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Tailing the Komets

Super Saturday, Super Bowl

Well, how about that third period? I'll tell you, that was one of the quietest locker rooms I've been in for a while.

Up until the third period, I was very impressed with the Komets' performance because A) the Komets didn't get home from Missouri this morning until about 5 a.m. and  B) Elmira came out firing in the first 10 minutes and the Komets withstood the storm fairly easily. Elmira led 9-6 in shots and then for the rest of the first period and through the second, the Komets out-shot the Jackals 21-8. That's amazing considering Elmira had a 4-1 power-play advantage halfway through the second period.

Once again I'm impressed with Lance Galbraith. He's driving people crazy right now.

I don't think the Komets played that poorly, but they did let Elmira hang around for a while and take the crowd out of the game. The Jackals played just about perfect road hockey, and once again, the Komets were undisciplined at very inopportune times to give Elmira key power plays. He won't say it, but I will: How come Chaulk always gets called for the same stuff that gets done to him with no call? I have no problem with the calls on him, but there was no consistency.

Despite the shootout loss, the Komets are now 17-6-1 over their last 24 games. Not too shabby.

Nice job tonight by the "Scoop'' guys.

So what did you think of tonight's game and give me your Super Bowl predictions, too.

Also, a special hi to Emily Fedorcak who shadowed me tonight. I better be careful or someday she'll take my job.

Posted in: Komets

Comments

chuckitt
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 7:29pm

ill be the first this is the team ive been telling you people about. after all the chaulk talk, the only guy who did his job tonight was galbraith. the rest of the team is what youre gonna see the rest of the year. no physical play. get up 2 to 0 and they stopped playing no heart no guts. right before elmira scored their first goal, luciuk had a chance to nail a guy in the attacking zone and keep the play in the zone, but he skated away and the jackels went up the ice and scored. thats real physical hockey, heh chaulker? then when lance got booted on a terrble call that changed the momentum of the game, that cardboard cutout that is the coach just stood there! that was the time to work the officals, but no movement at all. thats your team people. better get use to it. they talk the talk but dont walk the walk. if i were still playing, id be so ashamed. none of you bloggers can make any excuses for this one. playing a team with a worse record than us and playing in front of a full house, lance was the only one to show up. how disgusting!! now lets here all the excuses...

Hoss
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 7:49pm

I think the only one who didn't do his job tonight was the ref! Why the hell should Lance have gotten 17 mins from protecting his captin, and doing his job! He fought the guy without jumping him from behind and there was no reason for the extra 12 mins. That killed the komets tonight, along with two soft/weird goal let in by frenchy.

Ross
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:07pm

In some ways I agree with chuckitt. Galbraith was one of the few who was really laying it all out on the ice. (Oh, and what a show from Lance. I swear that after he landed the first hit in his first fight, the Elmira guy was just looking for a way out.)

I think I wouldn't be _quite_ as hard on the boys, though. After all, they did put in a pretty stellar second period. And part of the first, and a little bit of the third...

Unfortunately, they appeared to have basically mailed in the rest of the night.

JR
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:33pm

Let one slip away 2nite. 1st period was a snoozer..2nd they played well couple of wide open nets missed which came back to haunt them...3rd seemed a step behind, wasnt suprised with the 17 Lance got cause thats par for the course with UHL refs...With 6 minutes to go why is Chaulk centering a line with Rumble and Frawley, that would have been a good place to jumble lines. Smart move to reunite Guinn and Dupuis part way thru the game cause Guinn was brutal again 2nite. Galbraiths game gets better each nite I see him play, he's really proving himself valuable. 3 of 4 points is good and even better the Mallards have lost 2 in a row. K's are on a good streak and I hope it continues. Are Sellars and Patton still around and if so do the K's still plan on signing one or both???

smitty
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:37pm

Both Sellers and Patton were at the game

blake
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:39pm

Watch the language Chuckitt.
What did you expect Puhalski to do, risk getting thrown out of a 2-1 game. Yeah, that would have been real bright. He called the ref over and complained. What more could he have done in that situation without costing his team a power play?

I thought the Elmira goaltender was the star, keeping his team in the game. I'll be FW had 2-1 as many scoring chances.

blake
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:41pm

Yes, Patten and Sellers were at the game, but the Komets have not signed them yet so they can't talk about them without risking a fine from the league. They are both probably still a couple of weeks off from playing because both sat out last season.

Hit Somebody!!!
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:46pm

This is the type of game we have to put away! There is no excuse for losing this game tonight. If we are going to be a good team who makes it into the playoffs, we must win these games that we are in complete control of. Our defense let us down tonight. St. Pierre had to stand on his head in the early first period, and the whole third period. Rob Guinn is very disappointing. He cannot get the puck past the first blue line. He gives the puck up to the other team for easy shots. Outside of Jorde being able to fight, when is he going to play solid defense? He plays soft in front of the net and in the corners. He needs to use his body, and his head for that matter, a lot more. Our coach did finally tonight ask the ref about that horrible call on Galbraith. About time. I didn't see the great physical game tonight that everyone was talking about at K-Zoo. Why can't these guys do it for the Home Crowd? Another sell-out crowd that goes home disappointed.

scoops
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:47pm

Superbowl prediction: Who cares as long as my squares hit. If I had to root for a team it would be Pittsburgh.

