Wow, I didn't know Olivier Legault had it in him. I mean, he's had some decent fights, but with one shot he dismantled an enforcer, David Segal, in the third period. (Note to whomever has video: send to [email protected] for posting, or you can check out some video here at WANE's site.)
Segal was woozy and had to be helped off the ice, after the punch which could be heard in the 600 level. It's moments like that which make some Komets legendary around here.
In more important news, the Komets defeated the Muskegon Fury 3-0. Goaltender Kevin Reiter, who was yanked in the previous game, a 5-4 loss at Bloomington, Ill., had a 15-save shutout. His night was highlighted by a breakaway stop on Mike Watt.
The Komets got goals from Colin Chaulk, Terry Marchant and Konstantin Shafranov, as they pretty much dominated the Fury.
Speaking of which, I got e-mails this week from Fury fans asking what I think is wrong with their team. I took an informal poll at the arena tonight and some people told me they're just too slow, others said not tough enough, other said they have some complacent veterans.
What's my opinion? I'm just not sure if they're supposed to be a finesse team or a tough team. I wish they had more of coach Bruce Ramsay's persona -- he was a heckuva tough player -- because then they'd be fun to watch. Tonight, they bored me to tears.
Well, at least until the third-period fracases. Komets vice-president Scott Sproat was able to get me some video of the Mitch Woods-Mark Cadotte scrap: Download woods_vs. Cadotte.AVI
It was the Komets' first game against Justin Rohr, whose check from behind still has Kevin Hansen watching games from the press box, but the Komets sought no retribution even though he got a laughable one-game suspension from the league. Heck, it looked like the Komets were making a point of staying away from Rohr. That doesn't surprise me at all; these things are always much ado about nothing these days.
But given the situation, you'd think the league wouldn't have sent a referee (Bob Langdon) and one linesman (Jameson Gronert) that no one around here had ever heard of before. And, yes, they did miss quite a few calls early in the game. But they did let the boys play and that was nice to see.
Elsewhere, former Detroit Red Wings tough guy Darren McCarty had an assist and no penalty minutes in Flint's 4-3 victory over Port Huron.
-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette
I loved the referee tonight...in the third there were like 5 fights and I think he called 3 of them. He let them play. I think he only made one really obvious bad call when Bertram got the 4 minutes which he deserved but at least one of the Muskegon guys should have got 2 minutes for it. We deserved the extra 2 but not 4. Also when Larry announced the 5 minute fighting penalties after the Legault fight did anyone else hear how much he was laughing? IT made me laugh even more too. Great work Larry...at least you did get the job done. Overall first two period were a snoozer and the third was great. I really think the teams are already bored of each other and so there is not much hitting anymore. I hope Henley gets his shot at Willis (my favorite player outside of FW) tomorrow night. They have been wanting it. Also did anyone see Henleys cutthroat sign directed at the one Muskegon player after he got the better of Bertram at the end? I thought it was funny but Henley might want to be careful about that kind of stuff in FW the cops might kick him out as one of their "security" responsibilities. See everyone in section 21 in K-zoo tomorrow row E. Hope to see several others too. Lets make it 4 straight over the Wings...that doens't happen often.
Posted by: Tom | January 12, 2008 at 12:04 AM
Holy Cow! Right in front of us in section 212. Legault the destroyer. What the heck was Segal thinking??? He was out cold.
Shaf continues to light it up. I was hoping to see Brent this evening but, he does not appear to be ready. Better safe than sorry.
Good luck in K-Zoo. I can't wait for Wednesday's game. Flint has made two big additions this past week. Could make for some fun. GO KOMETS!!!
WOW!!! Legault.... I'll be replaying that in my head for the next few days. Hope Scott can come through with some video.
