Ice Chips 06'-07'

More on Rockford

It seems to me the Rockford IceHogs' tenure in the UHL is about to over. Check out this story from the Rockford Register-Star. An agreement has been worked out for the MetroCentre to take over ownership of the team. That will likely lead to the IceHogs moving to the American Hockey League, where they'd be a minor-league affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks. In the story, UHL commissioner Richard Brosal said he might sue.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Doesn't look good for Rockford

Have you missed me? If you have as I've been off following the Colts, I apologize. If not, well, all I can say is you may soon be missing the Rockford IceHogs.

Click here to read a story from the Rockford Register-Star. It seems the Chicago Blackhawks finally showed up Rockford, Ill., to speak publicly about their desire to put an American Hockey League team there. As the story notes, a vote was expected tonight on moving this along.

If the IceHogs leave the UHL for the AHL -- shouldn't they work on redeveloping the dead area around the arena first? -- it won't bode well for the UHL. They had created a nice little hub out in that region with Rockford, Chicago, Bloomington and Quad City. Losing the strongest team of the bunch might start a domino effect. The only other teams in the league that seem solid long-term would be Fort Wayne, Muskegon and maybe Quad City. That's not much. The UHL had better hope Indianapolis gets in the UHL soon and, by the way, I keep hearing talk it will happen.

By the way, my view from afar -- thanks to Ben Smith for handling the coverage duties the last couple weeks -- is that the Komets are on the right track. But a three-game winning streak isn't enough to be sure the consistency issues are behind them.

• For all you Colts and Bears fans, check out The Journal Gazette's blog on the Super Bowl: The Colts, Da Bears, The Blog.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Report Card Night coming

Report Card Night will be Feb. 3, when the Komets play host to the Kalamazoo Wings at Memorial Coliseum. Students with an A grade of equivalent will receive a free ticket to the game.

To get the ticket, just bring your report card, a copy of it or a letter from your teacher, and bring it to the Memorial Coliseum ticket office. The sooner the better, since this is always a popular night.

Comcast will make a donation to the Literacy Alliance for every A student who attends the game.

Call 483-0011 for more information.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Henley story

Click here to read Ben Smith's story on Brent Henley. Take note, Bruce Richardson was back on skates at practice, running practice.

St. Pierre honored again

Fort Wayne's Kevin St. Pierre was selected as the UHL's Goaltender of the Week for a fourth time this season. He went 2-0-0 with a 1.00 goals-against average and a .957 save percentage. Rockford's Preston Mizzi, who had four goals and seven points in three games, was chosen as Player of the Week.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

The old barn is gone

They razed the Veterans Memorial Coliseum in New Haven, Conn., where a UHL team formerly played. Click here to read a story on it from Yahoo News. It wasn't that old a building -- 35 years old -- but my recollection is it being the dingiest barn ever. I covered a game there in 2001 and both Bob Chase and I were covered in dust and grime, not to mention there being jagged edges on the seats. I hate to see these old War Memorials be brought down, but if you're not going to invest in the upkeep, well, this is what happens.

So, it sounds like Kelly Miller made quite a difference for the Komets. True?

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

A word from the stunt double

Hi, it's me, Ben Smith, Justin Cohn's official stunt double.

Now that I have my own blog, I've decided to stage a hostile takeover of his. One day I'll control the entire blogosphere.

(OK, so not really. I'm just the stunt-double Komets guy filling in while Justin follows Peyton Manning and the boys around).

Anyway ... if you missed the Komets and Wings tonight, you missed another potboiler. These teams can't play a boring game. Forget the 4-1 final; in substance and character, this was another 2-1 game.

Nice to see Kelly Miller back in town, too. He's in from Huntsville of the Southern League, and right off the bat Friday he nearly lit the lamp, ringing one off the post in the second period. He'll bring speed and another quality stick to a team whose high-energy style seems to fit him like a glove.

Or so he said after the game.

"I can relate to the style, it's go, go, go, go, go," he said. "With my kind of energy . . . I was nervous coming in, but as soon as I got that first hit out of the way, I came back to the bench and a couple guys said good job. It just made me want to keep goin' and goin' and goin'.

