Sunday will go down as a lesson learned for the Windsor Spitfires. In a highly anticipated game, the club started strong, but eventually fell at home to one of the Ontario Hockey League’s (OHL) powerhouses.
The Spitfires and Brantford Bulldogs meetings have been circled on the calendar since the 2025-26 OHL schedule came out in June. The clubs were expected to be at the top of the league standings this season. Near the start of the season, in October, the Spitfires grabbed a 4-3 shootout win in Brantford. On Sunday, two days after the trade deadline, the two teams met at the WFCU Centre in Windsor for the rematch. Given they were both deadline buyers and were battling for the top seed in the league, this was expected to be a clash for the season. Instead, the home side learned some important lessons. Here are three takeaways.
Lack of Discipline Hurts Spitfires
On paper, this had the makings of a classic. The Spitfires had five NHL draft picks in the lineup, including newcomers defenceman Jakub Fibigr (Seattle Kraken), forward Nathan Villeneuve (Kraken), and forward Alex Pharand (Chicago Blackhawks). The Bulldogs had nine, not including scratched players forward Jake O’Brien (Kraken) and defenceman Ben Danford (Toronto Maple Leafs).
The game met the hype early with a quick pace, discipline, and few offensive chances. Neither team wanted to give much space. It took until the final few minutes when Pharand opened the scoring for the Spitfires. However, that’s when the cracks started showing.
The Bulldogs’ power play was a league-best 33.3 percent. With their offence, you had to stay out of the box, and the Spitfires didn’t. Caleb Malhotra scored with the extra man with under a second left in the period to tie it.
That became the story of the game. Whenever the Spitfires were in the game, the Bulldogs found a way to capitalize with the man advantage. Cooper Dennis added the visitor’s second power-play goal in the second, giving them a 4-2 lead after two periods. In the third, the Bulldogs added three more, including another one on the power play, to cap a 7-3 win. Forward Adam Benak led the Bulldogs with three goals.
Related: Maple Leafs’ Ben Danford Traded to Brantford Bulldogs in Blockbuster Deal
While the Spitfires went two-for-four with the extra man, the Bulldogs went an impressive three-for-seven. You can’t give them that many chances, and after the game, Spitfires’ head coach Greg Walters said discipline cost them.
“They’re an elite team with elite skill, and they live and die off turnovers and their power play,” he said. “Hockey is a game of mistakes; we made way too many turnovers and way too many undisciplined penalties to win that game.”
Defenceman Anthony Cristoforo said they had a plan going in. However, when that falls apart, and discipline becomes an issue, it’s tough to recover.
“As a team, we went into it with some key things … and we just didn’t execute those,” Cristoforo said. “One of them being trying to stay disciplined. I don’t know how many power play goals they scored, but that’s kind of the game right there.”
Bulldogs’ Offence Comes As Advertised
All season, the Spitfires’ defence has been their pride and joy. They entered the game with a league-best 93 goals allowed in 40 games. From the start of the season, Walters has been all about defence-first. You make the simple, smart play in your own end, transition into offence, and allow that area of the game to flourish. For the most part, it’s worked well. However, they met their match on Sunday.
The Bulldogs are the elite offence in the OHL. They came into the contest with 175 goals through 39 games, 18 more than the second-most Spitfires (158), and have nine players that have at least a point-per-game average. It’s hard to stop an offence that can come at you from that many angles.
The Brantford #Bulldogs scored five of the final six goals on Sunday to take a 7-3 win over the Windsor #Spitfires at the WFCU Centre. #OHL pic.twitter.com/kfxDNJPHAE
— Dave Jewell (@DaveJewellOHL) January 12, 2026
While Walters’ club went toe-to-toe defensively with the Bulldogs in the first period, they got away from that defence-first mentality in the second. It became a bit of a track meet, and Cristoforo said that’s not the game the Spitfires want to play.
“We knew they were going to do that,” Cristoforo said. “(It’s the) little mistakes. We know they’re a team that, if you give them a chance, they’re probably going to score. Whatever chances we gave them, they scored.”
The Spitfires know they can stop almost anyone when they’re playing their system. However, when they get away from it, especially against an elite offence, the game plan can crumble.
Spitfires Use Loss as Lesson Learned
At some point in a season, even the top teams in the league will get a wake-up call. You can’t be too confident or assuming in the OHL. If you’re not on your best game, any team can take you down. The Spitfires found that out on Sunday.
Instead of playing their defence-first style, they let a very good Bulldogs team take control for them. From odd-man rushes to poor discipline and coverage issues, the list of things they slipped up on was long. Walters said that, while they didn’t execute and that resulted in multiple Bulldogs’ goals, they’re taking this as something they can learn from.
“You learn from everything,” he said. “We’ll learn from the loss. There is tons of videos for us to do and talking to guys about penalties. It can’t happen. You can’t win taking seven penalties, especially against them. We talked to them before the game about what the Bulldogs’ tendencies were, and we just didn’t execute them.”
There were points through the game where the officiating crew heard an earful, not only from the fans but the players as well. It was more frustration than anything, and Cristoforo said they let their emotions get the better of them.
“I think for us, that’s just a learning experience,” Cristoforo said. “We’re gearing up for playoffs … understanding that calls may not go our way, we have to be able to control our emotions. We’re never going to be a team that blames the refs. That’s just an excuse. We let our emotions get the best of us.”
The loss was only the Spitfires’ second one in regulation at home this season through 21 games. Now, they’re off until they hit the road to take on the Erie Otters on Friday. Then they face former defenceman Carter Hicks and the Brampton Steelheads on the road on Saturday.
