Brawl, loss both costly for Komets

As I see it this needed to happen. Its bad because I think it hurts them for the rest of the weekend, but if the league wont take care of these players who are dirty then some vigilante justice comes in. Now, on to the rest of the game, very tough effort,  the loss bites, but they went down swingin'. This is going to get arround the league and the message was sent, don't mess with the Fort Wayne Komets. A few weeks ago I expressed how much dislike I had for Zac Blazic, can everybody see why. Is this league so threatened by Fort Wayne that the refs have to be so one-sided. Blatant no calls and some stupid real calls. The guy is an idiot, pure and simple.

Blake, have you ever seen a worse called game? Its bad enough to play short-handed but to have the refs one-sided as bad as it was. Ridiculous!!!!

Lets all hope he isn't the ref tonight.

Of course I have. I've been doing this a long time.

Funny thing is, I think he got it exactly right on the early fight. I've watched the video several times and can't see one punch thrown by a Bloomington player.

I thought it needed to happen too but for another good reason. It was a chance for Gerry Festa to really become a Komet. I felt like the crowd was really pulling for him playing shorthanded for as long as he did. It seemed like the second he blocked the penalty shot the crowds confidence grew in him. Based on your review of video seems like Komets should just not throw punches, but still not take any crap.

AC, I checked on Pointstreak and apparently the referee tonight is going to be Joshua Stockels.

At the :07 mark of your video posted in a prior thread, Mahoney-Wilson clearly throws a punch at Leo Thomas. He left his crease and became the 3rd man in an altercation. If Boucher is suspended it will be as a result of M-W's broken nose. This league has a history of suspending and disciplining the result, not the action. 

It's too bad all the armchair officials can't let the league review the footage and make a decision without filling the internet with "opinions" on what happened. 

If Palmer's elbow that layed Smith out was only worth a game, than Molle should only get a game. 

Boucher shouldn't get any additional discipline. He's didn't come into the altercation unprovoked. When M-W left his crease and became the 3rd man in, he was fair game. 

Festa isn't the answer at backup goaltender. Last night wasn't a fair shot to judge him, but he's been unimpressive in every appearance since he came to FW.

Henley was a beast last night, I don't know his official on-ice time, but he was clearly leading by example and pulling more shifts than anyone on the team. 

I believe Sims when he says this wasn't planned. Anyone with a brain wouldn't let Bryant Molle get tossed when you could give up Starenky instead. 

Fun for fans and all the other pay back stuff. However, this sets us up for some real problems the next few games being short handed. We have 3 tough games in 4 days. We are only 7 points from not even making the playoffs. I personally saw this as pretty stupid. We are putting ourselves in a real bind.

Embarrassing is what that was. We proved nothing. Bloomington is laughing all the way to Dayton.

While the ref may have gone easy on Bloomington, he let things slide on both sides.  He could have made it much worse for the Komets.  During the 5 on 3 penalty kill after the fights the ref let several obvious Fort Wayne penalties  go uncalled.  The worst was a mid-abdomen hook by Henley.  Henley reached out and blatantly up-ended a player while standing right in front of the ref.  By not making that single call we avoided 2 additional minutes of being down two men.   Everyone just gasped when the ref didn't call it.  I considered it a present, and his way of somewhat evening things out.

Boucher was wrong to wrong to have entered the fight at the point he did.  It accomplished nothing other that to draw more major penalties.  I would guess that Boucher will now have a target on him at Bloomington for his blatant attack.  He'll have to live with that. 

Festa missed a couple of shots that I think that Boucher could have stopped.  Festa looked extremely jumpy and scared early after he took over (not that I can really blame him).  Later he looked more composed.  If Boucher had stayed in the crease and had been able to play the entire game, it's possible that we could have pulled out the game.  Who knows.

Nick Boucher committed one of the cheapest acts by a player I've ever seen on Coliseum ice.  He had to skate nearly 190 feet to get to the other end of the ice, so don't tell me he didn't have time to think about what he was going to do. 

Oh. I know that Mahoney-Wilson left his crease and everything.  The referee knew it too.  The proper penalty would've been called.  And even if you take the stance that Boucher needed to get involved, the thing he should've done was pull the Bloomy goal tender off the pile, not sucker punch him.

Look everyone, I know that it made for some"exciting" moments, and I know that Molle wanted to deliver "payback" for earlier times against Palmer.  But why then?  Why would you do something that stupid when you know your team is skating short already ( Chaulk, Bennefield, D. Molle)?  If you have to do something, and you are already shorthanded, then wait until the game is out of hand for one team or the other.  Not one minute into the game where everything is still in doubt. 

So for everyone who doesn't agree with me, I have two questions for you. 1) Did this action help or hinder the team by losing two more players for the game and making the bench even shorter?  2) If the situation was totally reversed and it was Boucher on the end of the sucker punch, would you be defending or castrating the other goal tender?

Heavy suspensions are in oreder here for both Molle and Boucher, but especially Boucher.  It was cheap, bush, and I have lost all respect for him.