Posted by: The Fan | January 12, 2008 at 12:06 AM
the third period tonight made the game a winner but seriously, we have been treated to eight straight boring periods of hockey at home. no hitting and back to back with kazoo and no bad blood and not one single fight? this league will die and all of hockey will die if this is the wave of the future. hockey is suppose to be a game of speed, finesse and toughness and intimidation. but not anymore, is it a wonder the attendance in most of hockey is down? a town like port urine and sarnia with a hockey rich tradition, and they cant even get a thousand fans to a game? the sport is in trouble. lets hope the I can continue to make some improvements. if not, then hockey is doomed as a major sport. a sad end.
Posted by: chuckitt | January 12, 2008 at 12:10 AM
Ditto Tom, The Ref was good and he let em' play. I also agree with you about periods 1 and 2 being a "snoozer". Period 3 made me forget about the nap. We sit in 212 and I was not able to see Henley give the sign of love. I did see Muskegon's #22 giving the bench the eye as he was skating off. Now I understand where his focus was. Good stuff.
Posted by: The Fan | January 12, 2008 at 12:15 AM
The only mistake the ref made tonight was in the first period (i think) when the Komets had 6 players on the ice for about 10 seconds and there was no call. Finally the bench yelled for someone to come off. You would have thought that one of the three in stripes would have noticed.
Posted by: Shawn | January 12, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Sitting in Section 206 I had a real nice view of Segal getting hit into next week.
I cannot recall a single punch being delivered with so much power!
Any word on if Segal is going to be OK?
First two periods were decent, but kind of boring.....I know that I was literally nodding off on a few occasions, but the third period was WOW!
I thought that Langdon did a decent job, let the guys play for the most part.....I could not see what Bertram did to deserve a 4:00 double minor....I would have taken both for 2:00 roughing each would have been more fair.
Overall, nice win.
Posted by: Bob | January 12, 2008 at 12:26 AM
Speaking of the cheap shot by Justin Rohr (and poor officiating in general), I was just checking out the IHL website and find it rather interesting that Matt Pavelich - Supervisor of Officials doesn't list his email address although the rest of the Office Staff does. It seems to me that maybe he doesn't want to (or care to) find out what people think about the job that he and the officiating staff are doing?
(Hmm.. Lets allow players to get hurt without enforcing appropriate punishments, and allow officials to call games with bias and subjectivity without demanding justification of conduct. Then we’ll not allow any form of contact in order to ensure accountability and responsibility to the fans who ultimately pay my salary.)*obviously sarcasm*
Posted by: mkes | January 12, 2008 at 12:29 AM
Uh, Justin...Langdon's been around for awhile...
He's one of the better refs this league has to offer. Though Mr. Savage would certainly beg to differ.
Posted by: FWKRTJ | January 12, 2008 at 01:39 AM
I thought I remembered his name from a few years ago too. Well, I am checking into my bed for the night so I can be ready to prepare the K's for win two tomorrow night.. drive safely everyone going to the game. There will be three of us plus hopefully 300-1500 of you.
Posted by: Tom | January 12, 2008 at 02:05 AM
Bob..towards the end of that little scrum...bertram was throwing some shots at plante while he was down on the ice....in my mind it was a good call made by the ref.....wow...that shot by legault unbelievable...did anyone see as Segal was skating off with the help of like 3 players he still managed to almost fall again!! lol..poor kid might have a serious concusion...i wish sims woudl have put legault out there as soon as he saw kovlacik go out there...cant wait for sunday!!!
Posted by: kometfan | January 12, 2008 at 02:15 AM
You can find Olivier's KO here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_lHXrX8JrFM
Posted by: Andy | January 12, 2008 at 08:30 AM
I have uploaded on Youtube and have sent you a file Justin. If it didn't send I sent you a second email so just reply back to me.
Thanks.
Posted by: lovelost | January 12, 2008 at 09:22 AM
Muskegon definately doesn't have enough of the personality of its coach. I don't think they are overly talented either, certainly not as deep. But they did show some fire in the 3rd period. Made an overly boring game somewhat interesting.
Hopefully they can ride this Mo' and get a road win too.
Posted by: scoops | January 12, 2008 at 09:52 AM
Where is the best place to sit in Kzoo? Thinking about going tonight?
