Komets Tear To The Top For The Tarry
April 9, 2007 - International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2)
Fort Wayne Komets News Release
Fort Wayne, IN --- The Komets completed week 26 winning all 3 games played to finish the regular season riding a 7-game win streak and capturing the Tarry Cup and Fort Wayne's 3rd regular season UHL championship.
The Komets were 23 points behind league-leading Muskegon in January and started trimming Muskegon's lead Jan. 20 with a 6-1 home win over Bloomington while the Fury lost at home to 4-1 to Flint. Over the last 37 games of the campaign, the Komets went on a 27-8-2 tear to erase Muskegon's lead on the final day of the season and finish with 106 points, 2 ahead of the Fury for the regular season crown.
The last week of the regular season slate started with a 5-2 victory at Bloomington on Thursday. Friday the Komets returned home to stop the Muskegon Fury in a shootout 3-2 and Saturday the season ended with a Komets 3-0 win at Kalamazoo.
The Komets will face former Fort Wayne head coach Greg Puhalski's Chicago Hounds in the first round of the Western Conference playoffs. The best-of-7 series begins with games 1 and 2 in Fort Wayne starting Friday at 8pm. Game 2 is slated for Saturday at 7:30pm at the Memorial Coliseum. The series will switch to Chicago for games 3, 4 and 5 if necessary. Games 6 and 7 if needed will be played on Fort Wayne ice.
The complete Komets/Chicago series schedule is as follows:
Game 1: Friday, April 13 at Fort Wayne, 8pm
Game 2: Saturday, April 14 at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm
Game 3: Sunday, April 15 at Chicago, 5pm
Game 4: Tuesday, April 17 at Chicago, 8:30pm
Game 5: Thursday, April 19 at Chicago, 8:30pm (if necessary)
Game 6: Monday, April 23 at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm (if necessary)
Game 7: Tuesday, April 24 at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm (if necessary)
All games will be broadcast on Fort Wayne radio WOWO AM 1190 and at www.komets.com Comcast KometCast with Bob Chase calling the play-by-play.
Tickets for Komet playoff home games 1 and 2 are on sale at the Coliseum ticket office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.
UHL Leaders at the finish: First place in the UHL overall with 51 wins, 106 points.....most home wins with 27, tied (with Muskegon) for most road wins with 24.....best power play with 20.1% conversion rate....2nd best UHL penalty kill at 87.4% conversion rate but new Fort Wayne UHL record penalty kill success rate......stingiest defense of allowing a league-low 187 goals.....highest attendance at 288,375 for a league best per-game average of 7,588.....Guy Dupuis led the UHL with 39 power play assists and topped all UHL defensemen with 65 assists and 76 points.....Mario Larocque (D) led UHL defensemen with 27 goals and 17 power play goals and 4 game winning goals (T).....Kevin St. Pierre led UHL goaltenders with 42 wins, 1,729 saves, 7 shootout wins, 64 games played and 3,727 minutes.....Martin Gascon (C) and Matt Syroczynski (LW) led UHL rookies with 4 game winning goals.
Career Year: Many career marks were set in 2006-07: Kevin St. Pierre (G) 64 games, 42 wins, 3727 minutes.....Guy Dupuis (D) 65 assists, 76 points....Mario Larocque (D) 76 games, 27 goals, 40 assists, 67 points.....Kevin Hansen (D) 146 penalty minutes.....David Hukalo (RW) 17 goals, 33 points, 81 penalty minutes.....Pascal Morency (RW) 68 games, 10 goals, 14 assists, 24 points.....J.C. Ruid (C) 43 goals.
Komet Ironmen: Guy Dupuis (D) and Mario Larocque (D) each skated all 76 Komet games of 2006-07.
Larocque hits 600: Mario Larocque (D) skated his 60th career game at Kalamazoo Sunday, 4/7/07.
St. Pierre nets records.....Komet goaltender Kevin St. Pierre appeared in his 64th Komet game of the season Saturday night in Kalamazoo and celebrated his new Fort Wayne record of UHL games played by a goaltender in a regular season by stoning the Wings 3-0 and extended his Fort Wayne franchise record of shutouts to 23. St. Pierre also padded his UHL shutout record to 26.
