Komets punch ticket to Central Division Finals

Fort Wayne, IN-- Duck season is over! The Komets eliminated the Mallards at Quad City Saturday night 4 games to 1 in the best-of-seven Central Division Semifinals series with a 3-2 win in game 5 and advance to the division finals.

The Komets scored three unanswered goals to open the scoring. Trevor Cheek and Jamie Schaafsma (ppg) each beat Quad City goalie C.J. Motte for a 2-0 Fort Wayne lead going into the first intermission.

Kyle Thomas gave the Komets a three-goal margin with his third of the post season with the man advantage at 12:14 of the second period before Grant Arnold finally solved Fort Wayne netminder Pat Nagle with 35 second remaining in the second period on the power play to put the Mallards on the board and send the game into the second intermission with the Komets holding a 3-1 lead.

The Mallards pulled within one at 1:46 of the third frame when Chris Francis registered his first goal of the playoffs. However, the Komets held off the threatening Mallards for the remainder of the game to take a 3-2 win and the series.

Nagle earned the win making 29 saves on 31 shots while Motte suffered the loss allowing three goals on 34 shots.

The Komets were 2/3 with the man advantage and Quad City was 1/4 on the power play.

The Komets will return to Fort Wayne and wait for the winner of the Toledo/Kalamazoo series.

2017 ECHL KELLY CUP CENTRAL DIVISION SEMIFINALSFORT WAYNE KOMETS VS QUAD CITY MALLARDSFort Wayne wins best-of-seven series 4-1Game 1- Friday, April 14...............Quad City 3 at Fort Wayne 4Game 2- Saturday, April 15...........Quad City 1 at Fort Wayne 3Game 3- Wednesday, April 19......Fort Wayne 4 at Quad City 3, OTGame 4- Friday, April 21...............Fort Wayne 2 at Quad City 3, OTGame 5- Saturday, April 22...........Fort Wayne 3 at Quad City 2

Get Tickets-- Tickets for the Komets' playoff home games #3 and #4 are on sale at the Coliseum ticket office and at www.ticketmaster.com. Dates will be announced when the next opponent is determined. Also, Season Tickets with Early Bird Pricing are now available. For more information visit Komets.com or call 260-483-0011.

Komets on the air-- Fans can follow the Komet playoffs 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.