Komets clinch playoffs with 7-point week
Move within a point of IHL top spot
Boucher gets goaltender honors for second straight week

FORT WAYNE KOMETS PRESS RELEASE                    
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

Posted Monday, March 23, 2009

Fort Wayne, IN — The Komets completed week 23 with three wins and a shootout loss for seven points and a spot in the 2009 IHL playoffs.  The Komets improved to 37-17-3-9 for 86 points and moved within a point of first place Port Huron with three weeks and 10 games remaining in 2008-09. 

The defending IHL Turner Cup Champion Komets will be entering their 49th playoff season in the 57-year history of the Fort Wayne franchise.  The Komets have qualified for 42 post-seasons in the IHL while earning seven UHL playoff berths.

Week 22 started in dramatic fashion Tuesday with a 2-1 overtime win at Port Huron.  Winger Konstantin Shafranov scored the game tying goal with 43 seconds remaining in the third period to send the game into extra time. Shafranov then scored the game winner at 1:17 of the OT period to seal the win and take two points out of McMorran arena.  Komet goaltender Nick Boucher backstopped the Komets to victory making 46 saves in the match.

Friday the Komets fell in a shootout 3-2 to the visiting Port Huron Icehawks.  Again Boucher came up big making 51 saves on 53 Icehawk shots.  David Hukalo and Leo Thomas scored in regulation for the Komets.

Saturday the Komets silenced the Thunder in Bloomington 3-0.  It was the first Fort Wayne road shutout since April 5, 2008 when Kevin Reiter stoned the Fury at Muskegon 2-0.  Boucher earned his second shutout of the season on 23 saves.  Thomas notched the first two goals of the game and Mark Versteeg-Lytwyn added the third mark.

Sunday the Komets completed the home-and-home series with Bloomington with a 4-2 win.  Versteeg-Lytwyn, Shafranov, Rick Varone and Brian Boulay hit the net for Fort Wayne while Boucher stopped 20 of 22 Thunder shots and extended his unbeaten streak to seven games while tying his career best of 24 wins in a season.

Looking ahead the Komets will skate three home games this week in four nights starting with the Flint Generals Wednesday night at 7:30.  The Generals return for an 8pm faceoff Friday night, their last visit of the season.  Going into this week's action the Komets are undefeated (6-0-0-0) by Flint on Coliseum ice this year. 

Saturday the Komets will welcome the Port Huron Icehawks back to town for the final time of the regular season at 7:30pm.  Port Huron owns a 5-1-0-0 record in six visits to Fort Wayne this season.  The Hawks skate at Kalamazoo Wednesday and host Bloomington Friday before traveling to Fort Wayne Saturday. 

Sunday the Komets complete week 24 with their final trip to Perani Arena in Flint for a 4pm faceoff.  The Komets are 5-1-0-1 in seven visits to Flint so far this season.

Boucher honored for second straight week:  Komet netminder Nick Boucher has been named the Southern Sports Supply IHL Goaltender of the Week for the second straight week, and fourth time this season.  Boucher appeared in all four games posting a 3-0-0-1 record to extend his unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-0-1).  In 245 minutes of play the netminder faced 145 shots allowing only five goals for a 1.22 goals-against average and .966 save percentage.  Boucher registered his second shutout of the season during the week ending March 22, stopping all 23 shots at Bloomington for a 3-0 win Saturday.  Boucher tied his career best of 24 wins in a season with a 4-2 victory Sunday vs. Bloomington in his fourth straight start.  Boucher finished the week leading IHL goalies with an overall 2.51 goals-against average and .918 save percentage in 45 games.   

Komet streaks:  Komets have a nine game unbeaten streak (8-0-0-1) and a season-high six-game road winning streak.....Leo Thomas has a five-game point streak (4 goals, 3 assists).....Netminder Nick Boucher is riding a seven-game unbeaten streak (6-0-0-1) and has started the last four straight games.

Milestones:  Guy Dupuis skated his 800th career IHL game Saturday at Bloomington....Brian Boulay appeared in his 100th pro game Friday vs. Port Huron.....P.C. Drouin has scored 99 career Fort Wayne goals.....Rod Aldoff has 99 pro goals.....Nick Boucher tied his career best of 24 wins in a season Sunday vs. Bloomington.

Season Ticket Exchange Night Friday.....Komet season ticket holders can take advantage of another Season Ticket Exchange Night this Friday when the Komets host Flint at 8pm.  Unused tickets from previous Komet home games this season can be exchanged at the Coliseum Ticket Office for tickets to Friday night's game.

KOMETS PLANNER
Komet games coming up
Wednesday, Mar. 25.....Flint Generals at Komets, 7:30pm, WKJG/ESPN Radio AM 1380.
Friday, Mar. 27.............Flint Generals at Komets, 8pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
Saturday, Mar. 28.........Port Huron Icehawks at Komets, 7:30pm (FW time), WOWO Radio AM 1190
Sunday, Mar. 29...........Komets at Flint Generals, 4:00pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
All games broadcast on radio are webcast free at www.Komets.com Comcast KometCast
Komet practice schedule
Tue. Mar. 24......10am-noon at the Coliseum
Wed. Mar. 25....10am-11am at the Coliseum
Thu. Mar. 26.....11am-noon at McMillen Ice Arena
Fri. Mar. 27......10am-11am at the Coliseum
Sat. Mar. 28.....10am-11am at the Coliseum
Tue. Mar. 31.....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 3/22/09
TEAM                GP    W     L     OTL   SOL   PTS   WPCT   GF     GA     PIM    HOME        ROAD        L-TEN     STREAK    
xPort Huron         66    39    18      6     3   87    .659   222    172    1156   19-11-3-1   20-7-3-2    5-2-1-2   0-0-0-1   
xFort Wayne         66    37    17      3     9   86    .652   245    190    1517   14-9-3-5    23-8-0-4    8-1-0-1   2-0-0-0   
Muskegon            65    38    20      3     4   83    .638   263    247    1575   21-10-1-2   17-10-2-2   5-4-0-1   0-0-0-1   
Kalamazoo           67    38    28      1     0   77    .575   237    221    1223   21-12-1-0   17-16-0-0   6-4-0-0   3-0-0-0   
Bloomington         64    27    32      1     4   59    .461   204    237    1220   15-14-1-2   12-18-0-2   4-5-0-1   0-4-0-0   
Flint               66    18    42      2     4   42    .318   204    308    1626   12-18-1-1   6-24-1-3    1-9-0-0   0-3-0-0   
TOTALS              394   197   157    16    24   434   .551   1375   1375   8317   -           -           -         -         

