The Komets announced Monday that veteran defenseman Guy Dupuis has agreed to terms and will return to the Komet lineup for his 14th season in Fort Wayne and 21st as a pro. Dupuis began his career in 1990 with Adirondack in the AHL after becoming Detroit's third choice in the 1988 NHL Entry Draft while a member of Hull of the QMJHL.
Dupuis, 40, will match Eddie Long's record of 14 seasons as a Komet. The Moncton, New Brunswick native skated his first season in Fort Wayne during 1991-92 and continued to guard the Fort Wayne blue line for eight consecutive years until leaving for an AHL stint in Hersey and IHL visits to Chicago and Michigan in 1999-00. Dupuis skated two years of German elite league play in 2000-01 and 2001-02 before returning to the states for minor league stints with Bakersfield and Kalamazoo.
Dupuis returned to Fort Wayne for the 2005-06 campaign and has remained to set an all-time Fort Wayne Komets career record of 968 games thru the 2009-10 regular season and playoffs. Dupuis has also set Fort Wayne career defenseman records of 116 regular season goals, 505 regular season points, 129 all-time (regular season and playoffs) goals and 549 all time points.
The award-winning defenseman is a four-time league defenseman of the year and has been named the Komets' team defenseman of the year eight times. Dupuis completed 2009-10 tied for IHL leading defenseman with 14 goals and ranked fourth with 43 points.
The Komets also announced that defenseman Steven Oleksy has been added to the preseason roster. Oleksy, 24 (oh-LECK-see), will be entering his second pro season after making his rookie debut last year in ECHL stints with Toledo and Idaho and with the IHL's Port Huron Icehawks. The Chesterfield, Michigan native scored a goal and two points while accumulating 35 penalty minutes with Port Huron in 28 games.
Oleksy finished the season with Idaho scoring a goal, eight assists and 72 penalty minutes during 33 regular season games. Oleksy, the fourth Michigan native to join the Komets, completed three seasons as a member of the Lake Superior State University Lakers in the NCAA before entering the pro ranks last season.
