Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets eliminated the Cincinnati Cyclones 4 games to 3 in the Western Conference quarterfinals with a 2-0 victory Wednesday night in Fort Wayne and have advanced to the second round of the ECHL Kelly Cup playoffs. The Komets will face the Utah Grizzlies in a best-of-seven Western Conference semifinal series starting Friday in Fort Wayne at 8pm.
Game 2 will be held at the Memorial Coliseum Saturday at 7:30pm. The series moves to Utah for games 3, 4 and if necessary, 5. If needed, games 6 and 7 are slated for Fort Wayne.
Friday's game will be the first ECHL meeting between the Komets and Grizzlies. The last time Fort Wayne faced Utah was in the International Hockey League on Feb. 14, 1999 when the Komets defeated the Grizzlies 5-3 on Coliseum ice.
Pat Nagle earned the shutout for Fort Wayne making 33 saves while Jamie Schaafsma scored both Komet goals in the first period. Each goal drew assists for Paul Crowder and Troy Bourke.
The Western Conference semifinals schedule is as follows:
2016 ECHL KELLY CUP WESTERN CONFERENCE SEMIFINALSFORT WAYNE KOMETS VS UTAH GRIZZLIESBest-of-seven seriesGame 1- Friday, April 29................. Utah at Fort Wayne, 8pm ETGame 2- Saturday, April 30.............Utah at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm ETGame 3- Wednesday, May 4...........Fort Wayne at Utah, 7pm MT (9pm ET)Game 4- Friday, May 6.................... Fort Wayne at Utah, 7:30pm MT (9:30pm ET)Game 5- Saturday, May 7............... Fort Wayne at Utah, 7:30pm MT (9:30pm ET)*Game 6- Monday, May 9................. Utah at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm ET*Game 7- Tuesday, May 10..............Utah at Fort Wayne, 7:30pm ET**If necessary.
Tickets for this Friday and Saturday's games go on sale Thursday at 10:00am at the Coliseum Ticket Office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.Komet Playoff Hockey on the air-- All games are scheduled to be broadcast on WOWO Radio AM 1190 and FM 105.7. Broadcasts can also be heard at Komets.com presented by OmniSource.
Season tickets-- Season Tickets for 2016-17 are on sale at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way in Fort Wayne. For information visit www.komets.com or call 260-483-0011.
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