Left wing Brent Rumble returned to practice Tuesday after missing two months with a broken foot.
"It's a little rough,'' Rumble said. "I rode the bike every day, but it's not the same as skating. Hopefully I stayed in good enough shape off that ice that with some hard skating I'll be back soon.''
It didn't help that Rumble was wearing brand new skates which need to be broken in.
Defenseman Guy Dupuis and center Colin Chaulk are the only Komets named to compete in the UHL All-Star Game Jan. 25 in Missouri. The team was selected in a poll of media, general managers, coaches and team public relations managers and was announced today.
Chaulk leads the Komets in scoring with 35 points in 31 games, and Dupuis is third with 28 points in 33 games. He ranks fourth among all UHL defensemen in scoring.
The UHL is going to announce the rosters for the annual All-Star Game tomorrow afternoon. The game is Jan. 25 at Missouri. Komets who have been nominated are David Carptentier, Colin Chaulk, P.C. Drouin, Guy Dupuis, Rob Guinn and Kevin St. Pierre.
Ryan Jorde has been released from his three-game tryout contract with Grand Rapids. He'll be back at practice tomorrow. The Komets sure could have used him on Sunday. How many times did Danbury crash the net without any problems? In three games with Grand Rapids last weekend Jorde had 2 penalty minutes and was minus-1.
Anybody else have anything they want to add to that description of Sunday's game?
I thought so. Me neither, so I've got something else. Komets General Manager David Franke told me he is interested in acquiring forward Greg Koehler from Adirondack, but not for what the Frostbite is asking. Koehler is a 6-foot-2, 195-pound center who has not played this season, but Adirondack retains his rights. Koehler, who becomes a free agent on Jan. 20, scored 16 goals and 40 points in 31 games with Adirondack last year.
The Komets will have a large crowd tonight thanks to more than 3,000 tickets sold to groups over the summer. Hopefully everyone can get in on time because Danny Stewart for Danbury and Lance Galbraith for the Komets are in the starting lineup. They'll probably go within seconds of the opening faceoff. That's pretty funny considering they were best friends as teammates.
Here's a few other notes of note:
* The Komets have set a new UHL Komets record by killing off 35 consecutive power plays against. The previous record of 34 was set in 1999-2000.
In honor of Kevin breaking the UHL shutout record and the Komets' long history of great goaltending, you've got a winner-take-all game to play. Who of the former Komets goaltenders would you want in net for this one game?
Because I'm going to be out of town for a few days, I was wondering if you guys would help me understand something. I'm not trying to cut anybody down, but I'm trying to understand. Why do you think there are so many Komets fans with negative attitudes? Anybody got any theories? Is it a vocal minority? Are things really that bad? Any thoughts?
I spent some time this week with Kevin St. Pierre for a story that's going to appear Tuesday, and he had some very interesting things to say about shutouts. He said he never thinks about them because you have to be lucky to get them, and he pointed out Quad City's 2-0 shutout of the Komets last week. Look how many posts we hit, he said. I remember a crossbar and two posts.
The Komets whipped Roanoke 6-0. Playing with seven forwards and four defensemen, Roanoke never had a chance. The Komets looked sharp right from the opening faceoff as some new lines looked like they'd been together all season.
It kind of reminded me of the Komets/oldtimers vs. the Fire Department team this summer. The Komets had about double the talent on the ice, even though the Vipers played hard all night. They just didn't have enough manpower. As soon as the Komets got to 3-0, you could tell the Vipers just wanted to get the game over with and start the bus ride home.
