Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets announced their 2016-17 schedule Thursday. Fort Wayne's fifth season in the ECHL begins with a home-and-home series against the Quad City Mallards. After the Komets open the season at Quad City Friday, Oct. 14 they will return to Fort Wayne for their 65th home opener Saturday, Oct. 15 against the Mallards at 7:30pm. The Komets will also close the campaign at home against Quad City on Saturday, April 8.Each team in the ECHL skates a 72-game season evenly divided with 36 home games and 36 road games. The Komets will face Quad City the most with 12 meetings followed by Indy and Kalamazoo with nine each. The Mallards visit the most with six trips scheduled to Fort Wayne. Intrastate rival Indy and Kalamazoo visit four times apiece.
31 of Fort Wayne's 36 home dates are weekend and holiday games. The Komets are home for a dozen Fridays, 11 Saturdays and six Sundays. Thanksgiving and New Year's Eve continue to be traditional Komet Hockey Nights in Fort Wayne. Kalamazoo visits for Thanksgiving and Toledo will be in town for New Year's Eve. The Komets will have two stretches of five straight road games in eight nights. The first begins Nov. 6 at Brampton and ends Nov. 13 at Wichita, the furthest trip away from home of the year. The second stretch of five on the road begins Jan. 21 at Kalamazoo and finishes Jan. 28 at Reading.
Busiest months include December, February and March with 13 games each month. December tops the schedule with nine home games while the Komets are home in February and March on seven occasions each month. The Norfolk Admirals and Alaska Aces will make their Fort Wayne debuts starting with Norfolk on March 22 and then Alaska March 29. Teams not landing in Fort Wayne during the year are Colorado, Idaho, Adirondack, Manchester, Atlanta, Greenville and South Carolina.
Start times for Fort Wayne home games will not change for 2016-17. Fridays start at 8pm, Saturdays and Mondays thru Thursdays start at 7:30pm and Sundays will face off at 5pm.
-See the complete 2016-17 schedule here-
Season tickets for the 65th season of Komet Hockey are on sale at the Komet office, 1010 Memorial Way in Fort Wayne. For information visit www.komets.com or call 260-483-0011.
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