Alaska Aces make their Fort Wayne debut Wednesday

Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets earned five points (2-1-1) for week 24 to improve to 39-18-8 and 86 points and maintain second place in the Central division of the ECHL's Western Conference with seven games remaining before the Kelly Cup Playoffs.The post-season starts the week of April 10 and the first two rounds will be played entirely within the division, with the division winner playing the fourth-place finisher and the second-place team meeting the third-place team in the Division Semifinals. The winners of each series will meet in the Division Finals, leading to the Conference Finals and Kelly Cup Finals.

The playoff race is coming into focus in the Central division as the four playoff berths have been secured with two weeks remaining in the regular season. While Toledo is on the cusp of clinching first place and facing the fourth-place team, the Komets and Quad City continue their battle for second place. Fort Wayne's magic number against Quad City is six. Any combination of Fort Wayne points gained and Quad City points lost equaling six clinches second place for the Komets and home-ice advantage in the first round. Kalamazoo has clinched a berth and is fighting for third place with Quad City.

How they stand

About last week-- The week began with a 6-3 home win over Norfolk Wednesday in the first-ever meeting against the Admirals before suffering a 4-3 loss in overtime at Quad City Friday. Saturday the Komets rebounded at home with their eighth shutout of the season 1-0 over Cincinnati. Goaltender Garrett Bartus snagged his fourth shutout of the year on 27 saves as the Komets posted an ECHL high 26th home win. Sunday the Komets' home win streak was stopped at seven games and their home point streak of 14 games (13-01) was snapped with a 6-4 loss to Florida.

For the week-- Brett Perlini led with four goals and added an assist for five points. Gabriel Desjardins also registered five points in the four games (3g, 2a). Scoring four points each were Travis Ewanyk (1g, 3a), Garrett Thompson (1g, 3a) and Trevor Cheek (2g, 2a). Ryan Lowney (3a) and Jamie Schaafsma each had three points. Earning a pair of points for the week were Mike Cazzola (1g, 1a), Cody Sol (2g) and Kyle Follmer (2a).

Komet leaders-- Mike Cazzola leads with 41 assists and 65 points....Kyle Thomas leads with 25 goals....Cazzola and Thomas lead with nine power play goals.....Cody Sol leads with +32 (3rd in the ECHL).....Cazzola, Mike Embach and Trevor Cheek lead with five game winning goals.

Streaks and milestones-- Jamie Schaafsma finished the week on a three-game assist streak (3a)....Cody Sol skated his 200th pro regular season game, Garrett Thompson registered his 100th pro regular season point while Ryan Lowney dished his first pro point (assist) Wednesday against Norfolk.

The week ahead-- The Komets will once again skate four games in five nights starting with a visit by Alaska Wednesday. It's the only meeting of the season and the first trip ever to Fort Wayne by Alaska. Last year the Komets were 1-0-2 on a three-game visit to Alaska. The Aces are fighting for playoff position in the Mountain division, holding fourth-place with Missouri on their heels two points back. Alaska is 1-4-2 in their last seven games but are coming off a 4-2 home win over Rapid City Sunday.

Friday the Komets head for Cincinnati to complete the season series. Fort Wayne leads the series 4-1-2 after last Saturday's 1-0 shutout over the Cyclones. Cincy is fighting for a playoff berth, trailing fourth-place South Carolina by a point in the South division with 10 games remaining. The Cyclones host Brampton Wednesday before facing the Komets Friday.

Saturday the Komets will finish the season series with a 7:35pm faceoff at Indy. The Komets lead the series 7-1-0 after a 3-2 shootout victory at Indy March 11. Indy is out of playoff contention but are 4-2-0 in their last six games and have won their last two games after a 4-1 victory at South Carolina Sunday in their last time out. The Fuel will skate at Toledo Friday before welcoming the Komets Saturday.

Sunday the Komets cap the week at Toledo with a 5:15pm faceoff. Fort Wayne is 0-2-2 after four meetings against the ECHL leader and 0-1-2 at Huntington Center. The Walleye are riding an eight-game point streak (7-0-1) after a shootout loss to Norfolk Sunday. Toledo will host Indy Friday and visit Cincinnati Saturday before returning home to face the Komets Sunday.

Deuces Wild Wednesday-- It's deuces wild this Wednesday. Upper arena tickets will be sold at 2 for $22 and fans can get $2 beers and $2 sodas all night.

Komets on the air-- Komet games are scheduled to air this season on WOWO AM 1190 and FM 107.5 with Shane Albahrani calling the play-by-play. All Komet radio broadcasts can also be heard worldwide as presented by Omni Source Radio Recycle at www.komets.com.

Single game, group and playoff tickets on sale-- Single game tickets, along with playoff tickets for the first two Fort Wayne post-season home games, are on sale at the Coliseum Ticket Office and at TicketMaster.com. Also, Group Night packages are available for Family, Business or Civic Group outings. For more information visit Komets.com or call 260-483-0011.