Trying To Reach Zenith All Over Again

Emotionally, Zenith Komarniski has scaled the peak, plunged into the valley and started the slippery climb back up.

And we’re only a third of the way through the hockey season.

The centerpiece of a stunning trade four weeks ago, Komarniski would have every right to look past Spokane’s Western Hockey League game tonight in Seattle.

Saturday night he’s going home.

Komarniski started the season as captain of the Tri-City Americans. For three years, when he was healthy, he did as much as anyone to keep the rivalry with Spokane revved up. On his best nights, he did it all. Defend. Score. Run the power play. Agitate.

Then a rash decision last month cost him his prominence in Kennewick and he was sent home - all this after signing a contract with the NHL Vancouver Canucks over the summer and being named captain in Tri-City.

A month into the season, both the captain and the coach, Bob Loucks, were gone.

Komarniski refused to serve a penalty in a Tri-City game on Oct. 28, skating off instead for the locker room. A confrontation with new coach Rick Lanz followed. Essentially, Komarniski asked for a trade and was accommodated.

What prompted him to blow off the penalty?

“It had nothing to do with the call, or the team,” he said Tuesday. “I really don’t know how to explain it. It’s like anything else. If you don’t enjoy playing for some reason, it’s going to drag you down. That’s kind of what it did. It was dragging me down.

“I’m a competitive kind of a guy. I take losing to the heart. I was just trying to show that to the team (the Ams). It’s something that happened that I can’t change. I’ll have to live with it. I’ll probably never, ever do that again in my life.”

His friend and teammate with the Americans, Craig Stahl, blasted Komarniski in the Tri-City Herald after the incident. Stahl said Komarniski had left his team high and dry.

“That hurt to an extent, but Craig was speaking for the team,” Komarniski said. “I haven’t talked to him since, but if we ever do talk, I’m sure we can overlook all that.”

One of the WHL’s premier defensemen, Komarniski brought a groin injury back from camp with the Canucks that slowed his start. Earlier in his carer, he suffered a broken arm. A bruised hip is his latest ailment, but that’s coming around.

For three years he did everything in his power to knock off the Chiefs. Overnight, he was one of them. He’s still getting over the culture shock.

Saturday night’s game is his first return trip to Tri-City.

“Going back to that Coliseum, where I played, dressing in the other dressing room, using the other (penalty) box, it’ll be an emotional game,” he said, “but with the support of my teammates, everything should work out fine.

“Things are getting settled down, but it’s taken awhile. Surprisingly, it (the trade) went over pretty well here. Everyone kind of spoke for themselves and let things unfold. I’m just trying to get to know every guy.”

The Chiefs and Komarniski are going through a mutual feeling-out process as they bury old grudges. The adjustment was eased somewhat when the Chiefs also picked up 20-year-old Kris Waltze from the Americans.

In return, the Chiefs sent center Blake Evans and defenseman Regan Darby to Tri-City. Darby is still out with a badly sprained ankle, but Evans - who divides his time between the second and third lines - notched his first goal with his new team Sunday night in Lethbridge.

Will Tri-City fans linger on the bitterness that surrounded Komarniski’s departure, or applaud the contributions he made prior to that?

Tri-City GM Bob Brown says he expects fan reception to be warmer than you might expect.

“I’d be disappointed if it wasn’t,” Brown said.

Komarniski says he’d like to remember the positives.

“I have to thank Tri-City for three great years,” he said. “They supported me. Now my focus is with the Spokane Chiefs. I don’t think it’s selfish to say I just want to get this one over with.”

Ference gets word today

The Chiefs are saying the gross misconduct call on defenseman Brad Ference Saturday night’s game in Seattle was out of bounds.

Ference found himself in the role of peacemaker after teammate Ty Jones took a punch from Seattle’s Greg Kuznik. Officials had a hard time getting the angry Jones off the ice. Ference, the Chiefs say, was trying to get his teammate to cool off when he was hit with an unsportmanslike conduct and a 10-minute misconduct.

When Ference, guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time, went off, referee Colin Rasmussen tacked on a gross misconduct, which includes a suspension.

Ference was held out of Sunday night’s game in Portland. WHL vice-president Richard Doerksen was reviewing the tape of the incident Tuesday.

Meanwhile, Jones is expected to miss tonight’s game in Key Arena with what is described as a mild concussion.

Notes

Ference and Komarniski are on the 50-man list of players under consideration for an invitation to evaluation camp with Canada’s world junior team. The 32-player list comes out Monday. Selection camp starts Dec. 12 in Kitchener, Ontario… . Chiefs coach Mike Babcock has a shot at coaching the West squad in the Jan. 21 WHL all-star game in Regina. The two coaches with the best record after 29 games get the job. Swift Current coach Todd McClellan has all but nailed down coaching honors for the WHL East.

, DataTimes ILLUSTRATION: Color Photo