Matt Hunter has been played on the 10-day injured reserve list with a separated shoulder. He suffered the injury Sunday when he was hit by Kalamazoo's Nick Bootland. Komets General Manager David Franke said the team won't know until later if Hunter might be able to rehab the shoulder enough to play later or if he'll require surgery which will end his season.
The Komets have sent a tape of the hit to United Hockey League Director of Hockey Operations Brad Jones for review.
``We feel that it was squarely a hit from behind into the boards,'' Franke said. "The fact that the kid has a separated shoulder, we want Brad to take a look at it and see if there's reason for further discipline.''
David Hukalo is still day-to-day with a sprained wrist. His status for Wednesday's game at Motor City is questionable.
Comments
I thought the hit on Hunter deserved a 5 minute major. Bootland clearly hit him from behind and really manhandled him. Now here is my other gripe when that occurred and later in the game nobody even tried to run Bootland or tried to send a message. Here we loose a valuable player in Hunter which looks like the season and we did nothing about it !!!
I understand your gripe, but who was gonna do something about it. I mean we aren't a goon type of team......Maybe in the next game they play a message will be sent, it doesn't have to happen in the same game..
Mark please Jorde the night before got run from behind by Goody and he did something about it. How about him he was even on the ice at the time. You do not send messages later on you do it then and there, but you are right we have nobody and that is why we will continue to see guys like Hunter get run at because we do not have someone who will take a stand consistently
It should of happened immediately in my opinion. This has been a long standing gripe of mine all year. Where is the toughness in this team? The other teams continue to take cheap shots at our most skilled players because they know nothing will happen. We are way too soft. Is everyone proud to be cheering on the softest team in the UHL? It is a joke. Then we get teased by Larry and the Komet MGMT. with the Welcome to the Jungle song. Are they mocking their own team from the press box or what? The fans are dying for a reason to get excited, and what are we given? Another seriously injured player that we can't live without right now. Let's go out and get some Junior players and College Guys to fill the holes. Great plan. They will get killed on our team.
When does Chaulk, St. Pierre, Drouin and Goodwin take a cheapshot to end their season? Then what do we do? Bungle in the Jungle. And we are the Monkeys who pay the bill and have to watch this frustration. If I hear all summer that the Franke's are looking to sign, tough, front-line players with size again......I will puke. Stop fooling us. We aren't that stupid.
I will give an example that happen this year in our barn. It was against Muskegon and it involved Jorde. Jorde took a run at Bouchard, just a hard check. On the next face off Nelson put on to the ice Kevin Fels. Before the face-off Fels motioned to Jorde to line-up next him to have a fight. Why, because you are not going to run at our leading goal scorer and get away with it.
So this is now the SECOND time this year a guy will be lost for the season (Hunter probably) due to a hit from behind with no retaliation.
First time Dolyny end Kean's career while Guinn watches and last night Bootland runs Hunter while Luciuk stands by.
Although I DO think next game will be the game Luciuk drops 'em.
Too late. All ready done. There have been numerous other times this year on our home ice guys have taken bad cheap shots and no one does a thing. Did you guys notice when K-zoo thinks someone is getting away with a cheapy that they have 3-5 guys standing over that guy. Heck, Dustin Virag now even plays physical and hustles like it may be his last shift. Did we always get that from him here? Wonder why you have to do that in K-zoo, but guys here don't have to play physical or get after it on every shift? Makes you scratch your head!
Skate, Dolyny didn't hit Kean, Kean missed hitting him.
Dustin Virag was one of the hardest working players while he was a member of this team. The only thing that declined was his offense; but seeing how well he is playing with K-zoo maybe it wasnt him declining...
On another note, can we now say that Brad Jones is now the K's enforcer?????
I think it is time we recognize that the Komets are an outmanned team that has played remarkably well the last several weeks, but they might be too worn to make a run in the playoffs and might be too tired and too short-handed to even make the playoffs. I hope we see some evidence of a turn-around on the road this week. But the die was cast last summer. We don't have the players to compete night in and night out with the top four in this league. I am not knocking the players. I love the effort they have made, but they have had to work so hard to get where they are. We don't have enough snipers or finishers around the goal. That's why we see 50 shots to score 1 or 2 goals. No wonder they are worn out. Where are the other teams getting their guys and why can't we do the same? Muskegon reloads every year. Rockford beat us in Fort Wayne one night playing nine rookies. Pickard and Reeds are a great team in Kzoo. I love watching all three of those teams play. I just hope we get back to a level where we can compete with them next year. But I am not going to knock the players. I think we have gotten more out of them than we could reasonably expect and for that they deserve a lot of credit. I think some credit also goes to Coach. But at some point someone has to step up and admit that the team was not put together to compete at this level.
So with Hukalo out and now Hunter the K's are skating one man short, correct?
Not until some hard hitting, tough nosed, goal scoring, skating machine Junior player from McMillen Park joins the team. Hope they find him.
I like our new team style of play this year. Other teams cheap shot us, we'll act like nothing happened, or go hide somewhere, and we'll wait for the brilliant Joes at the UHL office to stand up for our guys when they are intentionally injured. Good plan. What's next, take 50 shots and hope that Brosal rules a couple of them should have went in, and maybe he will award us 1 or 2? How happy are you guys with this team? They definitely don't represent what I think Komet Hockey should be about. At least this year.
