Justin A. Cohn


About Ice Chips

  • Justin A. Cohn, pro sports coordinator for The Journal Gazette, has been covering the Fort Wayne Komets since 1997. His reporting includes game stories from home and away, features about the players and personalities associated with the Komets, plus coverage of issues affecting hockey at all levels. A native of Bloomfield Hills, Mich., Cohn graduated from Emory University in Atlanta. He can be reached at 260-461-8429 or by email at [email protected].

Komets Korner

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May 15, 2007

St. Pierre leaving K's

General manager David Franke considers goaltending for the Fort Wayne Komets to be one of the top jobs in minor-league hockey.

The post is now open.

Franke confirmed that Kevin St. Pierre, winner of the UHL’s Best Goaltender Award and the Komets’ MVP Trophy, has accepted an offer to play for the Tulsa Oilers of the Central Hockey League.

“Now, we’ll start the hunt for a new goalie,” Franke said Tuesday, when it also became likely that standout defenseman Mario Larocque would be playing elsewhere next season.

In St. Pierre’s impressive four-season run with the Komets, he went 147-54-13 and became the franchise’s all-time leader in shutouts with 23 shutouts. He also became the UHL’s record-holder in shutouts with 26. He was the league’s MVP and Best Goaltender in 2003-04.

St. Pierre helped Fort Wayne to regular-season championships in 2004 and this season. Despite leading the Komets to the Colonial Cup Finals in 2005, he never took the Komets to a playoff championship, something his predecessor as No. 1 goalie, Tom Lawson, did in one season with Fort Wayne.

After being ousted 4-1 by the Rockford IceHogs in the Western Conference Finals, the Komets were leaning toward trying to bring back St. Pierre, 32. But the decision was made for them when they learned of the contract offers he was receiving from teams in other leagues. Franke said to keep St. Pierre would have jeopardized the Komets’ ability to stay under the salary cap.

“We had a meeting last Friday and talked about a wide variety of things,” Franke said. “His was an offer in Tulsa he couldn’t refuse and that’s fine with us. To be honest with you, I think he wanted to make a change. Maybe it’s time for us to make a change in goal, too. Kevin did a (large) amount of good work for us. He felt bad we weren’t able to win the championships we were looking for.”

St. Pierre couldn’t be reached for comment; his voicemail stated he was out of town. Neither Fort Wayne coach Pat Bingham nor Tulsa general manager Corey MacIntyre could be reached either.

Last season, St. Pierre went 42-18-3 with a 2.24 goals-against average, a .926 save percentage and five shutouts. In the playoffs, he was one of the few Fort Wayne players to excel, going 5-5 with a 2.55 GAA, a .917 save percentage and two shutouts.

Check out Wednesday's editions of The Journal Gazette for more on St. Pierre's departure.

By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette

Posted at 06:00 PM in Hockey world news, IHL analysis, Komets analysis, Player rumors and talk, Transactions |

Comments

Shawn

Good Luck to Frenchy and his family!

Posted by: Shawn | May 15, 2007 at 07:04 PM

Brad Lyons

Championships or not, he was...IS a competitor and we'll miss him!

Posted by: Brad Lyons | May 15, 2007 at 07:13 PM

David

This league's uncetainty is going to force a lot of players to look to play in a more stable environment. If the league can not compete with other leagues money wise the talent level will drop and so will the lable of being a AA hockey league.

Posted by: David | May 15, 2007 at 08:08 PM

Hockey Fan

Lets sign Fredric Cloutier

Posted by: Hockey Fan | May 16, 2007 at 04:59 PM

The comments to this entry are closed.