"This system is really great for my speed. So it's easy to relate to the system, if you buy in like everybody's buyin' in."

-- By Ben Smith, The Journal Gazette

Stuckey the candidate

The Journal Gazette's editorial page editor, Tracy Warner, has learned that Wade Stuckey, the linesman at many Komets games, is considering seeking the Republican nomination for 5th District City Council seat, now held by Democrat Tim Pape.

Richardson interview

In case you didn't see my Q&A with Bruce Richardson, click here.

Our photo slide show is available

Here are our photos and stories from the All-Star Game last night.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/special_packages/uhlallstar/

All-Star Game story, Eastern Conference wins 11-6

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.

Audio from All-Star Game

Here are some postgame interviews from the All-Star Game you might enjoy.

Mario Larocque: Download larocque_allstar.WMA

Jonathan Goodwin: Download goodwin_allstar.WMA

J.C. Ruid: Download ruid_allstar.WMA

Kevin St. Pierre: Download st. Pierre ASG.WMA

East leading 9-4

The Eastern Conference leads the Western Conference 9-4 after two periods of play at the UHL All-Star Game. As you'd expect, there's been almost no hitting, no discernible defense and some wacky plays -- including both teams switching their goaltenders on the fly.

The best moment came when Fort Wayne's Mario Larocque accidentally put the puck into his own net. He later quipped: "Hey, a goal's a goal in my book."

The winners

The winner of the fastest skater competition was Brent Cullaton of Elmira, who went in 12 seconds. He won the competition in the Central Hockey League last season.

The hardest shot went to Mike Watt of Muskegon, who fired a 99 miles-per-hour shot. Nathan Lutz of Rockford finished second, sending two of his shots 98.

Hardest shot/Relay

The finals of the hardest shot will be between Nathan Lutz of Rockford, who blasted one 97 miles per hour in preliminaries, and Mike Watt of Muskegon, who shot one 95 miles per hour.

Fort Wayne's Mario Larocque shot 95 miles per hour, but was only the third hardest from the Western Conference.

In the breakaway relay, the Western Conference defeated the Eastern Conference 7-3. Fort Wayne's goalie, Kevin St. Pierre, stopped 2 of 5 shots, while Rockford's Frederic Cloutier turned away all five he faced. Also for the Western team, J.C. Ruid and Guy Dupuis of Fort Wayne both scored.

"They picked us apart a little bit," said Kalamazoo goalie Tom Askey, who stopped 1 of 5 shots.

On the festivities, Quad City's Don Parsons said: "Fort Wayne did a good job tonight and I'm excited to be here."

Fastest skater

The finals of the fastest skater competition, during the first intermission, will feature Brent Cullaton of Elmira and Justin Chwedoruk of Quad City.

Cullaton's preliminary time was 11.92 seconds. Chwedoruk's was 12.16.

Fort Wayne's Martin Gascon went in 12.60, the slowest of the six players competing.

All-Star Coverage

Here's the link to our All-Star Stories. I believe our coverage off the game will its way there, too.

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/sports/special_packages/uhlallstar/

Gascon and Larocque in

Martin Gascon will take place in the fastest skater competition at the All-Star Game on Wednesday. Mario Larocque will represent the Komets in the hardest shot. All the remaining Fort Wayne players should in the relay, a Fort Wayne official said.

Speed game

It just occurred to me that they're having the preliminaries of the skills competition before the UHL All-Star Game on Wednesday, but then they're having the finals during the first intermission.

Hate to be a pessimist here, but how can you accurately determine the fastest skater after they've played a period of hockey, with varying ice times? I wonder if the speed of the players won't be as fast it would have been before gametime.

I'm more curious about the hardest shot. I wonder if anyone will top 90 miles per hour. Doubt it.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

A small request

I was thinking about the All-Star Game and I hope coach Pat Bingham, who will be coaching the Western Conference team, doesn't feel the need to keep all the Komets players together throughout the game. While I understand it's fun and, in some ways, cool to see what usual linemates do in that type of game, I have a different view. Part of the fun is seeing players who normally go head-to-head having to set up one another for goals. I'd rather see Kory Karlander feeding a pass to Jonathan Goodwin than see the same stuff I can any game.

What do you think?

