OHL Flint Firebirds

Preview: Monday Matinee Battle in London Next for Firebirds

Published on February 15, 2016 under Ontario Hockey League (OHL)
Flint Firebirds News Release


The Flint Firebirds hit the road for their third game in four days as Flint (16-30-4-2, 5th West Division) will square off against the #5 London Knights (38-12-2-1, 3rd Midwest Division) on Monday afternoon. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. in the second meeting at the Budweiser Gardens (capacity 9,046) in London, Ont.

Earlier this season, the Firebirds fell to the Knights 3-1 in London in a game that was internationally televised on Sportsnet throughout Canada and re-aired in the United States on the NHL Network. Flint's Brent Moran (Dallas '14) made 39 saves and Will Bitten scored the lone goal for the Firebirds while on a breakaway in front of a sell-out crowd of 9,046 fans. (Watch Highlights)

This season, the Firebirds have executed impressive performances against opponents that are in the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings. Flint earned a 6-5 victory over the Erie Otters on home ice on Nov. 22, who were ranked #1 at the time and undefeated on the road, before posting a 3-2 win over the #4 Kitchener Rangers on the road last Friday.

Radio & TV Coverage

Fans unable to attend Monday'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 30 minutes prior to puck drop at 1:30 p.m.

Monday's game against the Knights will also be televised live in London on channel 13 for Rogers TV cable subscribers. In addition, the game will be televised live across the province of Ontario on the OHL Action Pak on cable channel 433. OHL fans with cable television 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 Monday'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 Pak.

All Flint Firebirds home and away games throughout the 2015-16 season can be watched anywhere in the world online on http://flintfirebirds.com/article/london021416 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE February 15, 2016

Preview: Monday Matinee Battle in London Next for Firebirds

The Flint Firebirds hit the road for their third game in four days as Flint (16-30-4-2, 5th West Division) will square off against the #5 London Knights (38-12-2-1, 3rd Midwest Division) on Monday afternoon. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m. in the second meeting at the Budweiser Gardens (capacity 9,046) in London, Ont.

Earlier this season, the Firebirds fell to the Knights 3-1 in London in a game that was internationally televised on Sportsnet throughout Canada and re-aired in the United States on the NHL Network. Flint's Brent Moran (Dallas '14) made 39 saves and Will Bitten scored the lone goal for the Firebirds while on a breakaway in front of a sell-out crowd of 9,046 fans. (Watch Highlights )

This season, the Firebirds have executed impressive performances against opponents that are in the BMO CHL Top 10 Rankings. Flint earned a 6-5 victory over the Erie Otters on home ice on Nov. 22, who were ranked #1 at the time and undefeated on the road, before posting a 3-2 win over the #4 Kitchener Rangers on the road last Friday.

Radio & TV Coverage Fans unable to attend Monday'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 30 minutes prior to puck drop at 1:30 p.m.

Monday's game against the Knights will also be televised live in London on channel 13 for Rogers TV cable subscribers. In addition, the game will be televised live across the province of Ontario on the OHL Action Pak on cable channel 433. OHL fans with cable television 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 Monday'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 Pak.

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:

Ryan Moore is red-hot right now for the Firebirds scoring four goals and earning five points in the last five games. Moore is second on the team in points with 17 goals and 18 assists, totaling 35 points in 52 games this season.

Will Bitten is on a two-game goal streak and leads the Firebirds with 23 goals and 28 assists totaling 51 points in 51 games played this season. Bitten has earned multi-point nights 12 times this campaign and is considered a top prospect heading into the NHL Draft this June.

After earning two assists Saturday night, Vili Saarijärvi (Detroit '15) has 10 points in the last 8 games. The defenseman, in his first season in the OHL, is ranked 11th among all d-man in the league with 32 points in 43 games played.

In net, Brent Moran (Dallas '14) holds a 3.62 goals against average (GAA) and a .887 save percentage (SAV%). Moran earned the win Friday night with 33 saves and has an 11-20-4-0 record in his 4th campaign in the OHL.

Flint's rookie netminder Kyle Keyser has a 3.38 GAA and a .907 SAV%. Rounding out the Firebirds' crease is rookie netminder Matthew Menna . Menna has a 4.57 GAA and a .866 SV%.

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

London:

The Knights have two of the top three point producers in the OHL. Christian Dvorak, a 2nd round draft pick by the Arizona Coyotes in the 2014 NHL Draft has 41 goals and 93 points in 44 games played this season. Mitchell Marner, the fourth pick overall in the first round of the 2015 NHL Draft by the Toronto Maple Leafs, has 32 goals and 86 points in 42 games this season.

