Sports stats



OHL Flint Firebirds

Firebirds' Kolyachonok Helps Team Orr Win CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game

January 24, 2019 - Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Flint Firebirds News Release


Flint Firebirds defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok with Team Orr at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
Flint Firebirds defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok with Team Orr at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
(Flint Firebirds, Credit: Rob Wallator/CHL Images)

Red Deer, Alta. - Flint Firebirds' defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok and Team Orr trailed for all but four of the 60 minutes in the 24th-annual CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game Wednesday but four unanswered goals late in the third period led them to victory in front of 5,432 fans at The ENMAX Centrium in Red Deer, Alta.

Coming off being ranked at number-22 among North American skaters eligible for the upcoming NHL Draft, the Firebirds' defenseman finished with a plus-2 rating, one shot on goal and two penalty minutes in the contest.

With the victory, Kolyachonok now joins the growing list of three Firebirds to win the event. Since Flint's inception into the OHL four season ago in 2015, there have been three Firebirds invited to play in the prestigious game. All three have won. Will Bitten helped Team Orr skate to a 3-2 victory on Jan. 28, 2016 before Ty Dellandrea set an event record for the fastest two goals scored, lighting-the-lamp twice in 20 seconds, en-route to a 7-4 victory for Team Cherry on Jan. 25, 2018. Bitten went on to be selected by the Montreal Canadiens in the third-round (70th overall) of the 2016 NHL Draft before Ty Dellandrea was tabbed by the Dallas Stars in the first-round (13th overall) of the 2018 NHL Draft.

In a game televised internationally on three different networks coast-to-coast across North America, Kolyachonok was one of 40 players to compete in the event to showcase their talents leading up to the 2019 NHL Draft, which takes place June 21-22 in Vancouver, B.C.

Tuesday morning, Kolyachonok competed in The Sport Testing Combine which offered all 40 players in attendance the opportunity to showcase their individual strengths while gauging their fitness and skill levels among their peers for NHL management and scouts. Kolyachonok impressed, finishing fifth in the overall standings in on-ice testing based results across 10 different categories (Read More).

10 CHL players from last year's game in Guelph were chosen in the first round of the 2018 NHL Draft led by Barrie's Andrei Svechnikov picked second overall by the Carolina Hurricanes. In 23 years, a total of 317 CHL players from this event have been chosen by NHL clubs in the first round of the NHL Draft representing over 45% of all players selected. Since the event was first introduced in 1996 the game has featured 14 players selected with the first overall pick in the NHL Draft including Nico Hischier, Connor McDavid, Aaron Ekblad, Nathan MacKinnon, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins, Taylor Hall, John Tavares, Steven Stamkos, Patrick Kane, Marc-Andre Fleury, Rick Nash, Vincent Lecavalier, Joe Thornton, and Chris Phillips.

33 of the CHL's 60 member clubs will be represented in the game with a total of 16 WHL players from 12 different teams, 15 OHL players from 12 teams, and nine QMJHL players each from a different organization.

Check out the Flint Firebirds Statistics




Images from this story

Flint Firebirds defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok with Team Orr at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
Flint Firebirds defenseman Vladislav Kolyachonok with Team Orr at the CHL/NHL Top Prospects Game
(Rob Wallator/CHL Images)		   



Ontario Hockey League Stories from January 24, 2019


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central