Flint Firebirds 2018-19 Season Thread (Part 3)

[dirty12]

Joe Birch, not GM Barclay Branch, hired Eric Wellwood last October after Ryan Oulahen resigned.

The accidental coach: How a near-fatal injury changed Eric Wellwood's path

Quote:

“Oulahen stepped down after the Firebirds started 0-7, and Wellwood did not seek out the opportunity to replace him. But when Birch - again - offered him the job, Wellwood - again - couldn't pass it up.”

Joe Birch has been overseeing the the hockey operations in Flint for the OHL since the Nillson suspension. He hired George Burnett. Burnett reccomended Barclay Branch when taking Guelph job, but it was Birch that hired Branch.

 

[Hockey61fan]

Joe Birch has been overseeing the the hockey operations in Flint for the OHL since the Nillson suspension. He hired George Burnett. Burnett reccomended Barclay Branch when taking Guelph job, but it was Birch that hired Branch.

sad sad sad...........

 

[MJ5]

Is anyone here going tonight?

 

[Hockey61fan]

Can someone confirm the following: Do we even have a 2019 RND 1 pick this year? Did we trade it away at any point in time?

 

[Firebrd828]

Can someone confirm the following: Do we even have a 2019 RND 1 pick this year? Did we trade it away at any point in time?

First round picks can't be traded (they can only be taken away for not following through on your promises to the league).

 

[Firebrd828]

Anybody have anything to report from the Season Ticket Holder meeting? I was not able to attend.

 

[Toldyaso]

Main highlight from the STH meeting last night. Rolf Nilsen has no intention of selling the team according to BB and the man himself via video. It was made crystal clear that he wants to make Flint the best franchise in the OHL. His own words via the video. Take it for what its worth but that is what was said. BB insisted that there are no players asking to be traded. He even related a story about Ethan Keppen sending him texts to cheer him up. Not going to speculate on the veracity of anything that was said. Talk is cheap but actions speak louder than words. So lets see what transpires the rest of the season. BB had a bit to say about his plans concerning returning the team to a competitive state and outlined how some of his moves were designed to advance that goal. Agree or disagree what he said did make some sense.

 

[Gensdef]

Main highlight from the STH meeting last night. Rolf Nilsen has no intention of selling the team according to BB and the man himself via video. It was made crystal clear that he wants to make Flint the best franchise in the OHL. His own words via the video. Take it for what its worth but that is what was said. BB insisted that there are no players asking to be traded. He even related a story about Ethan Keppen sending him texts to cheer him up. Not going to speculate on the veracity of anything that was said. Talk is cheap but actions speak louder than words. So lets see what transpires the rest of the season. BB had a bit to say about his plans concerning returning the team to a competitive state and outlined how some of his moves were designed to advance that goal. Agree or disagree what he said did make some sense.

Was also at the meeting and confirm what Toldyaso has posted. Tend to believe some of what Barclay said because of the Keppen story. Supposedly Keppen text said he was all in and wanted to be here. As well as others did. Text supposedly came towards the end of the opening losing streak. IF this is true not as many kids want out as some would want us to believe. Guess time will tell who is right. Barclay also said he was very happy with the job Wellwood was doing.

 

[Firebrd828]

...BB insisted that there are no players asking to be traded...

Well, hate to say it, but he's playing with words here. Sure, AFTER the trade deadline there's no players asking to be traded, but I know for a fact that there are players still on this team that had requested a trade prior to the deadline.

 

[MJ5]

Main highlight from the STH meeting last night. Rolf Nilsen has no intention of selling the team according to BB and the man himself via video. It was made crystal clear that he wants to make Flint the best franchise in the OHL. His own words via the video. Take it for what its worth but that is what was said. BB insisted that there are no players asking to be traded. He even related a story about Ethan Keppen sending him texts to cheer him up. Not going to speculate on the veracity of anything that was said. Talk is cheap but actions speak louder than words. So lets see what transpires the rest of the season. BB had a bit to say about his plans concerning returning the team to a competitive state and outlined how some of his moves were designed to advance that goal. Agree or disagree what he said did make some sense.

So basically they called this meeting to go ahead and squash all the BS Rumors "N DA DOESNT NO" has been spreading it sounds like?

 

[Toldyaso]

Jack Phibbs was given the A. Wellwood let it out on the coaches show Tues and It was tweeted officially today. I applaud this move. Jack has been the teams Swiss army knife this year and by all accounts a leader in the locker room. Congratulations Jack the A is well deserved.

 

[TcNorth]

Thank you for the updates Toldyaso and Gensdef! How many attended the neeting?

 

[Toldyaso]

So basically they called this meeting to go ahead and squash all the BS Rumors "N DA DOESNT NO" has been spreading it sounds like?

