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Tailing the Komets

Frenchy injured

Komets goaltender Kevin St. Pierre pulled himself
after the first period of Sunday's 3-2 shootout win over Motor City on Sunday
night with a bruised left catching hand. How significant the injury is won't be
determined until Monday afternoon, but St. Pierre moved very gingerly around the
locker room after the game, getting dressed and undressed with one hand while
trying to hold his injured hand out of the way.

St. Pierre suffered the injury at 8:07 of the first period on a goal by Motor CIty's Tom Kotsopoulos.

"The shot just hit me in a bad spot and my hand turned and the puck went in,'' St. Pierre said. ``It wasn't
too bad until I took my glove off, and then it swelled up. Right now we're going
as it's a bruised hand, and we'll go from there.''

The Komets downplayed the severity of the injury officially, but it was a pretty ugly shade of blue after the game. St. Pierre just shrugged his shoulders and said, "We'll find out tomorrow.''

Back-up goaltender Kevin Kurk came out to start the second period, and was
very solid, stopping 20 of 21 shots against him. The lone goal came on a
third-period power play when teammate David Hukalo dove to block a shot at the
point, but the puck deflected directly to the Mechanics' Brent Gretzky for an
easy goal.

"It's tough coming in off the bench, but I thought I played well,'' Kurk said. ``It's a lot harder than
people might think. You just have to stay focused no matter what and pretend
like you are going to play every game. It's tough because  your mind wanders
off, but it's part of the job to stay focused.''

Even with St. Pierre out, the rest of the Komets
stayed focused, too. They twice lost one-goal leads but still played solid
defensively, and they blitzed Motor City goaltender Rod Branch with four
shootout goals on seven chances.

"The one thing we learned today was to stay with the gameplan and not to deviate,'' Komets coach Greg
Puhalski said. ``We persisted and did what we need to do which is first and
foremost play solid defensively. You have to kind of bide your time and look for
your chances. Most of the time what we've done in situations like that is tried
to be overagressive and we've run ourselves into trouble.''

The win was the Komets' 13th out of their last 17 games and moved them into a tie with Motor City for seventh place in the overall United Hockey League standings. After a 5-11-2 start, the Komets are finally in playoff position with two games in hand on Motor City and on Quad City which is
three points ahead of Fort Wayne for second place in the Western Division.

The Komets have also won seven of their last nine home games to pull two games above .500 at home for the first time this season.

``I didn't think it was a pretty win, but I'd rather win ugly than lose pretty,'' said Komets forward Jonathan Goodwin who has three goals in two games. "I thought Kurky stepped up and played great tonight considering he wasn't expecting to play at all this weekend. We did what we had to do.''

Posted in: Komets

Comments

Nanci
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 4:26pm

i hope frenchy isn't hurt to badley..

Laurie
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 6:12pm

I really hope all is well with Frenchy!

I was having a good laugh over Kurk's "wardrobe malfunction." It sure seemed like a long delay just to get some pads tucked in.

Teresa
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 6:58pm

Sorry to hear about Frenchy's injury. Hope it's not too bad and he will heal up before next weekend.

I saw Shane Kenny at the game tonight. Should we get our hopes up that he'll be wearing orange and black again? If he's healthy, I'd love to see him on the ice again. Now there's a guy that can play the enforcer role that everyone seems to want, and he can actually skate!

Jen
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 7:18pm

Frenchy is a Bandaid!! A swollen hand? Players play with swollen hands all the time. there are some road games coming up, no wonder he got hurt. Shane Kenny would be a good sighning, but don't get your hopes up,they didn't want him back after last year and the Komets don't want any fighters on their team.

blake
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 7:50pm

The whole thing with Shane is he can't stay healthy more than two games in a row plus he's a veteran. No way they'll sign him.

Jen, I'm thinking we'll all be lucky if Frenchy is just a bandaid. I don't think we've been very lucky this year, though, and it looked worse than a bandaid to me.

Laurie
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 8:10pm

Shane Kenny was at the game and my best friend didn't know it?!! She's going to be so upset when she finds out, as he was her favorite player last season! LOL He was a great player last season. I was wondering where he'd run off to.

Tony E
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 9:06pm

Let me ask this question of everyone. With all of the rumors and "wishing so and so would come back", why are you in such a hurry to bring in anyone right now. If you forget about the first 15 or so games, the Komets with the core of players they have now are playing as well as any team in the league. Do I think they are cup winners with this group? Probably not but I do think we are passed the point of trying to throw a body in the lineup and hope he can play. With everyone you would want here or to bring back, ask yourself who you would let go of and if the disruption of chemistry would really make it a worthwhile move. Is player X really that much better than the guy you would propose to cut. I submit folks that right now, you have a team on a roll that will get itself intrenched into a solid playoff spot. Unless something outstanding falls out of the sky, I wouldn't go out of the way to make changes.

Burgee
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 9:10pm

hope frenchy heals quick, but lets let him get well, its a long season, no reason to rush. lets test kurk the next 5 games to see what he has. i think kurk has looked pretty good. i want frenchy in goal for 30 of the last games on the schedule.
6th place, 96 points, i'll take it, lets get this group to the playoffs.

One and 0 Joe as emergency goaltender this week?

Burgee
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 9:13pm

I'm with Tony E.

Nicole
Sun, 01/15/2006 - 9:43pm

Good point Tony E. I'm satisfied with the team we have now. With Goodwin and Chaulk stepping up and scoring some goals, it's looking good,, but no promises yet especially with St Pierre out for the time being.

I wouldn't go so far to say that they probably can't win the cup. I had my doubts last year (however few and far between) and look how hard they worked, coming back during the Rockford games to play Muskegon. That was quite a feat so I have to stay optimistic about this year's team... even if it kills me. haha

Not to mention, I still think it's too early to even be discussing something like the playoffs. We've got at least another month before we have to start getting nervous. It's hockey-- you never know what will happen.

Alecia
Mon, 01/16/2006 - 12:28am

Shane Kenny recently had back surgury and is spending time (approx. 2 months which is almost up) recoving in Fort Wayne. He has potentional spots on 2 teams waiting for him to be released by his doctors.

scoops
Mon, 01/16/2006 - 6:09am

Definately a huge blow if it is a long term injury. Hoping for the best.

I still say if something comes up that will add a bonified scorer to this lineup, you do it. We still haven't proven over the last month or so we can beat the teams most think are cup favorites. Muskegeon has gotten us 3 times, blitzing us twice. Danbury twice, and Rockford and K-zoo once. We have games against some of these teams in the upcoming weeks so we'll see how we do if everything remains the same.

Hit Somebody!!!
Tue, 01/17/2006 - 7:40pm

Not meaning to be negative about Kenny, I saw him at the game the other night and he looks like he gained 60 pounds of beer in the off-season. Interesting enough, he had a beer in his hand every time I looked over at him. Not sure we want an out of shape beer boy at this point. I'll take the star player from Richmond and Roanoke when they fold their teams at the ALL-STAR Break though!!! Hope the Frankes are keeping a close eye on both of those situations.

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