Flint Firebirds Owner Rolf Nilsen Given Fine, 5-Year Ban

Flint Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen Given 5-Year Ban, $250,000 Fine, and Loss of 3rd Overall OHL Priority Selection by OHL Commissioner David Branch

One of hockey’s stiffest penalties ever handed down saw OHL’s Flint Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen on the unfortunate end of nasty sanctions (yet well deserved).

Ontario Hockey League Commissioner David Branch has suspended Nilsen five years (eligible for reinstatement in three years), handed him a quarter-million ($250,000) dollar fine, and stripped the organization of their third overall selection in the first round of the OHL Priority Selection Draft (they still own another high compensatory 1st).

For those unfamiliar with the situation, Flint Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen was making headlines early into the 2015-16 season. It all started back in October/November when Flint’s owner abruptly fired his entire coaching staff following a game because Nilsen felt that his son (Hakon Nilsen) wasn’t receiving proper ice-time. The entire team went to bat for the coaching staff as they refused to show up the following day for practice.

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The OHL stepped in to re-hire the coaching staff. At this point, David Branch forced Flint Firebirds owned Rolf Nilsen to sign an agreement stating he would steer clear of the hockey operations side. This was a stiff warning by the league, essentially stripping him of his involvement in anything but the business side.

Fast forward to February and Rolf Nilsen was at it again. For a second time, he relieved his coaching staff of their duties. Speculation at the time strongly suggested it was directly related once again to his son and lack of playing time. On a side note, Hakon Nilsen is arguably one of the worst players on one of the OHL‘s bottom feeders.

This second incident triggered an investigation which ultimately led to yesterday’s decision. The OHL took over hockey operations back in February, appointing Joe Birch, who will continue to serve in that role moving forward. Joe Stefan is Flint’s interim Head Coach and Assistant GM. 

Biggest hurdle moving forward for a city that has already faced so much turmoil on and off the ice is convincing players to suit up for the Firebirds. After two organized walk-outs by players and Rolf Nilsen still the owner, agents and their clients are reluctant to join the club.

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via Yahoo Sports,

Several agents had made it clear to the Firebirds ahead of this weekend’s draft that they didn’t want their clients being selected by Flint with Nilsen still involved with the club.

“The league is either going to decide to operate (the team) indefinitely, which I don’t think that they can,” one agent said. “That will create problems with the owners. Or they need to bring in the proper people or the owner does to run the organization in a professional way.

“If that’s not happening, we can’t put our clients at risk in a situation like that. Until that changes, that one team out of the 20 in the league is a franchise that everybody will likely try to steer clear of.”

The Firebirds finished the 2015-16 season ninth in the Western Conference with a 20-42-6 record.

More puck prose: Stepan Falkovsky Increases Draft Stock in Second Half of OHL Campaign

No Place for Politics in Hockey

Only thing this situation did is brought to light a very real issue that exists within not only minor hockey, but sports in general. For any of those people who have experience playing high levels of competitive sports, you’ve likely seen it.

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The most common form of politics we see is exactly the story above. We see it a lot in minor hockey where the coach’s son sees 1st line minutes and special teams. Maybe the assistant coach/or trainer’s son plays on the same line receiving similar favoritism.

This can also work two-fold, I can tell you from a personal experience. Early in my hockey career, my father coached for a season. He made it clear (to me) that I wasn’t getting any special treatment, or anything that might constitute players/parents to complain behind the scenes.

We lost a defenseman before the season started, and my father insisted that I slide back to the blueline for the year – even though I was the smallest player on the team. At the time of the incident, it was upsetting/infuriating, but worked out well. Someone other than my father controlled the defensive group, and that season made me a more complete 200-foot player.

Another form of politics in hockey is largely constructed at an early age. Whether its AAA, AA, A, or whatever it may be, teams tend to largely stick together. The kids who made the AAA squads back in Tyke or Novice seem to be given a veritable tenure. Don’t get me wrong, the vast majority of AAA teams are filled with proper talent. But there’s often that small percentile still there because they’ve been with the team for so many years, or their parents are on the coaching staff. In those rare scenarios, you’ve got parents who sponsor the team with their own company, investing extra money.

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Politics in Minor Hockey has been rampant for many years. It’s the elephant in the room that no one wants to talk about – that is, until it rears its ugly head in our junior hockey system as it has this season. And, the big question, what can we do to prevent this from happening ever again?

We need to get things to a point where the top talent is being selected for our best teams. Here is a great example. Offspring of former NHLers tend to have a free ride into junior hockey based on their last name – Yet, several of these players go undrafted and have little impact at the junior level.

Even if we’re talking about anywhere between one to three undeserving players on these AAA teams (sometimes less, sometimes more), multiply that by the number of total teams that exist, and we’re talking about hundreds to thousands of wasted roster spots. Those undeserving players might get drafted late in a CHL draft, if they’re lucky.

This has a ripple effect on the entire junior system. Example: Here we’ve got kids who live in smaller communities outside bigger cities. Each one of those kids talented enough for AAA hockey who fall victim to politics go back and play for their community – but because their community is so small, it can only support a A or AA team (sometimes less). The scouting simply isn’t there for those teams.

North America may be producing the highest number of NHLers, but that number is constantly dipping. Countries such as Sweden, Finland, Czech Republic, Russia, etc. are making strides to catch up. Canadians used to be a majority number in the NHL, but that is quickly changing. We need to ask ourselves what these European nations are doing with their Minor Hockey systems. Do the politics still exist overseas? Why don’t we hear about the same type of incidents involving parents in the stands/lobby or parking lot?

Next: NHL Mock Draft 3.5: Rounds 1-7

Whichever way you want to shake it, yesterday’s news of Flint Firebirds owner Rolf Nilsen should be a wake-up call to Hockey Canada and USA Hockey.

We have major flaws in our Minor Hockey system in North America, and those issues reach much further than the lone topics being addressed in this piece. If this pathetic conflict of interest can emerge in the OHL, perhaps it’s time to re-evaluate how we do things at the grass-roots level.