Here is what goaltender Kevin St. Pierre, who will sign with Tulsa of the Central Hockey League, had to say tonight:
On going to Tulsa because his wife, Heather, is from nearby Wichita, Kansas: "I feel my kids should grow up and see their grandparents. It being two and a half hours away, it's a good situation. The kids will enjoy it."
On if money played a factor: "To tell you the truth, it has nothing to do with the money. I'm placing this on family and how much time is left in my career. I was there in Fort Wayne for four years. I didn't get a championship but other than that I didn't know what else I could have done. It was time for a new challenge."
On the decision to go to Tulsa: "It was really tough. Fort Wayne's pretty hard to beat with the fan support and all that. But they expect more than most people. I had a great time there. I have no complaints. My wife followed me for years and it's time for me to follow her for the family."
On being disappointed he never won a Colonial Cup for a city he loved off the ice, doing charity work and such: "Obviously, I feel like I didn't do my job because I didn't get the championship. But I did the best I could. I did great things for the city and the town. I feel I overachieved off the ice."
Hopes for the Komets: "I hope they do well. I wish them luck. A lot of rumors are going to come out that they didn't offer me enough. That's not the case. We never got to the point where they made an offer. I just did this on my own."
Great guy. Good luck, Frenchy.
-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette
Okay to start out it is Frenchy, you left out the h. When I read this I was so sad that he is not coming back, but he is moving on. It is amazing that he is getting all of these offers and everyone needs to be happy with it. Hopefully McWhinney is coming back. Frenchy was his mentor all season and towards the end some of his moves looked a lot like Frenchy. So if he comes back I think he will be ready to be the No. 1. Good luck Frenchy, you will be very missed!
Posted by: saddened_fan | May 16, 2007 at 12:06 AM
I haven't posted in a long time due to the Air Force moving out to California. I've been reading the blogs still but have chosen not to comment on them. This is an exception. It really saddens me to see Frenchy go. He has been the best goalie we've had in all of the UHL days (and that's an understatement.) He had become the face of the Komets and that's really hard to replace. I wish him and his family well. And thanks for all the games you stole for us Frenchy, I've lost count.
Posted by: dnl | May 16, 2007 at 12:12 AM
Before he leaves, can we please retire that #31 jersey? I think he has earned it!
Posted by: Brad Lyons | May 16, 2007 at 07:31 AM
No he hasn't Brad.
Posted by: Greg | May 16, 2007 at 09:21 AM
Retire his number? Yeah, right after we retire Tommy Lawson's, he WON a CUP!!!!
Posted by: Jungle Monkey | May 16, 2007 at 09:29 AM
I will truly miss Frenchy. I do wish Frenchy and the family the very best. I would like to add his performance he has been great, and the numbers prove it, but like any other team sport-the whole team must play as one. Frenchy thanks for everything.
Posted by: ICE CREAM MAN | May 16, 2007 at 10:42 AM
I am in mourning. Kevin thank you for everything . You made want to watch hockey again. Good Luck . Please retire his his number #31 He made the Jungle a fun place to be. Thanks Frenchy. Its just really sad to think the won't be on the ice. It's time for the kid to step up. Go KOmets
Posted by: goalie girl | May 16, 2007 at 11:35 AM
I am in mourning. Kevin thank you for everything . You made want to watch hockey again. Good Luck . Please retire his his number #31 He made the Jungle a fun place to be. Thanks Frenchy. Its just really sad to think the won't be on the ice. It's time for the kid to step up. Go KOmets
Posted by: goalie girl | May 16, 2007 at 11:35 AM
Since it looks like we are getting into a discussion about retiring numbers (again), I did some archiving and founf the thread from Blake's blog (sorry Justin) where this was discussed in the case of Colin Chulk. Read it overt please.
http://blogs.fortwayne.com/tailing_the_komets/2006/07/retired_numbers.html#comments
Posted by: Greg | May 16, 2007 at 12:12 PM
Do NOT retire his number, he left without doing what champions do - WIN the cup. Retiring numbers is reserved for the ELITE players that come thru a program. While Frenchy was memorable by no means was he an elite player (if he was, he would have moved up the AHL....)