This team is very undisciplined.  It has been all year.  Remember the story a few days ago about playing three games in three nights and how the players sometimes will ease off a little because of fatigue?  Well, how tired do you think they are now after having to contend with the defenseman  killing off those penalties and still having two games remaining on the weekend and a long trip to Tulsa on Tuesday?

They won a battle but they lost the war.  Once again I will remind everyone that they are just about as close to fifth place as they are to first place.

It's about time that they use some brains (from leaving the locker room through the end of each game) when game planning.  Maybe that has become just too much to ask.  I know Nick Boucher didn't use his brain ( strange to say that about a Dartmouth graduate). 

This team just gets in more and more trouble. 

For those who don't like the lenght of this comment.  Well, it's just too bad.'

It needed to be said, and it needed to be read.

I have to say that I agree with Alan on this. Goodness knows that this team needs to stand together as one and stick up for each other, but this whole business left me scratching my head. What happened to Smith was wrong and someone should have done something at the time or in the next game since they didn't realize the extent of his injury immediately. But Chaulk was hurt in a fight that he willingly participated in. How is retribution due in that case? As for Boucher, when is it ever right to skate the full legth of the rink to sucker punch someone? It just looked incredibly cheap to me -- the kind of thing that would have Komets fans absolutely fuming if it happened to our team. Beyond that, when you consider the timing of all this, it makes even less sense. I encourage standing up for your teammates, but this was reckless and downright stupid.

That game last night was a character building game.. I know payback was in order but like alan says wait until the game is decided and then send the message not the first two minutes.. hope Festa is preparing mentally for these games upcoming.. Any chance we can put Joe franke in net???

I agree with Alan too.  Even discounting the fights, the Komets performance last night was undisciplined and unorganized.  There was no consistent team focus on the ice.  At times the performance approached what you would expect with pond hockey.  The coaching becomes very suspect when the same flaws are seen repeatedly.   What makes it even worse are the never-ending platitudes that are used to try explain away the poor performances. 

Jack, 

You are abosolutely correct!!! enough said about that.

Alan you are dead on. Great Post!!

Yes, I was up cheering like everyone else, but who wouldn't love to see a good old goalie fight, with that said. The Komets screwed themselves over. The Komets have 18 games remaining in the season, and are 4 points out of first, and aren't exactly playing lights out, ball to the walls hockey. This was a very selfish act, and it hurt the Komets more than helped them. As I have posted elsewhere, how does not having a solid dman and your No 1. goalie help you. As Alan said, we are already skating short, now they are really short. Not to mention they play a solid Allen team tonight. 

Is a losing Boucher and B.Molle worth it? What if Chaulk doesn't play? 

There is a time and place for the retribution, then wasn't the time.

Palmer is probably laughing is butt off. He put Smith on ice for 5 games, then Chaulk, now B.Molle, and because of the incident Boucher too....

How does this help the Fort Wayne Komets?

ill tell you how this helps the komets. if anything it pulled the team together at a time when we have been stuggling. anytime a teammate sticks up for another then its high respect time from fellow players. it will boost team moral and maybe get them back on track.  molle did what needed to be done but im not sure why he would get suspended when the league knows palmer has been a dirty player and it wasnt molles fault that he turtled like a sissy and didnt fight back. guess he only throws punches agaisnt smaller centers who hardly ever fight!  now boucher did what all goalies in old time hockey were expected to do and thats take on the other goalie when he gets envolved. now the way he puched him will most certainly deserve a suspension. in heat of the battle you sometimes loose the correct perspective. bouch should have just jumped him and not hit him. a suspension is well in order here!  as for the ref, he was terrible.  i thought the penalties in the brawl were correct except that the match should not have been called. i also felt the bloomy goaler should have gotten a roughing at the least but at the most he should have been booted since he was third man in an altercation. the ref also refused to call a high sticking on the back up goaler at the end of the period, it was pretty blatent and the linesmen saw it but it was like he was ticked at the komets and he wasnt gonna give them a break. took a long time for him to give us a power play speccially when bloomy skated a few times with 6 skaters! but that minor league hockey! komets will   regroup and survive/  after all, we're only 4 points out of first not 4 out of a playoff spot! the crowd was excited, the  team will pull together and a message was sent to the rest of the league...positives and negatives.  onwards and upwards

Blake, any indication who the backup goaltender will be?  Nothing on the league's transactions listings.

i do agree that both boucher and molle should be suspended, but molle for longer i would assume....ur right boucher prob should have just grabbed m-w off the pile....but what about palmer and his shot against smith...he came right thru the middle of ice while smith was already being pulled down then delivered the elbow to head, should probably have been suspended a couple of games....i think the komets will be fine, this team can fight thru this, they can keep their heads up and show the rest of the league that they can play with anybody shorthanded or not....anyways, lets get it tonight against the Allen Americans

They have a Larkin Saalfrank listed, I found that he is or was a freshman at IPFW.

