Firebirds Weekly Roundup, January 6-12
FLINT — The Firebirds played three games in four days last week, which finished a stretch of nine games in 15 days coming out of the OHL’s Holiday Break. The Firebirds were on the road in Brantford before returning home for a pair of games on Dort Financial Center ice on Friday and Saturday.
The week got started on Wednesday on the road in Brantford against the Bulldogs. The Dogs jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the first period. Hayden Reid and Alex Kostov would pull Flint within a single goal in the second but that ended the Birds’ scoring in the contest. Brantford cruised to a 5-2 victory capped off by Nick Lardis’ league-leading 33rd of the campaign. Chris Thibodeau reclaimed the team lead in points at 29 with an assist on Kostov’s goal. A pair of Matthews played in a milestone game for the Birds, as Mania appeared in his 200th OHL game, and Wang played his 100th.
The Firebirds returned to the Dort Financial Center for home games, starting with the Guelph Storm on Friday. In his debut with Flint, newly acquired forward Sam McCue recorded two points (1 G, 1 A). The score was tied 4-4 with three minutes remaining, but a late tally by the Storm forced Nathan Day out of the net for an extra attacker with over a minute to go. Guelph found the empty net to seal a 6-4 victory. Kaden Pitre had a goal and a trio of helpers for the first four-point game of his career. Evan Konyen scored once and picked up his 100th career assist, and sophomore Jeremy Martin lit the lamp for his sixth of the season.
On Saturday, it was the second-place Windsor Spitfires in town, and it appeared that the visitors put the game quickly out of reach with a 6-1 lead through the opening 36 minutes. Artem Frolov added to Nathan Aspinall’s marker to make it 6-2 through two periods. The Firebirds came out looking like a different team in the third and piled on three goals in the first ten minutes. The Spits struck again to stretch their advantage to 7-5 with under four minutes to play. Aspinall again provided an answer though to make it 7-6 with 2:40 left on the clock. For the second time in as many nights, Flint’s coaching staff pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker in a late effort to tie the game. Another empty-netter sealed the Spitfire’s 8-6 win, giving them a 4-0 record against the Firebirds in the campaign. Urban Podrekar skated in his 100th OHL game in front of his home crowd on Saturday.
The Firebirds were outshot by the opposition 107-96. They also trailed in faceoff wins 97-82. They successfully netted one powerplay goal on ten chances (10.0%) and killed six of ten penalties (60.0%). The club remains at 37 standings points, ranking them third in the West Division and sixth in the Western Conference, just four points behind Saginaw for second and fifth, respectively.
LEADERBOARD
McCue, a Toronto Maple Leafs prospect, steps in as the leader in goals (19) and points (33) for the season. Pitre now sits second with 14 tallies and 16 helpers for 30 points. Thibodeau holds third with 29 points and a club-leading 18 assists. Blake Smith’s eight goals are the seventh-most among all OHL defenders, and Mania tops Flint’s blue-line crew with 22 points (4 G, 18 A). Day has played the most minutes between the pipes of any OHL goaltender at 2,072.
COMING UP
Flint will have several days off before they return to action with a pair of road games next weekend. They’ll battle the Rangers in Kitchener on Friday and the Attack in Owen Sound on Saturday. The radio broadcast for both contests begins at 6:45 p.m. on 103.1 FM through Flint and mid-Michigan or online via the US 103.1 app.