Coach Al Sims and captain Colin Chaulk retired, and now so has the goaltender who backstopped them to four championships between 2008 and 2012.Well, the good news is that a couple of players have really stood out to me so far at Memorial Coliseum.
The bad news is they play for the Evansville IceMen.
Left wing Dylan Gilbert has both goals for Evansville, which leads 2-0 after one period in the first of two exhibition games between the teams. The first goal came after the puck took a funny hop off the boards and gave him an empty net. The second was during a 5-on-3 power play.
Gilbert is the son of Greg Gilbert, who played alongside IceMen coach Rich Kromm with the New York Islanders and coaches Saginaw of the Ontario Hockey League.
The IceMen goalie, Paul Karpowich also looks good with eight saves.
For Fort Wayne, it looked good for about seven minutes, then very average. Patrick Knowlton is the one who has stood out to me.
By the way, I was wrong. Dennis Hextall, the former IHL commissioner, is here. He's with Jerry Pateman, the supervisor of officials.
