UPDATED: Owner Fires Coaching Staff; Team Quits In Protest
A statement was released by the team via twitter around 5:30 this evening.
END UPDATE.
The Flint Firebirds (7-9-0-1) who are all of 17 games old and ranked ninth in the 10-team OHL Western conference, came back against the Memorial Cup Champion Oshawa Generals in a shootout on Sunday night. Immediately after the game, the entire coaching staff was fired.
No reason is currently public, but rumblings are that the owner, Rolf Nilsen, was unhappy with his son's playing time. His son is a 17-year-old rookie, Hakon Nilsen who had skated in five games and registered no points and a -3 rating.
In response to the firings, all 24 Firebirds players on the roster marched into the office of GM Terry Christensen and quit, throwing down their jerseys down as a symbol of the protest for the move.
Even Nilsen's son Hakon quit.
Another notable player on the Firebirds is Red Wings 3rd round draft pick in 2015, Vili Saarijarvi, a Finnish defenseman.
The Firebirds next scheduled game is Friday against Sarnia. As of this writing Owner Nilsen called a meeting around 8 A.M. Monday morning to discuss options for the future of the Firebirds.
For what it's worth, sportsnet.ca's Jeff Marek reports this little bit from the whole ordeal.
This player response is a "family" response if I've ever seen one.
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