Komets grab 5 points for week 14
Curadeau reassigned to Fort Wayne

FORT WAYNE KOMETS PRESS RELEASE                    
Posted Monday, January 19, 2008
Fort Wayne Komet Hockey Club | 1010 Memorial Way, Fort Wayne, IN  46805 | 260.483.0011
Contact: Chuck Bailey, Director of Communications | 260.482.6550 | chuck@komets.com

Fort Wayne, IN — The Komets earned five points in four games played for week 14 of 2008-09 to improve to 20-14-1-4 for 45 points and pull within four points of first place Port Huron.

After getting a 5-2 loss out of the way at Muskegon Tuesday morning, the Komets came back to grab five points in three games over the weekend.  Friday the Komets scored a 2-0 home shutout win over the Kalamazoo Wings to snap a five-game winless streak against Kalamazoo.  It was goalie Nick Boucher's first regular season Komet shutout and the second of the season for Fort Wayne.  Rookie defenseman Danko Mironovic scored his first pro goal in the game.

Saturday the Komets took a 4-1 win out of Port Huron to improve to 5-1-0 in games at McMorran Arena this season.

Sunday the Komets capped week 14 with a 3-2 shootout loss to the visiting Muskegon Lumberjacks.  The Komets are winless in four shootouts so far this season after posting a 6-2 shootout record last year.

Start the bus.....the Komets hit the road this week as the Circus comes to town.  A busy weekend of three games in three nights begins Friday at Kalamazoo at 7:30pm.   Saturday the Komets skate at Muskegon at 7pm and Sunday the K's visit Bloomington for a 5pm (Fort Wayne time) faceoff.  All three games will be broadcast on WOWO AM 1190 and on the web at Komets.com Comcast KometCast.

Curadeau reassigned to Fort Wayne.....center Mathieu Curadeau has been reassigned to Fort Wayne by the AHL's Norfolk Admirals.  Curadeau, 23, was called up by the AHL club for the second time this season Dec. 30.  The Montreal, Quebec native has appeared in 18 games with Norfolk this season scoring two goals and adding an assist for three points.  Curadeau started the season with the Komets and appeared in one Fort Wayne game between call-ups.  Curadeau has 14 goals and 21 points in 18 Fort Wayne games and currently has a three-game goal scoring streak (3 goals), the current IHL high.

Hello Versteeg-Lytwyn.....the player with all of the letters on his back (14, 15 if you count the hyphen) is the new Komet on the roster.  Left wing Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn, 22, was picked up last week off waivers from Flint.  Versteeg-Lytwyn signed with the Komets in time to see action in all three games over the weekend and posted a goal and an assist in his weekend debut.

Lewis returns, again.....skater Adam Lewis was released, and then signed to a PTO agreement, all within a couple days, missing only Friday's game last week.  Lewis, who previously played three seasons for the Komets from 2002-2005 before joining the club again in November for 20 games, was released to make room for winger Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn on Thursday.  Then due to increasing injuries on the Komet roster, Lewis agreed to return to the Fort Wayne roster in time for games Saturday and Sunday.  During his return, Lewis scored assists in each game for an IHL current high three-game assist streak.

Leading between the pipes.....Komet netminder Nick Boucher, scoring a .97 goals-against average and .968 save percentage in all three games this past weekend and a three-game unbeaten streak, tops IHL goaltenders with a 2.70 goals-against average and .909 save percentage overall in 27 games.  Boucher is also the Komet's nominee for IHL Goaltender of the Week for week 14.  

Penalty shots are us.....the Komets faced the rare penalty shot twice over the weekend in back-to-back games and Nick Boucher stopped them both.  Saturday at Port Huron Boucher turned back Kris Vernarsky's attempt to tie the game at 10:22 of the third period.  Sunday Boucher denied Muskegon's Luke Stauffacher's chance to put the Lumberjacks ahead at 17:34 of the second period.  Boucher has stopped all three penalty shots faced this season and has stopped four of five penalty shots as a Komet including last season.

Special K's.....the Komets special teams were perfect for all four games this past week, sort of.  While the Komets failed to score on 100% of their power play opportunities (0/18) they were also 100% on the penalty kill successfully stopping all 17 power plays faced.  The Komets lead the IHL with a penalty kill success rate of 87.3%.

