Kalamazoo Wings @ Fort Wayne Komets ... 12-21

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IHL/Game Stats -
http://www.pointstreak.com/stats/pro/boxscore.html?gameid=734773

Allen County War Memorial - Dec 21, 2008

Kalamazoo 2 Fort Wayne 1

GAME DETAILS:

POWERPLAYS -
Kalamazoo 0 for 6
Fort Wayne 1 for 5

SCORING SUMMARY -
Period 1:
Kalamazoo - Mark Nebus (Rod Aldoff, Tommy Lange) 11:12

Period 2:
Fort Wayne - Leo Thomas (powerplay) (Brandon Warner, P.C. Drouin) 17:27

Period 3:
Kalamazoo - Lucas Drake (extra attacker) (Glenn Detulleo, Rick Cleaver) 7:16

PENALTIES -
Period 1:
Fort Wayne - Konstantin Shafranov - (Slashing), 2 min, 11:35
Kalamazoo - Lucas Drake - (Hooking), 2 min, 15:46
Kalamazoo - Bryan Jurynec - (Slashing), 2 min, 19:48

Period 2:
Fort Wayne - Rick Varone - (Hooking), 2 min, 2:42
Fort Wayne - Guy Dupuis - (High Sticking), 2 min, 4:54
Fort Wayne - Leo Thomas - (Hooking), 2 min, 9:16
Kalamazoo - John Glavota - (Holding), 2 min, 16:53

Period 3:
Kalamazoo - Ryan Kindret - (Boarding), 2 min, 7:56
Fort Wayne - Brian Boulay - (Holding), 2 min, 11:21
Fort Wayne - Kevin Bertram - (Holding), 2 min, 13:56
Kalamazoo - Tommy Lange - (Too Many Men Bench Minor), 2 min, 18:48

GOALIES -
Kalamazoo: 49-Joel Martin WIN
Fort Wayne: 33-Nick Boucher LOSS

ATTENDANCE: 6,497

REFEREE: Tim Mayer
LINES 1: Dan Cohen
LINES 2: Jim Scarpace

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Wings Website -
http://www.wingsstadium.com/news/2008/12-21_gamerecap_FortWayne.htm

CHRISTMAS COMES EARLY

Kalamazoo's Win Coupled with Port Huron's Loss Puts K-Wings into First Place

Mike Modugno-Director of Public Relations and Broadcaster

December 21, 2008

Fort Wayne, IN – The Kalamazoo Wings wanted to be in first place for the holiday. With the K-Wings 2-1 victory over the Fort Wayne Komets, coupled with a Port Huron loss to Muskegon, the K-Wings made their holiday wish come true.

Despite a majority of the first period being played in the K-Wings end, it was Kalamazoo that enjoyed the lead after the first period.

With the face-off deep in the Komets zone midway through the stanza, Mark Nebus found puck along the wall atop of the left circle and flung it over the shoulder of Nick Boucher to give Kalamazoo a 1-0 lead. The goal for Nebus was his team-leading 14th of the season.

Assisting on the marker was Rod Aldoff and Tommy Lange. Aldoff has now recorded five points (3 goals and 2 assists) over his two games.

Taking advantage on their lone power-play opportunity in the second period, Fort Wayne tied the game at 1-1, with a rebound equalizer from Leo Thomas (8th). Thomas has now scored seven of his eight goals on the year with a man-advantage.

Kalamazoo regained the lead 7:16 remaining in regulation. With a delayed penalty against Fort Wayne, the K-Wings used the extra skater to their advantage. With the puck behind the net, Glenn Detulleo centered the crisp pass to Lucas Drake, who drilled in his 13th tally of the season and his team-leading 3rd game-winner of the year.

Joel Martin closed the door on the Komets stopping 32 shots to earn the victory. The win gives the K-Wings a four-game overall winning streak and a three-game win streak over the Komets.

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Kalamazoo Newspaper -
http://www.mlive.com/kwings/

Kalamazoo Wings share International Hockey League lead after defeating Fort Wayne Komets

by Kalamazoo Gazette Staff Reports

Sunday December 21, 2008

FORT WAYNE -- The Kalamazoo Wings rolled into a first-place tie in the International Hockey League with a 2-1 win at Fort Wayne Sunday night.

