Welcome To The ECHL

Thursday night is usually booked for The Hockey Show, but Jason and I prerecorded the show on Wednesday because I was booked for another event on Thursday with me being in Fort Wayne, Indiana. The Fort Wayne Komets are one of the premiere minor-league teams on the planet, and they've crossed paths with Winnipeg a few times before I made my way to the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum last night. Having seen them win Turner Cups in the IHL when the Manitoba Moose were part of that circuit, I knew I was in for a good time at the game on American Thanksgiving. The final verdict certainly held true!

While there were more than enough black-and-orange jerseys in the crowd, the Fort Wayne Komets use their annual Thanksgiving game to honour the late Bob Chase, their longtime radio broadcaster who called Komets games for 63 years before retiring on May 15, 2016. Chase was always a fan of the Thanksgiving Day game, and the voice of the Komets passed on in the early morning hours of Thanksgiving Day back on November 24, 2016. As a result, the Komets honour Chase on each Thanksgiving Day, and they took to the ice in throwback jerseys from the early 1980s as part of the celebration for Bob's memory! I have to admit that the blue-and-orange looks good, but it's far different from the splashes of orange, black, and white that were seen throughout the crowd as fans sported the jerseys of their heroes!

Nevertheless, my first impression of Allen County War Memorial Coliseum was that it looked old from the outside, but things changed once I passed through the doors of the main entrance. While the arena was opened in 1952, there has been a significant effort to modernize the interior while keeping that historic aesthetic intact. The result is a modern arena with all the amenities placed inside a historic building with many stories contained within its walls. It's an excellent venue that deserves to mentioned with other hallowed theatres such as Maple Leaf Gardens and the Montreal Forum.

As I made my way to my seat, the scents of concourse food options filled the air while excited fans found their entrance to the section containing their chosen seats. I sat in Section 209 which allowed me to witness the Komets in the offensive zone twice, but the layout of the seats in the arena meant there were no bad seats that one could find. While it seats more than 10,000 fans for hockey, smaller crowds sound as loud as a full house thanks to the acoustics. I can only imagine what it sounds like on the ice when the fans are most vocal.

With the defending ECHL champions in town, the Florida Everblades were looking to extend their winning streak to four games while the Komets were looking to start a winning streak after dropping their last game against Wheeling. The vocal crowd would be into this one almost immediately as gloves, helmets, and sticks were on the ice just seven seconds after the puck was dropped. As shown in the lede photo above, Yanick Turcotte and Kyle Neuber got acquainted with some early fisticuffs, but neither gained enough of an advantage for a decisive win. Regardless of the outcome, it was very clear that the crowd loved every second of the scrap!

Both teams looked to use their physical skills to find an edge as speed and some thunderous checks were evident throughout the opening frame. The Komets, though, began to impose their will towards the end of the period, and their offensive zone time paid off. Brandon McManus deflected a Connor Corcoran shot past Cam Johnson at 17:11 to give the home side the 1-0 lead, and they'd double the lead when Ethan Keppen banked a shot into the net off Cam Johnson following an Odeen Tufto redirection at 19:20. The fans were rocking inside the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum with the Komets leading 2-0 over Florida. Brett Brochu stopped all seven shots he faced in the frame as Fort Wayne held a 16-7 edge in shots.

I should probably interject here that the ECHL is a developmental league not only for players, but for officials as well. I say this because there were a number of missed calls that seemed pretty obvious to me, but the officials deemed them not to be penalties. This will be a running theme throughout the evening for both teams, but it needs to be said: whatever standard of officiating that the ECHL is demanding seemed to be missing in this game.

A rather questionable holding call was assessed to the Komets just 1:59 into the middle frame, and the Everblades made them pay when Anton Malmström shot from the point beat a partially-screen Brochu at 2:30 to cut the Komets' lead to 2-1. The goal didn't slow down the physicality, though, as both teams continued to punish each other when the opportunities arose. Despite a pile of penalties in the later stages of this frame, the Komets would take the 2-1 lead to the second break with the Komets holding a 25-16 edge in shots.

