Editor's Note: This is the ninth in a series of excepts from the book ``Fort Wayne Sports History.
May 21, 1993
In 1993, the Komets complete their 12-0 playoff sweep by beating San Diego.
The Komets celebrated like little boys on the last day of school, leaping into each other's arms in a group hug. The San Diego Gulls were swept 4-0, losing 6-1 in Game 4 before a standing-room- only crowd of 8,154 at Memorial Coliseum.
After 20 years, the Fort Wayne Komets had won the Turner Cup.
This team's records will stand forever, a perfect 12-0 during the playoffs. Only two other teams - the 1988 Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League and the 1984 Edmonton Oilers - ever won 12 straight playoff games, and it has never happened before in the International Hockey League.
No team in any playoffs anywhere has given up only 18 goals in 12 games. Pokey Reddick stopped 95 percent of the shots against him in the playoffs, allowing only 1.49 goals against per game.
``They say the cream rises to the top, but Pokey was definitely the mist above the cream,'' Komets coach Al Sims said.
To make the feat even more amazing, the IHL is dominated by teams with National Hockey League affiliations, but the Komets are the first independent franchise in 10 years to win the Turner Cup. These are the players considered not good enough to make NHL farm clubs.
The Komets finished the season on a 27-2-1 run.
``What's funny is that Bobby Jay, Jean-Marc Richard and I went to dinner in Cleveland the night before the playoffs started, and we talked about how we thought it was possible that we could win 12 in a row," defenseman Grant Richison said. ``We even talked about how it could happen even if we played San Diego. Who could ever have dreamed it would come true?"
Also, in 2009, Northrop's Corey Shank wins his third straight state pole vault title.
Also, in 1964, Baer Field Speedway opens.
