Flint has missed star scorer
Flint Firebirds have managed to retain their hold on the eighth-and-final playoff spot in the Western Conference of the Ontario Hockey League minus injured scoring star Luke Kirwan.
The hulking 6-foot-2, 215-pound left winger has missed Flint’s last 16 games while recovering from a concussion that he received during the second week of November.
Prior to suffering the head injury, Kirwan had 13 goals, 5 assists, 18 points in 17 games as a major scoring threat for the Firebirds.
After scoring 17 goals over two prior OHL seasons divided between the Windsor Spitfires and Flint, the hard-shooting port-sider was really coming into his own as a 19-year old with the Firebirds before suffering the concussion.
Flint general manager George Burnett acknowledged how much the Firebirds have missed Kirwan, who attended the National Hockey League training camp of the Detroit Red Wings last fall.
“Obviously he was having a big season for us and as a team without a lot of depth, we have really missed him a lot,” Burnett told HockeyNewsNorth.com.
Burnett added that Kirwan “is getting closer” to returning to the Flint lineup.
After missing the OHL playoffs in 2015-2016, Flint has rebounded in 2016-2017 and is at the .500 mark with a record of 17-17-2 through 36 games.
The Firebirds lead the ninth-place Saginaw Spirit by 3 points and are only 3 points back of the seventh-place Sarnia Sting with a game in hand.