By Justin A. Cohn
The Journal Gazette
Plenty of strange stuff took place at Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday night.
There were 17 goals scored, netminders were switched on the fly, the referees didn’t call a single penalty – yes, in a UHL game – and a player scored by accidentally sweeping the puck into his own net.
That player was Fort Wayne’s Mario Larocque, whose quip during an interview chimed through the public-address system – as he was on the bench and the game was still going on – made for the most priceless moment of the night.
“Hey, a goal is a goal in my book,” Larocque said with a chuckle.
On any other night, such a remark would draw extra laps at practice the next day. But this wasn’t a normal night. It was the UHL’s All-Star Game, attended by 7,311 fans at the Coliseum.
It was the eighth time the UHL has held an All-Star Game, the second time in Fort Wayne. This one saw the Eastern Conference defeat the Western Conference 11-6.
So that’s a clear statement the Eastern Conference is better, right?
“It means nothing of the sort,” said Komets center J.C. Ruid, a member of the Western Conference. “It means they got lucky tonight. They’ve got good players, but we’ve got good players here, too. No one’s going all out, so you can’t compare one side to the other in a situation like this.”
Nonetheless, led by two goals and two assists from All-Star Game MVP Brent Cullaton of Elmira, who won the fastest-skater competition during the first intermission, the Eastern Conference outshot the Western Conference 56-31.
The Eastern goals came from Cullaton, Dave Van Drunen of Muskegon who also had two goals, along with Fury players Evan Kotsopoulos, Mike Watt, Rustyn Dolyny and Todd Robinson, Kalamazoo players Justin Cross and Nick Bootland, and Elmira’s Dale Lupul. Robinson had five points on the night.
Scoring for the Western Conference were Jonathan Goodwin of Fort Wayne, Don Parsons of Quad City, Kevin Ulanski and Nathan Lutz of Rockford, plus Chad Woollard of Quad City, who had two goals. Goodwin had three points on a night that saw only a handful of checks.
“It was a lot of fun, but it’s always hard to play those types of games because guys aren’t going 100 percent out there,” Larocque said. “There are guys all over the place. But the basic thing is we had fun and hopefully I’ll be back (in it) next year.”
If for no other reason than he’d like to atone. When Larocque accidentally slid the puck into his own net 2:09 into the second period, it tied the game at 4 and started off the Eastern Conference on a surge of seven straight goals that cemented the victory.
“When I get a hold of him, I’ll let him know it’s inappropriate to be doing that. Especially in a big game tonight, he goes and does that and it’s inexcusable,” Goodwin said.
Goodwin was being as sarcastic as possible, laughing the whole way. And his teammates were there to join in the ribbing of the good-natured Larocque, who went on to blame the goaltender – his Fort Wayne teammate, Kevin St. Pierre.
“Everybody has scored into their own net,” St. Pierre said. “It’s just funny that it happened here in an All-Star Game where everybody could see it. Now the guys in the league will know about it. ... I didn’t say anything to him. But I wasn’t happy about it. I’m not going to lie.”
St. Pierre stopped 31 of 37 shots before he left the game, with play going on, because he saw the Eastern Conference swap goalies on the fly seconds beforehand. The Western Conference backup goalie, Frederic Cloutier of Rockford, stopped 14 of 19 shots. For the Eastern Conference, Tom Askey of Kalamazoo stopped 14 of 18 shots and Clayton Pool of Muskegon turned away 11 of 13.
There were six Fort Wayne players participating, all of whom started thanks to an on-line fan vote, including defenseman Guy Dupuis, who captained the Western Conference team, and forward Martin Gascon. Fort Wayne center Bruce Richardson couldn’t play because of a hip injury but served as an assistant to Pat Bingham, the Fort Wayne head coach who was the Western Conference coach, too.
The Komets’ former league, the International Hockey League, held All-Star Games in Fort Wayne in 1963 and 1999. Another game, not officially recognized by the IHL but ultimately termed a “hidden All-Star Game,” took place at the Coliseum in 1957 with the NHL’s Detroit Red Wings defeating the IHL All-Stars 11-3.
The UHL first brought its All-Star Game to the Coliseum in 2004, when 8,119 fans saw the Eastern Conference defeat the Western Conference 8-3. With the skills competitions and several off-ice activities for league personnel, much more was going on this time.
“This game showcases the market, hockey and the league,” Coliseum general manager Randy Brown said. “If we develop a couple converts, get new fans from this game, maybe turn them into season-ticket holders for the Komets, it’s a positive. This has been a good thing for the market.”
Goodwin, whose parents came in to watch him play, agreed.
“I had fun playing with different guys,” Goodwin said, “and I think Fort Wayne did a really good job. I think the fans had a lot of fun with the skills competition and it was all a really good time.”
Notes: Kelly Miller, who left the Komets early in the season to play in the Southern Professional Hockey League, will rejoin the Komets on Thursday, general manager David Franke said. ... Defenseman Jani Honkanen has been waived. His rights were picked up by Quad City, Franke said, but he plans to return to Europe.
Glad Kelly is back. He will be the spark the Komets need!
Posted by: Hit Somebody!!! | January 18, 2007 at 01:01 AM
im so glad to see miller come back
Posted by: IcyKometsFan | January 18, 2007 at 09:41 AM