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Flint Firebirds

Preview: Firebirds Host Battalion for Final Sunday Game this Season

March 6, 2016 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Flint Firebirds News Release


The Flint Firebirds return home to the Dort Federal Event Center for a Sunday contest against the North Bay Battalion with puck drop set for 5 p.m. (EST). Sunday will mark the final time a team in the OHL makes their first appearance to the Firebirds newly renovated arena and will be the last Sunday game of the season.

The Battalion (31-21-5-4, 3rd Eastern Conference) have clinched a spot in the 2016 OHL playoffs but have lost four of their past five games. The Firebirds (19-36-4-2, 9th Western Conference) are still fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot against the Saginaw Spirit with seven games remaining in the season.

Sunday's game against North Bay is Dort Federal Credit Union Family night! The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a pair of thunder sticks courtesy of Dort Federal Credit Union. There will be a bounce house, face painters, balloon twisters and a post-game a skate with the players event; rental skates are available.

Single game tickets are $12/Bronze, $15/Silver, $19/Gold and $25/VIP and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by visiting or calling the Dort Federal Event Center Box Office Monday thru Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at (810) 744-0580. Saturday and Sunday game day box office hours begin at 10 a.m.

Radio & TV Coverage

Fans unable to attend Sunday's game can listen live in Flint and Mid-Michigan on 1330 AM WTRX Sports Radio and around the world online on the iHeartRadio app. Dominic Hennig will call the play-by-play action on the Flint Firebirds Hockey Radio Network. Pregame coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Sunday's game against the Battalion will be televised live across the province of Ontario on the OHL Action Pak on Rogers TV channel 462. OHL fans with a cable television subscription in Ontario can add the OHL Action Pak to their television plan to catch the Firebirds in action, home or away all season long. Along with Saturday afternoon's game, 64 of the Firebirds' 68 games throughout the 2015-16 season are also scheduled to be televised live across the province of Ontario on the OHL Action Pack.

All Flint Firebirds home and away games throughout the 2015-16 season can be watched anywhere in the world online on OHL Live and on the OHL Live App. OHL Live is a league video streaming platform that delivers high quality live and on-demand coverage of all regular season and playoff games annually. The cost is $6.99 per game, $69.99 for Flint Firebirds away games only, $179.99 for all 68 home and away Firebirds games and $279.99 for all 1,360 OHL games throughout the 2015-16 season.

Players to Watch:

Flint:

A Top Prospect for the upcoming NHL Draft, Will Bitten leads the Firebirds with 60 points in 60 games this season and has marked five points in his last three games.

Ryan Moore is second on the Firebirds with 22 goals, 22 assists and a total of 44 points in 61 games this campaign. Moore also has five points in his last three games including three goals.

Vili Saarijärvi (Detroit '15) is 14th among OHL defenseman this season with 37 points in 61 games. Saarijärvi has scored 11 goals and added 26 assists for the Firebirds in his first season in the OHL.

In net, Brent Moran (Dallas '14) has a 13-23-4-0 record in 44 games this season. Moran has a 3.74 goals against average (GAA) and a .884 save percentage (SAV%).

Flint's rookie netminder Kyle Keyser started the last three games and has a 3.84 GAA and a .891 SAV%. Keyser has a 3-7-0-0 record in 12 games in his first season in the OHL. Matthew Menna has a 4.57 GAA and a .866 SAV%.

There are three players on the Flint Firebirds roster that are drafted in the National Hockey League. Firebirds' captain Alex Peters and goaltender Brent Moran were both selected by the Dallas Stars in the 2014 NHL Draft. Most recently, Vili Saarijärvi was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings this past June in the 2015 NHL Draft.

The Flint Firebirds return home to the Dort Federal Event Center for a Sunday contest against the North Bay Battalion with puck drop set for 5 p.m. (EST). Sunday will mark the final time a team in the OHL makes their first appearance to the Firebirds newly renovated arena and will be the last Sunday game of the season.

The Battalion (31-21-5-4, 3rd Eastern Conference) have clinched a spot in the 2016 OHL playoffs but have lost four of their past five games. The Firebirds (19-36-4-2, 9th Western Conference) are still fighting for the eighth and final playoff spot against the Saginaw Spirit with seven games remaining in the season.

Sunday's game against North Bay is Dort Federal Credit Union Family night! The first 2,000 fans in attendance will receive a pair of thunder sticks courtesy of Dort Federal Credit Union. There will be a bounce house, face painters, balloon twisters and a post-game a skate with the players event; rental skates are available.

Single game tickets are $12/Bronze, $15/Silver, $19/Gold and $25/VIP and can be purchased online at ticketmaster.com or by visiting or calling the Dort Federal Event Center Box Office Monday thru Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. at (810) 744-0580. Saturday and Sunday game day box office hours begin at 10 a.m.

Radio & TV Coverage Fans unable to attend Sunday's game can listen live in Flint and Mid-Michigan on 1330 AM WTRX Sports Radio and around the world online on the iHeartRadio app . Dominic Hennig will call the play-by-play action on the Flint Firebirds Hockey Radio Network. Pregame coverage will begin at 4:30 p.m.

Sunday's game against the Battalion will be televised live across the province of Ontario on the OHL Action Pak on Rogers TV channel 462. OHL fans with a cable television subscription in Ontario can add the OHL Action Pak to their television plan to catch the Firebirds in action, home or away all season long. Along with Saturday afternoon's game, 64 of the Firebirds' 68 games throughout the 2015-16 season are also scheduled to be televised live across the province of Ontario on the OHL Action Pack.