Posted by: LH | May 16, 2007 at 12:18 PM
Winning the cup is NOT an individual achievement, that's a TEAM achievement. Remember, there are (5) guys in front of him (okay, if we're talking Hawthorne as the ref then we're lucky to have 4! ha!) who are the first and second lines of defense. When those guys don't play a tight defense, when they don't get down and block shots, when they don't clearn out the slot, when they don't clear out the puck...it's pretty hard to blame your goal-tender.
What French accomplished in net is more than enough to earn him the honor of having his jersey retired because frankly without him, we wouldn't have finished the season where we did, we wouldn't have gotten past Chicago, we wouldn't have kept it close with Rockford. Remember, there is that thing called OFFENSE too, and you creat offense with your DEFENSE, you can't play defense if your guys are beat and tired. So if blame is going to be passed, it sure wasn't Frenchie ;-)
Posted by: Brad Lyons | May 16, 2007 at 01:16 PM
Brad, read my last post and click the link.
Posted by: Greg | May 16, 2007 at 01:27 PM
You don't retire ANYBODY'S number when they have played only 4 years for your team.
Having your number retired is an honor reserved for a player's LIFETIME achievement.
Retiring a number after 4 years of service cheapens every other retired number.
Posted by: Skate | May 16, 2007 at 05:30 PM
Komets didn't offer KSP enough money, I heard.
Posted by: Skate | May 16, 2007 at 07:15 PM
Brad, how can you say that it takes an entire team to win a cup the two sentences later you state that the K's wouldn't have finished the regular season where they did if it weren't for KSP? Make up your mind, dude.
Posted by: Jungle Monkey | May 17, 2007 at 08:36 AM
Again I agree with Brad , Frenchy did have a good run for us. It's not ALL about Championships....It's about $$$$$ and alot of fans came to see Frenchy play. I know it is a team effort. All season long, when the players in front of him were "ON" KSP took care of the K's. It's about $$$ and we all know it. And that is cool too. Business is Business, salary caps are not good at this level of hockey. Go KOmets
Posted by: Goalie Girl | May 17, 2007 at 09:23 AM
Bob Chase floated on the radio the last couple of days this was a total "Family" decision nothing to do with Money. The Frankes were quoted that it was about him taking a better deal that they could not match. KSP told us on Blake's site it was Money, Family, and the pressure of playing in Fort Wayne. He doesn't like being in the spot light and having fans pressuring him in this town.
Alot of these guys are really fragile when it comes to what the Fort Wayne fans want. I think we should all just agree that win or lose, we all give the guys a big hug and a sloppy kiss after every game and make sure they know, no matter what, that we love them. We don't really care if they win anyway. We just want to know that they are ok inside and that there is no pressure here to win. We will support losers too. This hockey team could be like some of those wonderful soccer teams where no one keeps score, no one loses, and no one wins, and no one cares....everyone can just be happy and sad at the same time. Everyone wins!
So turn off the scoreboard, stop keeping stats, no one yell at the refs, no one get excited. Just love these guys.
Posted by: Hit Somebody!!! | May 17, 2007 at 06:39 PM
Can we aqcuire a professional ice skating team for next season? That would be classic.
Posted by: Hit Somebody!!! | May 17, 2007 at 06:42 PM
Hit... the tears are welling up in my eyes. Such a sensitive post. The fans do love the Komets when or lose. Like you I want to see good hockey played when I spend my money. I just got to agree with Brad on all this. It is early to see what will happen and who the K's will be able to afford. With KSP gone now I'm sure there are more $$$ available to get players. One of the best things in the K's organization is their marketing team, they can sell anything so I don't worry about attendance or fan base, and we have a great Coach coming back. I got to place my faith in him . Coach Bingham acomplished a lot last season. Time will tell. I was hoping to see Kevin retire here and #31 hanging in the rafters of the Jungle. Go Komets
Posted by: goalie girl | May 19, 2007 at 06:24 PM