When you think of Spitfires and leadership, defenseman Young almost immediately comes to mind. He’s an assistant coach behind long-time hockey head coach Greg Walters. While Wellwood has moved on to become the head coach of the Flint Firebirds and Jones is now with the Ottawa Senators, Nemisz remains with the Generals. Greg Nemisz has found a home behind the Oshawa Generals’ bench. He had plenty of familiar faces helping him, too, as former Spitfires’ Eric Wellwood (assistant coach) and Bob Jones (head coach) joined him. In July 2015, Nemisz joined the Oshawa Generals behind their bench as an assistant coach. With injuries plaguing him, the former Spitfire decided to hang up the skates and return to the OHL. However, that stint only lasted parts of two seasons. Nemisz went straight into the Flames’ farm system where he was from 2010-13 when he was traded to the Carolina Hurricanes for Amherstburg-native Kevin Westgarth.

So what happened to this budding forward after he left the Spitfires?

The Calgary Flames seemed to like his potential and selected him 25th overall in the 2008 NHL Draft. While he didn’t have the flare of guys like Henrique, Hall, and Ellis, it wasn’t a necessity. He scored 34 points in 62 games in his rookie season (2006-07) and capped off a stellar OHL career with 70 points in 51 games in 2009-10 on route to the 2010 Memorial Cup title. Rychel and Boughner had early growing pains trying to decide on players but Nemisz proved he was the right pick. With his first pick as the new GM, sixth overall in 2006, Rychel selected the Courtice, ON-native. That’s where 6-foot-4, 200-pound forward Nemisz came into play. When Rychel bought the club (along with Bob Boughner and Pete Dobrich) in 2006, one of his first goals was to create his own offensive, gritty roster. Sit back as we take a look at four players from the 2010 Memorial Cup roster, plus one player who became a bit of a legend around town.

However, while some made the NHL, others took different paths that you simply didn’t expect. General manager Warren Rychel put the finishing touches on a brilliant roster that was the season-long favourites to win the championship. In part one, we talked about their 2008-09 roster, which featured stars like Taylor Hall, Adam Henrique, and Ryan Ellis. This is the second part of our “Where Are They Now?” series featuring the Spitfires’ Memorial Cup rosters. When a club borderlines on a dynasty, it makes you wonder – what happened to the players after they left? When the Windsor Spitfires won their first Memorial Cup in 2009, it was an unexpected thrill, and it made their 2010 championship that much sweeter. When you capture back-to-back championships, there’s something special about the rosters involved.

Nhl 17 winston spitfires roster