Komets pull within three points of first-place Icehawks
Port Huron visits for double-header showdown Friday and Saturday
Versteeg-Lytwyn IHL Player of the Week

FORT WAYNE KOMETS PRESS RELEASE                    
Posted Monday, January 26, 2009
Fort Wayne Komet Hockey Club | 1010 Memorial Way, Fort Wayne, IN  46805 | 260.483.0011
Member International Hockey League
Contact: Chuck Bailey, Director of Communications | 260.482.6550 | chuck@komets.com

Fort Wayne, IN — The Komets gained more ground on first-place Port Huron in the race for the top of the IHL earning five of a possible six points in three games played last week to improve to 22-14-1-5 for 50 points and second place, three points behind the leading Icehawks.

The week started with a 5-4 shootout loss at Kalamazoo Friday night.  The Komets rebounded Saturday at Muskegon chopping the Lumberjacks 10-3.  It was the second time this season the Komets reached the 10-goal plateau (also 11-3 home win opening night over Flint).  It was the first time the Komets scored 10 goals in a road game in 14 years.  The last time was in the IHL playoffs in April, 1995 at Peoria, a 10-4 win.

Sunday the Komets posted their first shootout victory of the season edging the PrairieThunder at Bloomington 4-3 to cap a
2-0-0-1 week.

The Komets will return to Bloomington Wednesday for an 8:05pm faceoff.  Wednesday's game was originally scheduled for Feb. 14 at Bloomington, but had to be moved to make room for a concert at U.S. Cellular Coliseum.

This weekend the race to the top of the IHL continues as the Komets will host Port Huron in back-to-back games Friday at 8pm and Saturday at 7:30pm.  The Komets are 0-3-0 so far this season when the Icehawks visit, but are 5-1-0 when playing at McMorran arena and lead the season series 5-4-0 overall.  Port Huron boasts the IHL's best road record at 14-5-1-1 and is unbeaten on the road in 11 straight games.  Before the Icehawks visit for a pair Friday and Saturday, Port Huron will host Muskegon Tuesday.

Komet streaks.....Goaltender Nick Boucher is unbeaten (in regulation) five straight (3-0-0-2).....center Mathieu Curadeau has an IHL high six-game goal and point streak (6 goals, 2 assists).....winger Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn is riding a three-game goal and point streak (4 goals, 5 assists).....the Komets are unbeaten in six straight games (4-0-0-2) and have a road unbeaten streak of four games (3-0-0-1).  

Versteeg-Lytwyn Pepsi IHL Player of the Week.....Winger Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn, acquired off waivers from Flint Jan. 15, was named the Pepsi IHL Player of the Week for the period ending Jan. 25.  The left winger scored four goals, passed five assists and earned a plus/minus of +6 in three games played.  Versteeg-Lytwyn registered a six-point outing Saturday night in the Komets' 10-3 win at Muskegon scoring a goal and adding five assists.  The Sharon, Ontario native has appeared in six games with Fort Wayne since Jan. 16 scoring points in each game except one (5 goals, 6 assists), helping the Komets to a 4-0-0-2 record over the period. 

First time in 47 years.....Versteeg-Lytwyn's five assists Saturday night in Muskegon was the first time a Komet player passed five assists since Dec. 17, 2004 when Colin Chaulk had five helpers in a 9-4 home win vs. Richmond.  The last time a Komet player had five assists on the road was 47 years ago on March 18, 1962, when Reggie Primeau became the only player in Fort Wayne franchise history to record six assists in a road game in an 11-5 win at Indianapolis.  As an interesting side note, Saturday night Komet rookie Ryan Potts, Primieau's grandson, scored his first pro points (two assists).

Road improvements.....After 22 road games last season the Komets were 12-8-1-1.  This season the Komets are slightly improved at 13-7-0-2.

Welcome back.....Center Mathieu Curadeau appeared in all three games over the weekend after returning from a stint with the AHL's Norfolk Admirals and has picked up where he left off extending his goal-scoring streak to an IHL high six games.  Curadeau registered three goals, a shootout winning goal, and two assists for five points since his return.

8 is enough.....The Komets had a total of eight players missing games last week due to injuries.  On the 30-day injured reserve list are center Colin Chaulk and winger Olivier Legault.  Defenseman Jake Pence is on the 45-day I.R. while goaltender Sebastien Laplante is on the 60-day I.R.  Also out of the lineup this past week due to injuries were defensemen Kevin Bertram and Brandon Warner and forwards Dominic Osman and Brad MacMillan.

KOMETS PLANNER
Komet games coming up
Wednesday, Jan. 28......Komets at Bloomington PrairieThunder, 8:05pm (FW time), WKJG/ESPN Radio AM 1380
Friday, Jan. 30.....Port Huron Icehawks at Komets, 8pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
Saturday, Jan 31.....Port Huron Icehawks at Komets, 7:30pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
All games broadcast on radio are webcast free at www.Komets.com Comcast KometCast
Komet practice schedule
Tue. Jan. 27.....10am-11:30am at McMillen Ice Arena
Wed. Jan. 28.....10am-11am at McMillen Ice Arena
Thu. Jan. 29.....10am-11:30am at McMillen Ice Arena
Fri. Jan. 30.....10am-11am at McMillen Ice Arena
Sat. Jan. 31.....11am-noon at the Coliseum
Tue. Feb. 2.....10am-noon at the Coliseum
Komets Schedule

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.

