By Nathan Waters
The Flint Firebirds were defeated 3-5 by the Windsor Spitfire on April 16 at Dort Financial Center to complete a four-game sweep by the Spitfire and an early exit from the Ontario Hockey League (OHL) playoffs despite a promising first round and overall record-breaking season for Flint.
Now, with the OHL draft beginning today, the team looks to build on its standout 2025-26 season.
The First Round
Flint offered a bright start to the OHL playoffs against Owen Sound Attack. The Firebirds were able to win Game One 8-1 in a blitz of Owen Sound’s defense with four goals in the first period alone. The game itself proved record-breaking in an already record-breaking season for Flint with center Jacob Battaglia scoring six points (2 goals, 4 assists), a new high in a single postseason game.
There was little let up in Game Two in Flint just a couple nights later. Once again the Firebirds came out with their foot on the gas, racing to another 4-0 first period. A four-goal second period and a three-goal third put the game to bed, with Owen Sound scoring their only goal of the contest with four seconds left on the clock to finish at 11-1 in favor of Flint. The Firebirds went four-for-five on the power play and again out shot Owen Sound 38-26.
The series moved to Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre in Owen Sound for Game Three, but the change in venue did not correspond to a change in fortunes for the home team. Keeping in form, the Firebirds put three goals past goaltender Trenten Bennett in just over seven minutes in the first. He would go on to give up seven goals and for the second time in as many games, Bennett was pulled in favor of goaltender Dylan Durno, who in turn gave up 3 goals on 13 shots. With the 10-0 win Flint’s goaltender, Mason Vaccari, collected his career first post-season shutout. The 32 save affair also included an assist for the 21-year-old. The result came despite Flint being out shot 30-32, going 0-for-3 on the power play and only winning 25% of face-offs.
The series closed out at the Bayshore Community Centre in front of 1,826 fans on April 1 with an understated, by the standards of the series, 6-1 victory for Flint. The Firebirds saw two goals per period and a much better 5-for-7 powerplay scoring rate.
When asked about why his team had such an explosive series against Owen Sound, Firebirds Coach Paul Flache noted, “We played them at the end of the season and lost… We had a few guys out of the line-up [but] they are a very explosive offense that thrive on the transition. We made sure to manage the puck and play in the offensive zone as much as possible. Nobody could predict how that series would go. Even though the score tells a different story, [we] had a few big breaks go our way.”
The Second Round
As good as Flint was in the first round, the second round matchup against the Windsor Spitfires saw a hard-fought series that showcased the competitiveness of the OHL and how truly difficult it is to lift the J. Ross Roberts Trophy as playoff champions.
Game One, played in WFCU Centre in Windsor, started the series off hot. The Spitfires shot ahead to a 2-0 lead in the first six minutes of the game. Flint was able to score one late in the first to close the gap. After a quiet second period, the fireworks started with Flint’s Jake Battaglia and Windsor’s Cole Davis each receiving five-minute penalties for fighting, with Davis being removed from the game with a misconduct penalty for instigating. Flint then tied the game nearly 13 minutes into the third. Flint’s luck would not hold as Windsor scored two minutes later to retake the lead, before landing an empty-net goal to kill off the game.
Staying in Windsor for Game Two, the fireworks of the previous match-up’s third period continued. Windsor scored two goals in the first ten minutes before Flint’s Kevin He could claw one back for the Firebirds. Davis would reinstate Windsor’s two-goal lead before Firebird Chrstopher Thibodeau would tighten things up in a five-goal thriller of a first period.
The second period saw Flint roar out of the locker room from the break and score three unanswered goals to take what appeared to be a commanding 5-3 lead. The hockey gods still refused to smile on Flint, though, as the third period was all Windsor. The Spitfires scored two before a fight broke out between Flint’s Darian Anderson and Windsor’ s Liam Greentree. Both received major penalties, with Greentree receiving an additional misconduct penalty for instigation which saw his removal from the game. Connor Walton would score the winner one minute from the end of the game to see Flint off 6-5 in what Coach Flache described as a “back breaker” for the series.
“We had a 5-3 lead going into the third period,” he said. “We had our checks and on those goals we didn’t check our guy and went home down 0-2.”
The penultimate game moved to Dort Financial Center in Flint in a much-muted affair from the previous two showings. Goals were scored early in all three periods with Windsor scoring in the first and second, and Flint receiving a lifeline early in the third period. But the Firebirds were unable to capitalize and finished the game 2-1.
