O'Connor, Komets Shoot Down Ice Hawks 4-2

Neither playing their third game in three nights nor suffering a troubling loss to the Muskegon Lumberjacks in an away game the night before could slow the Fort Wayne Komets (11-5-0-0) on Saturday night as they logged a convincing victory over Port Huron (11-5-0-1) and claimed 4 points out of a possible 6 for the holiday weekend. The Komets wasted little time in getting on the board to start the contest. Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock honed in on a loose puck and shot the puck into the top of the net past Port Huron goalie Adam Russo at 2:35. Bobby Phillips picked up an assist on the play. Fort Wayne increased their lead to 2-0 at 18:37 of the period when forward Justin Chwedoruk deflected the puck off Russo’s skate and it bounced into the net. Guy Dupuis and Colin Chaulk were awarded the helpers. The Ice Hawks struck back in the middle frame, finally getting their first tally at the 6:52 mark when Mike Gershon came out of the penalty box after serving a 2-minute boarding penalty, took the puck and beat Komets goalie Tim Haun on a rush. At 16:40, Port Huron evened the score at 2-2 on a power play goal by Daniel Tetrault with the Komets Colin Chaulk off serving a 4-minute double minor for high sticking. It was the second home game in a row that the Komets had given up a power play goal after holding visiting teams scoreless with the extra man since the beginning of the season. Mickael Bedard and Cory Stillman got the assists. But Fort Wayne pulled away again in the third period, thanks mostly to the play of recently re-acquired forward Sean O’Connor. After being cut by his ECHL team, the Kalamazoo Wings, O’Connor decided to rejoin the Komets, for whom he also played in 2008-2009. The Komets were certainly happy to have him back. With forward David Hukalo in the box for tripping, O’Connor tallied the go-ahead goal short-handed at 5:50 off an assist from Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock. O’Connor then iced the victory at 12:56 when he scored off a rebound set up by Guy Dupuis and P.C. Drouin to cap the scoring at 4-2. Tim Haun stopped 24 of 26 shots for the victory. Adam Russo made 31 saves on 35 shots in the loss.

Notes: Port Huron was 1-4 on the power play; Fort Wayne went 0-2. It was only the third Komets game of the season with no fights. The previous two were against Quad City. Announced attendance was 7283, the smallest crowd thus far this season. Fort Wayne has won 4 of their last 5 games. Port Huron has lost 2 of 3.