Chaulk named CHL's best leader

Ok Komet fans...3rd place in most annoying fans??? Thats unacceptable! We obviously need to put in more effort and get under those opposing players skins! lol

I'm guessing that was because of the Fort Wayne players' vote.

Wow, all I can say to that is.....BooHoo!

I'm guessing if thats so then the players need to have their security blankets and pacifiers confiscated....

Or they can go play for Dayton and all 1300 fans and 6 bloggers???

Or is it that the truth hurts sometimes???

42. Best mascot

Sir-Sting-A-Lot, Rio Grande Valley, 26

I heart Sir-Sting-A-Lot!!!!!!

I love how we placed for Best Fans and Most Annoying Fans!

Let's all bag on Snuff now.. Everytime Chaulk gets any recognition we're supposed to gang up to tell him "I told you so!"

Never mind the fact that the team is still in 2nd to last.

Too bad there wasn't a catagory for "worst use of a look-a-like cam"... Look that guy has glasses.. he must look like everyone else in the world that wears glasses.

That was a joke, JR. Maybe it hit too close to home.

Captain Edward John Smith was considered a great leader too.... until that pesky iceberg got in his way.

Seriously though Chaulk deserves it. Nobody else in this league has his resume and the way he plays he should be well respected by his peers.

If he can lead this team into the playoffs it might be his best job ever in Fort Wayne.

If he can't I say trade him for Jamie Milam. ;)

Snuf, I know you are joking as I would not trade Chaulk for any player, but you are quite correct on Jamie Milam. He was brought in as a late season addition from college under Puhalski. Puhalski used him as a winger instead of on defense. Milam's skills were quite evident as the guy just took off and was an offensive threat.

Can't say for sure why the K's didn't lock him up but I can think of a few reasons. I believe he started the next season with Gwinnett of the ECHL. He was one that got away and his travels eventually led him to the CHL. I'm not sure why the Franke's didn't inquire about him before he signed with another CHL team. (Maybe they did).

Best bloggers:

1. Fort Wayne

All in all, I thought Fort Wayne was pretty well represented, especially when you consider some of the teams listed haven't played here this season.

I realize some of their players have been here from the IHL/UHL days, but many more haven't. Opinions may change by next year's poll when/if Allen, Colorado, Laredo, Odessa, RGV, Texas and Tulsa players and officials come through here.

As far as the fans part of the article goes. People in the ODD sections of the arena PLEASE STOP with the "Suck!" "They ALL SUCK!" after they announce the other teams players and coaches. To me this is disrespectful and tacky. I do not think its funny.. If I had to sum it up for someone in one word I would say "redneck" It's especially embarrassing when the team beats us the night before or is clearly ahead of us in the standings.

And it comes from the same side of the arena that throws stuff on the other teams players when they are leaving the ice down the hall. Quit making us look so bad!

And to think we could have had Rob Nolan...

Don't get out to many arenas in other cities do you, Ryan? The "sucks" intro is very, very common at all levels of hockey..even the NHL. The "sucks!" and "they all suck!" will not be going away any time soon.

Would you prefer our fans cheer for the other team and yell out "Good luck!" after each player is announced and "Best of luck!" after the entire team has been announced?

Also, the pre game chant is on BOTH sides of the rink, not just the odd numbered sections. I did start on the odd numbered sections side but has grown

Yeah, and it's still redneck. LOL. Who do you think it makes look worse, the players or the fans? That's a no-brainer.

awww... Another complainer of the word "suck" ..... Bet ya hated the old goal song too huh? All of professional sports has this, and it is how the crowd attempts to add to the home field advantage. Don't think this kinda stuff works? Every time you see one of their players interacting and talking smack back to the fans behind their bench, it just worked.. Fun to get into their heads a bit and have them thinking about the "rowdy" fans behind them, rather than the players in front of them.

SEVERAL players look over to the crowd and jaws back or even nod their head agreeing with it about a teammate or even themselves..Believe it or not, they don't cry but instead have fun with it...SHOCKING

I don't hate it, I just don't think it's effective. Go ahead, waste your breath. Now, heckling, on the other hand I think is totally effective. Wit and originality beat volume on the same old stuff evey time. I just think this is too easy to ignore or tune out because they've already heard it six million times. It's like everybody yelling at a free throw shooter. I think they'd be totally thrown off more if there was dead silence.

It's just pre game and tradition, don't worry there's plenty of original heckling during the game..We don't just yell the old classics of calling someone a bed wetter either.

Maybe someday you guys will have to come up with a best of list of clean ones I can do a story on. That would be fun.

It would be a short column Blake, I don't think there are too many clean ones.

My favorite "heckle" was one of our fans yelling at Larry Sterling when the score was something like 4 or 5 to nothing. He yelled, "Hey Larry, better put some Coppertone on the back of your neck cause the goal light is giving you a sunburn." I have to admit, I personally do not like the "suck" yells at the introductions. I know they do it at lots of other arenas, but do we need to lower ourselves to their level? Why not yell, "Go Komets" after each introduction?

"Suck" is pretty mild compared to some of the things I have heard in my 37 years down on the ice. Really pretty mild. Effective, I don't really think so.

Well I can tell you it wasn't done the last two years that I have had season tickets, nor when I visited the Joe to see the Red Wings play or any place else that I have visited, Dayton, Kalamazoo, etc. But If this happens 'all the time across the country' then so be it. I still think its dumb.

That wasnt meant as a joke, Blake... Stick to your guns! I've heard what some of the players (and some of thier families have said...lol) about fans in Fort Wayne and I'm sure you've heard more than I. Doesnt bother me one iota.

Now, complaining about your own fans, especially in a year where they treated us to terrible hockey until January is funny to say the least... 7400 fans continuing to watch crap hockey is something special (probably why we were voted into the top 3 for best fans as well...)....

I dont engage with the "sucks" chant, but rather try to see the other teams reactions when its said. When it first started last year the faces on some of the opposing players were funny. A lot of them nodded and smiled. Im still trying to get the arena to yell " He's Down" when they other teams players fall down. I've gotten acouple of people in section 215 to but not the whole arena yet. I also like to heckle the other players, but try to make it clean. Sometimes i get carried away.

I don't think something that has been done here for about half a season can be called "tradition" GM. The tradition here was to shout down the other team's intros with "Let's go Komets", something that might actually inspire our own team a bit.

Also loved the days of calling the opposing goalie "sieve" when he's being blown out of the arena, but I think hockey has become to "Americanized" for some of the old terms.

However, traditions can change so eventually it might be one. I'm not in favor or it but it doesn't particularly set me off either. It makes more sense then the big three we hear all the time during the game, "shoot", "hand pass", and "too many men on the ice". :-)

Those "Too Many Men" calls coming out of 204 is because there ARE TOO MANY MEN ON THE ICE!!! I can't stand when they don't call it!