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 1/25/09
TEAM                GP    W     L     OTL   SOL   PTS   WPCT   GF    GA    PIM    HOME        ROAD        L-TEN     STREAK    
Port Huron          42    25    14      2     1   53    .631   146   122   786    11-9-1-0    14-5-1-1    6-2-1-1   0-0-0-1 
Fort Wayne          42    22    14      1     5   50    .595   155   127   969    9-7-1-3     13-7-0-2    5-3-0-2   2-0-0-0 
Kalamazoo           40    25    15      0     0   50    .625   148   119   762    13-3-0-0    12-12-0-0   5-5-0-0   1-0-0-0      
Muskegon            38    22    12      3     1   48    .632   156   153   927    14-6-1-1    8-6-2-0     6-2-1-1   1-0-0-0   
Flint               45    15    24      2     4   36    .400   147   195   1008   10-11-1-1   5-13-1-3    5-2-1-2   0-0-0-1   
Bloomington         39    14    22      1     2   31    .397   124   160   784    9-10-1-1    5-12-0-1    4-3-1-2   0-0-0-1   
TOTALS              246   123   101     9    13   268   .545   876   876   5236   -           -           -         -         

FORT WAYNE KOMETS TEAMSTATS  thru games of 1/25/09
#     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   42  24   34   58   +14   48    6   12    2    2    3   5     0   0   2    0      2    .000  141    .170  
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    42  9    26   35   +11   80    4   17    1    1    2   1     1   0   1    0      2    .000  165    .055  
7     Varone, Rick        C    42  13   20   33   +10   70    2    5    1    0    2   3     0   1   0    2      7    .286  95     .137  
21    Hukalo, David       RW   40  9    23   32   +13   49    5    8    1    1    3   1     0   0   0    0      1    .000  104    .087  
44    Thomas, Leo         C    26  13   11   24   +12   30    6    2    1    0    2   3     0   1   0    0      2    .000  96     .135  
        (TOTALS)               35  17   13   30    +5   71    8    2    1    0    3   3     0   1   0    0      2    .000  121    .140  
24    Shafranov, Konstan  LW   29  12   17   29    +8   16    4    5    0    0    2   0     0   3   0    0      3    .000  75     .160  
94    Curadeau, Mathieu   C    18  17    9   26    +2   24    7    5    1    0    1   3     0   3   0    1      4    .250  78     .218  
20    Versteeg-Lytwyn, M  LW   6   5     6   11    +7    4    1    0    0    0    0   1     0   1   0    1      2    .500  29     .172  
        (TOTALS)               26  9    14   23    +1   16    1    1    0    0    1   1     0   1   0    1      2    .500  75     .120  
29    OConnor, Sean       RW   32  10    9   19    +1   14    3    2    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    1      3    .333  84     .119  
19    Osman, Dominic      RW   24  13    5   18    -1   11    5    2    1    0    1   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  101    .129  
    X Warner, Brandon     D    26  7     7   14    -1   27    2    3    0    0    1   3     0   0   0    0      1    .000  45     .156  
28    Holladay, Jay       D    41  2     9   11    +7   46    0    3    0    0    0   2     0   0   0    0      1    .000  85     .024  
74    Gravelle, Maxime    C    39  2     7   9     -4   44    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  35     .057  
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    42  1     6   7     +1   45    0    0    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000  29     .034  
22    Bertram, Kevin      D    29  1     5   6    +10   76    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  29     .034  
    X 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    42  2     1   3     -2   59    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  51     .039  
    X Beckett, Jason      D    8   0     2   2     +7   15    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  21     .000  
55    Potts, Ryan         F    5   0     2   2     +2    0    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  0      .000  
52    Tarantino, Vince    D    7   0     1   1    +10    2    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  7      .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    29  0     0   0     0     0    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  0      .000  
35    Haun, Tim           G    8   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      
                               GP  G     A   PTS  +/-   PIM  PPG  PPA  SHG  SHA  GWG  FG  OTG  UAG  ENG  SHOG  SHOA  SHO%  SHOTS  SPCT  
      TOTALS                   42  155  249  404  +100  969  47   89    8    8   22   26    2  11   3    5      29   .172  1456   .106  

#       GOALIE              GP  MIN      W   L   OTL  SOL  SO  GA   GAA   SHOW  SHO  SHOGA  SHOAA  SAVES  SPCT  
33      Boucher, Nick       29  1725:23  14  10  1    3    1   79   2.75  0     4    6      10     781    .908  
35      Haun, Tim           8   493:44   4   2   0    2    1   25   3.04  1     2    4      18     218    .897  
60      Laplante, Sebastie  6   326:16   4   2   0    0    0   18   3.31  0     0    0      0      157    .897  
        TOTALS              42           22  15  1    5    2   127  3.02  1     6    10     28     1156   .901