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

All-Star Game previews

Here's a look at our previews of the UHL All-Star Game, which will be at Memorial Coliseum on Wednesday night.

Click here to read Ben Smith's column on Pat Bingham, the Komets' coach who will be guiding the Western Conference team.

To read Ben Smith's story on J.C. Ruid, the Komets' center, click here.

And for the feature story on former Komets assistant coach Bruce Ramsay, the Muskegon coach who will be leading the Eastern Conference, click here.

• To view Samuel Hoffman's photos from Sunday's game against the Chicago Hounds, click here.

Never ceased to amaze me

BALTIMORE, Md. -- It never ceased to amaze me. I saw a guy wearing a Komets T-shirt at the Detroit Metropolitan Airport on Friday, as I was making my way down to Baltimore, Md., for the Colts game. It seems everywhere I go, people know of the Komets. They don't know why, but they know of them.

By the way, I see the Komets squandered another lead in Friday's 3-2 victory over the Muskegon Fury. Granted, it's from afar, but I have to believe that has all you fans worried. You've got to put teams away.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

New stuff

Click here for the new poll.

Click here for Cathie Rowand's photos from Friday night.

On the Fury

The Komets take on the UHL-leading Muskegon Fury on Friday night at Memorial Coliseum. I was speaking with Fury coach Bruce Ramsay, a player/assistant coach with the Komets in 1999-2000, and asked him how to describe the Fury's style of play.

"We bring a good all-around game," he said. "We can play any style. We do use a lot of speed. The word we use a lot around here is 'relentless.' ... We don't concentrate necessarily on the physical part. We want to be physical, but we want to be relentless and always be in somebody's face."

It obviously works. Muskegon has drawn the fifth most power plays in the UHL. And it ranks first in scoring with 4.31 goals per game.

Muskegon is 33-5-1 overall. Fort Wayne, which has lost two straight games, is 22-12-1.

On the game Friday, Ramsay said, "It's going to be a good one. I'm really looking forward to the challenge for our team."

As for the Komets, it was another blown lead in Wednesday's 3-2 loss to Rockford. The Komets gave up two goals in the last six minutes. I'm getting a feeling changes may be on the horizon. Just a feeling, though.

• I apologize ahead of time, I will be out on the road covering the Colts this weekend so someone else will be at the games. I will try to check in once or twice, but feel free to post your thoughts on what's going on this weekend. Thanks.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Komets, Wings sweep starting lineups

The UHL's All-Star game with be in Fort Wayne on Jan. 17, and it seems the fans wanted the hometown players to get as much praise as possible.

The starting lineups for the game were announced Wednesday -- they were determined by fan voting on the internet -- and the entire Western Conference lineup will consist of Komets players. The entire Eastern Conference lineup, meanwhile, will be Kalamazoo Wings players.

Fort Wayne's Kevin St. Pierre will be the Western Conference goaltender, Guy Dupuis and Mario Larocque the defensemen, and Jonathan Goodwin, J.C. Ruid and Martin Gascon the forwards.

Nearly 15,000 votes were submitted on-line, the league said.

Gascon wasn't even initially selected to be in the All-Star Game by coaches, general managers and reporters, but he was added after teammate Bruce Richardson suffered a torn labrum in his hip.

Fort Wayne coach Pat Bingham will coach the Western Conference. Dupuis, the Komets' captain, will be the Western Conference's captain. His assistants will be Don Parsons of Quad City and Nathan Lutz of Rockford.

The starting lineup for the Eastern Conference will be: Kalamazoo's goalie Tom Askey, defensemen Jeff Brown and Adam Elzinga, plus forwards Nick Bootland, Justin Cross and Kory Karlander.

The Eastern Conference captain will be Todd Robinson of Muskegon, with assistants Philippe Plante of Muskegon and Bootland. The coach will be Bruce Ramsay of Muskegon.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

In case you missed it

Clint Keller has pictures from Sunday's game at Memorial Coliseum. Click here.

And there's a new poll. Click here.

More on the Flint situation

The Flint Journal has an update on its story about an Elmira coach allegedly going into the Generals' locker room before a recent game.

Click here to view the story and see the clarification on the second page.

