Fort Wayne, IN-- Former Komet defenseman and Hall-of-Famer Terry Pembroke passed away Thursday night in Sequin, Texas from cancer complications at age 70.The Toronto, Ontario native made his Fort Wayne debut in 1964 and skated three seasons with the Komets in the International Hockey League before spending two seasons with Omaha of the Central Hockey League. Pembroke returned to Fort Wayne in 1969 where he completed his 12-year Fort Wayne career and established himself as a Komet legend.
Pembroke (PEMM-brook) accumulated 273 assists and 339 points during his career in Fort Wayne and ranks third with 784 regular season games. He ranks sixth all-time with 1,143 penalty minutes and holds the Komet record with eight IHL All-Star Game appearances. Pembroke helped the Komets to two IHL Huber Trophies in 1972-73 and 1977-78 and won the IHL Turner Cup Championship with the Komets in 1965 and 1973.Pembroke was inducted into the Komets Hall of Fame in 1987. His retired number 5 hangs in the rafters of the Memorial Coliseum to forever remind us of his grit, toughness and dedication to Komet hockey. Pembroke once said, as quoted today in Blake Sebring's article in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel, "The reason Fort Wayne was and is successful is because they operate with big league scruples. The thing that kept that hockey team going was the links to the past. Every generation draws a certain group of people, and then eventually they all show up at the arena. Everybody in Fort Wayne knows a Komet, either a current one or a former Komet. It's just a unique municipality."
Our memory of Terry Pembroke will forever be one of those "links" in the history of Komet hockey.
For more information on Terry Pembroke,see today's story by Blake Sebring in the Fort Wayne News Sentinel by clicking heresee today's story by Justin Cohn in the Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette by clicking here
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