I love sellouts. The crowd was really great tonight and into the game.

Off with the orange tinted glasses. The Lance Galbraith call was the correct call to make. He went out of his way begging for that fight. I was happy to see him stick up for his captain instantly, it just sucked he got tossed for it. There "should" of been 3 other guys right there along with Lance.

As for the game, I thought they played really hard tonight. Was a few lapses late in the game where the Jackels were allowed to skate around without alot of body on them and it turned out to cost us the 2 points in regulation. Other than that, they played very physical as a whole for most of the game. You can see signs though of having who we have on wing hurting us when we need goals. They (wingers) played their butts off but they are not going to get goal scorer goals. Coulda, shoulda had a few more. Not knocking them for who they are by any means.

There have been plenty of games this season where they came out flat or showed no pulse and we have ripped them for it. Tonight was not one of those nights Chuck. We put forth the kind of effort we had tonight, each night, and I will bet my life we win a hell of alot more games than we lose.

smitty
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:49pm

I also seen the coach ask about the no goal call.
Anybody: was it a goal???????????

scoops
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:52pm

If I had to complain about something, it would be the shootout shot selection. What in the world is Druin doing wristing the puck when he can undress any goalie one on one any day of the week. THEN....the next 2 or 3 guys do the exact same thing. Not a deke or fake? That is what gave us the other goals!

blake
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:55pm

No, it wasn't a goal. The goal judge got it right. I was down behind that goal and asked a couple of people who were along the glass and they said she got it right.

scoops
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:55pm

The puck came off the post and slid along the goal line. Very close but from where I sat it didn't look like it went acrossed.

smitty
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 8:59pm

Thank you for the answer on the no goal call. Super bowl prediction: THE Green Bay Packers by 14

Skate
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 9:15pm

First: No goal. It hit the post and bounced out. And she DIDN'T "get it right." At first, she didn't turn the light on (correctly) then, after the crowd cheered, she did turn it on as a reaction to the crowd noise. Actually, she was slow in recognizing the FIRST goal, as well.

Why can't Puhalski question a call without getting thrown out of a game? This brings to mind a Marc Boileau classic. In Flint, Bob Fitchner is Captain, and Boileau is incensed about a call and sends Fitchner to the Ref for an explanation.

Fitchner listens to the Ref and skates back to the Komet bench where a livid Boileau wait. Fitchner gets about 10 feet from the bench and says, "He said ...." Boileau points out at the Ref and says to Fitchner, "I DON'T CARE WHAT HE SAID! GO AND FIND OUT WHAT HE SAID!"

Boileau kept sending Fitchner back and forth simply to make a point with the Ref. Maybe that got him some consideration on the next call. I guarantee you that if a Ref knows you won't question a call and the opposing Coach will, he, being human, will take the path of least resistance.

Ross
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 9:17pm

I agree with 2-fer. Frenchy was doing his best, but he should be able to count on some help from his D. The wrap-around in particular could be chalked up to failures more than five feet from the posts.

Ross
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 9:19pm

Blake: What's with the "Scoop" comment? Did you end up with a free t-shirt? :)

Hit Somebody!!!
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 9:20pm

Super Bowl prediction: I probably won't even turn on that Grand Advertising event that will take 5-6 hours to complete. It's not about football, it's about selling useless crap and dot.com spots. If you don't have a team in it you like, what's the point? Do they really need 2 weeks to hype this boring game anyway? Hope everyone gets their kicks out of watching the Steelers coach make his funny face on the sideline.

Ross
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 9:24pm

Super Bowl Prediction: Miller will have a clever ad attacking Bud Light. Budweiser will have an equally clever ad making Miller look like a micro-brew.

Hit Somebody!!!
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 9:45pm

The one thing that I would like to say about Mr. Hawthorne tonight is that he allowed our guys to take cheapshots all night long. There were numerous highsticks from Elmira. When one of our guys finally took exception to it (Galbraith) when Chaulk got the deliberate blade to the throat, Lance got run from the game. Hawthorne sent this message: Highsticking ok, fighting bad. The guy that highsticked Chaulk should have got a 5 minute and a gamer for intent to injure. When a team like Elmira uses the highsticks like they did tonight, why can't our guys drop the gloves and clean the game up a bit on their own if the ref isn't going to pay attention to what is going on? Hawthorne sent the wrong message. Also, enough with all of the diving out there. I'm tired of the "Quad City Quadruple Back-flip" by all of these teams that come in and they never call it.