Matthew Tkachuk is sixth in points in the OHL with 78 in 42 games this season and is expected to be a top five pick overall in the 2016 NHL Draft this June in Buffalo, NY.

There are 67 OHL players that appeared in the NHL Central Scouting's Midterm Rankings for the 2016 NHL Draft. The rankings list a total of 210 North American skaters and include London's Matthew Tkachuk (#1), Olli Juolevi (#5), Max Jones (#11), Victor Mete (#58), Cliff Pu (#83), Brandon Crawley (#96) and Nicolas Mattinen (#103).

London has seven players currently drafted by NHL Clubs including Daniel Bernhardt (New York Rangers), Brendan Burke (Arizona), Christian Dvorak (Arizona), Mitchell Marner (Toronto), Chris Martenet (Dallas), JJ Piccinich (Toronto) and Chandler Yakimowicz (St. Louis).

In net, the London Knights are backstopped by Tyler Parsons who is the OHL's fifth-best goaltender with a 2.55 goals against average and a .916 save percentage. The Knights are backed-up by Brendan Burke (Arizona '13) who holds a 2.64 GAA and a .910 SAV% including an 8-3-0-0 record in 15 games this season.

In addition, four London skaters competed in the World Junior Championship in Helsinki this year. London's defenseman Olli Juolevi earned a Gold Medal alongside Flint's Saarijärvi after breaking the record for most points by a 17 year old defenseman with 9 points in the tournament. Christian Dvorak and Matthew Tkachuk represented Team USA while Mitch Marner was the lone Knight on the Team Canada roster.

Special Teams:

After recording a perfect two-for-two ranking on the power play Saturday night vs. Owen Sound, the Flint Firebirds power play is converting at a 13.1% success-rate , scoring 28 goals on 213 opportunities. On the penalty kill, the Firebirds are currently operating at 78.3% on the road. Flint has scored two shorthanded goals and has successfully killed 162 of 211 penalties this season. The Firebirds are in the middle of the pack with the 10th least minutes in the OHL recording an average of 12 minutes per game.

London's power play is ranked 1st in the OHL, scoring 28.7% of the time and is 2nd on the penalty kill at 83.5%. The Knights have registered the third most penalty minutes in the OHL averaging 15.5 minutes in the box per game.

Next Home Game:

After making the trip to London for a matinée contest against the #5 Knights on Monday, Flint will host the #1 Erie Otters on Thursday for "Pucks for Paws" night. Benefiting the Humane Society, fans can bring 1 new pet care item in to receive a complimentary $15 Silver Level ticket, courtesy of Magoo's Outlet.

Thursday's contest against the Otters is also "College Night" featuring $2 beers and $2 hot dogs. In addition, all college students will receive $2 off tickets with ID.

The Otters have five players already drafted in the NHL consisting of Erik Cernak (Los Angeles), Travis Dermott (Toronto), Jake Marchment (Los Angeles), Kyle Pettit (Vancouver) and Dylan Strome (Arizona). Erie also has two top prospects that are expected to be selected in the 2016 NHL Draft this June in Alex DeBrincat and Taylor Raddysh.

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.

Detroit Red Wings and Flint Generals Alumni Game The second annual Detroit Red Wings and Flint General Alumni Game is back at the Dort Federal Event Center on February 19th at 7:30 PM. All proceeds from the game will be benefiting the Kris Perani Foundation. Tickets for the game are currently on sale now at the Dort Federal Event Center Box Office. (More Info )

The Comedy Get Down Benefit Show On Sunday, February 21, The Comedy Get Down World Tour featuring George Lopez, Charlie Murphy, Eddie Griffin, D.L. Hughley & Cedric the Entertainer will be performing at the Dort Federal Event Center. Tickets for the show go on sale today at 10:00 AM on Ticketmaster.com or at the Dort Federal Event Center Box Office! (Buy Tickets )

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! Contact the Dort Federal Event Center Box Office at (810) 744-0580 for more information today

Flint Firebirds Hockey Radio Coach's Show Join the Voice of the Firebirds Dominic Hennig and Head Coach John Gruden from 6-7 p.m. every Tuesday night on 1330 WTRX Sports Radio and around the world online on the iHeartRadio App here . Hennig and Gruden 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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Ontario Hockey League Stories from February 15, 2016


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