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Tagged: Fort Wayne Komets

08Aug

Scott Fleming(24) Greenville Road Warriors

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At 26-years old Fort Wayne Komets‘ center Scott Fleming(24) has to be enjoying his “rookie” season.

He first signed an agreement to join the team’s preseason roster but once they saw him play he was a part of the team.

He last played on ultimate reassignment to Gwinnett Gladiators in 2011/2012 after invites to affiliates Phoenix Coyotes and Portland Pirates‘ training camps.

His first year pro was cut short after only 6 games with 3 goals and 1 assists after suffering a season-ending concussion.

The 5’11” 180 lbs. undrafted forward is another player that took a somewhat longer route before ever signing a contract.

He started at 16 with three years marking up the score sheet in the OPJHL before moving on to 4 campaigns of hockey at Dartmouth College, where he served as team captain in 2010-2011.

After almost two full seasons of sitting on the sidelines, his return picks up where he left off.

In 40 ECHL games he has 11 goals and 23 assists with a +13 rating.

His point production got him noticed as Worcester Sharks signed him to a pto to fill some injured holes in the lineup.

He skated in 4 AHL games and dished a pair of helpers with a +1 plus/minus, which could easily grab the attention on another higher league club.

For now though, he’ll go back to double A hockey, continue to work on his game and help his team win.

Original story 2/15-14

He finished 2013/2014 scoring 16 goals and 33 assist in 62 games and added another pair of helpers in 11 postseason contests.

For his follow-up season he signed to skate with Fife Flyers of EIHL. He added to his totals slightly with 26 goals and tied his 33 assists mark for 59 points in 60 contests.

The now 27-year old has made the decision to return to North American hockey for 2015/2016 and will suit up for Greenville Road Warriors of the ECHL.

We expect him to continue his point production and possibly even earn another call-up to the higher leauge.

19Jul

Justin Hodgman(12) St. Louis Blues

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Undrafted sixth year center Justin Hodgman(12) had already won two IHL Turner Cup Championships with Fort Wayne Komets while he was still playing in the OHL with Erie Otters.

He was also named MVP in both those seasons with a combined 14 goals and 12 assists in 24 playoff games.

These scoring totals were much in line with his last three seasons of juniors, where he averaged a point-per-game.

In his rookie year he was even allowed while under contract with Toronto Marlies to be released back to the Komets to play for their third straight title.

From there he played a full season for the Marlies, despite a brief 3 ECHL game stint with Reading Royals.

His point totals were even half decent at 12 goals and 17 assists in 42 AHL games with a +7 rating.

But by the next season he split for Europe and agreed for a year with Pelicans of Liiga in Finland.

The 6’1″ 203 lbs. forward continued to climb the hockey ladder spending his next pair of campaigns in the KHL mostly with Metallurg Magnitogorsk.

For 2014/2015 he decided to return home and seek out a deal closer to home.

Arizona Coyotes unceremoniously signed him to a one-year, two-way contract.

He was on the opening night roster after a fantastic training camp in which he netted a team high 4 preseason goals.

Although very much pleasantly surprised by his efforts, he sat the first two games as a healthy scratch before being reassigned to minor league affiliate Portland Pirates.

He played three games at the beginning of their season, recording no points.

Recalled quickly due to an injury, he made his NHL debut count, scoring the game-tying goal on his only shot on net, skated 16 shifts for 11:27 total time on ice with 2 penalty minutes.

The 26-year old has made quite the journey through 3 minor leagues and 2 pro leagues overseas to finally get his opportunity in the show.

Original story: 10/28-14

After his first year back in North America post 3 seasons overseas and his 1st NHL goal, the recently turned 27-year old signs for 2015/2016 with St. Louis Blues on another two-way deal.

He skated in 5 games with Arizona Coyotes on two recalls and played in a new AHL high 62 games with a new best 24 assists and 35 points.

He just may make the parent club out of training camp, but even if he heads to start the season with affiliate Chicago Wolves he’ll likely be one of the first from the farm club to get summoned.

25Jan

Shawn Szydlowski (27)

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4th year undrafted right wing Shawn Szydlowski(27) is having a career season in his second campaign with Fort Wayne Komets, his first under contract with the team.

He has 21 goals and 22 assists for 43 points in 35 ECHL games with a +19 rating.

His totals are good enough for 5th overall points in the league but possibly the most tell-tale stat about his sudden surge is his 117 shots on net, which is only three off his totals from last year.

The 6′ 208 lbs. forward was originally under a 3-year entry level deal with Buffalo Sabres but after his rookie year with Rochester Americans was mostly reassigned down.

He has always put up respectable numbers but it was in the 2014 Kelly Cup Playoffs where he really started to shine getting 6 goals and 5 assists in 11 games with a +4 plus/minus.

Not being offered a qualifying offer to spend another year under NHL contract, he decided to stay in Indiana and is really starting to take off.

His play got notice from Binghamton Senators, who signed him to a pto.

In 3 AHL he failed to register a point but was played somewhat sparingly.

06Jan

Jordon Southorn(3) Portland Pirates

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5th year defenseman Jordon Southorn(3) scored his first goal in his longest stint yet in the AHL.

He signed a 2-way contract with Portland Pirates over the summer and has been up and down a couple times already this season.

He’s skated in 11 games also adding an assist with a +4 rating on what is a roller coaster ride of a team.

The big 6’3″ 199 lbs. blue liner has played in all kinds of situations: even strength, on the power play and short-handed and handled himself with seemingly steady precision.

Definitely a bit of a wonder why the former Buffalo Sabres‘ 4th round pick in the 2008 draft (#104 overall) went unsigned and has played most of his pro career in the ECHL.

He has 213 games for 6 different teams in the league to his credit scoring 34 goals and 74 assists with a defensively accountable +31 rating.

It was surprising to see him sent down the first time but it appears that decision is rapidly becoming tougher to make as he starts connecting with the score sheet and stays tough to play against in his zone.

30Oct

John Muse (40)

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3rd year, undrafted goaltender John Muse(40) was selected as the AHL player of the week after posting a pair of perfect games with Charlotte Checkers on loan from Fort Wayne Komets of the ECHL.

Irony of ironies, he was signed to a contract with the Checkers for his rookie season after four years at Boston College, where he won 2008 and 2010 NCAA Championships.

The 5’11” 175 lbs. net minder also played more than half his first campaign with Florida Everblades, ultimately helping lead the team to a Kelly Cup Championship.

He was also named Playoff MVP for his outstanding 1.78 GAA and .939 SV% over 13 games to the title.

Carolina Hurricanes took notice and signed him to a 1-year entry level deal but the impending lockout basically derailed any promise of him guarding the cage in the show despite being recalled on one occasion.

In his sophomore season, he spent even more time in Charlotte and Florida but wasn’t retained before ultimately moving on.

Now coming full circle (albeit a small one) he is back where he started, but there could be too many stacked pads for him to steal the starter job or even ride the pine until his next opportunity.

Oh, did we mention the East Falmouth, MA-born native was in Providence Bruins‘ training camp on an invite?

We are still lead to believe that with continued good play the 25-year old with once again find himself signed to an NHL contract.

15Aug

Nick Schaus(28) Stavanger Oilers

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4th year undrafted defenseman Nick Schaus(28) leaves North American pro hockey for Stavanger Oilers of GET-ligaen in Norway.

Initially signed to a one-year entry level deal by San Jose Sharks he played in 92 regular and postseason games with their farm team, Worcester Sharks (4 goals, 21 assists).

He was left unqualified for his sophomore campaign but quickly picked up an AHL deal with Syracuse Crunch, where he also spent some time in the ECHL with affiliate Elmira Jackals.

The small-ish 5’11” 200 lbs. blue liner continued with Anaheim Ducks‘ minor league squads for 2012/2013 signing a one-year contract with new affiliate Norfolk Admirals but found less space on the roster in a lockout shortened NHL season and spent more slightly more time with Fort Wayne Komets putting up some impressive numbers (5 goals, 17 assists in 26 games).

All’s well though as the 27-year will likely excel overseas.

19Jul

Bryant Molle(3) Reading Royals

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Undrafted, 3rd year defenseman and consecutive, two-time minor league champ, Bryant Molle(3) re-signs for another year with Reading Royals, the team he won the Kelly Cup with last season.

He played 54 regular season ECHL games and added another 22 playoff games in 2012/2013.

The sizable 6’3″ 215 lbs. blue liner started his first full pro season in the Central Hockey League with Fort Wayne Komets and won the team’s last Ray Miron Presidents’ Cup before switching leagues.

He also appeared in a couple of games with his hometown Alaska Aces upon completing four years of college hockey at University Of Alaska-Fairbanks.

Although never the biggest point getter (2 goals and 19 assists overall), he maintains an outstanding, combined +48 rating over a pair of seasons.

At 26-years old, he’s probably just starting to hit his stride and build a mountain of confidence that may earn him a look from the higher league in the upcoming 2013/2014 campaign.

18Jul

Nik Pokulok(7) Fort Wayne Komets

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Big big big 6’5″ 225 lbs. rookie defenseman Nik Pokulok(7) signs a one year deal with Fort Wayne Komets.

He started his pro career at the end of 2012/2013 skating 6 regular season and 23 ECHL Kelly Cup Playoff games with Stockton Thunder when he completed four years of college hockey at Clarkson University.

After scoring no points in his first short run of games he notched a pair of goals and an assist in the postseason.

Not exactly the style player to tear up the score sheet, the 23-year old is considered a solid stay at home d-man with shutdown capabilities.

He will probably have a great first campaign in the Midwest and with steady play on the blue line could very well see a couple game call-up to the AHL.

25Jun

Brent Henley(44) Nottingham Panthers

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Giant-sized 6’7″ 249 lbs., undrafted 11th year defenseman Brent Henley(44) will don the jersey of his 21st pro hockey team, when he jumps shores to continue his career in the EIHL with Nottingham Panthers for 2013/2014.

He has skated most of his time in the ECHL amassing 248 games and 1189 penalty minutes in the league, while posting 9 goals and 38 assists.

He’s also played in 114 AHL contests, most recently last season in 5 appearances with Lake Erie Monsters.

The 32-year old was a member of Fort Wayne Komets through three different leagues, playing 164 games and won a pair of titles with the team, 2008 IHL Turners Cup and 2012 Central Hockey League President’s Cup.

Most awesomely though, he started his career with Colorado Gold Kings of the WCHL in 2001/2002.

20Dec

Ryan Lasch(11) Fort Wayne Komets

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3rd year, undrafted right wing Ryan Lasch(11) started his pro career with a couple of seasons overseas, first in Sweden and then in Finland with Pelicans of SM-liiga, where he led the league in scoring with 24 goals and 38 assists in 59 games.

The California-born skater comes back to the North American hockey for 2012/2013, signing a deal two-year, two-way deal with Anaheim Ducks, which gives him some stability coming back to these shores.

No chance at him competing for a spot on the NHL roster right now, so he was reassigned to start the year with their new AHL affiliate Norfolk Admirals.

In 11 contests the 5’9″ 170 lbs. forward (who looks a bit bigger on ice than those measurements) scored his first goal and added 3 assists.

Apparently the brass was expecting more or just wanted to try some different looks with a team was slow to start in the first third of the season, so they reassigned him to the ECHL Fort Wayne Komets.

The 25-year wasted zero time proving that his play is above this league. In 10 games, he exploded for 5 goals (including a hat trick) and 9 assists with a +4 plus/minus.

No surprise he was picked as the ECHL Player Of The Week for 12/10-12/16. If he continues on this tear, look for him to get recalled sooner than later but he’ll still need to put up points consistently to stay.

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