Sounds like the players might walk out again
Ken Campbell @THNKenCampbell
Flint Firebirds met for third time yesterday late at night. Feeling is they simply cannot play for interim coach Sergei Kharin.
Ken Campbell @THNKenCampbell
Flint Firebirds have an optional game-day skate scheduled for 11 this morning. Will be interesting to see whether anyone shows up for it.
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The father of the Flint Firebirds top scorer this season said his son will not return next season if the Ontario League does not do something about Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen. Michael Bitten, the father of Firebirds leading scorer Will Bitten, said his son would have probably left the team immediately, but has been advised by his agent to remain with the team for the rest of this season.
But Michael Bitten said there is “no way” his son will return to the Firebirds next season if Nilsen still owns the team. “If there are not changes there, my son will not go back, and I don’t think many others would as well,” Michael Bitten said. “It’s probably out of (OHL commissioner) David Branch’s control to a certain extent, but he must have the power to rectify it and I don’t know what that is. But surely they have to take this team away from that man. How can you go on long-term?”
Michael Bitten’s comments came on the heels of the news that Firebirds coach John Gruden and assistant coach Dave Karpa had been fired for the second time this season. The two men were originally fired in November by Nilsen amid reports that he was upset his son, Hakon, a defenseman on the team, was not getting enough ice time. The league stepped in and both Gruden and Karpa were given three-year contract extensions. Bitten said his son told him that Firebirds director of operations Sergei Kharin came to the dressing room to tell the team that Gruden and Karpa had been fired again. He said Kharin told the players ownership still felt the Firebirds could make the playoffs, but didn’t think that could be accomplished under Gruden and Karpa.
“And I guess after that, things got ugly,” Michael Bitten said.
The players held a captain’s practice Wednesday and said they did not want Kharin on the ice with them. The Firebirds are scheduled to play the Erie Otters at home tonight and Michael Bitten said it’s his understanding the players will show up for the game. “They know a lockout is probably not appropriate anymore and a lot of them are nervous about the perception that way,” Michael Bitten said. “And I told David Branch this: the players are putting everything into him to do the right thing.”
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