The hottest ticket in town.....the Komets attracted 15,655 fans for the two home games over the past weekend (Friday 7,208, Sunday 8,447) and continue to rank second in attendance of all minor league pro hockey.  Only the AHL's Hershey Bears draw more than Fort Wayne with a per-game average of 8,647 compared to Fort Wayne's average attendance of 7,760.

Tickets.....Komet tickets are on sale at the Coliseum Ticket Office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.  The Komets offer discounts on group tickets sold at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way in Fort Wayne.  For more information visit the Komet office, the Komets' website at www.komets.com, or call 260-483-0011.

Game Change:  The Komets' IHL game originally scheduled for Feb.14 at Bloomington has been moved to Jan. 28.  The game will faceoff at 7:05pm (8:05pm Fort Wayne time) at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum.  The change was made at the request of the Central Illinois Arena Management officials to make the building available for a Jeff Dunham show on Feb. 14.

KOMETS PLANNER
Komet games coming up
Friday, Jan. 23.....Komets at Kalamazoo Wings, 7:30pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
Saturday, Jan 24.....Komets at Muskegon Lumberjacks, 7:00pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
Sunday, Jan. 25.....Komets at Bloomington PrairieThunder, 5pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
All games broadcast on radio are webcast free at www.Komets.com Comcast KometCast
Komet practice schedule
Tue. Jan. 20.....10am-11:30am at McMillen Ice Arena
Wed. Jan. 21.....10am-11:30am at McMillen Ice Arena
Thu. Jan. 22.....11am-12:30pm at McMillen Ice Arena
Fri. Jan. 23.....10am-11am at McMillen Ice Arena
Tue. Jan. 27.....10am-11:30am at McMillen Ice Arena
Komets Schedule

Komet Hockey On The Web and Air.....most Komet games are broadcast on WOWO Radio AM 1190 with Bob Chase at the Fort Wayne microphone for his 56th consecutive season.  Some games will be aired on WKJG/ESPN Radio AM 1380 as an alternative when conflicts occur.  All games aired on radio will also be available free on the internet at Comcast KometCast at www.komets.com.  Fans can follow the official scoring of all Komet games this season by clicking on the "Scoreboard" at www.komets.com.

Komets.com.....the official website of the Fort Wayne Komets is www.komets.com.  In addition to featuring free webcasting of live Komet game radio, Komets.com also provides fans and media with up-to-date team stats, news, interactive fan features and information.  Fans can also follow all Komet games with real-time scoring via the IHL and Pointstreak by clicking the Scoreboard at Komets.com.


IHL STANDINGS thru games of 1/18/09
TEAM                GP    W     L    OTL   SOL   PTS   WPCT   GF    GA    PIM    HOME       ROAD        L-TEN     STREAK    
Port Huron          39    24    14     1     0   49    .628   140   115   734    10-9-1-0   14-5-0-0    7-2-1-0   0-2-0-0   
Kalamazoo           37    23    14     0     0   46    .622   140   112   692    11-3-0-0   12-11-0-0   6-4-0-0   1-0-0-0   
Muskegon            35    21    10     3     1   46    .657   149   139   873    13-5-1-1   8-5-2-0     7-1-1-1   1-0-0-0   
Fort Wayne          39    20    14     1     4   45    .577   137   116   922    9-7-1-3    11-7-0-1    4-4-0-2   0-0-0-1   
Flint               42    13    24     2     3   31    .369   137   186   951    8-11-1-1   5-13-1-2    3-5-1-1   0-0-0-1   
Bloomington         36    13    22     1     0   27    .375   116   151   736    8-10-1-0   5-12-0-0    4-5-1-0   1-0-0-0   
TOTALS              228   114   98     8     8   244   .535   819   819   4908   -          -           -         -         