Game Four saw Windsor complete the sweep of Flint in another close affair where the Firebirds fell just short once again. After scoring first, Flint found themselves down 3-1 early in the third period. Flint’s captain, Nathan Aspinall, clawed one goal back at the midway point only for Jakub Fibigr to reinstate the Spitfires’ two-goal lead. Aspinall would go on to score again five and a half minutes from time, but again the Firebirds were put to the sword by an empty net goal to kill out the series.
“We left it all out there. I don’t know if we just started to run out of gas. We just started to look a little tired, but that’s a credit to [Windsor] too,” Coach Flache told East Village Magazine.
Season Awards
While a season ending without a championship might usually be seen as a disappointment in some form, there were still many flowers to go around for the Flint Firebirds.
Goaltender Mason Vaccari was named a finalist for the Jim Rutherford Trophy, awarded to the best goaltender for the season. This honor put him in the top five goaltenders for the league. Mason ultimately lost the trophy to the Kitchener Rangers’ Jackson Parsons who is the first to win the award for the Rangers in 34 years.
Center Jimmy Lombardi was named a finalist for the William Hanley Trophy, awarded to the most sportsmanlike player across the league. He was beaten to the award by Windsor Spitfires Ilya Protas.
Nathan Aspinall was a finalist for two awards after a career-best season. The Mickey Renaud Captain’s Trophy for the OHL team captain who best exemplifies leadership on and off the ice, and the Red Tilson Trophy is awarded to the most outstanding OHL player during the regular season. Aspinall would ultimately lose out to the Soo Greyhounds Brady Martin and Kitchener’s Sam O’Reily, respectively.
Coach Paul Flache was a finalist for the Matt Leyden Trophy for the OHL coach of the year. After setting a new record for Flint for wins by a coach and pushing the Firebirds within a few wins of the division championship, he found himself finishing just behind the Ottawa 67’s Dave Cameron.
The sole award winner for the team this season was General Manager Dave McParlan was named the OHL General Manager of the year with the Jim Gregory Trophy as voted by his fellow General Managers. McParlan’s third season with the team saw the Firebirds set new franchise records for points (95) and wins (44).
Coach Flache described McParlan as “someone that you want to work for, but it’s also someone you don’t want to disappoint.” Also saying of McParlan’s leadership “we put extra pressure on ourselves to make sure that we are putting our best foot forward and, you know, making everyone in the organization proud.”
Looking Forward
The OHL will see turbulence across this coming season, and Flint will not be an exception. New rules implemented by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) will allow players who have played major junior hockey eligible to play college hockey. Previously, the NCAA would not allow players who had participated in the leagues that compromise the Canadian Hockey League (CHL) as it was seen as not meeting the “amateur” standards required for college athletics due to the stipends provided to the players to live while participating. As of August 1, 2025, the NCAA changed the rules to allow players. It is yet to be understood how this will affect the CHL as a whole and Flint, specifically.
What is known is that at least three players will be departing Flint this offseason. Christopher Thibodeau, Urban Podrekar, and Mason Vaccari will be aging out of the OHL and their departure has been announced by the team.
Elsewhere, Latvian defenseman and Anaheim Ducks draftee Darels Ulanskis announced via his social media on May 19 that he has committed to play college hockey at St. Cloud State in St. Cloud Minnesota.
Following the Firebirds’ exit from the playoffs Kevin He was assigned by the Winnipeg Jets’ American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate the Manitoba Moose. He did not make an appearance in the AHL playoffs but practiced with the team. It is unclear at the time of publication where he will be playing next season.
The 2026 OHL draft will return as an in-person event for the first time since 2000. The event will take place June 12 and 13 at Slush Puppie Place, home of the Kingston Frontenacs, in Kingston, Ontario.
The Firebirds games will return Sept. 19 in Saginaw where they will face the Spirit, while they hit the ice at Dort Financial Center in Flint for the first time Sept. 26 against the Niagara IceDogs.
Lead photo credit: Nathan Aspinall #74 celebrates with Darels Uljanskis #8, Christopher Thibodeau #9, Jimmy Lombardi #10 and Luka Graziano #14 after breaking the Flint Firebirds’ assist record against the Saginaw Spirit at Dort Financial Center on March 14, 2026. (Photo Credit: Flint Firebirds)
