Rock star of the Firebirds
Rookie goalie Jacob Brown, formerly of the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League, backstopped the Flint Firebirds to a clutch Ontario Hockey League victory on Saturday.
Brown made 29 saves and was named the game’s first star as the Firebirds scored a 3-2 overtime win over the Windsor Spitfires before a standing room only crowd of more than 4,000 in Flint.
The win for Flint was its fifth straight and lifted the Firebirds four points ahead of the Sarnia Sting for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Western Conference of the OHL. Flint is also now within one point of the seventh place Erie Otters. The Firebirds have a game in hand on both Sarnia and Erie.
As for the aforementioned Brown, who has a 2006 birthdate, he is in his first OHL season in Flint and is the backup goalie to veteran starter Nathan Day. Saturday’s win was the second straight for Brown and he has allowed just three goals in the process in improving his record to 4-4-2 on the season.
Brown was a fourth round pick of Flint at the 2022 OHL priority selections draft. As part of the NOJHL championship team in Timmins in 2022-2023, Brown had a spectacular regular season record of 18-1-3 with a 1.49 goals against average, .925 save percentage and seven shutouts. He then followed that up by winning all five of his playoff decisions for Timmins with a 2.20 goals against average, .910 save percentage and a shutout.