Jackals in trouble again, maybe

Click here to check out a story from The Flint Journal, alleging Elmira Jackals coaches snuck into the Flint locker room before a recent game. Elmira's head coach, Robbie Nichols, used to coach the Generals, and assistant Kris Waltze is a former Flint player. If this is true, I wonder how many strikes until the UHL boots Nichols out of the league.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Komets lose 6-5

The Komets lost 6-5 to the Flint Generals on Sunday. This was a tough one to judge.

On one hand, you want to be harsh on the Komets because, again, they squandered a lead. They were up 2-0 and, per habit, suddenly started having breakdowns at both ends of the ice. It was the fourth time in the last eight games that the Komets have coughed up a lead, and they've gone 2-1-1 in those matches.

On the other hand, the team was just flat out fatigued. That's what happens when you play four games in five nights in four different cities, traveling 1,723 miles along the way, sitting in the cramped confines of the team bus, eating awful postgame food.

Coach Pat Bingham said he was, for the most part, pleased with the effort, just not the execution. I'll give them a partial pass, but I will point out Flint was playing its third game in as many nights, which also isn't easy, and it's tough to make excuses when you're up two goals at home. Still, if excuses are to be made, this is the night to do it.

• Bogdan Rudenko, the Komets' hottest player of late, will miss Wednesday's game at Rockford, Ill., to tend to personal matters, general manager David Franke confirmed.
• Bruce Richardson was on the bench coaching with crutches, after he had surgery on his hip Thursday.
• Bingham was irked with the officiating. I know, what else is new? But sometimes he's off base. "Look at it, did we get a power-play chance tonight in the third period? I'll answer it for you, no," Bingham said. "They never took a single penalty." Actually, the Generals' Dave Frawley was called for interference at 5:38 of the third period. The Generals, meanwhile, had two power plays in the third. I understand what Bingham is saying because usually the Komets' opponents get all the late power plays, but he's sounding like a conspiracy theorist. I thought Mike Mondalek did a decent job calling the game. But it's like they say, occasionally even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.
• The Komets are 0-9-0 when trailing heading into the third period.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Familiar face, familiar story

The Komets have re-signed defenseman Ryan Jorde, who played 60 games with the team last season and scored three goals and nine points in 60 games. He began this season with Victoria of the ECHL, tallying five assists in 23 games.

He could be in the lineup Wednesday, when the Komets play at Rockford, Ill. When Jorde is activated, the Komets will have to trim one player from their roster. That puts Jani Honkanen, Arthur Kiyaga, A.J. Bozoian and Mike Dombkiewicz on the hot seats. Bear in mind, Bozoian and Kiyaga are rookies, so their presence gives the Komets more flexibility in the lineup since the must play four rookies every game.

As for today's game, the Komets trail the Flint Generals 3-2 after one period of play. Per their recent custom, the Komets coughed up a lead; they were ahead 2-0 after 12 minutes of play.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Komets win in a shootout

The Fort Wayne Komets have won three games in a row -- their longest such streak since mid-November -- but they still haven't cleaned up one part of their game: Hanging on to leads.

The Komets defeated the Port Huron Flags 4-3 Friday night in an overtime shootout, but only after they squandered an early three-goal advantage at McMorran Arena.

Fort Wayne got first-period goals from Martin Gascon, Bogdan Rudenko and J.C. Ruid to open the 3-0 lead. But Port Huron answered with two power-play goals from Mike Olynyk and a game-tying tally from Bobby Kukulka at 16:59 of the third period.

It was a back-and-forth affair in the shootout, with the Komets winning in the eighth round on K.J. Voorhees' goal. Fort Wayne outscored Port Huron 5-4 in the shootout.

The Komets' other shootout goals came from Ruid, Daniel Goneau, Scott Seney and Guy Dupuis.

Komets goaltender Kevin St. Pierre stopped 31 shots in regulation. Noah Ruden turned away 32 for the Flags.

Fort Wayne, which leads the Western Conference with a 21-10-1 record, was set to travel 486 miles through the night for today's game at Moline, Ill. The Flags, who are the hottest team in the league, dropped to 8-1-2 over their last 11 games, 14-15-6 overall.