All Flint Firebirds home and away games throughout the 2015-16 season can be watched anywhere in the world online on OHL Live and on the OHL Live App. OHL Live is a league video streaming platform that delivers high quality live and on-demand coverage of all regular season and playoff games annually. The cost is $6.99 per game, $69.99 for Flint Firebirds away games only, $179.99 for all 68 home and away Firebirds games and $279.99 for all 1,360 OHL games throughout the 2015-16 season.

Players to Watch:

Flint:

A Top Prospect for the upcoming NHL Draft, Will Bitten leads the Firebirds with 60 points in 60 games this season and has marked five points in his last three games.

Ryan Moore is second on the Firebirds with 22 goals, 22 assists and a total of 44 points in 61 games this campaign. Moore also has five points in his last three games including three goals.

Vili Saarijärvi (Detroit '15) is 14th among OHL defenseman this season with 37 points in 61 games. Saarijärvi has scored 11 goals and added 26 assists for the Firebirds in his first season in the OHL.

In net, Brent Moran (Dallas '14) has a 13-23-4-0 record in 44 games this season. Moran has a 3.74 goals against average (GAA) and a .884 save percentage (SAV%).

Flint's rookie netminder Kyle Keyser started the last three games and has a 3.84 GAA and a .891 SAV%. Keyser has a 3-7-0-0 record in 12 games in his first season in the OHL. Matthew Menna has a 4.57 GAA and a .866 SAV%.

There are three players on the Flint Firebirds roster that are drafted in the National Hockey League. Firebirds' captain Alex Peters and goaltender Brent Moran were both selected by the Dallas Stars in the 2014 NHL Draft. Most recently, Vili Saarijärvi was drafted by the Detroit Red Wings this past June in the 2015 NHL Draft.

In addition, Will Bitten, Nicholas Caamano , Jacob Collins , Dane Johnstone , MatyᚠKantner , Luke Kirwan , Håkon Nilsen and Keenan Reynolds are eligible to be selected in the 2016 NHL Draft in Buffalo in June.

North Bay:

Center Mike Amadio (Los Angeles) is eighth in the OHL in points with 44 goals and 45 assists, totaling 89 points in 61 games this season. Amadio has points in 14 of his last 16 games. Mathew Santos is second on the Batallion in points with 64 in 57 games and has scored 26 goals including a plus-25 rating,

In net, North Bay's Jake Smith is 12th among OHL netminders with a 2.93 GAA and a .898 SAV%. In 46 games this season, Smith has a 26-14-5-1 record and is in the middle of his fourth year in the OHL.

Mike Amadio (Los Angeles), Riley Bruce (Calgary) and Kyle Wood (Colorado) are three of the Battalion's players that have already been drafted in the NHL.

The North Bay Battalion also saw 8 players attend NHL training camp this fall: Mike Amadio (Los Angeles), Riley Bruce (Calgary), Ryan Kujawinski (New Jersey), Brett McKenzie (Chicago), Nick Moutrey (Columbus), Nick Paul (Ottawa), Jake Smith (New York Rangers) and Kyle Wood (Colorado).

Special Teams The Firebirds are 20th in the league on the man-advantage. Flint's power play is converting at a 13.8% success-rate , scoring 31 goals on 239 opportunities. On the penalty kill, the Firebirds are 19th in the OHL, currently operating at 75.6% . Flint has scored two shorthanded goals and has successfully killed 186 of 246 penalties this season. The Firebirds are at the middle of the pack with the 11th least minutes in the OHL recording an average of 12 minutes per game.

North Bay's power play is the 7th in the OHL, scoring 20.5% of the time and is 8th on the penalty kill at 82%. The Battalion have registered the 5th least penalty minutes in the OHL averaging 10.7 minutes in the box per game.

Three Firebirds Listed in NHL Draft Rankings Three Flint Firebirds players are listed on the NHL Central Scouting's Midterm list which ranks North American skaters eligible for the 2016 NHL Draft this June in Buffalo, NY.Flint's Will Bitten is ranked #42 among North American skaters. Nicholas Caamano is listed #148 and Luke Kirwan is the third current Firebirds player at #166. (Read More )

Firebirds Raise Over $50,000 For Non-Profit Organizations Since the Firebirds first major event in Flint, Michigan on February 20^th (Detroit Red Wings & Flint Generals Alumni Event), Flint's newest hockey team, in just their first year in the region has raised over $50,000 for various non-profit organizations in Genesee County. (Read More )

Flint Firebirds Dressing Room & Facilities Home of the Flint Firebirds, the Dort Federal Event Center received a multi-million dollar renovation in the summer of 2015 that provides the club a first class dressing room, facilities and other amenities to help the players and staff maximize their careers and goals to advance to the National Hockey League. Click here to see a photo album of the Flint Firebirds dressing room and facilities.

Group Ticket Packages Whether you're entertaining corporate clients, celebrating a special occasion, having a fun night out with the family and friends or rewarding employees...we have a fun, easy and affordable plan for you . It's more than a ticket, it's an experience!

Flint Firebirds Hockey Radio Coach's Show Join the Voice of the Firebirds Dominic Hennig from 6-7 p.m. every Tuesday night on 1330 WTRX Sports Radio and around the world online on the iHeartRadio App here . Hennig will recap the previous week of events, preview the upcoming games on the ice and take your phone calls, emails and tweets! Tune in each Tuesday from 6-7 p.m. on 1330 AM WTRX Sports Radio.

Firebirds Gear Stop by the Flint Firebirds Merchandise Store at the Dort Federal Event Center, Monday - Friday, 9 a.m. - 5 p.m. to stock up on the best Firebirds' gear around. Jerseys, shirts, hats, hoodies, game pucks, mouse pads and other accessories and collectables are available at the Flint Firebirds Merchandise Store.

Check out the Flint Firebirds Statistics

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