After seeing his team go 1-9 in shootouts so far this season, Al Sims sent defenseman Rod Aldoff, Guy Dupuis and Brian Boulay out for the extra session, and Dupuis and Boulay scored to give the Komets the 6-5 victory over Flint.
"There's no sense going with the same guys when you're 1-9 with forwards shooting," Sims said. "I was going to go with defenseman until we won it or lost it."
For the past few weeks, Sebastien Laplante has missed action because of a broken middle finger on his blocker hand. Because he hasn't actually missed any game time and because the Komets have not had to replace him on the roster, it's been a non-issue. That, and Nick Boucher is 9-0-1 over his last 10 games.
Best game of the year all season at home. Komets really played great defensively, and both teams struggled to get through the neutral zone. It was so funny listening to some of the Komets fans on the officiating. If they call everything, some yell let them play. If they let them play, they scream about stuff they didn't call. Which is it?
There were a million little plays in this game that meant all the difference, but Sean O'Connor's steal in the Port Huron zone to get it to Varone for Dupuis's goal to give the Komets a 2-0 lead might have been the biggest.
Sean O'Connor's older brother Keith has been signed by Port Huron and will play tonight. He played at Western Michigan.
You can read it here. Don't forget to stop by Komet Kuarters from 1-3 p.m. today for our book signing with Bob Chase, Eddie Long
Manon Rheaume to play in an actual game for Flint against Muskegon. You can read Brendan Savage's article about it here. I sure hope this game doesn't become very important for anyone else's playoff position.
The Komets all said they are excited for tomorrow night's game against Port Huron, which currently is expected to have a significantly smaller crowd than tonight's 9,461.
Kevin Bertram: "It's bigger than first place because it can set the tone for the playoffs."
P.C. Drouin: "I think it was on our minds tonight, really because we didn't play our best game. I was thinking about it a little bit."
You can read about it here.
Have the Komets ever had a year when every in-season pick-up was such a slam dunk? O'Connor, Thomas, Versteeg-Lytwyn
Eddie Long, Grant Richison, Bob Chase and I at Komet Kuarters from 1-3 p.m. Saturday.
I did some research and come to the conclusion that this truly is the golden age in Komets history.
The Komets are trying to win 40 or more games for the ninth time in 10 years. They will have less than 30 losses for the 10th year in a row and will earn 90 or more points for the seventh year in a row, matching the seven from 1983 to 1989. They were trying to win 50 or more games for the fifth time in six years, but they'll miss that. Before this string, they had only four 50-win seasons in their history.
The Komets waived defenseman Jay Holladay today. Holladay appeared in 57 games, 3 goals, 15 points. Holladay had been with the Komets this season since training camp.
Nov. 13 is the last time this season when the Komets were in first place before tonight. That was nine games into the season and now there are nine games left. It's been a pretty remarkable 58 games inbetween.
"It's been a long chase for our team," Komets coach Al Sims said. "Since (November) we've been battling to get back to this spot, and everybody should be congratulated in that room because people were writing us off at the end of January and February, wondering if we were going to make the playoffs. It's a big deal for our hockey team."
Courtesy of Otto Boschet and the Game of the Week guys can be seen here.
It will be shown at 7 p.m., Wednesday on Comcast Ch. 55 before the regular Komets Game of the Week.
* Colin Chaulk played on a line with Rick Varone and either Olivier Legault or Sean O'Connor during practice. O'Connor is not yet ready to return to the lineup. Chaulk played mostly center, but he also took a few shifts on the wing with either Varone or O'Connor at center.
The Komets have placed Maxime Gravelle on waivers to activate Colin Chaulk for Wednesday's game. Gravelle had four goals and 14 points in 59 games and was minus-3 with 60 penalty minutes.
