The Komets' season might have turned around because of what happened off the ice Saturday night.
After Evansville's Mario Larocque came out of the penalty box to score a breakaway goal and give the IceMen a 3-2 lead with 1:15 left in the second period, the Fort Wayne players felt only slightly less upbeat than Democrats. The Komets were looking at a 1-4-1 record, including 0-3 at home, and a chance to tie their worst start since 2003-04.
Everyone in the building was full of doubt, especially after the Komets had missed a great scoring chance at the other end seconds before Larocque's goal. Muskegon's Mark Cody simply swung without looking to clear the puck, and it slid directly to Larocque's stick halfway down the ice for an easy scoring chance.
``Our heads came down a bit again, and you could have a lack of confidence when something like that happens,'' left winger P.C. Drouin said. ``It's hard not to get down and maybe make it worse.''
It would have been very easy, maybe almost expected for the Komets to come out tentative and tight during the third period. The fans were certainly expecting another loss, especially considering the way the Komets had been out-scored 12-2 at home at the intermission.
``There's lots of goals in this room and we'll get this done,'' Komets coach Al Sims said. ``One goal is not going to stop us.''
And his players listened. Instead of planting their chins in their chests, the Komets kept their mood upbeat and then came back out with renwed energy to score a pair of power-play goals in the third period to win 4-3 before 9,213 Memorial Coliseum fans. When they could have been their lowest, the Komets pulled themselves up.
It wasn't like Sims was trying a new spin to turn things around. He had actually started working on his players after Friday night's 4-0 loss to Dayton, telling them to stay positive and reinforced that message during Saturday morning's pregame skate. By the second intermission, he'd already impressed his players with his confidence.
``Al just came in and said, `Look, we're all over these guys. They're dead tired. We've got 30-some shots. Keep plugging away, keep cycling, keep doing the things we're doing and we're going to win this game.' '' defenseman Brandon Warner said. ``That was our mentality. Right before we went out, we said, `No matter what it takes, we're winning this game. We've got 20 minutes until the biggest win of our season so far.' ''
And that's exactly what happened, though it wasn't as easy as it sounds thanks to some great Evansville power-play chances late in the game. Facing a 5-on-3 disadvantage, the Komets kept blocking the IceMen's passing lanes, allowing goaltender Nick Boucher to see all the shots. He made a handful of potential game-saving and potentially season-changing stops.
``We probably made it the hardest way to win possible in the end, but maybe that's what we needed, to be tested like that,'' Sims said.
Comments
And here I thought the Komets played Evansville on Saturday but, according to this article, I must be wrong since "Muskegon's Mark Cody simply swung without looking to clear the puck". Shows what I know I guess.
yea, i though we play Evansville too, and friday i thought we played Bloomington.
"It wasn
You could be on to something here...On opening night Larry said we were playing Quad City
I hear you.....man that is confusing though.
Maybe we will play Flint and Port Huron next weekend???
Must be something in the air. Larry called Evansville "Bloomington" at one point last night also.
When do we play the Lehigh Valley Xtreme or Canton Ice Patrol?
Larry has had a lot of trouble speaking since mid to late last season. Several people in my section joke about him needing to lay off the sauce but I am fairly sure this isn't the case. I bet it is very stressful having to read 100 advertisements over and over every game while trying to get some useful information out at the same time. I feel bad for him. Although, with all this advertising experience we might see him on TV doing the next OxyClean commercials. Dunno?
Larry does a great job.
I appreciate his efforts.....it can't be an easy gig.
Cheers to Larry.
For as much crap that Larry has to spew during the game at certain ques, he does a great job. No complaints from me
1 question=WHY DOES HE PLAY THE MUSIC DURING THE PLAYER SCRATCHES????????????????
And please, PLEASE, tone down the volume on that extremely annoying Comcast Xfinity commercial!!
Ya, the Lar does a good job from where I sit. Hopefully someday he'll be able to play the Homer Simpson clip that says something along the lines of "Hurry up and lose so we can go home already." Unfortunately, he may be playing that for the Komets this year. I am so thankful that the stupid paint drying commercial isn't going anymore this year though.
