Let's leave the coach, owner, player bashing to a minimum. We've pretty much said all that can be said and it's obvious that debate can't be advanced yet.
So pick your topic.
Let's leave the coach, owner, player bashing to a minimum. We've pretty much said all that can be said and it's obvious that debate can't be advanced yet.
So pick your topic.
Comments
Blake, I'm sure that it could be done, but how many of these special occasion jerseys are out there? Just during the Franke era there is likely over a dozen or more. I would like to see a list of all time jerseys and it would be really neat if there could be a permanent display of these and other items somewhere in the Coliseum.
Skate you couldn't resist lol
I agree with the idea of a Komets display. There is plenty of room downstairs for a nice either standing box or wall mount display. I was shocked when I visited the museum downtown a few years back and saw really nothing Komets. After 50 years the team deserves a display there.
The game last night was spectacular! The building is amazingly loud aswell. It's a must for the rabbid hockey fan!!!
LETS GO WINGS (even though I want to see it won on home ice ;) )
That would be awesome. Bob, I can tell you this much from doing the 50th anniversary poster: There are not copies of every uniform still around. There are none of the originals and I've only ever heard of one of the second-year jerseys which is what Eddie Long wore in the poster.
Blake, if it would help....the Komets have a team photo of every team Fort Wayne has fielded, but most of them are in B/W. They used to have them on the walls in the old game night office where the club seats/suites will call area is now. I'm guessing the old photos are in storage at the main office. The only other thing that I can think of would be to take photos of jerseys that people have purchased and see if anyone knows of any photos that might be out there of these items....perhaps posters that have been given out over the years might have some of these jerseys on them and I am sure that there are a few people that collect and keep some of that stuff. I used to have a ton of old(er) programs, etc. but I'm afraid some of it got misplaced when we had to get my late father's log cabin ready for sale the FIRST time around. If I can think of anything else that might be useful I'll let you know....right now the brain is roasted from being outside today.....it is really HOT out today!
Have you thought of contacting some of the old players? They might have photos and possibly even jerseys they wore.
Kalamazoo wins Colonial Cup in 5 games. Final Score 4-3 (OT) 3,005 fans at game.
Yeah, we did all of that when doing the 50th anniversary poster. That thing took about eight months to research. Shoot, the players don't even remember some jerseys. They changed just home or road about every year for the first 25 or so. I thought said it would be neat knowing that it's virtually impossible. LOL. Been there, tried that.
Weren't the Komet jerseys given away the next year to the Pepsi Komets? On doing research on the special jerseys-why bother? Most of them are hideous.Even the 50th anniversary jersey looked like it was designed by a kindergarten class.
On a different topic-it certainly seems like the Coliseum could have a hall of fame room . LC Walker arena has such a hall with famous athletes from the Muskegon area. They have a website if any oldtimers want to check out some former Zephyrs and mohawks.
There should be a Fort Wayne/Allen County Sports Hall Of Fame. The area has produced its fair share of pro atheletes that I can name off the top of my head in the last 20 years. I didn't know who Brent Gaff was until a guy from Busco bought 29 of his cards off of our website a few years back. The area needs to take pride in the rich sports heritage it has in baseball, basketball and the Komets.
I wonder how many of you guys have heard of Bill Everitt ? Well for a guy who only played ball for a few years back in the early days of the game he sure put up numbers..
http://www.baseball-reference.com/e/everibi01.shtml
Back in those days Fort Wayne put several guys into the majors but I believe this guy might be the first major league pro athelete in any sport from the area and he had a nice career.
Working on it tony and neal, and that's all I'm going to say right now. It's closer than you think.
An interesting side note, Quebec Rampart won the Memorial Cup (the Canadian Junior Championship). They are coached by Patrick Roy.
Best line of all time in Komet history has to be Bashkirov, Butsayev, and Shafranov. The famous MIG line. They were just flat out awesome. They reminded me of the way they controlled the puck of the great Russian teams in the 70's and 80's. Not saying they were as good as those players, but at the IHL level of hockey, they were that dominant. Tape to tape passes from 60 feet, one timers at will, knowing exactly where each other was going to be at all times. Something Komet fans will not see again.
As far as fighters go, here is my list:
1. Fletcher- The guy just flat out dominated his fights with very rare exceptions. When he was on the ice, the other teams were evry afraid.
2. Dale Baldwin- This guy could flat out go with anyone and he intimidated as well.
3. Steve Parsons- This guy was a monster!!! He treated other players like rag dolls.
4. Sean Gagnon- Very tough, physical player when he was here.
5. Robin Bawa- For some reason, he is underrated by most Komet fans as a fighter, but he darn sure could throw.
6. Andy Bezeau- For a little guy, he was afraid of NOBODY and won most of his fights easily.
7. Kevin Kaminski- Another little guy who was FEARLESS. He won more than his fair share of fights and hit ANYTHING that was moving.
Man, putting together that list brings back some great memories.
Memories of the way we used to be... Scattered pictures..
Here's a list of fighters from the good ol'days-in no particular order:
Ted Wright
Cal Purinton
Dale Baldwin
Eric Sutcliffe(an earlier version of Baldy that played on some awful Komet teams)
Steve Fletcher
Dave Norris
D'arcy Keating-unbeatable when he was in the mood to play.
Kevin Kaminski
Bernie MacNeil-played a couple of years in the early 70's -started a brawl before a playoff game in Pt Huron
I only saw MacNeil lose one fight, that to Jack Criel when he played for Des Moines.