Time would begin to look like the enemy of the Everblades as the first half of the period went by without any goals, but Oliver Chau would score after it appeared that Brett Brochu was the victim of interference. From the overhead review, it seemed one of the Everblades in the pile of humanity in front of the net grabbed his stick which left him unable to slide to his right to stop Chau. After conferring, the officials went to the review, but ultimately determined the goal to be a good goal despite the fans clearly disagreeing. Chau's goal tied the game at 2-2 at the 12:40 mark.

That seemed to fire up the Komets because they'd respond 45 seconds later when Connor Corcoran stepped into an Odeen Tufto feed, hammering the puck past Cam Johnson to make it 3-2 for the home side. 37 seconds after that, Justin Taylor would bank a rebound into the net off Johnson to put the Komets up by a pair of goals again, but this time saw just 5:58 remaining in the game. A few fans started down the stairs towards the concourse as they believed the Komets were in the driver's seat, but the three-time defending champs know all about how to score late in a game.

Sean Allen would notch his first goal with the Everblades when he teed up a one-timer from the point off a Kade Landry pass that hit Brochu, but ended up behind him across the goal line at 16:18 to make it a 4-3 game. If that wasn't bad enough, a defensive switch allowed Olver Chau to get open in front where he converted an Alex Kile feed from behind the net at 17:26, and we were tied at 4-4. As time ticked down, neither side could dent any more twine, and we would have some free hockey on Thanksgiving! Fort Wayne still held a 34-30 edge in shots at the end of regulation.

Despite some back-and-forth action in the three-on-three overtime which is seven minutes long in the ECHL, a power-play was awarded to Fort Wayne after Florida sent four players onto the ice. Despite both sides having chances, neither side would score on the Komets' advantage. The extra player came into play on the game-winner, though, so let's go to the highlight and see how this one ended!
Carson Gicewicz scores the overtime winner at 5:41 of the extra frame as Florida takes this one by a 5-4 score. Anton Malmström and Alex Kile, who served the bench minor, earned the assists as Brochu couldn't stop the shot from Gicewicz, and the Everblades grab the extra points and their fourth-straight win on Gicewicz's game-winner.

Despite the score, I have to say that ECHL hockey is something I would definitely support if it moved into my market. It's a fun outing, it's affordable as my ticket set me back just $28.25 USD plus $8 for parking, and there is enough talent for the ECHL to be a solid entertainment choice that doesn't break the bank. In that vein, the Fort Wayne Komets do hockey right in keeping things fun, entertaining, and affordable, and their fans repay them with unparalleled support at the box office and with merchandise sales.

I want to give the fans the proper respect they deserve because I'd estimate that 20% of the crowd on Thanksgiving showed up wearing some sort of Komets jersey while it seemed like more than half were wearing the Komets logo on whatever clothing they wore - hats, t-shirts, hoodies, and more. There a lot of teams who claim to have the best fans in the world, but seeing the devotion the Komets have from their fans was nothing short of mind-blowing. I felt out of place not wearing their colours, so I had to correct that by adding a t-shirt to my wardrobe! Consider me a Komets fan now!

Overall, I'm definitely going to another ECHL game if and when I get the chance. The price point is easy to justify, the atmosphere was so much fun in Fort Wayne, the fans were passionate and knowledgeable about their team, and the game itself was solid entertainment as the teams went back and forth before finally finding a winner in overtime. Yes, I realize that not every night at an ECHL rink will be like this, but I'm willing to bet more are like this than less and that would make me a fan in quick order!

For my first ECHL game, I feel like I picked a beauty of a night to experience the action as the Fort Wayne Komets put on a show despite the Florida Everblades coming away with the win!

Until next time, keep your sticks on the ice!