Flint in position to Attack
They are fired up from an Ontario Hockey League regular season in which they fashioned a franchise record for most wins with 44. And now the no. 3 seed Flint Firebirds are fuelled for playoff warfare in a first round Western Conference matchup against the no. 6 seed Owen Sound Attack.
Not only is Flint exceptionally coached under the direction of head honcho Paul Flache but the Firebirds have a carefully and expertly constructed player roster led by general manager Dave McParlan and head scout Mike Oliverio.
In a perusal of the Flint lineup — from standout overage goalie Mason Vaccari to a blue line brigade that includes Urban Podrekar, Darels Uljanskis, Luka Graziano, Rylan Fellinger and Dryden Allen to upper end forwards such as Nathan Aspinall, Kevin He, Jimmy Lombardi, Alex Kostov, Jacob Battaglia, Darian Anderson and Chris Thibodeau — the Firebirds are without any apparent weakness.
Vaccari, an under the radar, off season acquisition by Flint from the Kingston Frontenacs, had an OHL career regular season for the Firebirds with 36 wins, which is second most among all league goalies.
Meanwhile, He and Battaglia were both trade acquisitions over the course of the ’25-26 season. He had 39 goals, 38 assists, 77 points (including 25 goals, 21 assists, 46 points in 32 games for Flint after being obtained from the Niagara IceDogs) to finish second on the Firebirds scoring chart. Battaglia, meanwhile, finished with 26 goals, 22 assists, 48 points (including 12-9-21 numbers in 28 games for Flint after being acquired from Kingston.)
He and Battaglia represent just two of several dangerous scorers for the Firebirds. Others include the aforementioned likes of scoring leader Nathan Aspinall (33-61-94), fellow forwards Jimmy Lombardi (36-36-72) and Alex Kostov (24-31-55 in just 47 games) and ace defenseman Urban Podrekar (11-39-50.) Notably, 16 of Podrekar’s 50 points came on the power play.
Flint finished 32 points ahead of Owen Sound, its first round playoff opponent. And while the Firebirds are a force to be reckoned with, the Attack is a subpar team whose best player is 2008 birth year forward Pierce Mbuyi, who led Owen Sound in scoring with 32 goals, 43 assists, 75 points.
Games 1 and 2. Flint will play host to Owen Sound to begin the best of seven series this week with 7 p.m. games on both Thursday and Saturday at the Dort Financial Centre.
Prediction: Flint wins the series in five games.
action photo of Flint forward Kevin He by Bob Davies
