As you know like all the G/L men, I suffer from a slight sports addiction. So when Fort Wayne's IHL hockey team the Komets were hosting game 7 of the Turner Cup Finals last night I had to be there. It had been a testy series with the scrapper Ice Hawks from Port Huron, and the Komets had fought back from down 3-1 in the series to force game 7. The Komets have been in Fort Wayne since the 1950s and have a lot of die hards. As I walked toward the Coliseum last night fans were already chanting "Bring Home the Cup!!", and I knew this is where I belong. The Coliseum was packed and full of energy, I was filled with a feeling that can only be equated with the Cup Crazy days of the late 1990s. Early in the game the Komets were hit with a major penalty, and after clearing the puck for the last time to kill the 4 min. penalty (Sarah doesn't believe this but it totally happened) I stood and applauded (Will You Be the One), those around me followed my lead, and soon the whole Coliseum was up, "Let's Go Komets!!
With under a minute to go and the Komets up 2-1 the place was going nuts and then, a potential heartbreak, the Ice Hawks snuck one in to tie it up. We are going to have to earn this one, I thought. Through two overtimes the teams were still deadlocked. Then just after midnight, in the first minute of triple overtime, Komets got a rebound and stuffed it in the back of the net, bringing the Cup home!! Hugs, tears, high-fives, and a lot of pent up anger was released all at once throughout the Coliseum, it was classic. The best part is that as the Turner Cup (which looks strikingly familiar to the Stanley Cup) was presented to Komets captain Guy Dupuis (ghee duh-pwee: aka best hockey name ever) he hoisted it up and the cup fell off the base. As you can tell in the photos this didn't stop each Komet from doing a victory lap with the base of the Turner Cup. Incredible. What's great about the IHL is that while a lot of the players are young guys waiting to make it to the next level, the rest are just guys my age who love to play hockey and go back to work normal jobs over the summer. One of the Komets is also a local fireman. As you can tell, I became a baptized Komet Krazee last night, and Turner came home to the Fort.
P.S It appears we have some sore losers up in Port Huron (article). So we may have dislodged the goal a couple times when you had open net chances in OT. Its all part of the game, you should've shot quicker!
3 comments:
Do I believe that you were the first one to stand up in an arena of over 10,000 fans, thereby prompting the rest of the 10,000 to stand? At your second Komets game ever? In a building full of die-hards? No.
I'm a believer Wes. How bouts a few Komets Champs t-shirts to go around. I'd wear one, though out here most people don't even remember that the Ducks won Lord Stanley's Cup last year. Pull out the brooms, the Stars are done. On to the next Cup!
Congradulations FW!
GO WINGS!!
GO PISTONS!!
Detroit, a sports fan mecca.
Oh, lest I forget, Tigers, get your act together!
Finally, this will be the year of the ROAR!
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