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Flint Firebirds fire, rehire coach in less than 24 hours

Published 1:43 pm Monday, November 9, 2015

By Jesse Geleynse

The most interesting thing to happen in junior hockey the past 24 hours has to be the solidarity going on with the Flint (Mich.) Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League.

According to numerous media reports, owner Rolf Nilsen fired head coach John Gruden and assistant coach Dave Karpa Sunday after the team’s victory over the defending Memorial Cup champion Oshawa Generals. The quarrel was evidently over the playing time of Nilsen’s son, Hakon, a Firebirds defenseman.

Except the players weren’t having any of it. The entire team, including Hakon, turned in their sweaters as they quit en masse following the announcement, pledging to return if the coaches were reinstated.

Following a Monday meeting between Rolf Nilsen and OHL commissioner David Branch, Gruden and Karpa were rehired with new three-year contracts according to TSN. The players appear to have returned, although TSN reported that a number had called their agents to request trades Sunday night.

Hockey agent Allan Walsh had some interesting things to say about the situation:

It’s interesting that this development coincides with the role the Missouri football team played in getting the university president to resign Monday. As Walsh noted, the players, as a group, do have power from the FBS down to the junior hockey level.

In other news:

– Prince Albert’s Reid Gardiner went undrafted twice, but that hasn’t shaken his resolve.

– Kelowna’s Nick Merkely is the WHL Player of the Week while Swift Current goaltender Landon Bow is the league’s nominee for CHL goaltender of the week.

– The CHL Canada-Russia Series begins tonight in Kelowna with Silvertips Noah Juulsen and Carter Hart on the roster.

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