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Recap: Owen Say’s first pro shutout led the Wranglers to a homecoming win against the Firebirds
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Photo credit: David Moll/Calgary Wranglers
Paige Siewert
Dec 10, 2025, 10:00 ESTUpdated: Dec 10, 2025, 10:21 EST
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The Calgary Wranglers are finally back in Calgary and started their six game homestand on Tuesday with a match up against the Coachella Valley Firebirds. This game was an outstanding display of Owen Say’s abilities between the pipes as well as some great moments of rivalry between these squads. Calgary was outshot 44-19 and still managed to secure a 3-0 win in Say’s first professional shutout.

Lineup notes

Parker Bell made his return to the Wranglers lineup after missing a couple of games with an illness. Also coming in for this game was Etienne Morin. Morin came in for Artem Grushnikov and this was his first game back in the AHL since Nov. 18. He spent the last few weeks with the ECHL’s Rapid City Rush and was recalled when Hunter Brzustewicz got the call up to the Flames. 

Wranglers lines

William Stromgren – Rory Kerins – Martin Frk
Aydae Suniev – Sam Morton – Matvei Gridin 
Andrew Basha – Justin Kirkland – Clark Bishop
Parker Bell – Carter King – Alex Gallant
Turner Ottenbreit – Daniil Miromanov 
Nick Cicek – Jeremie Poirier 
Artem Grushnikov – Etienne Morin
Owen Say 

Game at a glance

The Wranglers started Owen Say for this game and Nikke Kokko started for Coachella Valley. Calgary was challenged with a big penalty kill right off the bat when Aydar Suniev was called for a high sticking double minor just 1:29 into the game. 
The Wranglers managed to kill this off and Owen Say looked solid in his first few minutes of the game. After this expired, Alex Gallant went for his payback fight against Kaden Hamell after being knocked out by him on Nov. 23. 
After this flight, the benches cleared and a slash at centre ice turned into a line brawl between the benches. Turner Ottenbreit was getting under the skin of Ian McKinnon and McKinnon attempted to skate around the officials to get another word in. On top of Kaden Hammell’s and Alex Gallant’s fighting major, Ian McKinnon and Clark Bishop were both called for a 10 minute misconduct for continuing the altercation.
The tensions mellowed out enough to get back to regular play and at 11:43, Aydar Suniev was on the rush with the body language like he was going to pass but beat Kokko with his signature quick release. Sam Morton and Matvei Gridin assisted on this marker.
There were a few more shots from either side before the end of the frame and Calgary had a 1-0 lead after 20 minutes of play. Shots through the first were 12-6 Coachella Valley. In the second period, the Wranglers added another to their lead with a top shelf shot from Daniil Miromanov. His game came off a feed from Rory Kerins at 3:53 and William Stromgren picked up the secondary assist.
Later in the period, the Wranglers made things a little harder on themselves when William Stromgren was called for slashing, then at 11:33 Alex Gallant was called for tripping and this particular penalty turned into a two man advantage for the Firebirds when Nick Cicek was called for tripping at 12:23. Owen Say stood on his head during this penalty kill and managed to keep the Wranglers in control. Both penalties were killed and they held their 2-0 lead.
Calgary finally got their chance on the man advantage at 16:24, but this penalty call was cut short by a bench minor for too many men at 18:01. The Firebirds exploded in shots in the last two minutes but Say was a brick wall. At the end of the second, the Wranglers were ahead 2-0 and were outshot four to one with a 21-5 differential. 
The Firebirds tried to make a dent on Calgary’s lead early in the third period and at 10:31, both teams were called for offsetting minors. A roughing call against Ian McKinnon for his third penalty of the night and a slashing call against Martin Frk. 
After these penalties, the Firebirds pulled Kokko at 17:13 and at 19:21, Martin Frk scored his on the empty net to put up his 400th AHL point. The game came to a close and Owen Say secured his first professional shutout. He saved 44 shots in the Wranglers’ 3-0 win and Calgary had 19 shots through 60 minutes. 

Scoring stat summary

Rory Kerins – 1A
William Stromgren – 1A
Matvei Gridin – 1A
Daniil Miromanov – 1G
Martin Frk – 1G
Aydar Suniev – 1G
Nick Cicek – 1A
Sam Morton – 2A

Highlights

Next up

The Wranglers have a day between games and look to keep this type of play rolling into game two on Thursday. They’ll wrap up the series with a 7:00 p.m. MT at the Scotiabank Saddledome.

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