Coach Al Sims and captain Colin Chaulk retired, and now so has the goaltender who backstopped them to four championships between 2008 and 2012.TOLEDO, Ohio -- The Komets have their first back-to-back victories in the ECHL, thanks to a 4-3 victory at the Huntington Center tonight, and they feel like they are getting the hang of this whole ECHL thing.
It helps that they got goals from some players we would not have predicted.
Forward Jean-Michel Rizk had a goal, not only the first of the season for him, but also the first for his line with Lincoln Kaleigh Schrock and Stephon Thorne.
Rizk scored by putting the rebound of a Schrock shot into an open net.
"Finally," Rizk said. "There had been a good shot by Schrocky and a good trap by Thorny to set it up, and good things happened. I'm lucky. I got the result of it all. But if you backtrack about 10 seconds, those guys created that play and I was just the fortunate guy who put the puck in the net."
Defenseman Brent Henley also scored; it was his sixth goal since 2006. He scored it on a redirection.
Henley declined to be interviewed.
"He's the new Frankie DeAngelis, I guess," Sims said, alluding to the Komets' former all-star defenseman "But no, it was a great tip by Henley. You wouldn't expect that from a guy that big, but (6-foot-7) Henley has got great hands."
Forward Thomas Beauregard scored in his first game with the Komets. He said it felt great, especially since he was just released by San Francisco.
And Brett Smith scored, too, on a power play.
Considering the Komets had a goal waved off for an early whistle, and gave up a goal when Daniel Maggio accidentally put it into his own net in the process of trying to clear it, this wasn't as close as the score suggests.
But the Komets didn't get enough scoring opportunities. They just capitalized. They scored on both of their first two shots in the third period -- but it took them 8:05 to get those two.
With the exception of one goal from long range in the third period, scored by Willie Coetzee, goalie Charlie Effinger (23 saves) looked solid for Fort Wayne.
Remember, the Komets' game Saturday at Kalamazoo, Mich., is at 3 p.m.
I will be back later tonight with video.
