Komets Celebrate New Year's with a Bang, Beat Prairie Thunder 5-1

The Fort Wayne Komets (17-11-0-1) got an early start celebrating the New Year with an impressive display of much needed offense on Thursday night versus the Bloomington Prairie Thunder (14-10-2-2). Tensions flared early in the first period when Komets forward Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock got into a fight with Bloomington forward Jamie Carroll to energize the sold-out crowd of 10,454. At 5:18 Praire Thunder forward Chase Watson was whistled for high sticking for the first minor penalty of the evening, and Fort Wayne took the lead on the resulting power play. Komets defenseman Brandon Warner intercepted a clearing attempt and forward David Hukalo redirected Warner's shot from the blue line for a 1-0 score. Bloomington got the tying goal on a power play of their own after Fort Wayne forward P.C. Drouin was sent to the box for tripping. Just over a minute later at 11:08, Bloomington forward Craig MacDonald put a shot from the right circle past Komets goalie Tim Haun for a 1-1 tally. Defenseman Jason Lepine and forword Matt McIlvane picked up the assists. No scoring occurred in the second period, but 3 more altercations broke out. At 9:46, Fort Wayne forward Brad MacMillan took on Prairie Thunder forward Mike Liambas. Then at 17:44 Komets defenseman Keith Rodger tangled with Bloomington forward Brett Holmberg. Watson picked up a roughing penalty while Fort Wayne defenseman Kevin Bertram was hit with a double minor roughing penalty as a result of the fracas. But it was in the final frame that Fort Wayne's long-slumbering offense roared to life. Just 57 seconds in, Hukalo received a backhand pass from Warner, blasting a shot from 45 feet out which bounced off the glove of Bloomington goalie Andrew Martin and slid into the the net. The Komets cashed in on yet another power play opportunity when Bloomington was called for too many men on the ice at 3:34. A scrum in front of the net led to a rebound goal by Komets forward Sean O'Connor at 4:37, bringing Fort Wayne's lead to 3-1. Hukalo and forward Konstantin Shafranov assisted on the play. O'Connor found the twine again at the 13:26 mark with assistance from Drouin and defenseman Guy Dupuis, making the tally 4-1. Finally, at 16:48 Drouin capped the scoring at 5-1 on the power play. With Bloomington defenseman Justin Sawyer serving a penalty for tripping, Fort Wayne forward Leo Thomas took a shot at the net that hit the crossbar and bounced directly to Drouin's stick in front of the goal. Thomas and forward Justin Chwedoruk were awarded the assists. The Komets outshot their opponents 18-8 in the third period and 41-25 overall. Haun stopped 24 of 25 shots for the victory. Martin made 36 saves on 41 shots.

Notes: The Komets went 3-5 on the power play while Bloomington was 1-4 with the extra man. Fort Wayne is now 37-13-3 all-time in New Year's Eve games, and have won their last 8 in a row. With the win, Fort Wayne pulled 3 points ahead of Bloomington in the IHL standings, good enough for sole possession of 3rd place. Fort Wayne debuted their new "zoo inspired" tiger-stripe orange and blak jerseys to be worn for Wednesday games throughout the remainder of the 2009-2010 schedule. As a part of the zoo promotion, an owl accidentally got loose for a time in the stadium's lobby. The game was goalie Tim Haun's first appearance following a 7 game suspension. Komets forward and assistant coach Colin Chaulk missed the third of 3 games to attend the funeral of a family member in Toronto. Fort Wayne forward Rick Varone returned from a stint on IR for a knee injury only to re-injure his knee in the first period of play. It was announced earlier in the day that forward Tomas Klempa had been waived to make room on the roster for Varone.