One of Flin Flon’s own has made his on-ice debut in western Canada’s top junior hockey league.
Justin Lies suited up in games Sept. 20 and 21 with the Vancouver Giants of the Western Hockey League (WHL), becoming the first Flin Flon player to play in the league since Ashton Sautner skated for Edmonton in 2015.
In his first two outings, the 15-year-old Lies finished with two shots on goal, a minus-one and one faceoff win. A third-round pick of the Giants in the 2018 WHL bantam draft, Lies skated last season for Winnipeg’s Rink Hockey Academy in the Canadian Sports School Hockey League (CSSHL) in the elite-15s division, racking up 29 points in 34 games.
A product of the Flin Flon Minor Hockey Association system, Lies based his hockey career out of northern Manitoba until last season, playing previously for Flin Flon and Norman representative teams.
The Giants’ roster currently consists of 14 forwards, eight defenders and three goalies - Lies is the youngest of the group to make the team out of camp.
While Flin Flon was a hotbed for producing NHL players in previous decades, only one player from the community, the aforementioned Sautner, currently plays in a major professional league. A prospect in the Vancouver Canucks’ system, Sautner split last year between the Canucks and their AHL team in Utica, N.Y.
