They are playing pretty good defense, and so far referee Colin Kronforst hasn't had the same impact on this game as he had on Wednesday. Guy Dupuis has two power-play goals, which is interesting because the power play has had a terrible time getting the puck out of its own zone so far tonight. Colin Chaulk has two assists. Komets can make up some more ground in the standings with a
Comments
The only people who didnt view the IHL as a joke are people with thier heads in the sand and found no problem with the K's involved with several other teams in the league....
The only way those ECHL cities come over is if there is unprecedented cooperation between all AA egocentric leagues...
Quad City AND Bloomington have stated they are CHL teams, Dayton has about 27 fans and St Charles is that name that is always thrown around (for years now); but never seems to land ANYWHERE...
Until we hear that the leagues are talking then it will gain some steam; but until then its all just BS...
Couldn't agree more Kometfan. David Franke & Al Sims don't like physical play. If they had given Olivier or Mark Rechliz more of a chance we would have a physical presence on the ice. Al had no clue how to use Olivier or Rechliz. David needs to start worring more about this team making the playoffs than his ego.
I'm not saying it cant be done; but ALOT has to happen in just over 1 year to have a viable and legitamite league in place for it to have even a chance of being successful, IMO. A plan would have to be in place ready to implement by the end of next season.
Legault got waived because he could not skate a regular shift. He just wasn't good enough. And with a 18 man game night roster (unlike the 19 man in the IHL) the Komets can't afford to dress a dummy who can't play a shift when needed and not be a liability.
all of you need to remember the stated goal of the frankees. they are trying to wake up the world of minor league hockey and get it in line to save and make money. they want all of double a to line up geograhicly(sP). call it ihl 3 or call it the colin lister league, it doesnt matter. the idea is to cut down travel and expenses and make more natural rivals. set up three or four leagues and have the winners play for an outright double a chapion. how exciting it could be! then theres also the allignment with the nhl and the triple a teams. the goal is to also redo the structures and make it like baseball. its pretty simple. but just hard to put it to practice since many owners will fight it right up until they have to announce their foldings because of no profits! something has to be done as the ecomomy dictates that something has to happen before lots more teams fold up the tent and before long there wont be any hockey in the minors.so you guys can argue all you want but this is the goal and it makes sence to me. its just gonna take some time till others buy in to it. thats why we are in chl right now. buying time.
I think we can all agree that smaller leagues of equal talent would be ideal. Snuff's league looks good (and please don't call it the IHL) but I agree with JR, it's not going to work in one or two years. If such a league wanted to start up in two years and be successful they should already be in a discussion phase.
St. Charles has never gone anywhere because basically it's a suburb of St. Louis. There is a lot of money there, especially if you consider the whole area including O'Fallon, but their hockey money goes to the Blues. St. Louis likes the Blues but basically it's not that much of a hockey town, more baseball and football. I would look elsewhere to draw the kind of numbers needed to be successful in a league of the caliber we're discussing.
Chukitt, nobody is arguing the "idea" of making more sense of the hockey landscape, just differing opinions as to when or if it will ever happen.
The idea is good; but so far the implementation of the idea has been poor. You cannot have your commissioner also running one of the franchises. You cant have the owner of your biggest franchise answering all questions pertaining to the league. You cant have one team keeping several other franchises afloat. And you certainly cant have this one team winning EVERYTHING! Does not look good, period.
If a new midwestern league is to make it past just a couple seasosn like the IHL2, then they need to have an established league office that has ZERO ties to any of the teams in the league. Otherwise the BS that was allowed to fester and rot in the minds of many fans, reporters, owners, etc... around the league like in the IHL2 will happen again and destroy the league...
If we don't make the playoffs, then we don't need to listen to all the Al Sims & David Franke supporters complain about not making the playoffs & how bad the team was.
JR I agree it takes planning. I happen to believe that these talks are already ongoing.
