Firebirds are in overdrive
Who are these guys? Not appearing on many — if any — projection lists as a Western Conference contender ahead of the ’25-26 Ontario Hockey League season, the Flint Firebirds nonetheless are accelerating in the fast lane.
The Firebirds were doing just fine at the 15 game mark of the slate with an above .500 record of 8-6-1 before an improbable run that produced 11 straight wins. It finally took a shootout loss to the Sarnia Sting to end the lusty 11 game winning streak.
At the 27 game mark of the ’25-26 OHL regular season, Flint’s record of 19-6-2 was good for the best winning percentage — .741 — among the 10 teams of the Western Conference, just ahead of the Windsor Spitfires.
Carefully constructed by general manager Dave McParlan with assistance from Sault Ste. Marie based head scout Mike Oliverio, the Firebirds are also well instructed and prepared by head coach Paul Flache and top assistants Reijo Ruotsalainen and Justin Solcz.
Now in his third season with the Firebirds, the 43-year old Flache recently became the winningest coach in Flint’s OHL history with 78 regular season victories. Flache, a former OHL defenseman who played under the defensive minded Stan Butler in Brampton, is one of the more low key, under-rated coaches in the league.
His lede assistants are no slouch, either.
Ruotsalainen, who is also in his third season in Flint, is a retired National Hockey League defenseman of more than 500 games. Now 65 years old, Routsalainen won two Stanley Cups with the Edmonton Oilers in 1987 and 1990 and a silver medal for Finland in the 1988 Winder Olympics. During his NHL playing days, Ruotsalainen continued to suit up, totalling eight more seasons of pro hockey in his native Finland and in Switzerland. As a coach — prior to being hired by Flint — Ruotsalainen brought 14 years of professional coaching experience to the Firebirds staff, with stops in the East Coast Hockey League, Finland, Austria and Germany.
He officially joined the organization after serving as the General Manager of the Leamington Flyers, Flint’s affiliate, for the past six seasons. Solcz was named the OJHL’s General Manager of the Year for both the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons, and his Flyers teams reached the OJHL Western Conference Finals in each of their two seasons in the league. Prior to that, the Flyers competed in the GOJHL, where Solcz guided them to a Sutherland Cup championship in the 2022-23 season.
A native of Windsor, Ontario, Solcz spent seven seasons working for the University of Windsor as the Associate Head Coach, from 2008-15 and again for the 2017-18 season. He won the Queen’s Cup Ontario Championship with the Lancers during the 2013-14 season and was named the PJCHL Coach of the Year with the Lakeshore Canadiens in the 2016-17 season.