Tailing The Komets

The Komets came back from a 3-2 third-period deficit to beat Flint 4-3 in a shootout Friday night at Perani Arena. P.C. Drouin scored on a point shot off a Colin Chaulk pass with 6:25 left in regulation, and then Konstantin Shafranov was the only player to score in the shootout.

After getting out-scored 6-1 in their previous four road games, the Komets jumped out to a 2-0 lead on goals by Shafranov and Frankie DeAngelis, but the Generals rallied with three goals in the second period. Then things turned around in the third period.

“Other than me tearing a strip off their back, I’m not really sure what was the difference,” Komets coach Al Sims said. “We came out and were a different team in the third. We did what we needed to do. We needed to get more involved in the game, get more physical and work harder. When we did, we dominated.”

Fort Wayne controlled the third period, out-shooting the Generals 13-5 and then 3-1 in the overtime. Tim Haun made 29 saves and then stopped all three Generals participants in the shootout.

“Timmy played really well,” Sims said. “They could have scored eight goals in the first two periods, but he was great. He stopped a breakaway and a couple of 2-on-1s in the first period and kept it up throughout the game.”

The Fort Wayne fans greeted Brendan Savage!

Brendan is also live-blogging the game here.

What do you guys think of this?

The Komets are now not expecting to have Matt Syroczynski back from Norfolk of the American Hockey League until next week. Syroczynski played two games last week with the Admirals, getting one shot on goal and two penalty minutes while going minus-2. The Admirals play at Wilkes Barre-Scranton on Friday and at Syracuse on Saturday.

He got home Tuesday after eight days in the hospital. The doctor told him he got all of the cancer and he’ll have some complications for four to five months. He has not had the strength yet to read the blogs or the papers, but he’s getting there. Please continue to include him in your prayers.

Since I’m working on high school football Friday night and won’t be able to make the trip to Flint, those of you who are going to the game will need to report back to me what you saw. This is a serious responsibility so try to be objective (Yeah, right), and don’t drink too much (ditto).

Everybody have fun, and for heaven’s sake, don’t let Dschebig and Burgee start singing duets on the way home.

The Komets play only one game this weekend, and that’s on the road, so what are you going to do for fun? How about going out to McMillen to watch the Silver Stick Mid American Regional over the next two weekends? This weekend will be the Mite B, Bantam A and B and U-18 B divisions, and Nov. 13-15 will be the Squirt and Pee Wee divisions. There are 63 teams participating, including 10 from Fort Wayne (one Mite, two Squirt, two Pee Wee, three Bantam, two Midget).

The Mid Am Regional includes teams from Indiana, Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, western Pennsylvania and western West Virginia, though there will be teams from other areas represented, including Omaha, Neb.

There will be about 112 games this weekend and 76 the second, running from 9 a.m. to 9:45 p.m. Friday, 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 8 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. Sunday. Some of the games next week will be played at Memorial Coliseum.

The best part? Admission is free and everyone is welcome to come and watch. You can’t beat that!

You can watch them here.

David Hukalo is eligible to come off injured reserve but needs a little more time, according to Komets General Manager David Franek. Brandon Warner is eligible to come off next Wednesday and will be ready to go. Kevin Bertram can come off Nov. 17 and will be ready to go.

Matt Syroczynski played in one Norfolk game in Manitoba, going -1 with two PIMs as Mike pointed out. The Komets are expecting him back in time for Friday’s game at Flint, meaning they’ll have to make another roster move.

Vince Tarantino is having more problems with his hip and will need another MRI. Then he’ll be going to see the specialist in Indianapolis that Warner went to for his surgery.

WANE’s Glenn Marini and I sat down today to talk about Saturday’s game. You can watch it here. Please be patient because it takes a little while to load. It’s 11 minutes of your life you will never get back.