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Flint Firebirds

Firebirds, Attack Meet in Game 7 Wednesday Night in Flint

May 4, 2022 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Flint Firebirds News Release


Flint, Mich. - The Flint Firebirds meet the Owen Sound Attack for Game 7 at the Dort Financial Center on Wednesday evening. Puck drop is set for 7:00 p.m. (ET).

Owen Sound goaltender Nick Chenard posted a shutout over the Firebirds in Game 6 last night in Owen Sound. After a late empty-net goal, the final score was 4-0 in the Attack's favor, despite the Birds outshooting the Bears 47-30. Ethan Burroughs scored twice, including the empty-netter, to earn his first two playoff goals of the year. Colby Barlow and Stepan Machicek also lit the lamp for the home team. Luke Cavallin stopped 26 of 29 across the ice.

Flint entered the 2022 playoffs ranked third in the Western Conference with a regular-season record of 42-21-1-4. The Attack was seeded sixth in the Western Conference with a 34-26-5-3 record. On the home ice this year, Flint posted a home record of 18-14-0-2. Owen Sound's final road record was 15-14-3-2.

On special teams, the Firebirds finished with the OHL's top-ranked penalty kill, finding success at a rate of 84.2%. Through six playoff games so far, they rank third with a 90.5% efficiency. The Attack killed penalties at a 75.7% clip during the 68-game campaign, the league's 16th-best. They're currently fifth in the playoffs at 88.5%. Flint converted with the man-advantage at a 19.7% regular-season rate, which ranked them 12th in the 20-team OHL. Owen Sound scored on 18.0% of their chances, which was the 16th-best in the league. Statistically, the Birds are 12th-best so far in the 2022 playoffs at 11.5%, and the Bears sit 14th at 9.5%.

Players to Watch

Flint Firebirds (42-21-1-4, 3rd Western Conference):

Through the six-game series to date, Flint's led by Amadeus Lombardi with four goals and three assists. In the regular season, Lombardi ranked second on the squad with 59 points (18 G, 41 A) in 67 games. Ethan Keppen has three goals and three assists, after finishing the regular season with 23 goals and 17 assists in 42 games. Brennan Othmann (New York Rangers) led the team and finished second in the OHL with 50 goals, and held a franchise-high 97 points this season. He currently has three goals and one helper this postseason.

Coulson Pitre led the team's freshman class in goals (23) this season and had 44 total points through 52 contests. He is the club's all-time rookie goal-scoring leader, and he has two goals and an assist in the playoff series to date. Westland, Mich. native Gavin Hayes finished atop the scoresheet for rookies on the roster with 49 total points (19 G, 30 A) in 65 games. He holds the franchise records for assists and points in a single season by any Flint rookie and already has a playoff assist versus the Attack.

Luke Cavallin started these playoffs with the league's seventh-best goals-against average (GAA) of 3.16 and the league's third-best save percentage (SV%) at .910 through 56 appearances. He earned the most wins in the league and the most in Flint history, ending at 36 victories during the regular season. Through six playoff games, Cavallin has three wins and a GAA of 2.52 with a SV% of .922. Behind Cavallin are two rookie goalies. Ian Michelone appeared in ten regular-season games and picked up four victories. He carries a GAA of 4.37 and a SV% of .884. Michelone was one of only two goalies in the league to earn a shutout this season. Nathaniel Day has two victories in eight regular-season appearances, with a 3.63 GAA and a .883 SV%.

NHL: The Firebirds have four players on their roster with NHL ties consisting of Ethan Keppen (Vancouver Canucks), Braeden Kressler (Toronto Maple Leafs), Dmitry Kuzmin (Winnipeg Jets), and Brennan Othmann (New York Rangers). Also, Gavin Hayes and Simon Slavicek were named to the 2022 NHL Central Scouting Midterm Draft Rankings. Slavicek continues to represent his home country of Czechia at the IIHF U-18 World Junior's Championship. Thus far, Slavicek has three goals in five games.

Despite Flint playing in just five OHL seasons thus far, Alex Nedeljkovic (Carolina Hurricanes / Detroit Red Wings), Kole Sherwood (Columbus Blue Jackets), Ty Dellandrea (Dallas Stars), and Vladislav Kolyachonok (Arizona Coyotes) are four former Firebirds to play regular-season games in the NHL. Brennan Othmann (New York Rangers) and Firebirds' alumni Ethan Keppen (Vancouver Canucks), Vili Saarijarvi (Detroit Red Wings) and Jalen Smereck (Arizona Coyotes) have all played in NHL pre-season contests. In total, the team has produced 22 signed or drafted players into the NHL.

Owen Sound Attack (34-26-5-3, 6th Western Conference):

Rookie forward Julian Fantino leads the Attack with four goals in six games. He scored just three times in the 68-game regular season. William Portokalis has a goal and three assists. Colby Barlow has three goals and a helper, and Servac Petrovsky has two tallies and four assists thus far.

First-year defender Madden Steen has also scored once and assisted twice. Sophomore blue-liner Sam Sedley has three assists to date. He topped the defensive unit by scoring four times and pitching in 38 helpers for 42 total points in 64 games during the campaign.

Between the pipes, Nick Chenard made 45 regular-season appearances and finished tied for seventh with 24 victories. He carried a 3.01 goals-against average (GAA) and a save percentage (SV%) of .901, both of which ranked sixth-best among OHL starting netminders who played at least 2,000 minutes. In six playoff appearances, Chenard carries a GAA of 3.02 and a .927 SV%. Rookie netminder Corbin Votary has made two appearances in the series. He finished the campaign with a record of 5-9-1-1 along with a 4.35 GAA and a .863 SV%.

NHL: The Attack are currently without any players with NHL ties. However, Servac Petrovsky, Cedrick Guindon, and Gavin Bryant were named to the 2022 NHL Central Scouting Midterm Draft Rankings.

The list of notable Owen Sound alumni to play in the NHL includes Sean Avery, Wayne Simmonds, Mark Giordano, Bobby Ryan, Kirk Maltby, Josh Bailey, Joel Ward, Wayne Primeau, Brad Richardson, Andrej Sekera, Trevor Lewis, Andrew Shaw, Cody Ceci, Brian McGrattan, Kevin Weekes, and Paul Bissonnette.

Broadcast Coverage:

Wednesday evening's contest against the Owen Sound Attack can be heard live on the radio throughout Flint & Mid-Michigan on US 103.1 FM, online at www.us103.com, or by downloading the US 103 app here. Jack Sznewajs will call the play-by-play action on the Firebirds Hockey Network (FHN). Pregame coverage will begin prior to puck drop at 6:40 p.m. (ET) Wednesday evening.

Also, all Flint Firebirds' home and away games throughout the 2022 playoffs can be watched anywhere in the world online at https://watch.chl.ca/ohl. CHL TV is the league's new and improved video streaming platform that delivers high-quality live and on-demand coverage of all regular season and playoff games annually. Complete OHL Playoff passes are available for $59.99 plus tax, or you can tune in to Round 1 only for $19.99. There are also CHL All Access playoff passes available to watch all CHL playoff games.

Next Up: Round 2 playoff tickets, if applicable, would go on sale within the next few days. Follow flintfirebirds.com and the official team social media accounts for updates about on-sale dates and times.

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