Blogroll

Come on, guys; could we stick to arguing the issues instead of just hurling vile insults? There's plenty of snark in the blogosphere without us adding to it. I've been leaving the threads alone, even though it got pretty rough on a couple of them. Somebody was bound to go too far, even by today's online standards, and now somebody has. I've removed the comment from Christopher Swing purporting to be a Tweet from Tim Zank's daughter. Even if you're going to taunt each other like kids in the schoolyard, let's not be  dragging any 15-year-old girls into it, OK?

There are so many potential options that I really have no clue (insert your own joke here). I think for the first time in the 15 years I've been covering the team that anything is possible, and no one is automatically discounted from being involved in a trade. It's all going to depend on which player the opponent wants, just as it did with Danny Stewart two weeks ago.

I asked Komets General Manager David Franke about Galbraith and he said he's coming back. "He's already got a return ticket.''

I talked with Guy Dupuis after Friday's 8-5 loss to Muskegon, and it reminded me that he has been through a start like this twice before with the Komets, in 1994 and 1996. Each time the team seemed to continue to get worse, just as is happening now.

I was talking with UHL Vice President of Hockey Operations Brad Jones today about a few topics and he gave me some interesting statistics I thought I'd share.

Six weeks into the 2004-05 season there had been 125 high sticking minors, 134 for holding, 134 for hooking and 181 for slashing.

Six weeks into this season -- with 10 more games on the schedule for one more team -- there have been 159 calls for high sticking, 188 holding calls, 340 hooking call and 203 slashing minors.

I don't know how many of you got to read the story I did about a month ago about Kevin St. Pierre and his relationship with Zach and Ethan Shlater. Ethan has diabetes, which has always been a big topic for Kevin and his charitable work.

At the time, Kevin talked about creating T-shirts which could be sold to help raise money for the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation. The T-shirts are now on sale at the Komets games, at Komet Kuarters or by calling the Komets office at 260-483-0011.

One thing I have always suggested the IHL and UHL do is come up with a defenseman of the week category for their weekly awards. Here's why: Guy Dupuis had a great week last week with three goals and one assist along with a plus-3 rating, so the Komets nominated him for the league's player of the week award. He did not receive the award because Rockford's Billy Tibbett's had four and three assists in four games.

After Saturday's game, Komets coach Greg Puhalski expressed his frustration with the number of "cheap'' penalties his team was taking. The Komets are averaging one fewer power play per game than their opponents, which is often crucial considering the Komets have been skating short-handed and often with four defensemen. They're wearing out on the penalty kill.

No, I'm not talking about the Komets' play, but I'll have more to say on that in Monday's paper.

Danny Stewart's next game in Memorial Coliseum won't be Thursday, it will be Jan.8. The Komets traded the popular winger this morning to Danbury for defenseman Ryan Jorde, a 6-foot-3, 225-pound defenseman. Because of injuries, the Komets desperately need defensemen.