The Komets’ 73rd season begins on the road Oct. 18, includes games against both ECHL expansion franchises and the teams currently playing in the Kelly Cup finals. The 72-game regular-season slate runs through April 13.
The Komets again will skate in the Central Division, though the Wheeling Nailers have been replaced in it by the first-year Bloomington Bison, and Friday night games at Memorial Coliseum have been moved to 7:35 p.m. instead of the 8 p.m. starts that had been a staple since 2003.
“The Friday night start change from 8 p.m. to 7:35 p.m. was done on input from fans, players and team staff,” said David Franke, the Komets’ president of hockey operations/general manager. “The earlier start time will allow for an earlier end to the game and getting out of the building earlier.”
The 29-team ECHL released its full schedule Tuesday and the Komets, who missed the playoffs this year for the first time since 2013, open with games Oct. 18 and 19 in Coralville, Iowa, against the Iowa Heartlanders. The Komets’ home opener will be Oct. 25 against the Cincinnati Cyclones.
Those are teams in the Western Conference’s seven-team Central Division, along with the Komets, Bison, Indy Fuel, Kalamazoo Wings and Toledo Walleye, which won the regular-season and playoff division titles.
The Nailers have, as expected, moved back to the Eastern Conference’s seven-team North Division. They replace the Newfoundland Growlers, who were removed from the ECHL late this season for failing to fulfill financial obligations. Fort Wayne still faces Wheeling five times, including Nov. 23 and Feb. 1 games at the Coliseum.
The Eastern Conference’s South Division will continue to have seven teams, and the Western Conference’s Mountain Division has grown to eight teams, including the expansion Tahoe Knight Monsters. The Komets play at Lake Tahoe, Nevada, Jan. 24, 25 and 26.
The Bob Chase Memorial Game, annually played on Thanksgiving at the Coliseum, will be Nov. 28 against the Florida Everblades, who won the Kelly Cup in 2022 and 2023 and are tied at 1 in this year’s best-of-7 finals against the Kansas City Mavericks. The Everblades also play at the Coliseum on Nov. 29 and 30, giving Fort Wayne head coach Jesse Kallechy, an Everblades assistant from 2020 to 2023, plenty of opportunities to face his mentor, Brad Ralph.
The Komets will face the Mavericks on Nov. 1 and 2 in Independence, Missouri.
The annual New Year’s Eve game at the Coliseum – the only weekday home game other than Thanksgiving – will be against the Bison. The Komets play 11 home games on Fridays, 13 on Saturdays (7:30 p.m. starts) and 10 on Sundays (5 p.m.).
“The Komet schedule for the 2024-2025 season may be one the of the best we’ve ever had,” Franke said. “Melanie Carney, the Coliseum general manager, provided us with very good dates to select from for the home portion of our schedule. Our road schedule is very manageable and features a three-game trip to Lake Tahoe.”
The Komets’ most frequent opponents, all Central Division foes, will be Kalamazoo (11 meetings, six at Coliseum), Indy (11 meetings, five at Coliseum), Cincinnati (eight meetings, seven at Coliseum), Toledo (eight meetings, three at Coliseum), Bloomington (seven meetings, four at Coliseum) and Iowa (five meetings, none at Coliseum).
Other notable home games include Dec. 14 and 15 against the Allen Americans, a rival dating back to the Central Hockey League, and the Maine Mariners’ first ever trip to the Coliseum on Jan. 18. The Komets will play host to the Reading Royals, coached by former Fort Wayne player Jason Binkley, on Feb. 21 and 22. On Feb. 23, the Komets play host to the Tulsa Oilers, coached by former Fort Wayne player Rob Murray.
The regular season concludes April 13 at the Coliseum against the Bison. Season-ticket information is available at komets.com/tickets/season-tickets.
The Komets cannot begin signing players for next season until June 23, though the process of constructing the roster begins Saturday when they hand into the ECHL a list of protected players. There is no limit to the number of players who can be protected, so the more informative dates are June 22, when the team can keep a maximum of 20 players on the season-ending roster, and July 7, the deadline to extend qualifying contract offers and keep players’ ECHL rights.
Ture Linden and Tyler Parks have already signed to play for overseas teams. Multiple sources confirmed the Komets are interested in trying to re-sign forward Anthony Petruzzelli, the Komets’ captain in 2022-23 before he departed to play in the United Kingdom this season. After a short stint there, he skated in the ECHL for Jacksonville and Indy.
His rights are currently held by Wheeling, which claimed him off waivers from Indy before the postseason, but Petruzzelli didn’t report and, because he’s a veteran, can become a free agent later in the summer even if the Nailers protect him this month. Petruzzelli still resides in Fort Wayne and professed last summer his desire to skate for the Komets again.