Is this crap serious? It wasn't even a dirty hit. Hunter is and has always been frail. There is no need to review the tape. Luciuk is going to fight, give me a break! He won't even hit anyone on most nights. Jorde is more reluctnat than Kotyluck was to fight.
PLEASE ACCEPT THAT THIS TEAM LACKS TOUGHNESS AND INTIMIDATION.... life will be much easier when you do. Maybe if Franke spent his time finding quality guys to fill important roles on this team rather than waste it sending tapes to Brad Jones we would be a lot better off.
Remember last week when most of the people on here were praising Mr. Franke for saving hockey in Fort Wayne years ago, and talking about how great of a job they do? It was a real lovefest. Look at it now right back to the same old crap. Frankes popularity hinges on the outcome of the last game.
HURRY BACK LANCE!!! I NEED SOMETHING TO CHEER FOR!!!
Bootland and Labenski both deserved a fist in the face last game. I wish they would have got it. Nuff said for me on that topic.
Even though they were ugly, i'll take 2 out of 3 this weekend and forget about it and move on to this week.
At this point i want them to stay healthy, make the playoffs and then we'll see if they can step up to the plate in the second season.
second season, 19 games max over a month plus time period, all of them should be able to let it all out and leave everything on the ice everygame.
We have to stop losing on sundays, it gives me a real bad attitude to start the week out on.
Blake, Have you ever heard what Greg's philosophy is on when a player takes a cheapshot or extremely hard hit for whatever reason, what he expects and wants his players to do? Or do we pretty much all ready know by what we have witnessed all season long. Is he comfortable letting guys take a beating and pretending it didn't happen, or is this team not doing what he wants them to in the toughness department.
Anyone remember the later days of the IHL when guys would come to player's defense when the line was seemingly crossed. Enforcers or not. Things like chopping at the Netminder after the whistle would turn into a riot in front of the net. I still think other teams play this way in this league. Why not our guys?
Boy you guys need to chill out. Are you gonna die tomorrow because the Komets lack toughness. You act like its the end of the world. So we don't win the cup this year, big deal, do I want them to win, heck yes i do, probably as much as anyone on here, but you guys really need to step back and take a look at what your saying..
THIS IS JUST A GAME, IT MEANS NOTHING IN THE GRAND SCHEME OF THINGS.
Look back when I was 15, 16 years old, I would cry and complain if the Komets didn't win every game. Now, its like awesome if they win, as long as the effort is there, win, lose or draw, I will always be a FAN.
The situation with my son has really put things into perspective. All this hooting and hollering over stuff that really means nothing just kills me.
Enjoy hockey, enjoy the games, will they win every game, heck no they won't, but be happy we have hockey, be happy we have a very solid franchise, Just be happy.
When you think you have it bad, someome right around the corner has it worse.
it is the cardboard cut out behind the bench
Cancel the blog Blake. No more comments needed after that one. No one should make any comments on this blog any longer. No one should respond to your articles. Everyone should stop reading this blog too. You are just as guilty as the next guy when you come on here and read it, and then respond by blasting everyone elses thoughts. It is just a game. The Komets mean nothing. Stop going to the games all together. There are more important things.
boy, I think you missed the point.
No, we have the point. People should be allowed to voice their opinions freely on this Komet Hockey related site. You are not alone. Read your own statement.
"When you think you have it bad, someome right around the corner has it worse."
Everyone is in the same boat, at different degrees. Don't you think?
Yikes.....
Don't worry about it Mark. You ain't gonna get through even with a bulldozer with some of these guys.
I wish Hunter a speedy recovery.
For the person whom desires censorship:
We live in a country where everyone is allowed to state their opinion on a given subject. To paraphrase Voltaire, I may not agree with what you write, but I would give my life to make it possible for you to continue to write.
What makes me even happier about having free speech is having two blogs for people to copy and paste the same comments to both and have the same people copy and paste their comments and replies to other people's comments and replies that are the exact same comments and replies to the previous comments and replies of a week ago which when you look back were the same comments and replies from a month ago which if someone (Blake) did some actual research, they were probably the same comments and replies from the same people that were seen during our doldrum days of the 6-11 start.
So you are adding what to this debate about the Komets? Or are you critiquing everybody elses opinions. Give us an opinion that adds to the debate, and stop worrying about all the other crap. Hockey debate people. Or should we just stick to the same old, "it doesn't matter, don't dare say anything bad" stuff. Frustrating Season brings out lots of questions and comments. Deal with it or don't frequent this site. It is a slap in Blake's face to keep telling people not to have an opinion and to be quiet about it. He puts up the topics, and in turn, people comment. I think that is the point of the forum.
Notice to everyone here---
I don't get it here anymore. A few people here constantly blast anything to do with the Komets and claim it free speech. Now that some people are actually fed up with it and post something respectful reminding people it's just a game, some of the negative bloggers immediately jump down their throat with insults and sarcasm. A few people can really dish it out but can't take anyone saying anything about the comments that person posts. Mark made a great post that I wish everyone would really read here. This website use to be a fun place to go to online. Anymore I'm pretty much fed up with it. I hope those few out there, and you know who you are, can quit acting like this is life or death. If not, no problem, I'll stop reading/posting the comments.
By the way, there is a difference between negative comments and down right insulting, twisting of words, false accusations from people that think they know everything there can be to know about the Komets and the organization. Negative comments are good comments, and everyone has their right to post them. It goes to show that Ft. Wayne is a hockey-smart town. Lately though a few have really pushed it over that line and that's where I'm fed up with it. Ok enough said.