Tales of the Komets
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Fletch’s final fight
When Steve Fletcher came back to play one game with the UHL Komets on Jan. 12, 2003, he told everyone who would listen that he wasn’t going to fight because he had made a promise to his wife Theresa. No one believed him before the game, but he stayed away from the fisticuffs against the Kalamazoo Wings.
Realizing what the crowd of 9,265 fans really wanted, Wings forward Craig Bilick asked Komets defenseman Jake Ortmeyer, ``Does the old man want to fight?’’
Ortmeyer skated over to Fletcher and made the offer (leaving out the ``old man’’ comment), but Fletcher, 40, said he couldn’t because of the promise. Ortmeyer gave the news to Bilick who told the defenseman to try again. This time Fletcher told Ortmeyer that he couldn’t start a fight, but of course he had to be able to defend himself.
After hearing from Ortmeyer again, Bilick lined up with Fletcher before a face-off with about five minutes left. When Bilick slashed Fletcher, the fight was on, and Fletcher landed three solid punches and took Bilick down twice near center ice before the linesmen separated the pair.
``The guy wanted to go,’’ Fletcher said afterward, laughing. ``It happened. I was never one to say `No.’ He was in my face, so you know…’’
Thanks to Bilick, Fletcher got to defend himself and the Fort Wayne crowd got what it wanted, roaring as Fletcher skated to the locker room for the final time.
``Theresa asked me what would have happened if I had lost,’’ Fletcher said. ``I would have chased him into the dressing room. What were they going to do, suspend me?’’
As for Bilick, with his eyes swollen nearly shut on the bus ride home, his teammates got all over the 24-year-old for losing to an ``old man.’’
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About the Book
Over 55 seasons, the Fort Wayne Komets have been one of the greatest franchises in North American minor league sports. Throughout their existence, they have experienced uncounted unique stories dealing with players, teams, fans and other characters, such as:
* The coach who said winning was better than sex
* The fan favorite who was traded for two dryers
* The player who rode his horse to practice
* The player who earned more than $1 million in the minors
* The equipment manager who saved the season
* The player who wrote a poem to the fans
* The best friends who fought each other
* The reason Wayne Gretzky came to wear No. 99
* The player who got a kiss during a game
* The final fate of Brett Hull’s Stanley Cup puck
* The Tom Petty song that helped in a championship
* The opposing team that needed an exorcism
These stories and many more are inside ``Tales of the Komets.’’
About the Author
A native of Fort Wayne, Blake Sebring has covered the Fort Wayne Komets for more than 15 years, writing more than 5,000 stories about the team in both the International Hockey League and the United Hockey League. He started working at The News-Sentinel at age 15 in 1979 and joined the paper as a full-time writer in 1988. He is currently the assistant sports editor. You can read his coverage of the Komets at www.news-sentinel.com and through his blog at www.tailingthekomets.com. He is currently writing his second book about the Komets.