Windsor Spitfires’ general manager Bill Bowler isn’t wasting any time in building their future. Less than two months after the 2024 Ontario Hockey League (OHL) Priority Selection, the team signed their sixth draft pick on Thursday (June 6) and it keeps a Michigander close to home.
After finishing last in the Western Conference and missing the 2024 OHL Playoffs, the Spitfires knew that change was coming. Thanks to some fruitful trades during the season, Bowler was able to bring in several higher picks for April’s draft. That gave him room to mix things up a little in the later rounds, including taking a long-shot flyer or two. Now, the club is seeing the rewards start to come to the surface with another big, unexpected puzzle piece signing this week.
Spitfires Sign Ethan Garden
On Thursday, Bowler continued to build the club’s future by signing 2024 ninth-round pick forward Ethan Garden to an OHL contract. The 5-foot-7, 160-pounder captained the Little Caesars 15U AAA team in 2023-24 with 43 goals and 92 points in 58 games.
Garden, a Belleville, MI native, had options to play in the United States but decided the OHL was his best choice. Bowler told the Windsor Star that this could be “a steal.”
“For him to commit to our program is huge and you may consider it a steal,” Bowler said. “To get the captain of the Little Caesars, a player of his ilk and status has options. He plays big, he’s got a motor and he does everything. The points and stats speak for themselves and he just oozes character” (from “The Windsor Spitfires get ‘a steal’ in signing Little Caesars captain Garden”, Windsor Star – 6/6/24).
The youngster was considered potential first-or-second-round OHL material but slipped in the draft because he had multiple NCAA options. He was also a sixth-round pick of the Youngstown Phantoms in last month’s United States Hockey League (USHL) Draft. However, he told the Windsor Star that the Draft Orientation Camp, along with Bowler, won him over.
“Someone who had a big impact on me is Bill Bowler,” Garden said. “He was awesome to me and my family and made me feel at home … After visiting Windsor for the first time after the draft, I was blown away by the rink. At orientation camp, I came in and was even more blown away with how things ran and everyone with the team was great. I had options and it took some time, but as time went on, it all fell in place.”
Garden Continues Spitfires’ Summer Path
With Garden putting pen to paper, it continues an off-season that has hit the mark for the Spitfires. This signing gives Bowler six new prospects from this draft alone.
After signing first-overall pick forward Ethan Belchetz in April, the club signed second-round picks defenceman Carter Hicks and forward Jean-Christoph (J.C.) Lemieux. That was followed by inking seventh-round pick goaltender Jake Windbiel out of Chicago in late May and third-round pick forward Max Brocklehurst in early June. He played for the New Hampshire Mountain Kings this season but is from Nova Scotia. His father, Craig, played in the OHL, making him eligible to be drafted by the Spitfires.
This draft is starting to shape up like the 2022 Draft which saw seven players signed. It’s another indication that Bowler isn’t messing around; he wants to build around the youth, put this season’s last-place finish in the Western Conference behind them, and return to the recent glory days. From 2021-23, led by then-head coach Marc Savard, the club finished first in the conference. In 2022, they went to the OHL Championship for the first time since 2010. It’s not going to be easy to get back there but the organization is on the right path.
Related: Spitfires Win Wayne Gretzky Trophy, Advance to OHL Championship
The next targets for the club are preparing for the 2024 NHL Draft in Las Vegas in late June, gearing up for the 2024 Canadian Hockey League (CHL) Import Draft on July 3 (third overall pick), and finding a permanent coaching staff. Whether that means interim head coach Casey Torres returns next season or not is up in the air. A busy summer continues for the club but it’s one that seems to have hit all the right notes to date.
