Komets Fall To Wichita In Game Four 4-3

CLICK ON VIDEO TAB TO SEE WANE'S TEAM COVERAGE INCLUDING INTERVIEWS WITH AL SIMS (CLIP 2), COLIN CHAULK (CLIP 3) AND MIKE VASKIVUO (CLIP 4).

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (WANE) - On the verge of sweeping the Wichita Thunder for their first ever CHL Presidents' Cup Championship, the Komets fell to the Thunder 4-3.

Just 19 seconds in the Komets were awarded a penalty shot after a call against Wichita deep in their own zone. Mike Vaskivuo capitalized, beating Thunder goalie Brian Hogan to open the scoring.

Just under seven minutes later, however, Wichita responded on a powerplay advantage. Daniel Tretrault cleaned up a rebound in front for the tying goal.

From there the goaltending was a little more sound until the 15:50 mark when it was the Komets turn to strike with a man advantage. Chris Auger continued his torrid scoring in the series, taking a Leo Thomas pass and giving the K's a 2-1 edge.

Once again though, the Thunder had an answer. With just 22 seconds remaining in the period it was Matt Summers' turn - lighting the lamp just before the first intermission.

Offense continued to reign supreme in the second period with the Komets scoring their second powerplay goal of the night - this time off the stick of rookie forward J.M. Rizk who continues to play well in the postseason.

In what is proving to be the theme of the night though, the Thunder found the answer again late in the period when Aaron Davis converted a feed from Thomas Beauregard to tie the game again.

Both goalies have faced a lot of shots to this point - though Hogan has the worst of it as the Komets have peppered him 28 times as compared to 17 for Nick Boucher through two periods.

Midway through the third period Beauregard struck with the go-ahead goal. That would prove to be the game-winner. The Komets had plenty of chances in the closing minutes of the third period but were unable to convert.

Game five of the Presidents' Cup Finals will be played Monday night at the Coliseum.