Still no updates on the lightbulb guy? THAT would've been a good story to write. Seriously, two trips of the zamboni to clean your blood off the ice; that's impressive. I haven't heard of any serious injury reports on him, so hopefully he's ok.
I was out in the hallway and missed the guy fall...what exactly happened? Step where the zamboni had already been and fall to the ice?
Light Bulb Guy received 3 stitches to the muscle and 12 stitches outside. After heard of any other injuries or side effects.
should be Haven't heard of any other injuries.
Thanks, Rich. Hope he recovers soon and doesn't have any issues.
GM: You called it correctly. He wound up to throw, slid on the clean ice from the zamboni, head straight into the ice. The blood was instant too. Pretty nuts. I'm just glad to hear that he'll be ok.
Thanks, Rich.
Sorry I wasn't able to update guys, but I've been buried with basketball tab stuff. Too much to do, too few people to do it.
I would only ask Larry to not play the music when he is giving game related announcements. Sometimes the Coliseum sound sysytem leaves a little bit to be desired and his announcements are drowned out.
Note to Blake: On another thread you mentioned that Burgee "was yanking our chains" and couldn't believe people fell for it".
Well I guess that puts him in the same class as "Tiger Dan" three years ago and "Not an IHL Fan" last year. There have been others.
Give me people with opinions, ideas, and insights on Komet hockey. It doesn't matter if I agree with them or not as long as they accurately post their thoughts.
Yanking my chain? No way. Someone trying to be clever, funny, and cute when they aren't is just a gigantic waste of space and my time.
Blake, you and I have had some give and take on numerous issues. We don't always agree on everything but I respect your thoughts as I trust you respect mine. Whatever the rationale used for, in my opinion, useless or inflammatory posts is lost on me.
As another regular on this blog had posted last year, for someone to label people as negative, than come out with only negative comments about their ideas is hippocritical.
I don't know. Maybe you should change the name of the blog from "Tailing the Komets" to "Patronizing my Favorites".
Am I the only one who sees it that way, guys and gals?
Nope.
No sir, you are not alone. Nailed it perfectly with your comments about "yanking our chain"
You are in the majority, Alan.
Never thought my one simple question would turn into all this...Atleast I'm obviously not the only one that's tired of the trying to be cute nonsense
You all are a bunch of Chain Yankers.....LOL
Wait... You mean you guys are actually serious when you leave comments on here? Wow. Hoo-kay.
Only 9 paragraphs out of alan, gonna have to work harder next time.
Komets take 5 of 6 points this weekend, anyone else want to stick their neck out?
Which overly intelligent poster is going to hit it right on, my money is on me.
Come on, man up, throw that hockey genius know it all prediction out there, 1 non alcoholic foo foo to the winner, in case of a tie first poster wins, hit is disqualified since he is my uncles fathers grandson on my mothers side.
Burgee, Komets win all 3 games this week....
I gotta get in on this action! Okay... Who we got? Dayton is 4-2-1 currently. I'm thinking they will take the game Friday even if the Komets do make a go of it. Next up -- Evansville again. Tough call. We only beat them by 1 point last time, and this will be in their building, however small. Add to that the stress of being on the road and the possiblity of the game against Dayton being a spirited bout... Eh, let's say the K's take that one. What the heck. Then Missouri. It'll be the third game in a row for both teams, and Missouri will have just come back from the road. They're 3-3-2, so not a stellar record, but nothing to be sniffed at either -- especially this year. Tough call. I'll say the K's drop that one.
Hey, how's that bus situation coming along?
Just to clarify, I'm saying Dayton will win Friday.
Are points and goals the same thing? ;)
RK, if that was a joke you can keep your Blog card, if not I'm calling a hawthorne on you!
Bob 6 points
Burgee 5 points
Wendy 2 points
Running komet. ??? Goals, RK 2 mins instigation, you must sit by Schebig smell his feet and feel shame while staring at Superfans moon beam in the press box.
5 points, take it to the bank folks