Ice Chips 05'-06'

Kaminski gets a job

Just over a year ago, I thought Kevin Kaminski was destined to become the Komets' next coach. He was with the Missouri River Otters, an upstart team that gave Fort Wayne all it could handle in the first round of the 2005 playoffs.

Last season, though, the River Otters were horrible and Kaminski didn't last the season. Then the Komets needed a new coach and wound up with Pat Bingham. But Kaminski, 37, has landed on his feet, it seems. He has been hired to coach the Youngstown Steelheads of the Central Hockey League.

Funnily enough, the press release on Kaminski being hired makes no mention of his work last season, when the River Otters went 11-27-3.

On the Hounds' roster are former Komets defenseman Mark Lindsay and forward Joey Sewell.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Ramsay hired

Bruce Ramsay, a player/assistant coach and fan-favorite with the Komets in 1999-2000, has been named coach of the Muskegon Fury.

He replaces Todd Nelson, who accepted an assistant-coaching position with the American Hockey League's Chicago Wolves.

Ramsay, 37, won five Colonial Cups as a player in the UHL. Ramsay coached Port Huron in 2002-03 and 2003-04, going 52-37-10.

Earlier this offseason, he applied for the Komets' vacant coaching job, which was ultimately filled by Pat Bingham.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Torchetti hired

Former Komets coach John Torchetti has been hired to coach the Canadian Hockey League's Moncton Wildcats, a junior team.

Torchetti, 42, who coached the Komets in the now-defunct International Hockey League from 1996 to 1998, spent last season as an interim coach with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. He has also coached the NHL's Florida Panthers on an interim basis.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Sims in UHL

The Flint Generals have selected their new head coach and it's former Komets player Kevin Kerr. That's not much of a surprise, since Kerr is one of the most accomplished players in Flint history.

What is more surprising? The Generals hired Al Sims, who coached the Komets to the 1993 International Hockey League championship, as their new general manager. Sims applied for the Komets' head-coaching job this summer, but the team hired Pat Bingham instead.

Interesting stuff

Here is a link, through The Danbury News-Times, to wiretaps of conversations from James Galante, the former owner of the now-defunct Danbury Trashers. Included in these are a conversation between Galante and an employee, Ciro Viento, and a conversation between Viento and UHL commissioner Richard Brosal.

These do contain profanity, so don’t listen if you will be offended by such a thing.

These are events that took place after Galante allegedly assaulted linesman Jim Harper, Dec. 1, 2005. The complaint was dropped.

Galante has been indicted in a federal racketeering case. The Trashers suspended operations this summer.

My Yzerman homage

Just in case you missed it.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/14964460.htm

Anyone else feeling blue about the retirement of "The Captain?"

More on Marks; Galbraith gone

More from guest blogger Ben Smith:

Back again.

And I'm a little taken aback, not to say amazed, that when I talked to Michael Franke tonight about the Greenville situation, he had no idea what I was talking about. He said they hadn't heard a word from Marks about it. I hope this doesn't jeopardize their shot at him. As I said before, he'd be a prize.

On the other hand, Pat Bingham ain't exactly chopped liver. On the further other hand (we're up to three now, which is pretty weird, I admit), the Frankes keep dropping hints that there's somebody else out there. Stay tuned.

Elsewhere, say so long to Lance Galbraith, who's going back to the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL. I know he was a big favorite among some fans, but like a lot of people he all but vanished in the playoffs, scoring just two goals, three points and taking 41 minutes in penalties -- penalites, of course, being the team's downfall. The Frankes barely shrugged. Clearly it is a New Era or something like it.

Also, the UHL announced its realignment, and the Komets are in the West with Rockford, Quad City and the two new teams, Bloomington and Chicago. Muskegon, Kalamazoo, Flint, Port Huron and Elmira are in the East. Personally I think the Komets got the best end of that deal.

Later.

This in from Ben Smith

OK, right out of the chute: I am not Justin. I'm just playing him in his blog while he's on his honeymoon (congratulations are encouraged, fellow bloggers), which is as good an excuse as you can get for taking a few weeks off.

So call me, I don't know, Stand-In Komets Guy, I guess. It's a lot better than some other things I've been called over the years, such as You're An Idiot, Such A Moron and my personal favorite, Why Don't You Get A Real Job?

But on to Komet matters . . .

* Having to go looking for a new coach will never to top anyone's A-list for things to do on your summer vacation. But if it's making for a far more harried few weeks than the Frankes figured to have at this point in the year, there is silver lining for both them and any and all Komet fans out there.

That being, they're finding out once again what a plum job this is considered in the hockey world.

You don't get a John Marks throwing his hat in the ring every day, after all. You don't get a Pat Bingham ringing you up.

