FLINT, Mich. -- Plain and simple, the Komets didn't come to play tonight. The Flint Generals did. The result: a lopsided 5-1 victory in favor of the Generals, who pulled to within seven points of the league-leading Komets.
Fort Wayne coach Al Sims, as you can hear if you listen to the audio at the end of this post, said he continually warned his team not to take the Generals lightly. The message apparently didn't sink in.
The Komets were out-hustled and out-mustled at the beginning of the game and were unable to recover. Though they improved after the first 10 minutes or so, wow, they gave up a ton of odd-man rushes and breakaways. The best player on the ice may have been Fort Wayne goalie Nick Boucher, who had missed the previous 14 games with a groin injury.
After he came in, the first shot he faced was a breakaway. The second was a penalty shot. He stopped them both, but then gave up a goal to Jarred Dumba. Boucher went on to stop 28 of 31 shots, after starter Kevin Reiter stopped 1 of 3.
The penalty shot still had people scratching their heads in the Fort Wayne locker room, especially because referee Bob Landon supposedly told the Komets it was because Sergei Durdin pulled Michel Beausoliel down at the blue line. Maybe so, but Beausoliel still got up, got almost in the clear again and got a clean shot on goal. How can that be cause for a penalty shot? Anyway, that part didn't matter in the end.
This game should serve as a reminder to the Komets, the Generals have plenty of time to overtake them in the standings. They can't have hiccups like tonight if they want to win a championship.
I wonder if not having David Hukalo and Mathieu Curadeau in the lineup rattled the Komets' confidence defensively? I also wonder if Reiter is a little less comfortable knowing he's got competition for playing time again. And did all the time off affect Brent Henley's right hook? I doubt all counts, but maybe we should watch these things Saturday at Muskegon, Mich.
To hear Sims' audio: Download sims_after_51_loss.WMA
To hear Boucher audio: Download boucher_postgame_interview.WMA
- Former Komets goalie Kevin St. Pierre suffered a season-ending wrist injury with Tulsa of the Central Hockey League.
- There were competing blogs at tonight's Komets game. Here's what The Flint Journal's Brendan Savage had to say.
-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette
Justin, thanks for the updates. Safe travels tomorrow!! Are you stayin in Muskegon for the night tomorrow??
Posted by: Jerad Shaw | January 26, 2008 at 02:37 AM
Didn't come to play is correct. We had the game up on a eight foot by 6 foot big screen ready for a big win. We were two in the hole before the first beer was done (2min). Helney was taken to a dance and dumped. Jorde went after Legault like he stole his girlfriend. I can't begin to count the number of breakaways Flint had. Their wingers were fast, and always behind our D-men.
I hope Al goes over the game tape this week with them in detail. This loss will turn out to be a positive thing in the end. Every good team needs their cage rattled. We obviously got Flint's attention last time around and they wanted to prove it. This will make the league stronger (Playing to WIN!,NOT just playing to get paid) any competitive person will know what I mean by that. We are still on top.
GO KOMETS! GET A WIN TONIGHT!
Posted by: The Fan | January 26, 2008 at 09:59 AM
Ooops, I forgot.
Jerad, Tom and the gang. Have fun tonight! Rock Western Michigan with the Black and Orange.
Posted by: The Fan | January 26, 2008 at 10:58 AM
Curadeau and Hukalo are 2 important players for our team. And they are good defensively. I am sure it hurt somewhat having them out of the lineup but the rest of the team needs to step up. Plain and simple.
I hate to see people get dumped into the boards (boarding). And if I spent as much time in surgery and rehab as Henley did...I'd be a little upset too. Not to mention seeing what happened to Hanson, your teammate. The penalty called sometimes is not equal to the result of the incident. Glad to see he came out of it okay.
Sounds like we got crushed in every facet of the game last night. There will be 3 or 4 more of these kinds of games. Report about it, throw the game tape in the dumpster, and move on. Its not a true reflection of this team at all.
Posted by: scoops | January 26, 2008 at 11:00 AM
Ooops again, Happy Aniversary to PUCKIT! I know it was hard for him to step away and miss the game. But by doing so, I'm sure that he woke up this morning still being my brother in-law.
Posted by: The Fan | January 26, 2008 at 11:02 AM
Can't wait for the game tonight. I might be one of few people that love Muskegon's arena. Scotty Gruhl's number is retired there, and he was my 2nd favorite Komet of all time! It's a rough town, but the view of the lake is outstanding. I'm ready to go. I might ask coach to give me just one shift tonight. I'm pumped!!!!!
Posted by: Jerad Shaw | January 26, 2008 at 11:20 AM
Its just one game. I watched on B2 and we stunk. Plain and simple. Boucher looked pretty good. Hard to say Henley really got beat in his fight. Was more of a grecko-roman style match. Durdin taking a stupid penalty that results from he laziness? I'm not shocked.
Posted by: JungleMonkey | January 26, 2008 at 11:33 AM
I like how is Savage's blog that jorde said the komets here cocky about there 9-1 win....like they werent't sailing high with there 9-3 win the night before....i guess you can except that kind of a comment from the most fear man in the IHL
Good Luck the Komets tonight...should make for a good game for those of you going up there.
Everyone Get Back Home Safe!!!
GO KOMETS!!!
Posted by: IcyKometsFan84 | January 26, 2008 at 01:32 PM
I remember Jeff Worlton getting stopped in a fight by an Muskegon player a few years back. After that happened some of you guys jumped on the bad mouth bandwagon about what a bum he was and he couldn't fight. (He won far more than he lost by the way) The same thing goes for Ryan Jorde. The same guys who ranted about big bad LeGault 2-weeks ago and what a bum Jorde was, was taken to the cleaner by Jorde last night. I guess Jorde isn't quite the bum fighter that a couple of you guys like to make him out to be. So does this mean that Henley and LaGault are bums now since they both lost decisions. I got news for some of you if you think Henley is unbeatable !!
Posted by: Ron | January 26, 2008 at 03:45 PM
You are right Ron. I have been saying for a while the Komets are not that tough.If we lost all 3 fights last night & flint still had McCarty- Westgrath-Gerke , we are not near as tough as flint.Now if we had Mike Sgori- Chad Johnson-Frank Littlejohn then maybe we could match flint in the toughness.
Posted by: mightbite | January 26, 2008 at 04:56 PM
HAHA It's Chaz Johnson.
The Komet party is up in Skegy!! Tons of snow fall in this area today!!! The arena is still going to be red hot!!!
Posted by: Jerad Shaw | January 26, 2008 at 05:31 PM
Is that the goal? To match Flint in toughness?
Posted by: scoops | January 26, 2008 at 07:02 PM
The Komets are fine and they have plenty of toughness. No player wins every fight. I have total confidence in this team this year.
Posted by: K.M. | January 26, 2008 at 07:17 PM
i just cant believe mightbite and Abeatenhorse arent crying in a corner somewhere after hearing henley may have actually lost or went to a draw in a fight...dont worry guys he is human you know!!!!
Posted by: JW | January 26, 2008 at 07:20 PM
A bad night is usually bad all the way around, fights included, no worries, they didn't shut us out!
Posted by: kyle hunt | January 26, 2008 at 07:56 PM
My point was not about our toughness as I think we are plenty tough. It was to point out that no matter how tough and big your reputation is, you are going to get beat now and then and that doesn't mean you're a bum when you do get beat like a few of you like to think.
Posted by: Ron | January 27, 2008 at 01:17 PM