Well that was certainly one of the topics. There were others but I didn't think anyone was interested in complaints about the glass not being clean enough in certain sections of the arena.

 

[Gensdef]

My two main takes from the meeting for me. Rolfe stating that the team is not going to be sold or moved and that he wants to make a winner. Barclay stating that no one has asked to be traded or wants out. According to him they all want to be here. Guess each of us has to decide how much we believe and who we believe. TC Flint i am not a good judge of numbers, but the blueline club was farely full.

 

[MJ5]

My two main takes from the meeting for me. Rolfe stating that the team is not going to be sold or moved and that he wants to make a winner. Barclay stating that no one has asked to be traded or wants out. According to him they all want to be here. Guess each of us has to decide how much we believe and who we believe. TC Flint i am not a good judge of numbers, but the blueline club was farely full.

Normal setup in the blue line?

If so I'd guess it would seat 50-70.

 

[Savard18]

I found Barclay to be somewhat less believable. One, I don't need rebuilds explained to me. I don't need to be explained that there are 5 age groups. 16yo's, 17yo's, 18yo's, 19yo's and 20yo's. I get it. He did sort of imply that you need to build around certain age groups (oh, for real? Thanks.) and I guess that it's kind of going to be the 00's but it's really the 01 group that's gonna be going for it. As far as NOBODY asked to be traded? BS. Straight to our faces BS and I'd put money on it. He also in a roundabout way suggested he "traded" for Kolyachonok. Torrey though? Seemed straight up and believable and said he didn't care what you've read or what you've heard, the Firebirds will be in Flint next year owned by Rolf Nilsen. Then they showed a video of Rolf talking to Hennig. Audio and video weren't sync'd perfect and Rolf's accent is a bit thick but on first impression, I believed him. He wants to turn this franchise into the best in the league (good luck with that, I'll settle top half right now) and is going to do the things necessary to accomplish it. They've already got some things in the pipeline that are coming. Wifi for the arena (which Costa kind of balked at in year one when someone I was with suggested it to him), talk of going fiber-optic which Toldyaso might have more info on. Other stuff, which someone isn't going to spend money on if they plan to bail. It's obvious the staff is still working hard and trying to do all that they can to make this work, so hopefully things come around. Also, it was asked if Rolf will be re-instated. Barclay gave a "huh...what, what do you mean? Oh, because my Dad? I assure you he doesn't talk to me about those things" Really? Really? You have no idea whether your father is going to make a decision in 4-5 months that's likely to put you out of job? Ok. I honestly don't think he's a bad guy or hiding evil intentions or intentionally trying to sabotage the team or something but I won't be heartbroken when there's a new GM. Unless Terry Christensen is around. Lesser of two evils I guess.

 

[Gensdef]

Normal setup in the blue line?

If so I'd guess it would seat 50-70.

There were a few more tables i think. Some longer tables in back that i think were the tables the food is usually on.

 

[FirebirdsFan21]

I also attended the STH forum as well. In my opinion, I was impressed with Torrey and his knowledge with the day to day operations. Branch on the other hand I was not impressed with at all. I thought he talked down to his audience and assumed all of us didn't know anything about the league, age of the players or much of anything else. It almost looked like he was sleeping after he was done talking. When others were discussing ticketing or reviewing what the total chartable donations have been. He did not seem like we wanted to be there. He reiterated the process but the other thing that still bothers me is that he did claim injuries caused a lot of the early season losses but did he do anything about that to get bodies to Flint. Yes he picked up Koly on waivers but we had to wait like a month so he could play due to immigration issues. We added a few players but it wasn't enough for a full healthy roster. I believe last weekend was the first time all season that we had 18 skaters and 2 goalies dressed for a full roster..

 

[Toldyaso]

I found Barclay to be somewhat less believable. One, I don't need rebuilds explained to me. I don't need to be explained that there are 5 age groups. 16yo's, 17yo's, 18yo's, 19yo's and 20yo's. I get it. He did sort of imply that you need to build around certain age groups (oh, for real? Thanks.) and I guess that it's kind of going to be the 00's but it's really the 01 group that's gonna be going for it. As far as NOBODY asked to be traded? BS. Straight to our faces BS and I'd put money on it. He also in a roundabout way suggested he "traded" for Kolyachonok. Torrey though? Seemed straight up and believable and said he didn't care what you've read or what you've heard, the Firebirds will be in Flint next year owned by Rolf Nilsen. Then they showed a video of Rolf talking to Hennig. Audio and video weren't sync'd perfect and Rolf's accent is a bit thick but on first impression, I believed him. He wants to turn this franchise into the best in the league (good luck with that, I'll settle top half right now) and is going to do the things necessary to accomplish it. They've already got some things in the pipeline that are coming. Wifi for the arena (which Costa kind of balked at in year one when someone I was with suggested it to him), talk of going fiber-optic which Toldyaso might have more info on. Other stuff, which someone isn't going to spend money on if they plan to bail. It's obvious the staff is still working hard and trying to do all that they can to make this work, so hopefully things come around. Also, it was asked if Rolf will be re-instated. Barclay gave a "huh...what, what do you mean? Oh, because my Dad? I assure you he doesn't talk to me about those things" Really? Really? You have no idea whether your father is going to make a decision in 4-5 months that's likely to put you out of job? Ok. I honestly don't think he's a bad guy or hiding evil intentions or intentionally trying to sabotage the team or something but I won't be heartbroken when there's a new GM. Unless Terry Christensen is around. Lesser of two evils I guess.