Rumor mill:
Komets want Chaulk to take a $5,000 pay cut, and he's not sure if he wants to.
St. Pierre's house is up for sale. That's not a good sign.
The warm summer winds of change are blowing..............
Unfortunatly if I was Chaulk, I would skip town, I'm sorry thats a slap in the face to a player who is what Komet hockey is all about. Unless he doesn't have it anymore, you should never ask your best player to take a huge pay cut...EVER.
I know I'll get grief for it...but man..thats awful...
let hope the Frankes wisen up and give him the money he deserves..
Mark the only thing I could say is that if they use that $5000 to sign a better player that they could not get under the cap without it, then I would see why they would ask him to take a cut. Remember, 6th place team that suffered from lack of depth. I am willing to continue to give them the benefit of the doubt.
Chaulk should take every last dollar he can get from the highest bidder. The Frankes have now proven what they are about. The almighty dollar. This would be a sad way to see Colin leave. Fear not, I have a plan! Taking the cue from B. Melrose, let's all pitch in $5 to keep Chaulker. It would only take 1000 STH to raise the money. I know Chaulk has given me hundreds of dollars worth of entertainment. I'm willing to give back. Who's with me????????????
I'd give $10
I'll give $20, he is my favorite Komet...ever since the first game of the season back in 2002-03..he's been my fav..
JM, you are so full of crap it's unreal. What if this is just a bargaining position? You don't even know if it's true or not? What if, by chance, he'd still be the highest paid player in the league? We don't know any of that stuff yet so it's too early to judge.
What if they expect a hard cap to be coming with very strict rules, as everyone has been saying? Maybe they need the room to wiggle.
Of course Colin should go where he can get the most money. That's capitalism, but that doesn't mean the owners are evil just because they don't want to match one player. That's capitalism, too.
Let's just back up and slow down and see, and yes, I do have calls in to everyone involved. Deep breaths everyone.
Blake, how am I full of crap? Did I "report" this information? No. I only offered to start the fund. If the Komets can't afford to pay Colin, then I will kick in a little to show some appreciation. You act like the "cap" salary is the only money or benefit that the players are given. Capitalism also relies on supply and demand. I think Colin is in a much better position to negotiate than management after last season. Maybe they can shell out some cash to a guy like Mark Smith.
Thanks for putting in the calls. I'm sure that the GM will call you and say: "Yes, we asked Colin to take a pay cut. We are indeed the face of evil." Seriously, what kind of answer do you think your going to get?
So again, how am I full of crap? I have my $5 right here.
The whole point is we don't know so why react to something that we don't even know if it's true yet? If I wanted to I could come on here under a different name and post the most henious stuff you guys would believe it without proof. The only qualification would have to be that it's totally negative. Why do some of the people on this blog always want to assume the worst right away? WE DON'T KNOW YET.
For all we know, even if it is true, it might just be a bargaining position. For all we know, Colin might have made $50,000 last year and they would like him to take $45,000. Would that be so tough with a hard salary cap probably coming?
We don't know so have some patience.
I just got off the phone with Colin and he said he has no idea where this rumor came from. He's currently in Toronto visiting family and told me he won't know anything until after the league meetings take place next month. Nothing new to report, he said.
I also talked to Frenchy today and his house is for sale, but he's up in the air as well with nothing to report. He'd obviously like to stay, but doesn't know anything yet.
Let's all take a deep breath and let things work out. If the UHL is down to nine teams next year, there will be a TON of players happy to play for $5,000 less next year.
Bottom line...I am not panicking, but keep Chaulk on this team. Make him the coach and pay him partly in Chief's money and partly in player's money.
And if anyone on here thinks that a phone call to St. Pierre and Chaulk is going to get an answer right now...you are kidding yourselves. They aren't going to tell the media crap right now. No offense Blake. But you know the game. It is what they don't say that we should pay attention to. We will all know the direction of this team in what..about a month or less after the team meetings.
I still contend that a change needs to be made at the coaching level of this team which could fix alot of problems instantly. It would fix the problem of scouting talent for this team...a new fresh look could really help this club. And it would also bring a new hope for this team and re-enegize the fan base a bit. We all want a different style of hockey...it won't happen with the current "systems."
Just my opinion....I too have $20 with Colin's name on it. Chaulker should retire in a Komet's jersey and then lead this team from behind the bench. Go ahead...kill me.
Well said Blake. Look at any league with a salary cap! UNSELFISH star players have been restructuring contracts for years in order to free up money to sign better players.
Wait!! What am I thinking?? Let's give Colin $1,000,000 to stay because we all love him and sign some kids off of a high school hockey team for minimum wage to build around him. Who care? We have our Colin!
I must have missed where the Frankes have put a bargain basement team on the ice anytime recently. I can't believe the negativity towards a organization that has not had a losing season in roughly 10 years.
Tony E, I wish someone would offer to throw some extra cash my way! LOL! Like you said, perhaps Colin is being asked to rework is contract....something that 99.9 pct. of the time, we would never hear about it. If Kevin wishes to sell his home for whatever reason, perhaps he wants to buy a bigger house here in town, perhaps not. But, it does take awhile to sell a house...I know of several that have been on the market for some time, since we've been looking and saving for one. If these players return, great, if not, I don't plan on falling on my sword! Sorry if I'm ranting, but player turnover is a fact of life in minor league hockey and with less teams, that means less jobs....just like the rest of the world.