Fort Wayne High School Hockey will payspecial tribute to area veterans on Wednesday. Each player will honor family members who served in the military by presentingthem a flag as they are recognized at center ice. Players whose relative is deceased will skate the flag to center ice in their place.
After each veteran is recognized a special ceremony will take place honoring our country as an ROTC Color Guard from Concordia High School will bring the red, white and blue on to the ice. The ceremony will be capped off with a special rendition of theNational Anthem by 122nd Fighter Wing Captain, Rebecca Metzger.
Please join us for this special evening as we pay tribute to those who have served our country. The ceremonies begin before each game at 6:30pm, 7:40pm and 8:15pm at The Lutheran Health Sports Center.
Veterans are asked to wear a uniform or hat signifying what branch of the military they served in.
Tickets are $2.00 for Seniors and students and $4.00 for adults.
Comments
Thats Awesome!
I think it's wonderful to recognize those who have served our country. I especially appreciate the recognition of those who are deceased. It seems a very nice touch.
Since the Viet Nam War, the populace of the United States has done a marvelous job recognizing all veterans. For a while the vets of Viet Nam and Korea were kind of the "forgotten" soldiers. I believe history labeled these as "conflicts", not wars. I'm not sure what the difference is to the soldier who has a bullet flying at them.
Using this as a "pulpit", I would hope that the MIA's are not forgotten. I'm not convinced that all the POW's came home. I can't imagine the anguish suffered then, and still being suffered today, by families carrying the lonesome burden of the unknown, those who have never had closure for certain.
I hope I expressed myself correctly and those of you reading this will know my meaning.
That is a great gesture, unlike the Komets' staffers who failed miserably. Yes you offered Veteran's a free game ticket, encouraged them to wear a uniform or hat, but aside from that, what was any different than any other home game? The Komets Veteran of the Game was recognized as they are at other home games, did the rest of us miss something? Not that isn't enough, but why not have all the Veteran's stand for a moment to be recognized? Perhaps a thanks to "all of our Veteran's in attendance?" But all one has to do is watch the promo's, all the advertising, the announcers, and anyone can see that the Komets staff is woefully out of touch!
It's perplexing to me how much out-of-sync the whole off-ice experience has become at Komets games. Maybe a decade ago the Komets were multiple winners of league awards for the marketing skill they brought to games. No more, and it isn't as much fun.
Last home game the Zamboni idled on the ice with nowhere to go, Icy couldn't do his spin on the four wheeler, audio was off, and the on-ice guy told a youngster how far off his shot was from the net; and can't we find a goal song that is short, sweet, with a beat and predictable enough to find the end so we can count at the end with the bell? I know the whole Gary Glitter thing is a dead horse, but RR part 2 is played on family-oriented radio in Fort Wayne, is used at lots of stadiums, and if we banned every song sung by a singer with a sordid past we'd have very little music left.
There was an edge to the way the crowd was allowed to tease the opponents whether it was a tune or sound effect that Larry played when someone went to the box, or for a couple years singing Mony Mony when the other goalie was off. The first time I heard that song at the Coliseum was when Miami of Ohio was in town for the NCAA's and one of the colleges sang it. OK for NCAA but too harsh for ECHL? Really?
There were on-ice antics, STH of the game, meat boxes for give aways and a dozen other things each night. We've got a 200 foot sheet of ice and the best we come up with is guessing movie scenes on a jumbotron? At least Icy was funny when he did his shtick for the movie game. I come for the hockey, but I get smiles from everything else too, and the extras help make families who may be at their first game come back for more.
And bring back the Hockey Song before the games.
Anne, I see more and more comments regarding the atmosphere, or lack there of, during Komets games... All over the internet in hockey groups you see these conversations going on. You find Toledo, Evansville, Cincy fans making fun of Komets fans during games. "Its amazing how quiet 8000 fans can be".... is the nicest of things said. Remember when it used to be "The Jungle"?
It seems that it has all come down to appeasing the small groups that have problems with fun at public events... People that may only come to 3-4 games a year...
So much has been taken away from the fan the last few years and very little given back. The atmosphere is beyond stale, the music selection is terrible, no more chanting music, good goal songs, fan interaction, etc...
A big scoreboard doesnt replace all that has been lost...
Its distressing when you overhear people talking about how the Komets games just arent fun to go to anymore... The style on the ice is stale, the atmosphere is stale, the popcorn is stale (lol)....
Komets management seems to have lost touch with its fan base. The product on the ice and the atmoshpere in the stands proves this. Question is, will they figure things out before numbers start to suffer??? I hope so...