They are in the process of bringing Fiber into the building. Once that is done with the right networking equipment and access points they could easily have a securely segmented public WiFi network in the arena. Might actually be a good candidate for a mesh network. It will also make the stream for the video feed better than it already is. No reason they can't do almost anything they want from a media standpoint with the fiber service and a decent bandwidth package. Not sure where they are at in the process. That process can be frustratingly slow and drawn out sometimes depending on the state of the fiber infrastructure in the area. I started the process to bring fiber Internet to a location a few blocks north of the arena on Averill and a second point to point fiber link from that location to a building on Center rd near Security federal about 3.5 yrs ago and it literally took 1.5 years to get it built out and turned up. They are using the same provider I did so hopefully some of the infrastructure put into place for my project will help theirs move along at a faster pace.

 

[TcNorth]

Showing my age and lack of computer knowledge, but how does adding wifi add to the enjoyment of being at the games?

 

[jprenkert]

Allows fans and scouts quicker connection to internet. Along with streaming of the game out I believe. Not a tech junkie but i'm sure that's part of it.

 

[Toldyaso]

They are in the process of bringing Fiber into the building. Once that is done with the right networking equipment and access points they could easily have a securely segmented public WiFi network in the arena. Might actually be a good candidate for a mesh network. It will also make the stream for the video feed better than it already is. No reason they can't do almost anything they want from a media standpoint with the fiber service and a decent bandwidth package. Not sure where they are at in the process. That process can be frustratingly slow and drawn out sometimes depending on the state of the fiber infrastructure in the area. I started the process to bring fiber Internet to a location a few blocks north of the arena on Averill and a second point to point fiber link from that location to a building on Center rd near Security federal about 3.5 yrs ago and it literally took 1.5 years to get it built out and turned up. They are using the same provider I did so hopefully some of the infrastructure put into place for my project will help theirs move along at a faster pace.

Just want to add that bringing in Fiber isn't cheap to do. It usually requires a significant commitment in time and expense for a provider to build it out. The fact that they are doing it demonstrates they are investing in the facility. That says something about future plans. If there were plans for major changes or if there were not plans for the future of the facility there is no reason to build the fiber service to the building. The current Coax service would be more than adequate.

 

[Toldyaso]

Showing my age and lack of computer knowledge, but how does adding wifi add to the enjoyment of being at the games?

It is a value add to the facility. Makes it more attractive to the fans, makes it more attractive to trade shows and other non hockey events. It can even be a revenue generator for trade shows. I have setup portable 40 station POS networks in venues as large as the Edward Jones Dome in St Louis. We would attach our private network back in those days to their network for internet access. We would of course be charged an exorbitant fee for that service but that is how you did it back then. A properly setup WiFi system could be monetized for a similar use for trade show vendors at Dort. That's just one example. There would be many possibilities depending on the types of events you are hosting. The possibilities are pretty much skys the limit with WiFi. With the right equipment you could configure several securely segmented virtual WiFi access networks with various levels of security and bandwidth control suitable to their intended purpose and have them all run simultaneously through the same physical infrastructure. You could have a highly secure one for POS systems for secure payment transactions with it own dedicated block of bandwidth, One for the media and visiting scouts that is secure from other networks again with its own dedicated block of bandwidth, One that is low security for public use with maybe some bandwidth restrictions to discourage it being used inappropriately with filter applied to you block inappropriate content. Create virtual WiFi networks for specific events then turn them down after the event ends. The possibilities are many. it is a good forward thinking investment in the facility.

 

[Toldyaso]

Nerd alert!! ^^^^^^^^

 

[Hockey61fan]

Been reading the posts reagarding the STH meeting.
Interesting to read about Rolf telling everyone he has no plans to sell and wants to have a winning team. Leads me to believe he will appeal to get his team back.
He is a successful business man and IMO with his son no longer on the team he could very well really want that.
Branch on the other hand never really provided any real answers. As usual cause he has no idea what he is doing.

I truly hope that in April the OHL or I mean to say Branch and Birch make the right decision.