The IHL name is a good one. The original IHL was a great minor league until about five years before it folded.
Question for Blake or anyone else who remembers the facts..What happened with the Chicago franchise? Is there anything left there? Could that be revived in the right situation?
I think the cooperation that is needed will happen. Not because they want to but because they are going to have to. Owners have got to realize there is no reason to be travelling across 3 time zones to play a minor league game. Let's make it simple. Teams east of the Missisippi should never travel west of it and vise versa. (Ok yes I realize St Charles is technically on the other side but you get the idea) There are plenty of AA cities on both sides of the river that you can form two or three leagues without killing each other in travel costs.
As far as Sims and Franke and this season, yes there is plenty of blame to throw their way. But in my opinion they have earned the right to correct it next year. One bad season does not mean they suddenly became stupid. It means they had better learn from their mistakes and build a better team next year. No doubt in my mind they will. David Franke does NOT like to lose.
The Chicago franchise you are asking about will play in the ECHL next season. I believe they will be known as the Express...
Chicago is the newest ECHL team and starts this next season from Hoffman Estates....
Martinson is the Coach and GM.
Wonder if this post will make it up on the blog???
What gives SuperFan?
Snuff, I like the IHL name also; but lets face it, it cannot return as a Franke dominated entity... IMO.
Hit Somebody can't get a post to show-up on the blog....
JR1,
No doubt an independent league governing body is needed.
Now that being said, I have no problems with the Frankes having MAJOR input.
They do know something about running a winning organization. They know business. The recent failure of the IHL was not their fault. Muskegon and Port Huron could have survived if other pressures were not brought on them. Flint has fans who want a winning team, a clean building and basically a reason to go. The last few years they have not had that. But let's face it. Flint, Port Huron and Muskegon are not going to travel to Texas.
Chicago going to the ECHL is a good thing. At least they are getting a team in place finally. So if my prediction is true and in the next 2-4 years we see a major overhaul in minor league hockey then the Chicago franchise would make perfect sense to join the league I envision.
This all just makes too much sense not to happen. I know these leagues and owners are stubborn and prideful. But as they start to realize the danger of not making change I believe it will come. And if these owners don't do it, the next ones who buy the teams from the owners that fail will hopefully have enough common and business sense to do things right.
One other question/point on why I wouldn't mind the Frankes being involved in forming and organizing the league. Their years of experience. Are there any other minor league teams out there currently that have been owned by the same people for as long or longer as the Komets. It is possible but if there is anyone out there who has seen the changes over the last 20 years in the industry and adapted well to them it is Komets ownership.
If cooperation of this magnitude happens then everyone is going to have a say in how it goes down, I just dont think the Frankes can be at the forefront of any movement because of what went down in the IHL2. There are certain quarters of the hockey community that just dont trust the Frankes after that mess (whether right or wrong, its there). And quite frankly they wouldnt need to be... If leagues start getting together and talking making geographic sense of the AA landscape, then all the Frankes have to do is sit back and start assembling a team...
Your correct, all these teams in the upper midwest being in one league makes perfect sense... That is what actually scares me the most in all this...lol
I also have to wonder if eastern Canada would open its doors to pro hockey again.
Teams like St Johns, St John, Halifax, Fredericton, Moncton and Cape Breton might be interested in returning to pro hockey as the dollar has improved. They failed in the 1990s for several reasons but the very very weak dollar had alot to do with it.
I wouldn't mind seeing a team back in Indy. What do they have now for hockey? Junior league team? The Colts and Pacers. Thats about it. A city that size you would think could support a team.
The Indians are pretty big in Indy.
OR..... The Komets could do the logical thing and join the ECHL..
1. Independently run league.
2. Geographic Footprint.
Fort Wayne, Kzoo, Cinnci, Toledo, Chicago
This was the right thing to do a year ago.. but the Franke's wanted their "control"... so it didn't happen.
