 33 saves for the win, and has the best numbers of any of the goalies at the tournament. His play has been a major contributor to Windsor's success.

"We wouldn't be anywhere without [him]," said Addison. "He's good, a good young goalie all year. Each day he comes like a pro."

Addison opened the scoring, roofing it over Troy Timpano 5:50 into the first.

The high-flying Otters couldn't get their first shot on net for over 10 minutes, with Ivan Lodnia putting a wrister into DiPietro's chest with 9:22 to go in the period.

Timpano was beaten by an Addison shot with four minutes to play in the first, as the Canadiens draft pick snapped it short side for a 2-0 lead to take into the first intermission.

Dylan Strome and TJ Fergus took minor penalties late in the period to give Windsor 1:34 of 5-on-3 hockey to start the second.

'Everybody really played a part'

And the Spitfires made them pay for it as Sergachev, another Canadiens prospect, ripped a point shot 43 seconds into the period for a three-goal advantage.

Erie got its first power-play opportunity with 3:08 to go in the second, but it was the DiPietro show for the full two minutes.

"I get jacked up more when he makes a big save than when I score," said Addison.

DiPietro had to be sharp early in the third as a Darren Raddysh point shot nearly made it through a crowd four minutes in.

But he couldn't stop everything as the Otters kept pushing to make it a game.

Kyle Maksimovich finally beat the Windsor goaltender to make it 3-1 with 11:50 to play.

A breakdown in the Erie end with 6:29 to play led to Addison's third goal of the game as he finished off a pass from Julius Nattinen.

"It's exciting, fans have been great all year. Happy they were able to throw their hats," said Addison.

The Otters pulled Timpano with 3:20 to go, and went up 6-on-4 after a Spitfires penalty at 17:28. Six seconds later Taylor Raddysh snapped it between DiPietro's legs to make it 4-2.

Erie kept Windsor on its heels until the final buzzer sounded, with DiPietro coming up big on more than once occasion to send his team to the championship game.

"Everybody really played a part," said Thompson.

"From all six defencemen, all lines up front and at the end of the day Mikey DiPietro was the reason once again we could hold onto that lead and give us a chance to play for something as prestigious as the Memorial Cup."