Komets

For once, there's not a whole lot going on, (and the other option was talking about the success of the penalty kill. Yawn) so I thought I'd ask what you want to talk about. Anyone got any ideas?

Today's fight story was interesting for me because it made me consider a couple of different things. 1. The lack of fighting in college and European hockey is having a bigger impact than I thought; and 2. Many players simply don't want to fight today so they just ignore that part of the game. They don't see the need to get involved.

X-ray results were negative and it's just a bruise. He'll miss Wednesday's game at Rockford but the Komets think there's a possibility St. Pierre might play next weekend.

"We dodged a bullet,'' Komets General Manager David Franke said. "He told me last night when he was shaving that he didn't think it was broken because it didn't hurt as bad as when he broke the other one.''

Komets goaltender Kevin St. Pierre pulled himself
after the first period of Sunday's 3-2 shootout win over Motor City on Sunday
night with a bruised left catching hand. How significant the injury is won't be
determined until Monday afternoon, but St. Pierre moved very gingerly around the
locker room after the game, getting dressed and undressed with one hand while
trying to hold his injured hand out of the way.

St. Pierre suffered the injury at 8:07 of the first period on a goal by Motor CIty's Tom Kotsopoulos.

I saw on intotheboards.net that somebody had posted a rumor that Andy  Bezeau had been talking with the Komets about a comeback, so I asked Komets General Manager David Franke about it. He said he hasn't talked to Andy in over two years.

The last time I talked to Andy, about two years ago also, he was helping his dad with his underwater welding company and loving  being a husband and father. He also had some pretty severe shoulder injuries from all the banging that would surely limit any comeback. He hasn't played since one game in 2000-01.

League Mourns Passing of Adirondack Head Coach Marc Potvin

LAKE ST. LOUIS, MO--- On behalf of the United Hockey League (UHL), Adirondack Frostbite, and Kalamazoo Wings, it was announced that Adirondack Frostbite Head Coach Marc Potvin was found deceased this morning.

At this time, there will be no further information given until Kalamazoo Public Safety has completed their autopsy.

With this information, UHL Game #251, Adirondack @ Kalamazoo scheduled for 7:30 PM this evening has been postponed.

I was thinking about something today that I think is pretty cool. Even though this year has not been the best start, we've already seen something this year we've never seen before in Komets hockey, three-straight shutouts. That got me thinking of all the things I've gotten to see over the years from this team that I never thought I'd get to see. Such as:

* Two Game 7 OTs. That's incredibly lucky considering most fans go through their entire lives never seeing one. And we got to see the Komets win both of them, another miracle.

OK, since everybody seems to have had their say on the Worlton trade,  how about a new topic? We were talking about this in the newsroom yesterday while commenting on the death of Paul Tantardini. Who is the most-hated opposing player in Komets' history? Whose the guy past and present that you love to hate? Who can't you stand now or in the past but you'd love to see in a Komets' sweater? While we're at it, who do you think was like that to opponents while playing for the Komets?

One reason the Komets said they could trade Jeff Worlton was because fighting is down all over the league. I did some research, and was a little shocked to see the results:

Last year through 33 games, the Komets had been called for 39 fighting majors including 17 by Worlton on his way to a league-leading 34. This year through 33 games the Komets have been called for 31 fighting majors including nine by Jeff.

Needing to make a roster move to get down to the United Hockey League maximum before this weekend's games, the Fort Wayne Komets traded enforcer and UHL Komets penalty minute record holder Jeff Worlton on Wednesday to Roanoke for future considerations.

The Komets will be able to pick a player from a list provided by Roanoke before the UHL trade deadline of March 14

Alert reader Rick Longsworth sent me this which most old-time fans will find interesting. (You don't know how much it hurts me to call the early-80s "old-time.'') Paul Tantardini has passed away. For those who don't know him, imagine Jim Duhart or Kerry Toporowski times about 30, and that's how much Komets fans loved to hate Tantardini when he played with Toledo. He was perhaps the most-hated player on the Komets' biggest rival.