The Frankes heard from almost 20 potential candidates in the first two days after the Puhalski announcement came down, and almost all of them were quality guys. Fort Wayne means something to hockey people. It's a nice thing to keep in mind on those occasions when things go south here.

* If you want my personal favorite for this job, I'll take Marks. His age (58) is against him, but he's apparently not only a top-drawer coach but a top-drawer individual, good with the players and the fans and the media. I still remember his Kalamazoo team that knocked out the Komets in '92. I loved the way that team played.

The only fly in the ointment is the team he's coached for the last eight years, the Greenville Grrrowl, is apparently, as they say, Not Dead Yet. A story in the Greenville paper Tuesday indicated that the Greenville County Council had given its initial approval to give $350,000 in revenues from the Grrrowl's home arena to the financially-strapped American Hockey League team. It's the first step in a multi-faceted plan to save the team.

More on that later.

*  As expected, the UHL approved a new hard salary cap of $300,000 at the league meetings Tuesday. It's another step in the right direction for a league that, unlike a few others we've known in the past, seems to be thinking with its brain and its wallet instead of its collective ego.

Later.

Ben Smith             

Another 1 bites the dust

The Roanoke Valley Vipers, who averaged a league-worst 1,521 fans per game in their first season in the region, have suspended operations. They are the second team to fold this offseason, joining the Richmond RiverDogs.

Roanoke Valley was formerly the Port Huron Beacons, who moved after the 2004-05 season.

It's unknown, at this point, if the Missouri River Otters will be back next season. And now there's talk the Adirondack Frostbite may be sold or moved, The Glens Falls Post-Star reported.

• There's still no word out of the Komets' offices about players for next season. Coach Greg Puhalski and general manager David Franke are expected to meet with center Colin Chaulk, goaltender Kevin St. Pierre and others regarding their futures this week. Don't expect the Komets to make any announcements until mid-June. They want to figure out the direction of the team, scout some games outside of Indiana and see who will be available in free agency.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Ready for change?

The UHL is going to get an overhaul. I'm hoping that, unlike previous seasons, the changes will be for the better.

The latest is that the Motor City Mechanics may fold after two seasons in the UHL. We already know the Richmond RiverDogs won't be back, the Roanoke Valley Vipers are unlikely to return and the Missouri River Otters are possible to fold too.

As you all know, I'm in favor of centralizing the UHL. In many respects these subtractions, plus the additions of the Bloomington (Ill.) Prairie Thunder and the Chicago Hounds, will aid in this. Ostensibly, Motor City looked like a good fit. Trust me, it wasn't. The team has barely made a dent with its advertising in a hockey-rich market and Fraser, with a less-than-thrilling arena, probably isn't the best locale for a pro team. Need proof? The Mechanics averaged 887 fans in its two home playoff games, and that was against an in-state team, the Kalamazoo Wings.

There's still hope, it seems, that the Mechanics and some of these other teams will find new ownership or move. I hope the UHL doesn't keep with its tradition of being so eager to get into some cities that it ignores horrible ownership groups, bad arenas, unworkable markets and nonsensical geography.

By the way, if Missouri does fold. The UHL had better come to its senses and put the league office in a more central location. Fort Wayne would make the most geographic sense. To have the league based in a city that doesn't even have a team would be preposterous. Why do I have a feeling the league office will remain in Missouri regardless?

• The Port Huron Flags have a new coach and general manager in Stan Drulia and a new assistant coach in Jeff Blum. Drulia played in the NHL with the Tampa Bay Lightning and should be familiar to Fort Wayne fans because he was a star with the International Hockey League's Detroit Vipers. He had been an assistant coach with the ECHL's Toledo Storm last season. This could be a good hire for the Flags. I mean, they can't get any worse. The downside, though, is that his resume isn't vastly different from recent coaches who failed miserably in Port Huron, such as Paul Willett and Bruce Ramsay.
• Kalamazoo leads Rockford 3-0 in their best-of-seven UHL semifinals series. I've said since Day 1 of the season Kalamazoo would win it all and I'm sticking to that. More importantly, though, I hope this series teaches the IceHogs a little something about their style: The showboating after goals, the constant whining to officials and the diving are just sort of ridiculous. The best teams, like Kalamazoo, don't do it.
• In the other series, Muskegon and Danbury are tied 1-1. Speaking of Danbury, I'm still stunned by the Trashers' first-round seven-game defeat of Quad City. Talk about your colossal chokes. The Mallards won the first two games of the series on the road in a 2-3-2 series and they had a 3-0 lead in Game 7. And Quad City has the Coach of the Year in Brian Curran?

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette