Komets open season Saturday

Fort Wayne, IN-- The Komets will open their 66th anniversary season Saturday when the Toledo Walleye visit for a 7:30pm faceoff on Sweetwater Ice at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Plenty of good seats remain on sale at the Coliseum ticket office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.

It will be the fifth time the Komets have opened the season against a Toledo team (2-2-1) and the fifth time a Toledo team has visited for a Fort Wayne home opener. The Komets are 4-1-1 in home openers against Toledo including the Fort Wayne inaugural home and season opener on Oct. 25, 1952 when the Mercurys visited for Fort Wayne's very first game.

Saturday's match marks the first season opener at home since the Komets suffered a 4-3 shootout loss against Toledo on Oct. 19, 2013. The Komets have won their last three straight season openers on the road and have won their last three straight home openers. The Komets are 41-18-6 after 65 home openers and are 35-25-5 in season openers.

Saturday's game will be the first of eight meetings against division rival Toledo this year and the first of four in Fort Wayne. Last year the Komets were 1-3-2 in seven meetings against the Walleye.

The Komets open their 2017-18 slate with six straight home games before embarking upon a five-game road trip starting in Kalamazoo on Sunday, Nov. 5.

2017-18 schedule

Komets roster-- The Komets announced Thursday their season-opening roster. The roster of 20 players includes 11 forwards, seven defensemen and two goaltenders. The forwards are Taylor Crunk, Mason Baptista, Gabriel Desjardins, Tyson Fawcett, Marco Roy, Jamie Schaafsma, Dennis Kravchenko, Shawn Szydlowski, Ralph Cuddemi, Garrett Thompson and Justin Hodgman. Defensemen are Jason Binkley, Dan Maggio, Curtis Leonard, Bobby Shea, Cod Sol, Ryan Culkin and Ryan Lowney. Goaltenders include Michael Houser and Garrett Bartus.

Komets Roster

Komet Hockey on WOWO-- Komet games are scheduled to air on WOWO AM 1190 and FM 107.5. All broadcasts will also be webcast at Komets.com presented by OmniSource Radio Recycle. Fans are invited to follow the action as Shane Albahrani handles the play-by-play.