News release
9 December 2006
Chanse Fitzpatrick Chases Down A Loose Puck Saturday Night
Elmira, NY Scott Wray scored a mere 23 seconds into the game, but the Fort Wayne Komets scored four-straight goals on the way to a 5-3 win over the Elmira Jackals Saturday night at First Arena.
Jackals leading scorer Scott Wray couldnt wait to score his 13th goal of the season, knocking home a rebound from Brent Cullaton and Chris Mann 23 seconds into the game. The Jackals players will deliver the teddy bears collected Saturday night to children currently in area hospitals over the next week. When play resumed the Jackals continued their offensive intensity, but could not get anything passed goaltender Kevin St. Pierre. The Komets tied the game on a Mario Larocque power play goal at 11:29, a wrist shot in the slot that zipped by a screened Kris Tebbs. J.C. Ruid tallied his first goal of the game at 19:21 as he scored a 5-on-3 power play goal, Fort Waynes second power play goal of the night.
Ruid scored his second goal of the game at 13:13 of the second period, extending the Komets lead to 3-1, assisted by Arthur Kiyaga and J.F. Labarre. Ruid was involved in Fort Waynes 4th consecutive goal at 15:31 of the 2nd period, when he combined with Bogdan Rodenko to setup a wide-open Matt Syroczynski for a 4-1 lead.
Despite playing very well in goal, the Jackals replaced Kris Tebbs with newcomer Dave Lemanowicz for the start of the third period. Elmira struck back at 1:25 of the third period when David Morelli unleashed a heavy slap shot that handcuffed goalie St. Pierre allowing Tommy Kotsopoulos to swoop in and tap in the rebound for his 4th game of the season, assisted by Morelli and Dale Lupul. But this night belonged to Ruid, as he completed his hat trick at 11:53, firing a blind-backhand shot that eluded Lemanowicz for a 5-2 Komets lead. Erik Anderson pulled one back when he scored at 16:32, catching St. Pierre totally off guard, after Scott Drevitch had distracted the Fort Wayne defense with several skilled spin moves. Andersons goal was his 6th of the season and it made the score 5-3 Fort Wayne.
Penalties and rough play occurred all night long, as there was no love lost between Fort Wayne and Elmira. The two teams combined for 253 minutes in penalties, with large-scale altercations in each of the three periods.
Kevin St. Pierre earned the win in goal for the Komets, making 33 saves on 36 shots as the Komets improved to 13-6-0 on the season. Kris Tebbs was excellent in goal for Elmira, but took the loss as he blocked 28-of-32 shots in 40:00 minutes of play. New Jackals goaltender Dave Lemanowicz saw his first action in an Elmira jersey as he relieved Tebbs for the third period, stopping 8-of-9 shots.
The Jackals return to action next week as they kick off four games in five nights at home. Wednesday December 13th they host the Port Huron Flags for a 7:00 pm face off at First Arena, then hit the road for three games in three different cities over the weekend.