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It was far from a perfect performance from the Windsor Spitfires.

The club, which has struggled at the start of matches this season, scored the first five goals of the match on Thursday. However, the North Bay Battalion took control of the second half of the game and the Spitfires were fortunate to escape with a 5-3 victory over the Battalion in front of a crowd of 2,481 at Memorial Gardens.

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“Our first period was good,” said Spitfires head coach Greg Walter. “It was good to see our start, but I think they thought it was scoring night and started handing over a lot of pucks in the second period, they (the Battalion) gained some momentum and ( the goalkeeper) Joey (Costanzo) must have been really good for us.

The Spitfires benefited from the return of three rookies who missed the last six games while competing for Canada at the World Under-17 Hockey Challenge.

Defenseman Carter Hicks fired Windsor with the Ontario Hockey League’s first goal to open the scoring.

“He was so excited and he’s such a great kid and again you send the puck to the net,” Walters said.

Captain Liam Greentree added a power play goal and rookie Ethan Belchetz made it 3-0 with a spectacular individual effort for his first goal in 10 games.

“It was really good to see them again,” Walters said. “Belchetz was a highlight and he played well with (Ilya) Protas and Greentree and Hicks and JC (Lemieux) got some ice time.”

Anthony Cristoforo made it 4-0 Windsor after 20 minutes and the Battalion replaced starting goaltender Charlie Larocque, who faced 10 shots, with Mike McIvor to start the second period.

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Ryan Abraham, who had three points in the game, increased Windsor’s lead to 5-0 just 67 seconds into the second period, but things changed after that.

“Ryan was back in the middle with (Cole) Davis and (Noah) Morneau and had a really good night for us,” said Walter, who played Abraham with Greentree and Protas with Belchetz on the outside.

Despite a great start, Windsor’s game became sloppy and the score tightened as the Battalion outscored Windsor 31-11 over the final two periods and 38-21 overall.

“We took our foot off the gas when it was 4-0 and we were lucky to get another one early in the second, but after that they took control,” Walters said.

Zach Wilson and Ethan Procyszyn scored to bring the battalion within 5-2 after 40 minutes and Procyszyn got his second with just under two minutes left in regulation and the goalie on the bench, but North Bay didn’t. It’s not close.

The Spitfires remain on the road for a Friday game against the Sudbury Wolves at 7:05 p.m.

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Game Summary

Thursday result

Spitfires 5 Battalion 3

Windsor 4 1 0 – 5

North Bay 0 2 1 – 3

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First period: 1. Windsor, Hicks 1 (Outwater) 2:39, 2. Windsor, Greentree 10 (Protas, Abraham) 8:18 (pp), 3. Windsor, Belchetz 5 (Protas, Greentree) 10:40, 4. Windsor, Cristoforo 4 (Davis, Abraham) 16:26. Penalties: A.LeBlanc NB (high stick) 6:38, Outwater W (trigger) 12:11.

Second period: 5. Windsor, Abraham 8 (Eichler, Morneau) 1:07, 6. North Bay, Wilson 1 (A.LeBlanc, Turley) 5:47, 7. North Bay, Procyszyn 13 (J.LeBlanc, Moses) 8:02 (pp). Penalties: Kennedy NB (board) 1:50, Eichler W (high stick) 6:14.

Third period: 8. North Bay, Procyszyn 14 (J.LeBlanc, Van Steensel) 6:05 p.m. Penalties: Smith NB (holding):37, Abraham W (cross-check, misconduct) 19:18.

Game Stats – SOG – Windsor 10 6 5 – 21 North Bay 7 13 18 – 38 Goal (shootouts) – Windsor: Costanzo (F, 12-3-0-0) (38-35). North Bay: Larocque (L,3-7-0-0) (10-6), McIvor (0:00 of second period) (11-10). Power play (goals-chances) – Windsor 1-3. North Bay 1-3. Referees: Ryan Elbers and Aaron Neely. Linesmen: Charlie Giesler and Griffin St-Onge. Att. : 2,481 at North Bay Memorial Gardens.

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