After a week in Iowa, where they won all three of their games against the Heartlanders, the Komets returned home for a day before heading back on a plane to Florida.<\/p>\n
Entering the back end of its 11 straight road games to start the season, the team has started to get into a rhythm both on the ice and on the road. Weeklong stops have helped lessen the wear and tear.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe schedule is not that bad,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cIt\u2019s more challenging when you\u2019re going from city to city. We kind of liked that we\u2019ve been able to be somewhere for a week and get settled in\u2026(Iowa) is great. They\u2019re setup is awesome with the hotels in the arena. Lots of food and everything is close.\u201d<\/p>\n
While it may be an ideal spot for many this time of year, Florida is far from a chance to unwind for the Komets as they prepare for a three-game slate against the Everblades starting at 7:30 p.m. today at the Hertz Arena in Estero, Florida.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re definitely not treating it like a vacation,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cIt\u2019s a work trip.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Komets (5-1-0), tied for the lead in the Western Conference, will be pitted against a team Kallechy referred to as the \u201cmeasuring stick\u201d of the ECHL. The Everblades (4-3-0) became the first team to three-peat as Kelly Cup champs from 2022 to \u201924. They\u2019re streak was ended by the next Kelly Cup champs, the Trois-Rivi\u00e8res Lions, in last season\u2019s Eastern Conference finals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey know how to win, and everybody who plays them, we all compare ourselves to them to see where we match up,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cAlthough it\u2019s early in the year, we\u2019re going to use it as a measuring stick to continue to push our group forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
It\u2019s a homecoming for Kallechy, who, before being hired by the Komets in 2023, spent three seasons with the Everblades as an assistant coach under Brad Ralph. Kallechy was on staff for two Kelly Cup titles.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got a lot of friendships there,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cA coach that I think very highly of gave me a chance in the league. Still some players there that I\u2019ve won championships with.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201dIt\u2019s cool to be back, but the nostalgia has worn a little. We played them last year, and I\u2019m a Komet through and through. Still, it\u2019s really cool. The memories I have in Florida are something nobody can ever take away.\u201d<\/p>\n
Another twist to the series was added on Sunday when the Komets signed forward Nico Blachman on Sunday. In 45 games with the Heartlanders last season, Blachman accrued a league-high 221 penalty minutes while also registering five goals and five assists.<\/p>\n
Playing on his ninth different ECHL team, he made his pro debut with the Everblades while Kallechy was on their staff in 2021. After signing to return to Florida in the offseason, Blachman was released on Oct. 21. He\u2019s yet to play a game this season.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe gives us a different element we lost a little bit with injuries and some guys not in the lineup,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cIt just gives us a different look and a different skill set that we\u2019re excited to add.\u201d<\/p>\n
Blachman was placed on the 3-Day IL on Tuesday. Forward Austin Magera and defenseman Ian Pierce was activated.<\/p>\n
Fort Wayne will also face Florida at 7:30 p.m. Friday and 7 p.m. Saturday.<\/p>\n
Stepping up and staying hot<\/p>\n
The Komets sweep of the Heartlanders featured standout stat lines from three forwards \u2013 James Stefan, Josh Groll and Jayden Grubbe \u2013 and rookie goaltender Samuel Jonsson.<\/p>\n
Jonsson was named the ECHL Goaltender of the Week for putting up a pair of shutouts, first in a 4-0 win on Wednesday where he stopped 29 shots and following with a 2-0 victory on Saturday that saw him save 15 more.<\/p>\n
The 21-year-old from Gavle, Sweden, who was drafted by the Edmonton Oilers in 2022, made his American debut on Oct. 18 against the Kalamazoo Wings. He allowed five goals on 30 shots in a Komets win, but has brought his save percentage up to .932 and his goals allowed to 1.67 with his efforts last week.<\/p>\n
\u201dI think the transition is a lot harder than what people realize,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cHe\u2019s coming into a new country he\u2019s never been in before. Everything is different from the living to the food to the culture to the size of the arena. It\u2019s a different game. It was always going to take a little bit of time and I think he\u2019s starting to look like the guy the Oilers are really excited about.\u201d<\/p>\n
Stefan scored a goal in all three games, becoming the team\u2019s leading goal scorer with four. Groll has a team-high six points after a pair of multi-point games in Iowa, including two goals and an assist in Wednesday\u2019s victory. Grubbe assisted on both of Groll\u2019s goals on Wednesday, putting him at four this season.<\/p>\n
\u201dIt was nice seeing James contribute to five-on-five. He\u2019s a goal scorer so it\u2019s good to see him ger rewarded,\u201d Kallechy said. \u201cJosh is a worker bee. All of his offense is being created from effort and hounding pucks. I though those guys, along with Jayden on the line the line, were fantastic.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After a week in Iowa, where they won all three of their games against the Heartlanders, the Komets…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":33975,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,23757,23760,23756,23759,23758],"class_list":["post-33974","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-james-stefan","tag-jesse-kallechy","tag-josh-groll","tag-komets","tag-samuel-jonsson"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33974","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=33974"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/33974\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33975"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=33974"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=33974"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=33974"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}