Komets open 63rd anniversary season Friday at Indy

Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets will open their 63rd anniversary season Friday night with a 7:35 faceoff at the new State Fairgrounds Coliseum in Indianapolis against the Fuel. The Fuel are a new entry in the ECHL this year and offer a chance for the Komets to rekindle an old intrastate rivalry. Friday night's match is the first of a home-and-home series to open the 2014-15 campaign for both teams.Saturday night head coach Gary Graham and the Komets will host the Fuel in Fort Wayne's home opener and kick off a slate of 36 games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Saturday's game will get underway with pregame festivities at 7:30pm. The Komets are 161-80-18-5 (W, L, OTL, T) all-time against Indianapolis foes. The rivalry goes back to 1955 when the Chiefs became members of the old International Hockey League until 1962. Indianapolis re-entered the IHL in 1984 as the Checkers until they folded after their third season in 1987. Indianapolis fielded the Ice in 1988 and were Komet rivals for 11 years until both teams left the IHL after the 1998-99 season. Saturday night's match will be the first time an Indianapolis team has visited Fort Wayne since April 16, 1999 when the Komets suffered a 3-2 shootout loss to the Ice in their final meeting of the year.The Komets will be serving their third season in the ECHL. The league recently announced the addition of seven CHL teams to the league for this year which will bring the Missouri Mavericks and the Quad City Mallards back to the Coliseum for the first time since they were CHL rivals two years ago. Missouri will visit for three games while Quad City will be in town for one. The Komets will skate in the North Division of the Eastern Conference along with Cincinnati, Evansville, Indy, Kalamazoo, Toledo and Wheeling as the 28-team ECHL celebrates its 27th season.Komets 1-1-1 in exhibition-- The Komets skated three preseason games and finished with a 1-1-1 record. Friday, Oct. 10 the Komets upended the visiting Evansville IceMen 7-3 before falling to the IceMen the following night in Fort Wayne 3-2 in a shootout. Monday, Oct. 13 the Komets suffered a 7-3 setback to Kalamazoo in the third exhibition game in Fort Wayne in four nights. Forward Eric Faille led the Komets with five points (2g, 3a) appearing in all three games followed by center Angelo Esposito who scored four points (2g, 2a) in three games.

Komet opening night roster-- The Komet opening night roster holds 21 players including 11 forwards, eight defensemen and two goaltenders. Returning from last season are forwards Mike Embach, Christian Ouellet, Shawn Szydlowski and Kaleigh Schrock and defenseman William Lacasse. Grab your seat early-- Many festivities are planned prior to opening faceoff Saturday night. The ceremonies get underway at 7:30 with the traditional introductions of Komet Legends. Still plenty of good seats are available.

Komet home traditions continue-- The Komets continue with tradition this year with the annual Thanksgiving night game when the Indy Fuel visit for a 7:30pm faceoff. The Fuel return to celebrate New Year's Eve with Komets. The Komets will host a total of 10 Friday games, 13 Saturday games and six Sunday games for a total of 31 weekend and holiday games out of the 36 home dates scheduled. Monday thru Thursday and Saturday games will begin at 7:30pm. Friday games faceoff at 8pm and Sunday games start at 5pm. See ScheduleTickets on sale-- Komet hockey single game tickets and season tickets for 2014-15 are on sale now. Sing game tickets can be purchased at the Coliseum Ticket Office and online at TicketMaster.com. Season Tickets are on sale at the Komet office, 1010 Memorial Way, in Fort Wayne. For information visit www.komets.com or call 260-483-0011.Komet Hockey on WOWO Radio and recycled on the web by OmniSource-- Bob Chase will return for his 62nd season behind the Komet microphone when the Komets open the season at Indy Friday. Komet games will be broadcast on WOWO Radio AM 1190 and FM 92.3. Games will also be heard worldwide on the web at Komets.com presented by OmniSource Radio Recycle. Chase will be radio rinkside for most Komet games. Shane Albahrani will broadcast select games in Chase's absence.

Komets return to MyTV-- Live telecasts of 18 Komet road games will continue for the second straight season, an increase of six games over last year. The games will be broadcast on the station's Fort Wayne digital and cable channels including digital channel 33.2 and cable channels Comcast SD 18 and 252, Comcast HD 1018, Direct TV 34, Frontier SD 9 and Frontier HD 509. 21Alive's Tommy Schoegler and Kent Hormann will again handle the play-by-play. Coverage begins with the Komets' season opener at Indy Friday night.

The Tilted Kilt is the official watch zone for Komet games on MyTV this year. Komet fans are invited to watch all of the MyTV game broadcasts at the Tilted Kilt Pub and Eatery in Jefferson Pointe on Illinois Road.

Sound Off with the Komets on 21Alive Monday nights-- The Komets, 21Alive and SportONE/Parkview Icehouse will present Sound Off with the Komets, a live weekly telecast each Monday night at 7:30 during the Komet season. The show airs on WPTA TV 21Alive from the SportONE/Parkview Icehouse, 3869 Ice Way in Fort Wayne, featuring highlights, interviews and call-ins. Komet players and personnel will serve as co-hosts with 21Alive's Tommy Schoegler. All Komet fans are welcome to attend.Friday night Marathon Nights continue-- Friday nights will continue to be Marathon Nights at Komet home games. Fans can take advantage of the buy-one-get-one-free ticket offers for any of the 10 Friday night games beginning on Halloween night when Kalamazoo visits for an 8:00 faceoff.