New to the Flint Firebirds
Another week, another coaching addition.
Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have tapped Kris Sparre as their associate coach for the 2021-2022 season.
Sparre is the third new coach to be hired in Flint since owner Rolf Nilsen brought Terry Christensen on board as president of hockey operations on May 7.
In succession, the 66-year old Christensen has hired 51-year old Ted Dent as head coach, 38-year old Jared Nightingale as assistant coach and now the 34-year old Sparre as associate coach in reshaping Flint’s hockey operations staff.
As for the latest addition, Christensen noted that Sparre “brings a lot of great experience to our hockey club. He has a prior relationship with Ted (Dent), so we are certain the chemistry on the coaching staff will be there.”
Thus, Dent knows what he has in Sparre.
“Kris will help us build a solid foundation here in Flint,” said Dent. “He is an energetic and passionate coach that has coached, and his experience with developing players in both the OHL and Europe will be great for the program.”
Sparre spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach for EC Red Bull Salzburg in Austria’s top professional hockey league. Before that, he was an assistant coach for the OHL Niagara IceDogs from 2016-2018, where he was on staff with Dent.
“I am excited to get started with the staff and I want to thank Rolf (Nilsen) and Terry (Christensen) for their professionalism throughout the process,” Sparre said. “I am ready to keep an already great winning culture going in Flint.”
As a winger, Sparre played in 150 OHL games between the Barrie Colts and Mississauga St. Michael’s Majors from 2005-2008. He later played 257 games in the DEL, which is Germany’s top pro league.
“There is a lot of excitement around this organization right now with the new staff and facility upgrades,” Sparre said. “When you are looking for new opportunities as a coach it is important that where you are going, you are given the right resources to have success. It was very clear to me that in Flint the organization cares about the staff and players and they want to win.”
Sparre is a dual citizen of both Canada and Germany from his time in the DEL.