Posted by: Melissa Sarrazin | January 12, 2008 at 10:21 AM
Congrats on SO Reiter!! It was great to finally see a fight at MC. Unfortunately I think the Legault/Segal fight was a little unfair. I know Segal has been chirping all year and probably asked to go but he is 5'10" 170lbs and Olivier is 6'5" 240lbs. Same thing when Jeff "the neck" Ewasko 6'9" 250lbs actually fought Mitch who is about the same size as Segal. I just think guys should stick to fighting guys of the same size. JMO
Posted by: New Komet Fan | January 12, 2008 at 10:23 AM
Sorry, Langdon may have been around for awhile, but not the Coliseum. No one in the press box hardly recognized him.
Posted by: Justin Cohn | January 12, 2008 at 10:41 AM
Wrong Cohn... Langdon has done several games over the years at the Coliseum... One of the better referees this league has to offer...
Posted by: Komet Fan | January 12, 2008 at 11:23 AM
Where is everyone sitting tonight at KZOO?
Posted by: Melissa Sarrazin | January 12, 2008 at 11:36 AM
I will say it again the first TWO periods of the game vs. Kzoo last Saturday were NOT BORING. The tempo and speed were there and that's something I know that Komet fans, especially UHL only Komet fans, have seen very little of. Yes I would have liked more hitting etc, but the tempo and speed were there and the choppiness in the skating and passing was also not there...something all too common in the late UHL years and a few of the early games in the new IHL.
I missed the game last night but look forward to this Friday's game.
Posted by: TGP | January 12, 2008 at 12:59 PM
He's not as prevolent as Galagher, Mondalek or Hawthorne...but he's been here more times than you credit. I can count at least 5 times I saw him last year at the MC and another 3 or 4 away from the MC. (he did games in the playoffs last season)
He's a former NHL ref...which is why he's usually one of the better ones.
Posted by: FWKRTJ | January 12, 2008 at 05:41 PM
Did any one notice Larry laughing as he announced the penalties after Legault destroyed Segal? To funny. Pretty boring game until the third. Seems like the Komets have it together. Reiter played really well along with the defense in front of him.
Posted by: jonndfi | January 12, 2008 at 05:54 PM
Great fun in the third last night. The Komets had tons of scoring chances all game long and missed open nets...could have been 10-0 real easy. We have a very solid team right now. I love Saidachev on the top line with Aquino and Chaulk. He might be the fastet player in the league now. Wow...he made 2 superstar plays last night that resulted in goals. The first goal of the game was because of his defensive break-up of the puck and then his hustle into the zone and the assist. He passes very well. We are deep guys. We have guys getting few shifts that would be top-liners on any team in the league right now.
The only thing that ticked me off last night was the guy that went after Bert late in the game. He didn't face-up with him to fight him, he cheapshotted Bert over and over from behind and then didn't allow Bert to face-up at all. Then he skated by our bench and showed them all up. I realize Bert got into an earlier scrum and beat Plante down a little, but Plante had it coming. He went after several of our guys with high-sticks and picked Warner into a fight. Plante got what he deserved and then turtled on Bert.
That was the best ref we have seen all year, and he is known for calling games well like that as he did last year and his numbers when he calls games in other arenas has been consistant as he does not over-call games. That is a bigtime plus.
Posted by: Hit Somebody!!! | January 12, 2008 at 06:18 PM
i love landon, he lets them play
Posted by: Burgee | January 13, 2008 at 11:11 AM
sorry langdon, junk dell laptop going in the trash!
Posted by: Burgee | January 13, 2008 at 11:12 AM
Well, I don't know what to tell you. Maybe so, but they weren't games I've covered, then, and I've only missed about four in the last three years. (His name came up a whopping zero times in our archives, which isn't infallible, of course), and like I said, no one in the press box remembered him either. But we are talking about a lot of games, a lot of refs to remember or, more appropriately, erase from our consciousness. But I trust you all. So, yipee, less Gallagher, more Langdon.
Posted by: Justin Cohn | January 13, 2008 at 12:44 PM