Komets Drop ECHL Opener To Kalamazoo

Fort Wayne, IN – The Komets opened their inaugural ECHL season Friday night at the Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne with a 4-1 setback to the visiting Kalamazoo Wings.

A home opener attendance of 10,091 witnessed the Komets celebrate their 2012 Presidents’ Cup Championship with a banner raising and ring presentation before the puck dropped on the 61st anniversary season of Komet hockey in Fort Wayne. It was the 11th straight season the Komets drew over 10,000 Fort Wayne faithful to a season home opener.

After the opening faceoff, the Komets and Wings battled to a scoreless first period. It would be a different story in the second period as the Wings scored four unanswered goals before the second intermission and the Komets never recovered.

Forward Prab Rai initiated the scoring for Kalamazoo in the second period at 2:05. Left wing Darren Archibald found the twine 49 seconds later to give Kalamazoo a quick 2-0 lead. Defenseman Elgin Reid beat Komet goalie Charlie Effinger at 13:45 and Eric Kattelus put the game out of reach at 15:39 with the Wings’ fourth straight unanswered tally of the period.

In the third frame right wing Brandon Marino finally solved Kalamazoo goaltender Joel Martin at 9:12 into the period for the only scoring for Fort Wayne in the tilt and the Wings took a 4-1 victory back home to Kalamazoo.

Wings goaltender Joel Martin earned the victory making 25 saves while Effinger suffered the loss for Fort Wayne stopping 21 of 25 shots. Goalie Kenny Reiter made his premier appearance for Fort Wayne turning back all four shots he faced after starting the third period in the Fort Wayne net.

The Komets skate at Evansville Saturday night at 8:15pm ET for their first ECHL road game and the IceMen’s home opener.

The Komets next home game is Saturday, Oct. 20 when Evansville visits for a 7:30pm faceoff.