Ryan Carroll. I believe John Searle is the back-up. Boucher is starting in goal.
BTW, the game is already sold out.
Hukalo is out. Kent Dufresne wll dress in place of Hukalo. Hukalo will serve as assistant coach tonight. Saidachev can't play because he's still on IR. Yes, the league is changing the rule next year.
So what do you think? Are you just happy they didn't lose it at home? Have you cleared your schedule for Monday night?
Go on sale from Noon to 4 p.m. Sunday and Monday from 10 a.m. to gametime.
Who's the man who said they should leave P.C. in the lineup? C'mon give up your props. LOL.
Overall, a much better defensive effort. Boucher didn't have to be great, but he was in control of most of his rebounds and mixed things up by coming out to challenge the IceHawks shooters, something the Komets goaltenders have not done much of in the series so far.
Just got a call from Terry Pembroke. He said he's sitting on a horse in South Texas listening to the game on his IPod. ``I figured they could use the help,'' he said. I have to remember to call him after the game and tell him how it turned out.
It's 1-0 Komets after the first period. They look a lot better, much more speed and precision. A few more hits, too. The look like they have more purpose. Luciano Aquino needs to hit one before he loses his mind. He's trying so dang hard it's almost too hard. He got a wide open chance from Colin Chaulk, but Larry Sterling reached back and robbed him with a glove save.
You'd think they named it after him or something.
Not. Here's the first one and the second one is here. Please note the awesome photos! Kidding.
By the way, tonight's game will be shown on Comcast 55 and Verizon 25 at 9 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday.
They certainly saved enough energy during the third period. It might have taken 25 minutes with no penalties, no effort and no hits. It's not one thing that's failing, it's everything. These defensive mistakes are obvious, and it's every shift. Don't blame Kevin Reiter on this. He at least showed some fire. About the only guy I saw around the net tonight was Terry Marchant. At the other end, there was no one, not a defenseman, not a forward or anyone close to helping our Reiter. The linesmen were closer than some of his teammates.
It's 4-1 halfway through the second period and Al Sims just used his timeout. This is the worst defense they have played all season. Every goal has been a power play or a 2- or 3-on-1. The defensemen are getting caught pinching in the Port Huron zone and some of the forwards are MIA. The next hit they throw will be their first. They look totally lost and shell-shocked. They aren't even testing Larry Sterling tonight. Every shot has hit him in the gut.
Truthfully, thehy are plahying like they've lost confidence.
Komets out-shot the IceHawks 12-9, but I felt Port Huron had the better of the play, the better scoring chances, especially in the second half of the period. Ks making too many defensive mistakes. There was no d-man within 15 feet of Jeff Zehr on his goal.
Not nearly as pretty a drive today as it was on Saturday. I talked to someone with the team, and they said they heard it might be a sellout tonight because of the $5 tickets. I don't know if that's true or not. I caught some grief for saying Muskegon was expecting a big crowd for Game 4, despite the fact that a Muskegon team official told me the info. I debated posting that at the time, but figured it would serve the FW fans best if I did post it in case there was a sellout and they needed to arrive early.
The IHL announced today that the Chicago Hounds are not coming back next season as hoped. The Hounds had been negotiating with the Sears Centre at Hoffman Estates but was unable to come to terms acceptable to both sides.
I'm not sure this is a bad thing. The Hounds will still be back, but it will be in two years at another location. That will give them time to do things correctly as far as preparation, setting up a new business, selling tickets, etc. From everything I'm hearing, Hounds owner Craig Drecktrah has an outstanding business plan and still has high hopes for the future.
That was a heck of a game. I'm sure Dave Allison was in Dallas tonight celebrating. He coaches the Stars' AHL farm club now in Iowa.
Anyway, when I see a game like that it reminds me of the Komets-St. Paul 4 OT game in 1960. Lionel Repka told me this story for the next Komets book:
