Seven up in the Flint net
The net seems set in Flint for the foreseeable future. Edmonton Oilers draft pick Nathan Day and his seasoned presence tops the list of seven goalies who the Flint Firebirds of the Ontario Hockey League have on their present protected list of puck stoppers.
Day, who has a 2005 birth date, was a sixth round pick by Edmonton at the 2023 National Hockey League draft.
Tall and lanky at 6 foot 3, 185 pounds, Day has already played two full OHL seasons for Flint. He was a workhorse starter for the Firebirds during the 2023-2024 season. Regular season and playoffs included for Flint in ’23-24, Day saw close to 3,400 minutes of action between the pipes for the Firebirds, who finished in eighth place in the Western Conference before losing to the no. 1 seed London Knights in the first round of the playoffs.
Day’s backup this past season was rookie Jacob Brown, formerly of the Timmins Rock of the Northern Ontario Jr. Hockey League. Brown has a 2006 birth date.
Besides Day and Brown, Flint has five other goalies to possibly choose from at some point, according to Firebirds general manager Dave McParlan. They are Logan Kennedy and Patrick Sutherland, who both have 2006 birth dates; Nathan Maguire and Ethan Phillips, who were both born in 2007; and Liam Edgcumbe, who has a 2008 birth date.
Of note, Maguire is a Sault Ste. Marie product. He has played the past two seasons with first the Soo Jr. Greyhounds of the Great North Under 18 Hockey League and then the Soo Indians of the Michigan Amateur Hockey Association.