Not baseball, but worthwhile

Since there have been mentions about the Beloit Stadium project and the progress of the new stadium in Midland, I was trying to find a bit more information on the Fort Wayne project. No new information, but I did find this.
Wild behavior spoils Komets’ weekend games

Fort Wayne Komets radio broadcaster Bob Chase summed up the weekend’s events like this: “I’ve been around the Komets for 54 years and I’ve not seen anything any worse than that.”

The Komets aren’t talking much about their weekend set of games at Elmira, N.Y., but they’re clearly peeved.

Just a note: If there is ever a story at RattlersReport.com that begins with me being quoted saying, "I've been around the Rattlers for 54 years..." send me an e-mail to my flying car's telepathic link that says, "Chris, it's time."

What was so bad?

In the two games, the teams combined for 385 penalty minutes and 18 misconducts. There were penalties for such things as intent to injure (Elmira’s Milan Maslonka), leaving the bench to fight (Elmira’s Curtis Tidball) and continuing an altercation (Fort Wayne’s Mario Larocque).

Yep. Bad.

Things got out of control Saturday when Elmira’s Scott Wray charged Fort Wayne goaltender Kevin St. Pierre, inciting a melee. There was another brawl in the third period that included Maslonka fighting J.C. Ruid, who had three goals and two assists in the game, and a player blindsiding Fort Wayne’s Bruce Richardson. When that calmed down, Nichols was ejected for actions behind the bench with seven seconds left in the game.

Yep. Bad.

That’s when things really got wild. According to sources, [Elmira head coach Robbie] Nichols found his way to the Fort Wayne locker room area and, sleeves rolled up, confronted Richardson, an assistant coach. Larocque had to separate the two.

Fort Wayne general manager David Franke also got in a shouting match with Nichols, sources said, and police were later called to First Arena.

OK. Really Bad. Geez. (ed. emphasis mine).

What is the opposing point of view? Here is the Elmira Star-Gazette version of Friday's game:
Special teams lift Jackals

The Elmira Jackals, embarrassed by an 8-1 drubbing by host Fort Wayne on Nov. 17, even things up Friday night with a literally hard-fought 3-2 victory over the Komets.

Frank Littlejohn's two goals -- one on the power play and another shorthanded --helped Elmira win its second game in a row following a three-game losing streak.

With Jackals General Manager Robbie Nichols issuing instructions on the bench with coach Kris Waltze, Littlejohn set the tone early by getting into a fight with Fort Wayne's Pascal Morency 1 minute, 23 seconds into the game before the announced First Arena crowd of 3,391.

That merely proved to be the preliminary for the main event, when both teams crowded near the Komets' entrance to the ice at the end of the second period for some more battling that resulted in six 10-minute misconduct penalties. That melee was highlighted by a shirtless Curtis Tidball pounding on Fort Wayne's Kevin Hansen.

Sometimes I miss hockey. Of course, I'd just be getting off the bus from Elmira today.

Want to see the rematch? The article helpfully points out that the Komets host Elmira in Fort Wayne on December 22.