Komet streakers to the end.....Kevin St. Pierre won his last 7 straight starts.....Guy Dupuis (D) ended with a 4-game point streak (1g, 4a) and Andrew Lackner (D, 4a) and Martin Gascon (C, 2g, 1a) each finished riding 3-game point streaks.
Komets final playoff roster set:.....the Komets announced today that their final playoff roster is set with 11 skaters, 8 defensemen and 2 goaltenders. The Komets added amateur defenseman Erick Tremblay. Tremblay, 20, hails from Hull, Quebec, and recently completed 5 seasons of play in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League. In 2006-07 Tremblay scored 10 assists and accumulated 79 penalty minutes in 54 games with Victoriaville.
Seney waived.....the Komets waived forward Matt Seney. Seney skated 40 regular season games with the Komets scoring 4 goals and adding 6 assists. The UHL held their waiver draft Monday afternoon and the Komets elected to pass in all 4 rounds while Seney was chosen by Chicago in the 3rd round.
Fill up at Marathon and earn Komet tickets.....the Komets Marathon Fill-Up Cards have been available again this year at all participating area Marathon gas stations. Fans can earn a "buy 1, get 1 free" ticket offer, up to a $19 value, every time they fill up three times at Marathon. A bonus "Marathon Night" at Komet Hockey is this Friday, April 13 when the Komets host Chicago in game 1 of the first round best-of-7 playoff series at 8pm.
Komet Weekly Player Nominations
Player of the Week: Martin Gascon (C), 3gp, 2g, 1a, 3pts, +5, 0 pim, was on the ice for all 3 Komet goals in Fort Wayne's 3-0 win at Kalamazoo Saturday night.
Goaltender of the Week: Kevin St. Pierre, 3gp, 3-0-0, 4ga, 1.33 gaa, 87/91, .956 spct., 1 shutout, ended season on 7-game win streak.
KOMET GAMES THIS WEEK
Friday, April 13....Game 1: Chicago Hounds at Komets, 8pm (WOWO Radio AM 1190)
Saturday, April 14.....Game 2: Chicago Hounds at Komets, 7:30pm (WOWO Radio AM 1190)
Sunday, April 15.....Game 3: Komets at Chicago Hounds, 5:00pm (WOWO Radio AM 1190)
All games broadcast on radio are also webcast free at www.komets.com Comcast KometCast.
KOMET PRACTICE PLANNER
Tuesday, April 10....10am-noon at the Coliseum
Wednesday, April 11.....10am-noon at the Coliseum
Thursday, April 12.....10am-noon at the Coliseum
Friday, April 13.....10am-11am at the Coliseum
Saturday, April 14.....10am-11am at the Coliseum
Komets.com.....the official website of the Fort Wayne Komets is www.komets.com . In addition to featuring the webcasting of free live Komet game radio, Komets.com also provides fans and media with up-to-date teamstats, news, interactive fan features and information as well as real-time scoring via the UHL and Pointstreak. Scoring of all Komet games can be viewed as it happens at Komets.com.
• Discuss this story on the International Hockey League 2 message board...
International Hockey League 2 Stories from April 9, 2007
- Fort Wayne Komets Capture Tarry Cup - IHL 2
- Scott Wray Earns Second Weekly Honors in Final Season Stretch - Port Huron Flags
- Flags Cap Week 26 and Head to Playoffs on Winning Note - Port Huron Flags
- Jackals Busy During UHL Waiver Draft - Elmira Jackals
- K-Wings Week in Review - Kalamazoo Wings
- Mallards Add Three in UHL Waiver Draft - Quad City Mallards
- Mallards Begin 2007 Playoffs in Rockford - Quad City Mallards
- Port Huron's Scott Wray And Fort Wayne's Kevin St. Pierre Earn Weekly Honors - IHL 2
- Komets Tear To The Top For The Tarry - Fort Wayne Komets
- 2007 UHL Waiver Draft results unveiled - IHL 2
- Final Jackals Coach's Show Monday - Elmira Jackals
- IceHogs finalize postseason roster, readies for Quad City on Friday - Rockford IceHogs
- Generals Weekly Recap - Flint Generals
- Handing Out the Hardware - Kalamazoo Wings
- PrairieThunder hunds out hardware - Bloomington PrairieThunder
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
