So, here's a debate that will become a hot one when several awards, including Komets' MVP and Rookie of the Year, have to be determined: If you're stranded on a hockey island, would you rather have Luciano Aquino or Mathieu Curadeau?
Statistically speaking, Aquino has 29 goals, 67 points, 11 power-play goals, 12 power-play assists, three game-winning goals and plus-19 rating. Curadeau has 30 goals, 48 points, eight power-play goals, four power-play assists, four game-winning goals and a plus-28 rating. Both have played 59 games.
I will acknowledge that Curadeau is the more well-rounded of the two. He is one of the Komets' best defensive forwards. He finishes checks at both ends. He has a bigger upside.
However, I'm picking Aquino as more valuable. Almost every shift, I notice Aquino make a beautiful play. In fact, I find it difficult to take my eyes off him, for fear I'll miss something. Granted, his defense needs some work and the fact that he's at this level, not the higher-level American Hockey League, suggests there's more than meets the eye. But really, where would the Komets be without Aquino's magnificence this season?
Regardless, it's a fun debate and the Komets are lucky to have them both.
Elsewhere around the International Hockey League, in its first game since firing coach Kevin Kerr, second-place Flint lost 6-3 to the Kalamazoo Wings on Wednesday.
Once again, the Generals were ravaged by injuries. Here's what The Flint Journal had to say about the game.
More interestingly, Lorne Knauft didn't play, after questioning the coaching move. The Journal wrote his statement didn't cause his absence.
The more I think about this, if you're going to fire your coach when you're in second place, this late in the season, you better have a proven, exciting replacement ready. Peter South, Steve Pronger and Jason Muzzatti don't qualify.
So, I'm now banking my preseason pick to win the Turner Cup misses the playoffs, there being three teams withing five points of the Generals.
-- By Justin A. Cohn, The Journal Gazette