Flint Firebirds keeping pace
Flint Firebirds are one of no less than seven teams in the hotly-contested Western Conference who are above the .500 mark about a quarter of the way into this ’26-27 Ontario Hockey League season.
Western Sandwich. In fact, as of this writing, a mere seven points are all that separate the top seven teams of the Western Conference — Guelph Storm, Flint, Soo Greyhounds, London Knights, Windsor Spitfires, Erie Otters and Kitchener Rangers.
Not A One Hit Wonder. Flint takes a fired-up record of 11-3-1 into this weekend’s action. This follows a spectacular ’25-26 season in which the Firebirds placed third among the 10 teams of the Western world with 95 points from a record of 44-17-7. Flint then flattened the Owen Sound Attack in the first round of the playoffs before losing to Windsor in Round 2.
Solid All Around. The Firebirds have scored 56 goals in their 15 games to date and allowed 39. Flint’s scoring is so spread out that only two players are averaging more than a point per game — Darian Anderson and captain Jimmy Lombardi. Flint also has a better than average goaltending tandem of world-class youngster Mason Courville and 6 foot 8 overage Trenten Bennett.
Hockey Operations. The Firebirds have a fine-tuned hockey department. Dave McParlan is the well-prepared general manager and Mike Oliverio is the assistant GM and head scout. And Flint takes a back seat to no one with a staff of head coach Paul Flache, assistant coaches Justin Solcz and Scott MacDonald and goalie coach Rob Liddell. Notably, Solcz is a Windsor native who has had major success on the Southwestern Ontario side in roles with the University of Windsor Lancers as well as the Leamington Flyers and Lakeshore Canadiens junior teams.
