IIHF World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend – Game Preview: Flint Firebirds at Guelph Storm

The Guelph Storm host the Flint Firebirds on Friday October 4^th for their first of four meetings this season. Guelph won last season’s head to head series 4-0 and outscored the Firebirds 27-9 in those games.

October 4th is the IIHF World Girls’ Ice Hockey Weekend as we celebrate the female game across the country. Meet Olympian and NHL All-Star participant Renata Fast during the first intermission of Friday’s game for a meet and greet.

Flint has had a strong start to the 2019-2020 season with a 3-1-0-0 record heading into Friday night, with 1^stround import pick Yevgei Oksentyuk leading the team with 6 points in 4 games. Friday’s game also marks the return of OHL Champion goaltender Anthony Popovich who spent his first 3 seasons with the Storm before being dealt to the Firebirds in September.

The Guelph Storm split their home and home series with the Owen Sound Attack last weekend to give them a 1-1-0-1 record heading into Friday’s game with rookie Andrei Bakanov leading the Storm in scoring with 2 goals and 3 points in 3 games played.

Guelph Storm

The Guelph Storm finished in 4^th place in the Western Conference with 90 points last season heading into the post-season. The Storm finished off the Kitchener Rangers in 4 games in the opening round of the playoffs by outscoring the Rangers 22-6. In the 2^nd round, Guelph fell behind 3-0 to the London Knights before the Storm were able to win 4 straight games and win the series in game 7 in London. Guelph and Saginaw faced-off in the Western Conference Finals with Saginaw taking a 3-1 series lead before the Storm once again came back to win the series in 7 games. In the OHL Championship Series, the Ottawa 67’s took a 2-0 series lead, but the Storm battled back and won four consecutive games to win their fourth championship in team history.

The Storm have a few returning players from last season’s championship team including captain Cam Hillis, Keegan Stevenson, Cedric Ralph, Pavel Gogolev, Ty Collins, Owen Lalonde, Zack Terry, Daniil Chayka, Fedor Gordeev and goaltender Nico Daws.

This season, the Storm will begin their rebuild, as they have half of their former roster moving on from junior hockey, which will lead to an increase of rookies in the lineup.

Newly drafted players in the lineup include Danny Zhilkin (1^st Round), Andrei Bakanov (1^st Round – Import Draft), Jacob Maillet (2^nd Round), Marko Sikic (3^rd Round), Cooper Walker (5^th Round), Clark Hiebert (9^thRound – 2017) and Owen Bennett (4^th Round – 2018)

Also, forwards Ben McFarlane and Matthew Papais and defencemen Luka Profaca return to the Storm lineup after playing some games last season with the Storm. Defencemen Colin Campbell made the roster as a free agent, Eric Uba joins the Storm via trade with Flint and Josh Wainman was acquired from Hamilton via trade in September.

Guelph has two players that have been drafted to NHL clubs including Cam Hillis (MTL – 3^rd Round) and Fedor Gordeev (TOR – 5^th Round, Traded to MIN)

Flint Firebirds

The Firebirds finished last season in 19^th place with 38 points and got the second overall draft pick in the 2019 OHL Draft.

Flint has a few returning leaders from last season, that should help compete for a playoff spot in the Western Conference. Some of the returning leaders consist of captain Ty Dellandrea, Jake Durham, Ethan Keppen, Cody Morgan, Jack Wismer and 2^nd overall pick in the 2018 OHL Draft Evan Vierling.

Flint also has some new players joining the team this season that include D Tyler Deline (2018 Draft), D Jack Harper (2018 Draft), G Peyton Grainer (via Free Agency) and G Anthony Popovich (via. Trade with Guelph Storm). Flint is also joined by newly drafted LW Brennan Othmann (1^st Round, 2^nd Overall), Braeden Kressler (2^nd Round, 28^th Overall), Zacharie Giroux (3^rd Round, 57^th Overall) and Yevgeni Oksentyuk (1^st Round, 5^thOverall – Import Draft).

Flint has four players that have been drafted to NHL clubs including Dennis Busby (ARI – 5^th Round), Vladislav Kolyachonok (FLA – 2^nd Round), Ty Dellandrea (DAL – 1^st Round) and Ethan Keppen (VAN – 4^th Round).

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