Flint now at three overagers


By
August 23, 2016

Having dealt goalie Brent Moran to the North Bay Battalion on Monday, the Flint Firebirds have three overage players slated to report to their training camp on August 29.

Firebirds general manager George Burnett has confirmed that the three overagers are holdover defensemen Alex Peters and Mathieu Henderson and centre Everett Clark, who was acquired from the Mississauga Steelheads earlier this summer.

“Our plan is to go with Peters, Henderson and Clark to start,” Burnett told HockeyNewsNorth.com.

OHL teams are allowed to dress three overagers in a game and that is the number that Flint is at heading into next week’s camp following the trade of Moran to North Bay.

Peters and Clark will both leave Flint at some point to attend National Hockey League camps though neither has a contract at this time.

A stay-at-home defenseman, the 6-foot-4, 217-pound Peters has already played in parts of four OHL seasons.

Meanwhile, the 5-foot-11, 180-pound Henderson has shown an offensive upside through three previous OHL seasons with 21 goals, 67 assists, 88 points in 196 games.

As for the 5-foot-8, 178-pound Clark, he could be poised for a breakout season in Flint following three years in Mississauga where he steadily increased his point totals from 10 to 27 to 35, 30 of which were goals.

“I saw a lot of him the last three years and I see him as an under-rated player who does a lot out on the ice,” Burnett said of Clark, who besides being a skilled skater, plays with an edge.

Prior to taking over as GM of the Firebirds during this off-season, Burnett coached and managed the Hamilton Bulldogs and the erstwhile Belleville Bulls, thus he got to see a lot of Clark playing for Mississauga in the Eastern Conference.

“He’s the type of player that you knew when he was on the ice,” Burnett added in further praise of Clark.

While a lot can change between when the Firebirds begin training camp next week to when the regular season begins on September 21, Burnett said he is satisfied with the prospect of having Peters, Henderson and Clark as the three overagers in Flint.

“They are all proven players in our league and good character individuals,” Burnett summed up.

PHOTO: Flint Firebirds defenseman Mathieu Henderson, in OHL action against the London Knights. (Photo by Postmedia.)


What you think about “Flint now at three overagers”

  1. motleyrulez,

    Looking for a big season from Steve Harland in North Bay. He could be a 30-35 goal-scorer for the Battalion in 2016-2017.

  2. I think Stan and George have a long-standing working relationship and they do their best for their players and their teams. As for Harland, he is very skilled at making excellent passes to other players but he should probably shoot more himself. Being on the slight side, he was bumped off the puck many times by bigger opponents so I hope he bulked up a bit this summer (well, as much as a little guy can anyways).

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *