After a brief stint with the Komets near the tail end of the 2024-25 season, forward James Stefan was already familiar with Fort Wayne when he was transferred there on Oct. 7 by the Edmonton Oilers.<\/p>\n
\u201cKnowing all the guys, the systems, and the staff, it always makes it easier to come back and just play my game and not have to worry about all the other stuff,\u201d Stefan said. \u201cIt\u2019s definitely been easier this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
But he didn\u2019t come alone.<\/p>\n
Stefan was one of five forwards either transferred or loaned to the Komets from the Bakersfield Condors, along with Brady Stonehouse, Jayden Grubbe, Matthew Brown, and Trevor Janicke. Stefan is the only player in the group who previously played in Fort Wayne, taking on a sort of liaison role for his new teammates.<\/p>\n
\u201cI kind of felt like I was that kind of guy that could tell them how things are done here,\u201d Stefan said. \u201cThings like living, things away from the rink, but also things on the ice like systems, things they haven\u2019t done yet. I felt like I could help them out a little bit.\u201d<\/p>\n
After a quiet first year with the Condors, Stefan broke out in his time with the Komets to the tune of 15 points (10 goals, 5 assists) over 25 total games. The stint provided Stefan with consistent playing time, which he hadn\u2019t experienced in Bakersfield, and helped him regain his offensive rhythm, having scored 50 goals and assisted on 51 more in his final junior season with the Portland Winterhawks.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the biggest thing when you\u2019re coming down here is building your confidence and trying to play your game,\u201d Stefan said. \u201cSometimes you\u2019re playing more than you would up there\u2026We\u2019ve got a good group down here, so it makes it a lot easier. It makes it fun to come to the rink and play the game.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stonehouse and Grubbe hadn\u2019t played in the ECHL before last Friday in the Komets\u2019 4-0 win over the Indy Fuel to open the season. They both were among the 13 different players to record a point in the first two games.<\/p>\n
Stonehouse became familiar with the Komets through players such as Jamie Schaafsma and Brent Rumble, former Komets players from his hometown of Blenheim, Ontario. He scored at least 50 points in each of his first three seasons of junior hockey with the Ottawa 67\u2019s, but the best aspect of his game can\u2019t really be measured in a statsheet.<\/p>\n
\u201cI play like a pest and I can produce,\u201d Stonehouse said. \u201cJust getting under the opponent’s skin and playing that rat role. I\u2019m pretty good at it and I enjoy it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stonehouse recorded his first professional point, assisting on a goal scored by Grubbe in the second period of Friday\u2019s game against Indy. Grubbe, one of five Komets players with three points through two games, is looking to improve his game all-around in his third pro season.<\/p>\n
\u201cSomeone who plays both ends of the ice and produces offensively while playing hard defensively as well,\u201d Grubbe said. \u201cI\u2019m focusing on all areas of my game, and doing that will help the team have success.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown was signed to the AHL\u2019s Lehigh Valley Phantoms in 2023 and made the ECHL All-Star Game in his first pro season with the Reading Royals. He scored 41 points in both of his two seasons with Reading, scoring 19 goals and recording 22 assists last season.<\/p>\n
Janicke brings an impressive resume to Fort Wayne, playing on the US U-17 and U-18 National teams before being drafted in the 2019 NHL draft. Janicke opted to play college hockey for Notre Dame, where he was an alternate captain in two of his five seasons with the Fighting Irish. Janicke scored 11 goals and had 14 assists in his first pro season with the Rapid City Rush and also played 15 games in the AHL with the Calgary Wranglers.<\/p>\n
The players\u2019 first two weeks in Fort Wayne have mainly been spent focusing on building chemistry on the ice. Even Stefan, in his second stint, has said he hasn\u2019t gotten much time to learn his way around the city.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve been out, but it\u2019s kind of just been the rink and then hanging out with my roommates back at home,\u201d Stefan said. \u201cA couple of good food spots here and there that I\u2019ve been to, but I haven\u2019t really explored downtown very much yet. I\u2019d like to do that soon.\u201d<\/p>\n
While they haven\u2019t been to many places, the groups have already learned plenty about the people of Fort Wayne. Specifically, Komets fans.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn Indy and Kalamazoo, there were lots of fans, so that\u2019s good to see,\u201d Stonehouse said. \u201cI\u2019m excited to play at home here in November.\u201d<\/p>\n
The new Komets, and some of those fans, will travel to Cincinnati for a game at 7:30 p.m. Friday against the Cyclones.<\/p>\n
Note: Forward Dillon Hamaliuk was placed on the 14-Day IL on Monday after sustaining an injury to his left foot during Saturday\u2019s game against the Kalamazoo Wings. The injury came on a collision with Wings defenseman Kylor Wall where Wall\u2019s blade inadvertently clipped Hamaliuk\u2019s heel.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a brief stint with the Komets near the tail end of the 2024-25 season, forward James Stefan…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16468,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[35],"tags":[151,153,152,14419],"class_list":{"0":"post-16540","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bakersfield","8":"tag-bakersfield","9":"tag-bakersfield-headlines","10":"tag-bakersfield-news","11":"tag-komets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16540","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16540"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16540\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16540"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16540"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16540"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}