For a split second after shoving the puck into the Port Huron goal at 12:22 a.m. on May 13, Komets rookie Justin Hodgman thought about going after it for a souvenir. Then he was gang-tackled by teammates Luciano Aquino and Colin Chaulk before being buried by the rest of his celebrating teammates.
“I remember looking at the puck, but then I don’t remember too much after that,” Hodgman said.
And thus begins “The Mystery of the Missing Puck.” One of the most important pucks in the Komets’ 56-year history, the puck that ended the third-longest game in Fort Wayne history and the longest Game 7 in International Hockey League history was last seen sitting three inches outside the goal line after it had bounced out of the net and off the shoulder of sprawled goaltender Larry Sterling.
No one was quite sure what happened to it after that.
“Retrieving the puck is the last thing I was thinking of,” Komets General Manager David Franke said. “I just didn’t want to fall on my butt at center ice in front of all those people. I was more worried about getting where I needed to go and then partying.”
Exactly – alcohol played a key factor in the puck’s disappearance.
So what actually happened to the puck? That’s what Komets Public Relations Director Chuck Bailey wanted to know a few weeks after the final game. It’s customary after a championship season to send programs, pucks, sticks or jerseys to the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto.
This time Bailey wanted to make sure he sent the game-winning puck, but he couldn’t find it. After asking around the Komets’ office staff for a week, he decided to go back and check the game video.
What Bailey saw surprised him. The puck lay in the crease for about 30 seconds after the goal was scored as the Komets piled on top of Hodgman in the corner. Then a man not affiliated with the team came out from behind the goal and picked up the puck.
“I was just standing behind the goal waiting for the game to get over,” said Kent Harman, who at the time was a Memorial Coliseum concessions manager for Aramark. “Once they opened the doors to let people onto the ice, I just thought I better grab it and make sure nobody else got it so I could get it to the right person.”
That might have cleared up the question of the puck, but there was plenty of confusion during the celebration. Everyone was focused on hugging Hodgman and then skating the Turner Cup around the ice.
Harman says he gave the puck to the Komets captain Guy Dupuis. Dupuis says that’s possible, and he knows at one time he had the puck, but he doesn’t remember who gave him the puck or whom he gave it to.
“So many things happened that day,” Dupuis said. “If it’s just a normal game or a hat trick it’s one thing to go get the puck, but you just won the cup here.”
Dupuis figures if he had the puck, he probably gave it to Komets Merchandise Director Rick Bireley or to Sales Coordinator Josh Testin. Neither remembers that happening or ever having the puck.
After the game, Hodgman remembers asking someone if they knew what happened to the puck. Franke remembers someone gave it to him, but he can’t remember whom or when.
The next time anyone is sure of the puck’s location is a few days later. When Hodgman met with Franke for his end-of-season interview, Franke handed it to him.
Hodgman took the puck home to Brampton, Ontario, where it then sat on his mantel as part of a small hockey shrine his father built.
“Some people have asked me about it, but they don’t believe it’s the puck because it’s not scuffed up,” Hodgman said. “It looks almost brand new because they changed pucks up with each period and it was only shot three times.”
Hodgman scored the goal only 23 seconds into the third overtime, as was inscribed on the white athletic tape around the puck.
So that’s where the puck was, but not where it ended up. In early September before he left for training camp with the Minnesota Wild rookie team, Hodgman drove the puck and his game jersey 30 miles into Toronto where he dropped it off at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
“When Chuck first told me, I didn’t believe him,” Hodgman said. “I never thought anything like that could happen to me. I know I’m not getting inducted into the Hall of Fame, but it’s cool to have a piece of your career in the Hall of Fame at the age of 20. It’s an absolute honor.”
Especially if it’s the right puck.
“Maybe there are about three pucks out there, and no one knows which is the right one,” Testin said. “It’s that good of a mystery that no one knows where it was, but we hope it ended up in the right spot.”
