Firebirds at mid season


By
December 21, 2024

Four successive wins — including two straight over their despised arch-rival Saginaw Spirit — have lifted the Flint Firebirds to the .500 level with the Ontario Hockey League at the Christmas holiday break.

Connor Clattenburg
Nathan Day

With a record of 15-15-2, Flint has moved into sixth place among the 10 teams of the Western Conference, just a point behind fifth seed Saginaw. The Firebirds also have a game in hand on the Spirit.

One cause for concern for the Firebirds might be their special teams play. Flint has the worst power play percentage in the entire 20 team OHL at 12.3 per cent. And the Flint penalty kill percentage of 74.8 per cent is the third worst in the OHL.

Meanwhile, the Firebirds do have a balanced scoring sheet as 10 players have at least 15 points or more. The list includes Chris Thibodeau (10-16-26), Kaden Pitre (12-10-22), Nathan Aspinall (8-14-22), Connor Clattenburg (10-8-18 in just 22 games), Blake Smith (8-10-18), Jimmy Lombardi (5-13-18), Alex Kostov (4-13-17), Evan Konyen (6-10-16), Nolan Collins (3-13-16) and Matthew Mania (3-13-16.)

Between the pipes, workhorse goalie Nathan Day has accounted for 14 of Flint’s 15 victories. Day’s stats line includes a record of 14-12-1 with a 3.03 goals against average and .889 save percentage.

Alex Kostov

ICE CHIPS: Firebirds overage forward Evan Konyen has a Division 1, National Collegiate Athletic Association commitment effective next season. Konyen is headed to New York based Rochester Institute of Technology … Forward Alex Kostov, who failed to score a single goal for Flint during the first 24 games of this season, has been on fire as of late. Over his last 10 games, Kostov has four goals, six assists, 10 points … Forward prospect Brendan Cooke, who just turned 17 years old, made his OHL regular season debut with Flint on December 14. An eighth round pick by the Firebirds at the 2023 OHL priority selections draft, Cooke has four goals, five assists, nine points in 16 games with the Sarnia Legionnaires of the Greater Ontario Jr. Hockey League. Cooke hails from the tiny northern Ontario town of Thessalon, which is about 50 miles east of Sault Ste. Marie … Hulking defenseman Carter Kucher, who Flint took in the 11th round of the 2024 OHL priority selections draft, is moving up from the Under 18 AAA Soo Indians to the Chatham Maroons of the GOJHL … The Firebirds have relatively the same record at home as they do on the road. Flint is 8-8-0 at home and 7-7-2 on the road … The Firebirds return to action on Dec. 28-29 with a pair of home games against two of the top teams in the OHL, the Niagara IceDogs and London Knights. Flint then closes out the 2024 portion of the schedule on Dec. 31 with a road match against the Windsor Spitfires, who are tied for the second best record in the OHL …