The K-Wings (16-9-0-0) are tied with Port Huron (16-12-0-0), atop the IHL.

The Komets (14-9-1-0) remain in third place, three points behind the leaders.

"The big thing is the team played really good for their fourth game this week," K-Wings coach Nick Bootland said. "It's been a trying week and the guys were tired, but they paid the price to win the game."

The K-Wings ride their four-game winning streak into Christmas break, then continue with their next three games on the road, returning home to host Muskegon New Year's Eve.

On Sunday, the K-Wings' Tommy Lange won a faceoff to defenseman Rod Aldoff, who got the puck to Mark Nebus for his team-high 14th tally midway through the opening period.

The Komets knotted the game on a Leo Thomas power-play goal with 2:33 left in the second period, but the K-Wings regained the lead after Glenn Detulleo, behind the net, found Lucas Drake in front 7:16 into the third.

Fort Wayne had a chance to force the overtime when Kalamazoo was called for a bench minor for too many men on the ice with just 1:12 left in regulation.

The Komets pulled goalie Nick Boucher for a 6-on-4 advantage, but K-Wings goalie Joel Martin closed the door on all attempts and stopped 32 of 33 shots in the game.

"(The penalty) was just a miscommunication," Bootland said. "You don't want to lose a game by shooting yourself in the foot.

"Joel Martin played a great game for us and kept us in there."

The K-Wings came up empty on all six power-play chances while the Komets were 1-for-4.

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Fort Wayne Newspaper -
http://fwweb.sv.publicus.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/JG/20081222/SPORTS0601/812220315/-1/SPORTS

TRICKY GOAL SINKS KOMETS

Behind-the-net score upsets Fort Wayne coach

Justin A. Cohn-The Journal Gazette

12/21/2008

Glenn Detulleo skated behind the Fort Wayne net for what seemed like an eternity, gliding first to the left, then to the right, and then he skated out to send the puck off the stick of Komets goaltender Nick Boucher and into the net.

There’s some disagreement as to whether his Kalamazoo Wings teammate, Lucas Drake, tipped the puck in, but there’s no doubt it was the pivotal moment of the Wings’ 2-1 victory in a defensive-minded game.

“I think he was trying to center it, but Detulleo’s a pretty smart player. With time like that, it wouldn’t surprise me if he saw my stick and tried to bank it off me,” said Boucher, who stopped 19 of 21 shots, in front of 6,497 fans at Memorial Coliseum.

“(With a delayed penalty coming), he looked like Gretzky back there. He started on this side of me and just waited and waited and waited, bought his time, and then he came out on the left side. I think we had most of the options covered. … It was a tough one to lose on, definitely.”

Fort Wayne coach Al Sims wasn’t pleased that Boucher was victimized by the play at 7:16 of the third period, regardless of who got credit for the goal. (Drake believed he got a piece of the puck, and the off-ice officials gave him credit for it.)

“Boucher’s been caught, I don’t know how many times, by guys coming out from behind the net and he has no idea (where they are),” Sims said. “The goaltender’s man is the guy behind the net.

“He’s got to follow the puck, wherever it goes, on his own he’s responsible for it.”

The Komets still had chances to tie the game, but they were foiled by goalie Joel Martin, including a stop at 12:38 of the third period on Konstantin Shafranov’s shot from point-blank range.

Martin, who just returned from a one-game call-up with Milwaukee of the American Hockey League, thwarted Rick Varone at 15:50 during a 2-on-1 rush, and he did the same to Shafranov seconds later.

The Komets got one last chance, when the Wings were penalized for having too many men on the ice at 18:48. But the Komets mustered only one shot as the Wings’ aggressive penalty killers kept the puck far away from the net.

Martin made 32 saves as the Wings (16-9-0) pulled into a tie with Port Huron for first place in the International Hockey League.

“He’s a quality goalie,” said Boucher, whose third-place Komets (14-9-1) lost for only the second time in seven games.

The Komets played one man short of a full 18-player lineup against the Wings, who had a harrowing trip to Fort Wayne because the bitter-cold temperatures had created havoc with their bus’s brake lines.

The Wings’ Mark Nebus opened the scoring at 11:12 of the first period, and Fort Wayne’s Leo Thomas answered at 17:27 of the second period. P.C. Drouin assisted on the goal, extending his point-scoring streak to 11 games, the longest in the IHL this season.