On May 28, the Windsor Spitfires won the 2017 Mastercard Memorial Cup in front of a sold-out WFCU Centre. Throughout the summer, the Spitfires are holding meet-and-greets with the Memorial Cup, giving fans a chance to thank the players, such as goaltender Michael DiPietro, and get up close with the famous CHL trophy.
During the Tour of Champions, the trophy will go to multiple locations around Windsor and Essex County and through the region. It started on July 12 at MSNI Telecom and has made its way through Windsor.
At the end of July, the tour will be at two locations in the county, Harrow and Belle River, with one date in Windsor.
August sees the trophy hit the highway, as the trophy makes its way around Ontario and Michigan. From August 5-11, various Spitfires will bring the trophy to their hometown.
Come Catch the Cup
Here is a complete list of the remaining dates as well as locations where you can see the Memorial Cup:
- July 29 – Belle River Day of Champions – behind Lakeshore Fire Hall – 592 St. Charles Street – Belle River – 9 am – 10 am
- July 29 – Viewpoint Winery – 151 County Road 50 – Harrow – 1 pm – 4 pm
- July 31 – Society of St. Vincent De Paul Family and Friends event – 3707 Queen Street – Windsor – 11 am – 2 pm
- August 5 – Hamilton – Cristiano DiGiacinto and Austin MceEneny
- August 6 – Kingston – Aaron Luchuk and Gabriel Vilardi
- August 7 – Newcastle – Hayden McCool
- August 8 – Ashburn – Adam Laishram
- August 9 – Holland Landing – Graham Knott
- August 10 – Orangeville – Tyler Nother and Jeremiah Addison
- August 11 – Waterloo – Logan Stanley
- August 13-15 – Michigan – Sean Day, Luke Boka and Jalen Chatfield
- August 20 – St. Clair College Family Fun Day – 11 am – 2 pm
- August 26 – Tecumseh Corn Fest – 11 am
- September 17 – Open Streets Windsor – 10 am – 5 pm
This marks the third time the team has done a tour. They brought the Memorial Cup around Windsor and Essex County after their championship runs in 2009 and 2010.
Additionally, fans can keep an eye on their community tour page for updates and additions all summer.
Bowler and Mathias Added
The Spitfires are not only busy off the ice but on it, too. They continued to add to their 2017-18 staff this week, bringing back a prominent team figure while re-signing a young mind.
According to AM800, Bill Bowler has left his position as head coach and general manager with the LaSalle Vipers Junior B club to join the Spitfires as vice-president of hockey operations.
Bowler had 467 career points in 250 games for the Spitfires during his career from 1991-95. Not only are his 467 points a Spitfires record, but his 318 assists are an OHL record. In 2011, the team raised his #9 to the WFCU Centre rafters.
Bowler retired from hockey in 2003 but has been a significant figure in local hockey as a coach and general manager with Chatham and Lasalle of the GOJHL.
On the statistical side, Evan Mathias returns to the Spitfires for his second season as the Director of Analytics. He also takes over as video coach from Sean DeMuynck, who leaves the club after four seasons.
Mathias rounds out a staff that now includes head coach Trevor Letowski, assistant coach Jarrod Smith and skills coach Tyler Roeszler. The team brought in Roeszler after he had coaching stints with Chatham as well as the University of Guelph.