The Fort Wayne Komets rallied to earn a point Sunday but also left themselves with no second chances.
The Komets trailed the Flint Generals 4-1 heading into the third period before scoring three unanswered goals to force overtime and then a shootout before losing 5-4. The one point Fort Wayne received because of the overtime leaves the Komets seven points behind first-place Muskegon in the International Hockey League. The Lumberjacks have 95 points in 67 games, and the Komets 88 in 66.
Fort Wayne plays seven of its last 10 games at home, while Muskegon plays seven of its last nine games on the road. The only game between the teams is April 7 in Fort Wayne.
The Komets moved four points up on Port Huron for second place when the IceHawks lost at Bloomington.
Even if the Komets won their last 10 games, the Lumberjacks would have to go 6-3 for Fort Wayne to win first place. If the teams end up in a tie, the IHL tiebreakers are overall wins, the second is head-to-head wins and the third is fewest head-to-head regulation losses. The fourth is most goals, the fifth is head-to-head fewest goals against and the sixth is to flip a coin.
``We're looking to win first place,'' Komets coach Al Sims said after Sunday's game. ``If we have to go 10-0, that's what we have to do. We just have to put our minds to it and decide we're going to show up and play hard for 60 minutes every night. They have seven road games. They are going to stumble somehwere and hopefully we don't and pick up some points.''
The Komets will need a performance every night like they put together in the second and third periods on Sunday. Starting his third game in a row, Nick Boucher was touched up for three goals in the first period. Sims yanked Boucher for Tim Haun for the final 3:21 of the first period, and then send Boucher back in goal for the rest of the game.
``We just decided to play the lat two periods of the game after we didn't show up in the first and it cost us a point,'' Sims said. ``I just wanted to give Nick a break after the three goals in the first and then go back to him. We really controlled the game after that. We still came back and went through eveything and got a point out of it."
The Komets got goals from Matt Syroczynski, Guy Dupuis, Sean O'Connor and David Hukalo but could not score the game-winner despite out-shooting Flint 8-0 during the five-minute overtime period. Flint goaltender Sergei Zvyagin finished with 47 saves.
``We need some rest,'' Sims said. ``We've got a lot of guys with little injuries. Keith Rodgers has a thigh injury, and Brandon Warner has a shoulder injury. We'll be ready to go Thursday night.''
Comments
I thought the other night the goal was just to hang on to second place? Did I read something wrong or is my memory fading already?
Warner has an injury?
Why does Sims treat Boucher like royalty...?
At least no one on the team has a broken collar-bone.
Honey B, that attitude might get you in trouble with the Patties and Peters on here.
Generals were very fortunate tonight.
Home from Flint,
Boy if the Komets showed up in the 1st it would of been a 2 pt outcome. Komets played sloppy, passing was horrible and Boucher was not that great.
2nd period was much better, passing got better, and Syro scored a goal finally.
3rd period was all Komets all the time...great period.
OT was just ok, Komets had more chances to win.
SO..Komets didn't even come close to scoring..
They stole a point.
Back to back championships gets royalty status in my book, I just can't bring up another loss to flint to my therapist.
Did anyone see Stevie Yzerman at the coliseum? I heard he was in the house scouting.
Nope, didnt see him; but there were areas that they didnt let you go into unless you had a certain ticket or the proper credentials...
Sims is no doubt just showing Boucher that he has faith in him. Knowing your coach and teammates believe in you can make all the difference come playoff time. That being said, I wasn't expecting him to return to the game once he was yanked.
I hear that Yzerman is going to be the new GM in Calgary. Maybe looking to put an AHL team here.
Calgary just signed on with Abbottsford in the AHL with a new arena that is very close geographically. Why would they want a team in FW? Calgary has a horrible record of ruining AHL franchises. Ask the QC fans...
Speaking of injuries, I spoke with Leo Thomas last night at the Michigan-Miami game. He said that he is OK, ready to go, and will play Thursday night. He was with Vince Tarantino. He also indicated that this was the second concussion he has had. I told him he had to be real careful, and he agreed. They looked like they were having a good time.
The game last night was a real great experience. As I posted before, my daughter bought the tickets (thanks A.) and was able to get our "season ticket" seats. We were sitting one section to the right of the Michigan band and one section to the left of the student body. They were a hoot. The enthusiasm of both schools was refreshing to see. It was a good game with plenty of action. I wish the price of seats would have been more reasonable so more Fort Wayne people could have been there.
The Komets almost pulled it off last night. A great comeback. If you listened on the radio I am sure you heard Bob Chase call a goal for Shrock in the overtime, only to have to take it back. Pretty tough to listen on the radio, have the Komets play so poorly in the first period, have a great comeback, have your announcer call the winning goal in overtime, then have that momentary excitement dashed by the frustration of him admitting he made an error. C'mon Bob. Everybody makes mistakes, though.
It was kind of neat to see the boards empty of all advertisement and the ice rid of all the "busy" stuff. Reminded me a little of "old time" hockey.
Good for Coach Sims to put Boucher back in. Maybe it restored some confidence he may have lost during that awful first period. I'm also glad to read above his comment, "We're looking to win first place". That is the only attitude to have.
Alan, I Dont know what they were thinking with the college hockey ticket prices, i talked with some michigan fans before the game and they said that some of the frozen four ticket prices were cheaper. If the tourney ended up with alabama and bemidji in the final it would have looked like dayton or flint with 800 people in the barn.
The ticket prices for the frozen four are 189.00, 119.00, 79.00, and 40.00. The 40.00 are way up in the 300 level of ford field.
Pulling a goalie near the end of a period and re-inserting him is not all that uncommon. It sends a message to both the goalie and the team in front of him.
Thanks....I was recently wondering if you could re-insert a goalie once you pulled him. This answers that question for me!!
I once remember a blackhawks game where they changed goailes 4 times in 1 period. Keenan was still the coach to I think.
Charlie,
Keenan and other coaches have done late in games if a team is trying to kill a penalty or other situation where you want to show the game down and give your lines a quick rest. Years ago the goalies were actually given a few seconds to get a warmup shot or two in but it hasn't been that way for a long time. The stall tactic can work but it is risky as the backup has been sitting around and is getting thrown into a key situation but it certainly can slow the game down to a crawl.
Classic Komet game with Greg Pilling as coach. After each whistle, he pulled his goaltender and replaced him with the other. One goaltender was Irons but I can't remember the other. Pilling did it just to mess with the other team. Pilling was something else.
The blackhawks game was in the second period and they were getting beat pretty good.
Keenan and Ditka, those were the days! Still love Iron Mike...
I remember a game Keenan was here to watch the Ice when they were the 'Hawks' (hey, how many words can start and end with an apostrophe?) AAA team. The Komets were killing them and he was pretty upset about it, didn't like an unaffiliated team doing that to his future stars.
Alan the other goalie in that game was Murray Bannerman who went on to star for the Blackhawks. But if you remember he didnt just change goalies after a whistle....he changed them ON THE FLY!!! It was great to see that. When they asked a player on the other team what he thought he said he would look up and Irons was there and the next few seconds he would look up and Muzzy was in goal.....great memory there!!