David
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 10:03pm

Well this was a game the K's have to win. This team seems to be a team that let's opportunities slip by them. I agree Galbraith seems to have step his play up of late, I hope the way he played tonight is how he will play the rest of the season. I always feel that when you loose a home game it is like giving 4 points to the rest of the league even though we gained a point tonight. Let's face it we do not have the team that is going to play physical night after night. In his pre-game comments coach P actually made reference to that fact. What ever you want to call it, effort, will, or heart it is why we are just an average team. We all want that superior team that hits, wins, and fights on occasion. We are just not capable of doing it with any consistency and that is why the K's will struggle to make the play-off's. I still believe that we will have to win the 2nd half of our division to have a shot and that is doable if we can win the games like tonight.

dnlkomets
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 10:12pm

I'm suprised no one thought that the conversal goal was a goal. I was sitting in low 208 and I would put money on it that the puck was in. But hey, thats hockey-if there wasnt contraversy in the game it wouldn't be hockey.

Nanci
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 10:19pm

I believe what would have been the THIRD goal...was a GOAL! It went in right inside the goal crease and then bounced out sideways. Goal - that's what I say! I was glad to see Galbraith stick up for his Captin..

If anybody is interested in the Komets Booster Club...email .. luckysun8183@yahoo.com

Laurie
Sat, 02/04/2006 - 11:07pm

First off: hi Nanci! Everyone should e-mail her and join the Booster Club! You won't be disappointed! :)

About the "3rd goal that wasn't a 3rd goal": I swear it was a goal. By the reaction of the Komet players on the ice, they swore it was a goal, too. And when the light went on, I thought the game was sealed.

It was absolutely disgusting, seeing nearly all of our players get highsticked at some point in the game. Despite getting basically kicked out of the game for it, good for Galbraith for standing up for our guys! It was about time!

One way to tell when it's a bad game is when Goodwin gets angry. He's usually a very level-headed player, but there were quite a few occasions tonight when he was downright irate with the officials (and for good reason, too!). He was smacking his stick against the boards and yelling at the refs. Good for him!!

Speaking of Goodwin, why won't they let him shoot in the shoot-out?! They'll put Miller or Frawley out there, but not Goodwin?! What was up with that?

And thank you, Larry the PA guy, for playing "Welcome to the Jungle" more than once tonight! Rock on! LOL Why can't we make that our goal song?! (PLEASE??! LOL)

The best part of the game: Galbraith.

The second best part: seeing Twister get asked for his autograph. I will never forget that! LOL I am not worthy, oh mighty Twister!

JC
Sun, 02/05/2006 - 8:51am

Why wouldn't you shoot Miller in the shootout? In case you missed his move it was pretty nice.

scoops
Sun, 02/05/2006 - 11:24am

Thanks for the scoops props Blake. Its a blast to do. My goal is to get one up in the box so keep your eyes open!

Its funny how people will recognize you outside of being at the coliseum. Some people are quite nice and talk to you in stores or yell for you in parking lots. Others are downright rude and complain because you didn't single them out in the crowd and give them a free ball.

blake
Sun, 02/05/2006 - 12:50pm

No I didn't get a T-shirt tonight, but I did get to meet one of the Scoop guys and that was a nice surprise.

I wouldn't have a clue what you are talking about getting recognized in public and often receiving criticism. Not the foggiest. ;)

That's why I never go to the mall between Nov. 1 and Jan. 15. Not that I mind the odd question, but it gets a little overwhelming at times.

Unit
Sun, 02/05/2006 - 1:44pm

Thanks Blake. I enjoyed our conversation. I haven't had the issues with that Scoops has had with the "bad" recognition. I have had plenty of positive however, which is always appreciated. I will say with this being my 8th year of being on ice in some capacity I have experienced my fair share of negativy. However, I realize that it comes with the territory. I get to have a fun job and watch every game. I can deal with the downside. Anyway, I was pleased with the teams effort tonight. Obviously would have liked winning more, but can't win every game. Overall the past few weeks have shown vast improvement, not only teamwise, but individually as well. Hopefully, we are sitting in a pond with a flock of ducks in the scope waiting for the right second to pull the trigger. Go K's!!

JR
Sun, 02/05/2006 - 2:49pm

I know its just one game but I believe I like Drouin at wing instead of at center. Just seems to me that the K's have better line combos when he is on the wing. Right know the K's just dont have that one "go to" offensive line. K's are on a good streak right now and I hope the constant line tinkering doesnt come back to haunt us....

Jennifer
Sun, 02/05/2006 - 4:20pm

I was extremely impressed with Galbraith tonight. Not only did he stand up for Chaulk. He watched the rest of the game and cheered on his teammates. Many times when a Komet is done for the night, they hit the showers. I was proud to see that Gally stuck around and was even clapping along with the crowd. That shows team spirit.

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