FORT WAYNE KOMETS TEAMSTATS  thru games of 1/18/09
#     PLAYER              POS  GP  G     A   PTS  +/-  PIM  PPG  PPA  SHG  SHA  GWG  FG  OTG  UAG  ENG  SHOG  SHOA  SHO%   SHOTS  SPCT  
71    Drouin, P.C.        LW   39  22   32   54   +11  48    5   12    2    2    3   5     0   0   2    0      2    .000   130    .169  
91    Chaulk, Colin       C    28  5    38   43   +6   46    2   21    0    3    2   1     0   0   0    0      1    .000   69     .072  
2     Dupuis, Guy         D    39  8    26   34   +12  65    3   17    1    1    2   1     1   0   1    0      1    .000   155    .052  
21    Hukalo, David       RW   37  9    21   30   +13  39    5    8    1    0    3   1     0   0   0    0      1    .000   97     .093  
7     Varone, Rick        C    39  11   17   28   +6   66    2    4    1    0    1   3     0   1   0    2      5    .400   86     .128  
24    Shafranov, Konstan  LW   26  11   16   27   +9   16    4    4    0    0    2   0     0   3   0    0      2    .000   71     .155  
44    Thomas, Leo         C    23  11    9   20   +8   28    6    2    1    0    2   2     0   1   0    0      2    .000   81     .136  
        (TOTALS)               32  15   11   26   +1   69    8    2    1    0    3   2     0   1   0    0      2    .000   106    .142  
94    Curadeau, Mathieu   C    15  14    7   21   +2   22    6    3    0    0    1   2     0   2   0    0      2    .000   65     .215  
19    Osman, Dominic      RW   24  13    5   18   -1   11    5    2    1    0    1   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   101    .129  
29    OConnor, Sean       RW   29  9     6   15   -1   14    3    1    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    1      3    .333   74     .122  
9     Warner, Brandon     D    26  7     7   14   -1   27    2    3    0    0    1   3     0   0   0    0      1    .000   45     .156  
20    Versteeg-Lytwyn, M  LW   3   1     1   2    +1    2    0    0    0    0    0   1     0   0   0    1      1    1.000  13     .077  
        (TOTALS)               23  5     9   14   -5   14    0    1    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    1      1    1.000  59     .085  
28    Holladay, Jay       D    38  2     7   9    +1   40    0    2    0    0    0   2     0   0   0    0      1    .000   74     .027  
15    MacMillan, Brad     RW   32  5     2   7    -4   151   0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   55     .091  
3     Mironovic, Danko    D    39  1     6   7    +1   45    0    0    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   29     .034  
74    Gravelle, Maxime    C    36  1     6   7    -5   44    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   32     .031  
22    Bertram, Kevin      D    29  1     5   6    +10  76    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   29     .034  
47    Lewis, Adam         C    22  1     5   6    -10  23    0    0    0    1    0   0     0   1   0    0      0    .000   40     .025  
82    Legault, Olivier    LW   24  3     2   5    +1   49    0    0    0    0    0   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   18     .167  
4     Boulay, Brian       D    39  2     1   3    -3   55    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   44     .045  
    X Beckett, Jason      D    8   0     2   2    +7   15    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   21     .000  
    X Field, Mike         F    7   0     1   1    -4   20    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   1      .000  
14    Pence, Jake         D    3   0     1   1    -2    4    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   2      .000  
33    Boucher, Nick       G    27  0     0   0     0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000  
35    Haun, Tim           G    7   0     0   0     0    2    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000  
60    Laplante, Sebastie  G    6   0     0   0     0    2    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000  
52    Tarantino, Vince    D    4   0     0   0    +3    0    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   3      .000  
    X Potts, Ryan         F    2   0     0   0     0    0    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000  
                               GP  G     A   PTS  +/-  PIM  PPG  PPA  SHG  SHA  GWG  FG  OTG  UAG  ENG  SHOG  SHOA  SHO%   SHOTS  SPCT  
      TOTALS                   39  137  223  360  +56  922  43   81    7    7   20   24    1   8   3    4      22   .182   1335   .103  

#       GOALIE              GP  MIN      W   L   OTL  SOL  SO  GA   GAA   SHOW  SHO  SHOGA  SHOAA  SAVES  SPCT  
33      Boucher, Nick       27  1600:23  13  10  1    2    1   72   2.70  0     3    5      7      716    .909  
60      Laplante, Sebastie  6   326:16   4   2   0    0    0   18   3.31  0     0    0      0      157    .897  
35      Haun, Tim           7   428:44   3   2   0    2    1   22   3.08  0     1    4      14     183    .893  
        TOTALS              39           20  15  1    4    2   116  2.97  0     4    9      21     1056   .901