• By the way, I'm shocked by the results of our poll on whether you're sick of hearing about the officiating. I guess you're not.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Mechanics coming back

According to this story from ProHockeyNews.com, the Motor City Mechanics will return to the UHL after a one-year layoff. They will have new ownership. It also looks as if the Mechanics will play at the Michigan State Fairgrounds. It's been a long time since I've been to that arena, so I can't speak about whether it's an improvement, but I can tell you the arena in Fraser wasn't fit for hosting professional hockey.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Vote here

Click here to vote for the starting lineups in the UHL All-Star Game, to be played at Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 17. You have until Tuesday to vote.

Richardson update

Komets center Bruce Richardson had surgery today to repair the torn labrum in his hip.

"Everything went well," general manager David Franke said. "He did an outpatient surgery at 7 a.m. and was out by 12:30 p.m. He had a tear in his labrum which was repaired in his hip. They also removed a bone chip and shaved part of the bone down to make it smoother. He's going to be out 4-to-6 weeks. He'll be on crutches probably until Monday and then he'll begin his physical therapy."

The Komets have no plans to pursue another forward, including Kelly Miller, until after they see how this weekend's games go. There's also no update yet on Ryan Jorde, the defenseman the Komets plan to sign in the next few days.

Franke said he also hasn't heard anything from the UHL office regarding defenseman Mike Dombkiewicz and therefore doesn't expect him to get any suspension for his high stick in the 1-0 victory at Elmira, N.Y., on Wednesday night.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

All-Stars announced; Jorde coming

When the UHL All-Star Game takes place at Memorial Coliseum on Jan. 17, the local fans will have plenty of familiar faces to applaud.

The league announced its all-star rosters and selected to play for the Western Conference team were Fort Wayne goaltender Kevin St. Pierre, defensemen Guy Dupuis and Mario Larocque, plus forwards Jonathan Goodwin, Bruce Richardson, J.C. Ruid, Bruce Richardson and Martin Gascon.

Richardson won’t be able to play because of a torn labrum in his hip – he is expected to have surgery on that Thursday – and Gascon made the team as a replacement. Because of that, every Fort Wayne player who was on the ballot for coaches, general managers and reporters to choose from, wound up an all-star.

Komets coach Pat Bingham will coach the Western Conference because of his team’s winning percentage as of Jan. 1.

Each conference team is comprised of 18 skaters and two goaltenders, and each franchise must be represented by at least two players.

The starting lineups for the game will be determined by fan voting between Thursday and Tuesday.

Meanwhile, the Fort Wayne fans are probably about to see a change in the makeup of the Komets’ defensive unit.

The team is close to signing defenseman Ryan Jorde, who skated with the Komets last season, tallying three goals, nine points and 107 penalty minutes in 60 games. Jorde is 6-foot-3, 215 pounds, a ninth-round pick of the Buffalo Sabres in 2001.

“I’m on my way to town right now,” Jorde said Wednesday afternoon. “I’m coming there to play and I know we’ll figure something out. I’m not looking to break the bank or anything. I’m looking forward to working something out with them.”

Jorde, 24, came close to signing with the Komets last summer but opted to play for Victoria of the ECHL instead. After tallying five assists and 34 penalty minutes in 23 games, and learning the Salmon Kings might trade him, he asked to be released so he could pursue options in other leagues.

“The team was losing and we weren’t doing good,” he said. “There were a lot of great players but it wasn’t jelling well. … I just wanted to try playing in Canada for a year. It didn’t work out. It was trial and error.”

Said Komets general manager David Franke: "We're hopeful we can work something out with Ryan, but we haven't met yet face-to-face. Something could get done by this weekend."

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Miller a possibility

The Komets may ask Kelly Miller, the former Komets forward, to return to the team depending on the outcome of Bruce Richardson's surgery for a torn labrum in his hip later this week.

General manager David Franke stressed he has not called Miller and probably won't until after he has a better idea how long Richardson will be out. It's expected to be 4-to-8 weeks.

Miller began the season with the Komets before leaving to play for Hunstville of the Southern Professional Hockey League, where he has six goals and 16 points in 25 games.

Franke knows Miller left the team to get more playing time and doesn't want to try and bring him back if Miller won't get it.

In the meantime, the Komets are planning no major lineup changes this week, except to activate K.J. Voorhees.