The Komets fanbase has gone soft. I applaud Molle and Boucher. Remeber watching Shaf get beat into the ice a couple of years ago? Thats what happens when you show you won't standup for yourselves. I only wish Palmer would gotten beat worse.

Btw, if Palmer mans up and drops the gloves rather than running like a coward, two guys go to the box for 5 mins and nothing else happens. 

All this mamby pamby nonsense about how it wasn't fair that Boucher "blindsided" M-W needs to stop, when you leave the crease, take off the mask, and enter into an altercation already taking place, you should be watching for whats coming your way. It goes without saying that once a goaltender enters a fight, that the other goalie is always quick to follow. My opinion of Nick Boucher is unchanged. If M-W wanted to leave with his nose strait, he should have stayed in his crease. 

touche!

PFP (FJM)

I agree 100% 

Right on ancient monkey

So if I understand this correctly, the incident with Shafranov was cheap.  Good for you.  It was cheap. It was uncalled for.  But I will remind you that when "payback" was delivered, it was with players going at each other with no surprises. It is beyond me how one can villify one incident and praise the other.

A blindsided sucker punch is not the way to handle it.

You know how I know I am correct?  Because Boucher, himself, has admitted it.

No one has gone soft.  No one is arguing that a "payback' was due.  No one is arguing that standing up for a teammate is wrong.  It's just real hard to justify doing the correct thing in such an incorrect manner. 

What is totally insane about this whole thing is Palmer "turtled" and not one Bloomington punch was thrown.

We can and probably will agree to disagree.  Still, as I've posted before, if this situation would have been totally reversed, everyone on this blog would have been screaming bloody murder.

Are the guys coming together better because of this?  Maybe.  At least that's what the "company line" will be.  The organization will never come out publicly criticizing this.  I know of five players who will be closer.  The IR guys and suspended guys.  B. Molle, D. Molle, Bennefield, Chaulk, and Boucher have just about the perfect poker game formed.

if you seriously dont think these actions bring a team closer then yu must not have ever played any organized sport. nothing in sports feels as good as knowing that your teamate has your back(other than winning ) of course we would be screaming bloody murder if it happened to us but guess what, it did happen to us twice by this team so payback was due and while it was extreme , it was paid back and a message was sent. boucher did go too far but  i doubt if any of his teammates are chastising him for it.

Alan, I have to go with chuckitt and the monkey on this.  Are you saying you booed Scott Gruhl when he was doing for us the same things that you booed him for when he played for Muskegon?  This team stands up for itself (which is what you are doing when yuo stand up for a team member) and then get critisied for it?  So much for wanting old time hockey eh?

I'm satified with what Bouch did, no problems with it at all.  If it had been Bruce Racine in the goal for us they would still be trying to pry M-W out of the ice.......

Was the message received by Bloomington?  Tonight's game had a total of 5 penalties called for 10 minutes, by far the lowerst number of penalties for the ten games we've played them.  Yeah, I think it worked.....

Chuckitt,  for someone who doesn't even know me, you sure are assuning a lot about me by your post.

Steve, I appreciate your thoughts.  And I understand why you expressed yourself the way you did. It isn't that I don't think Palmer and/or Bloomington needed a message sent to them.  (It should have been done a long time ago.  Specifically the next game after Smith's concussion).  But it wasn't. 

JungleMonkey, I understand your thoughts also.  So let me try one more time.

It wasn't the fact that Boucher came out of his net that disturbed me.  It wasn't the fact that he got involved that disturbed me,  it was his action that I will never agree with. No one is "soft".  A sucker punch is inexcusable. 

Hello, guys and gals. I was there on the weekend. Sorry, I didn't get a chance to see you Steve and Alan. With Colin out it was a chance to spend time. I will see you next trip.  I would have to say with everything that has been happening the press box was full. LOL.

At any rate a few comments on both games if I may. I always feel awkward commenting when I am not there to see things in person. So here goes.

Boucher made a mistake and is being punished for it.  There was only one perfect human. It's over and I am sure you will see a much improved Nick on his return. If they can scratch out a win tonight you have a bona fide back up finding some confidence and NIck will be rested for the stretch.

To see a whole team "turtle" is something I am not familiar with. I would be embarrassed to be a "Blaze" fan. I know they won the game but that was in doubt for a while in the third. Their goaltender should have been 3rd man in, nullifying one of the Komet majors. All in all the officiating was defecating.

Molle should have got a game max.

Now for the Allen game. I agree with Blake on the other thread. A pleasure to watch. There is a big difference in hockey when teams play their positions. That is some of the problem when the Komets play Bloomy. They are avery disorganized bunch and that is tough for a disciplined team to counter.

The Allen game was great. Fantastic finish until we started watching the "Ice Capades".  Did you notice that every shooter for Allen actually shot the puck. I don't think there was a deke. Standing with some players we all agreed, with the way Cousineau was playing you had to get him moving. So Frankie makes a great move to get him to open up and the (5) hole was there.

But the spins and double axles that followed were quite frankly a joke. After coming back to get the point then trying to execute those "cute" moves didn't impress anyone I am sure. Marco probably loved them.