David Franke's response

The Komets general manager's response to Ryan Menei playing tonight for the Rush:

``First of all, we think it's a travesty. We were told that Menei was seriously injured, according the coach, and would be out for a very long time, and obviously they sold that to the league. If a player has concussion-type symptoms, which they said he did, there's a minimum of seven days which is protocol with our team and the league before he can go back to practicing and working out and seeing if he feels OK. The coach on Rapid City lied to the league, he's a whiner, he's a complainer and I think he's an intimidator, and I think he whined and intimidated the CHL Hockey Operations to the point where they made their decision based on that.

``On the flip side, I have a player in Sean O'Connor who was hit from behind in Rapid City on Saturday night, and even if he had not gotten suspended for his hit on Menei, he still wouldn't be able to play because he's experiencing concussion-like symptoms and all the league gave Reaney was a $150 fine. I think this is totally unjust, totally unfair. I think that the league has to look very closely at the people in their hockey operations department that are making these calls, and maybe make some changes because it seems like the more you whine and the more you intimidate, the more reaction  you get out of the league office.

``This isn't fair, their player was supposedly hurt and according to the coach was out for a long time, and the league when they made their final decision, based it, and this was in writing, on the medical reports that they received from the Rapid City Rush, which obviously at this point in the game, the only thing I can think of is that these reports were falsified, which is another case of lying. It's bull, it's not right, it's not fair. We not only have to beat the Rapid City Rush, but we have to beat the league, too. That's not right. We're a member of this league, and we trust these people in the league office to do the right things, and they look like a bunch of schmucks now. Joe Ferras, like I said, is a bully, a loudmouth, and he's a liar. I have a long, long memory. I've been doing this for 21 years, and if we ever have to settle the score here, we will. We will because we're in this for the long haul. But the league bought into it, they were bamboozled, and the player is back in the lineup after missing one game, and not even sitting the mandatory seven days. There was a article today out of Rapid City, and he's quoted as saying he feels awesome. You don't have concussion-type symptoms and six days later you feel awesome. Something is wrong there, somebody got bamboozled, and this isn't the last the league is going to hear about this from the Fort Wayne Komets. If coach Ferras wants to call the Franke brothers a bunch of killers, he's a liar. He's nothing but a no-good liar.''