‘Win one for Komarov’ was Amerks rallying cry after scary injury

By KEVIN OKLOBZIJA

It’s amazing how quiet 6,884 hockey fans can get in an instant.

But when Rochester Americans rookie defenseman Vsevolod Komarov lie motionless on the ice following a fight with Syracuse Crunch forward Jack Finley, the crowd at Blue Cross Arena at the War Memorial went from deafening screams to near silence late Sunday afternoon.

Komarov was hit squarely in the face by a thundering punch from the 6-foot-6, 220-pound Finley and fell face-first to the ice, perhaps unconscious.

The Amerks medical staff sprinted onto the ice to provide aid and Finley hovered just a few feet away, clearly concerned about his opponent.

The fight took place after Finley and Komarov battled for position in the deep slot in front of the Amerks net. It came with 3:22 remaining in the second period, a period dominated by the Crunch.

Still, despite overwhelming offensive zone time in the period, the Crunch still hadn’t found a way to score Amerks goalie Devon Levi up to that point.

They never did, either. While Komarov was unable to finish the game, the Amerks turned what was a 1-0 lead into a 4-0 victory and a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Calder Cup North Division semifinals.

“Komi” was their motivation the rest of the game.

“Super proud of him for being the guy to step up and try to change the momentum,” Levi said of Komarov. “They had the momentum and for him to go into that fight against a tough guy like Finley, we were going to fight back for him.”

Not that it was easy. They had just watched a teammate suffer a serious injury.

“It was probably a five-, 10-minute delay there; just thinking about that was pretty heavy,” Levi said. “But I think he gave us a little extra motivation to go out and do it for him.”

They did so only after they seemed to be in even deeper trouble. Crunch center Gabriel Dumont delivered a late hit on Jack Rathbone, driving the Amerks defenseman into the corner boards pretty much shoulder and jaw first. He was helped off the ice and for a moment the Amerks were down to four defensemen.

Then, 34 seconds later, the Crunch gained what seemed to be even more momentum when Amerks winger Brendan Warren was assessed a roughing penalty.

But the Amerks killed off the penalty, with Rathbone returning to take part in the kill, then scored a power-play goal of their own by Jiri Kulich with just 13.3 seconds remaining in the period.

They then scored twice in the third period and secured the 35-save shutout for Levi.

“I think the guys wanted to do it for him (Komarov),” coach Michael Leone said.

Leone did not have an update on Komarov afterward.

“You never want to see that happen,” Leone said. “He’s a tough kid, he’s competitive. I don’t really have an update. I know he’s doing better.”