FORT WAYNE KOMETS TEAMSTATS  thru games of 3/22/09
#     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   66  28   56   84   +19    72    7   24    2    3    3   6     0   0   2    0      4    .000  188    .149  
2     Dupuis, Guy         D    66  14   45   59   +25   107    5   26    3    2    2   1     1   0   2    0      3    .000  257    .054  
94    Curadeau, Mathieu   C    42  29   27   56   +16    63   11    8    1    1    4   5     1   4   0    1      6    .167  181    .160  
21    Hukalo, David       RW   60  19   33   52   +22    65   10   11    1    2    6   3     0   1   0    0      2    .000  166    .114  
7     Varone, Rick        C    66  21   30   51   +11    93    4    6    3    0    3   6     0   1   0    3      12   .250  136    .154  
44    Thomas, Leo         C    50  24   20   44   +20    55    8    4    1    0    3   6     0   1   0    0      3    .000  165    .145  
        (TOTALS)               59  28   22   50   +13    96   10    4    1    0    4   6     0   1   0    0      3    .000  190    .147  
24    Shafranov, Konstan  LW   51  22   27   49   +17    22    7    9    0    0    4   1     1   3   0    1      6    .167  119    .185  
91    Chaulk, Colin       C    28  5    38   43    +6    46    2   21    0    3    2   1     0   0   0    0      1    .000  69     .072  
20    Versteeg-Lytwyn, M  LW   30  12   16   28   +19    35    2    1    0    1    1   3     0   1   0    1      4    .250  91     .132  
        (TOTALS)               50  16   24   40   +13    47    2    2    0    1    2   3     0   1   0    1      4    .250  137    .117  
29    OConnor, Sean       RW   50  16   19   35    +8    26    4    2    0    2    1   2     0   0   0    1      5    .200  143    .112  
25    Aldoff, Rod         D    7   0     4   4     +5    6     0    2    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  5      .000  
        (TOTALS)               64  7    27   34   +18    62    4   14    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    1      4    .250  90     .078  
    X Osman, Dominic      RW   37  18   12   30    +4    37    7    3    1    0    3   2     0   0   0    0      1    .000  137    .131  
28    Holladay, Jay       D    57  3    12   15    +9    81    0    4    0    0    0   2     0   0   0    0      2    .000  113    .027  
    X Warner, Brandon     D    26  7     7   14    -1    27    2    3    0    0    1   3     0   0   0    0      1    .000  45     .156  
74    Gravelle, Maxime    C    59  4    10   14    -3    60    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  55     .073  
3     Mironovic, Danko    D    61  2     9   11   +13    61    0    0    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000  46     .043  
14    Pence, Jake         D    27  1    10   11    +9    22    0    5    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  49     .020  
4     Boulay, Brian       D    65  5     5   10    +7   100    0    0    1    1    1   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  83     .060  
15    MacMillan, Brad     RW   47  6     3   9     -5   217    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  75     .080  
22    Bertram, Kevin      D    49  2     7   9    +22   127    0    0    0    1    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  52     .038  
82    Legault, Olivier    LW   35  5     3   8     +1   104    1    1    0    0    1   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000  28     .179  
    X Lewis, Adam         C    22  1     5   6    -10    23    0    0    0    1    0   0     0   1   0    0      0    .000  40     .025  
    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 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    11  0     1   1     +8    2     0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  9      .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  
    X Podelnyk, Mike      F    1   0     1   1     +1    2     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  4      .000  
33    Boucher, Nick       G    45  0     0   0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  0      .000  
60    Laplante, Sebastie  G    14  0     0   0     0     2     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  0      .000  
    X Haun, Tim           G    8   0     0   0     0     2     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  0      .000  
    X Row, Dylan          D    3   0     0   0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  2      .000  
19    Rodger, Keith       D    2   0     0   0     +1    5     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000  2      .000  
                               GP  G     A   PTS  +/-   PIM   PPG  PPA  SHG  SHA  GWG  FG  OTG  UAG  ENG  SHOG  SHOA  SHO%  SHOTS  SPCT  
      TOTALS                   66  245  405  650  +273  1517  70   133  13   17   37   43    4  13   4    7      50   .140  2283   .107  

#       GOALIE              GP  MIN      W   L   OTL  SOL  SO  GA   GAA   SHOW  SHO  SHOGA  SHOAA  SAVES  SPCT  
33      Boucher, Nick       45  2700:45  24  13  1    6    2   113  2.51  0     7    10     19     1260   .918  
60      Laplante, Sebastie  14  818:43   9   2   2    1    1   42   3.08  0     1    2      11     350    .893  
    X   Haun, Tim           8   493:44   4   2   0    2    1   25   3.04  1     2    4      18     218    .897  
        TOTALS              66           37  20  3    9    4   190  2.88  1     10   16     48     1828   .906