Unless they are running the IHL3 it won't happen. And looking at the teams that were involved in the IHL2 and their fortunes.. I'd stay away. Muskegon, Flint, PH all out of business. Kzoo bailed. Who would want to get involved?
the frakees dont need to run the new league but right now they are the biggest voice in trying to get the rest of hockey to reform and survive. they were pretty much the voice of the ihl but they were trying to keep it afloat until the other voices in aa hockey jumped on the bandwagon but of course it hasnt happened yet so we moved to the chl to buy more time. but i wish someone on here would please tell me why they are so upset with the frankees???? they seem to have rescued hockey in ft wayne and have given us a good 20 yrs when other cities cant last a few. theyve given us good entertainment on fri and sat nights and interest in the team is still at an alltime high in a bad economy. so what is it you want ?? i understand maybe a higher league but again they believe it wouldnt work here so they have tried to make the aa scene the best posible. cant tell me the show they put on at the new barn istn one of the best in all of minor hockey. so just what is it people need them to do??
Does anyone think that maybe outside of Fort Wayne nobody is all that interested in the Franke plan?
Was there a vote where they were elected to "save minor league hockey"?
I think alot of fans would just like for the focus to be put on making the Komets the best franchise they can be, and not dealing with IHL3 talk or worrying about every other team in America.
Francis and Micheal Ratchuk assigned to Fort Wayne
JM, there were several factors involved with the team not going to the ECHL and "control" by the Frankes was not one of them. Are you claiming they now control the CHL? Have more say in running this league then they would have the ECHL? It just makes no sense to me to say that. I guess they controlled the bargaining sessions with the union? Naw, sorry, I can't buy that.
There are good reasons why the ECHL would have been a good move and there are bad reasons, same as with the CHL. One reason was loyalty to the other IHL teams who the ECHL didn't want. Without the Komets it's unlikely Dayton and Evansville would have made it into the CHL, and for obvious reasons some loyalty was due them because no doubt Frankes had a lot to do with them and the IHL. They still do, allowing Evansville to play three "home" games here and get the revenue. That's loyalty.
I would say Dayton is still questionable and obviously Flint and PH bailed for reasons their owners had no control over. Musky was gone no matter what. If the Komets would have gone to the ECHL Dayton, QC, and Bloomington would probably be dark this season, Evansville would still be in A league hockey and maybe joining us in the ECHL next year. Also keep in mind that when the decision was made to go to the CHL the two Michigan teams were still possibilities.
Your second point, "maybe outside of Fort Wayne nobody is all that interested in the Franke plan?" is a good one, a logical question.
I don't know, but I would say it's been thought about, especially at times when teams are looking at travel expenses in both leagues. I don't think it's particularly a "Franke plan", I think it's something that is obvious to some and as teams continue to loose money will become more obvious to others.
Will something like this ever work? Who knows, a lot of egos involved. If the NHL would get involved maybe a better chance but the odds of that happening are almost non-existent. What would be their motivation?
Sorry if I sound like I'm beating up on you, that's not my intent at all. I just fail to see any logic in the statement that you and a couple of others make from time to time about the Frankes controlling the CHL and that's the reason we're in it instead of the ECHL.
I'm not sure; but the "control" that JM speaks of has something to do with giving over control of the Komets logo to the ECHL...
I also believe that in "control", JM is indicating still keeping the IHL name on life support for the time being. This is technically a "working agreement" between the IHL teams and the CHL. We can debate till the cows come home as to how some of the individual "IHL" teams feel or have stated publicly about this "working agreement"; but the Komets, at least, seem to view this as a temporary stay and nothing more. For the time being, they control the destiny of the IHL and in some form how the agreement proceeds past the initial 2yr's....
I dont believe that JM is insinuating that the Frankes have just waltzed in and taken control of the CHL's operations... The CHL right now is stable enough to tell the Frankes and the K's to take a flying leap off a long pier...
"I