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Richardson injured, to have surgery

Bruce Richardson, the Fort Wayne Komets’ center, assistant coach and emotional leader, had been in pain for months.

And he knew surgery was in his future.

But when he took an awkward hit from Chicago defenseman Tom Zabkowicz in Sunday’s 4-2 Komets victory, belief became reality at Memorial Coliseum.

“(Sunday) was kind of the icing on the cake when I fell down on that leg,” Richardson said. “You realize sometimes you’re pushing the button too hard. I realized it in that game.”

Richardson will have surgery this week on a torn labrum, which is cartilage that runs around the hip socket.

He expects to miss between four-and-eight weeks of playing time with the Western Conference-leading Komets, depending on how severe the injury is deemed to be by doctors.

“For two months, the way I am, it’ll be hard for me to stay away from the rink,” Richardson said. “I’ll be on crutches for a while but I’ll be there to work with the guys, look at video and help guys be more consistent. I want to be behind the bench helping (coach Pat Bingham). And I’ll keep myself in shape and do my rehab because my main thing is to play.”

Richardson, 29, has nine goals and 28 points in 30 games during his first season with the Komets.

He said this is the first major injury of his career, if you discount broken orbital bones which didn’t keep him from playing much.

Richardson’s hip had been bothering him for more than a month, yet he continued to play even though he often couldn’t practice. His condition was hard to diagnose.

“We didn’t know what was going on and I’m hard guy to get to stop playing. I kept playing and the pain was getting worse and worse,” Richardson said. “I want to play hockey and wanted to have a good year. But two months (of recovery) will get me back in time to (get back in shape) and ready for the playoffs.”

In the meantime, the Komets, who are 19-10-1 overall, 8-7-1 in their last 16 games, will look to improve upon their consistency. Sunday’s victory was a step in the right direction.

“That’s as close to 60 minutes as we’ve played in (awhile),” Bingham said. “Well, it’s never really 60 minutes. You’re always looking for the elusive 60 minutes, the elusive perfect game with perfect decisions all over the ice. We made a great deal of them and carried momentum and play most of the game.”

The game Sunday, played in front of 9,413 fans at the Coliseum, brought plenty of special-teams action – Fort Wayne was 2 for 10 on the power play, Chicago was 2 for 9 – and it helped erase the sting of Saturday’s 3-2 shootout loss to the Kalamazoo Wings.

“Things are starting to come together, I think,” Fort Wayne center J.C. Ruid said. “For a little while, we figured that we’d win games instead of working hard to win games. We’re starting to come together as a team and believe that if we play the 60 minutes, we’re going to win.”

Chicago (11-17-1), which is coached by Greg Puhalski, the former Fort Wayne coach, opened the scoring 9:26 into the first period. Center B.J. Radoslovich redirected a Greg Koehler shot into the net during a 5-on-3 power play.

Ruid answered during a power play at 12:37, with his 20th goal of the season, when he jammed the rebound of own shot past goaltender Marty Magers. One minute later, Magers got into a fight with Fort Wayne’s Pascal Morency.

Fort Wayne went ahead 2-1 on Matt Syroczynski’s goal from long range at 17:27 of the first period, and Ruid set up right wing Bogdan Rudenko for a power-play goal and a 3-1 lead at 17:35 of the second period.

The Komets cemented the game with right wing David Hukalo’s goal, off a rebound, at 7:10 of the third period. The Hounds answered with a Bob Rapoza power-play goal at 10:11, but they couldn’t get anything else, even though they pulled the goalie for a 6-on-3 advantage in the final 1:31 of play.

The Komets outshot the Hounds 45-25, including 16-2 in the first 17 minutes of play.

Fort Wayne goaltender Kevin St. Pierre made 23 saves. Magers stopped 35 of 39 shots, while his backup, Corey Wogtech, stopped all six shots he faced.

The Komets play Wednesday at Elmira, N.Y., on Wednesday. Richardson is likely to have his surgery Thursday.

“These are the types of things that happen during a season,” Richardson said. “And it’s a part of playing hockey.”

-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

New poll is up

The poll you all requested -- I actually had people in the stands demand this topic -- is up. Click here.