Fort Wayne, IN — The Komets completed week 26 of 2009-10 riding a five-game winning streak after collecting four wins for the second-to-last week of the regular season schedule.  The second-place Komets improved to 48-21-1-3 and reached 100 points for the fourth consecutive year and the sixth time in the last seven seasons. 

The Komets have locked in home ice advantage for the first round of the playoffs.  First-place Muskegon has two games remaining and leads the Komets, who have a game in hand, by five points with a magic number of two for clinching the Huber Trophy.  Any combination of points won by Muskegon or lost by Fort Wayne equaling two will keep the Komets from winning the season title four straight seasons.  If the Komets finish in second place, they will face the Port Huron Icehawks in a first round, best-of-seven series.  Playoff dates and times are yet to be determined.

About last week
The week started with a 3-0 shutout over the visiting Muskegon Lumberjacks Wednesday.  Nick Boucher earned his third shutout of the season, sixth as a Komet, making 27 saves and stopping all six Muskegon power plays. 

Friday the Komets turned back the visiting Dayton Gems 7-4.  The Komets set a new Fort Wayne franchise record in the game scoring three goals in 39 seconds, beating the old record of three goals in 45 seconds set in 1962 against Sudbury. 

Saturday the Komets clinched home ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs with a 5-2 win at Dayton.  Leo Thomas bagged the first hat trick of his Fort Wayne career including the game winner. 

Sunday the Komets completed the week by doubling up the visiting Quad City Mallards 8-4.  Matt Syroczynski netted his second hat trick of the season as the Komets extended their win string to five games while goalie Boucher also enjoyed his fifth straight win in his 11th straight start.

Streaking Komets.....P.C. Drouin has a five-game point and assist streak (3g, 8a)…..Leo Thomas (C) has points in four straight games (4g, 4a)…..Sean O’Connor (RW) has a three-game goal and point streak (4g, 1a)…..Frankie DeAngelis (D) has assists in three straight games (5a).

The week ahead
The Komets will complete the regular season schedule this week with three games in three nights starting with the first of a home-and-home series against the Mallards Friday at Quad City at 8:05pm Fort Wayne time.

Saturday the Komets and Mallards return to Fort Wayne for a 7:30pm faceoff.  It will be the last meeting of the season with the Komets leading the series going into this week's action 11-1-0-1.  The Mallards had a three-game win streak until the Komets stopped it Sunday 8-4. 

Sunday the Komets appear in their 58th regular season finale against Flint at 5pm.  The Komets lead the season series against the Generals 5-4-0-2 and are 4-1-0-0 against Flint on Fort Wayne ice.  The Generals are 2-4-0-0 in their last six after suffering a 7-4 loss against Muskegon Sunday.  Flint hosts Bloomington Friday and Muskegon Saturday before traveling to Fort Wayne Sunday.  The Komets will present their annual end-of-season player awards immediately following the game Sunday.

Shafranov leaving for World Championships......The Komets announced Sunday prior to the opening faceoff of the game against the Mallards, that left winger Konstantin Shafranov's appearance in the game would most likely be his last with Fort Wayne.  The 19-year veteran finished his sixth full season with the Komets and celebrated by scoring two assists in the victory.  Shafranov has decided to represent his native Kazakhstan in the 2010 Hockey World Championships in May.  The entire Komet organization wishes the best for "Shaf" and his family and good luck at the World Championships. 

Season Ticket Exchange Night Sunday.....Hey season ticket holders!  The Komets will have one final Season Ticket Exchange Night this Sunday.  Any unused ticket from a previously scheduled 2009-10 Komet home game can be exchanged at the Coliseum Ticket Office for a ticket to this Sunday's Komet home game against the Flint Generals at 5pm.

KOMETS OPEN HOUSE THIS WEDNESDAY
the Komets' annual Season Ticket Holder Open House will be held this Wednesday, April 14 from 6pm-8pm at the Coliseum.  Season ticket holders are invited to watch an open Komet practice session from 6pm-6:45pm with the coaches explaining the drills.  The practice will be followed with a 15-minute question and answer session.  There will be an open skate with Komet players from 7pm-7:45pm with photo and autograph opportunities.

Chuck a puck and win a car, just like Ashrie.....Ashrie Onion became the latest winner of a car courtesy of Instant Auto Finance Sunday, April 11 when the Komets hosted the Quad City Mallards. She instantly won the car by throwing her foam puck through the open window of the Monte Carlo SS from her seat during the Kroger and Scott's Chuck-A-Puck, becoming the 10th Komet fan to win an Instant Auto Finance car since 2001!

Hottest Ticket In Town.....still seats available for this weekend's Komet home games.  Tickets for the first two Komet home playoff games are also now on sale.  Tickets are on sale at the Coliseum Ticket Office and online at www.ticketmaster.com.  The Komets offer discounts on group tickets sold at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way.  For more information visit the Komet office, call 260-483-0011 or visit the Komets' website at www.komets.com. 

Komet Hockey with Bob Chase......follow the Komets worldwide at www.komets.com Comcast KometCast with Bob Chase, in his 57th consecutive season calling Komet action.  The Komet Hockey broadcast can also be heard on Fort Wayne radio outlets WOWO AM 1190 or ESPN AM 1380 depending on availability.  All games broadcast can be heard at www.komets.com Comcast KometCast.

Komets.com.....the official website of the Fort Wayne Komets is www.komets.com.  In addition to featuring free webcasting of live Komet game radio, Komets.com also provides fans and media with up-to-date team stats, news, interactive fan features and information.  Fans can also follow all Komet games with real-time scoring via the IHL and Pointstreak by clicking the Scoreboard at Komets.com. 

KOMETS PLANNER
Komet games this week
Friday, April 16................Komets at Quad City Mallards, 8:05pm (Fort Wayne time), WOWO Radio AM 1190
Saturday, April 17............Quad City Mallards at Komets, 7:30pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
Sunday, April 18..............Flint Generals at Komets, 5pm, WOWO Radio AM 1190
All games broadcast on radio are webcast free at www.Komets.com Comcast KometCast.

Komet practice schedule
Note:  All Komet practices originally scheduled for McMillen Ice Arena have switched to the new Canlan Ice Sports arena, 3869 Ice Way in Fort Wayne.
Tuesday, April 13..............10am-noon at the Coliseum
Wednesday, April 14.........6pm-7pm at the Coliseum (Demo practice for Season Ticket Holder's Open House)
Thursday, April 15.............10am-noon at the Coliseum
Saturday, April 17.............11am-noon at the Coliseum
Tuesday, April 20..............10am-noon at the Coliseum

IHL STANDINGS  thru games of 4/11/2010
TEAM                GP    W     L     OTL   SOL   PTS   WPCT   GF     GA     PIM    HOME        ROAD        L-TEN     STREAK   
xMuskegon           74    50    19      1     4   105   .709   278    215    1545   30-7-0-1    20-12-1-3   7-1-1-1   1-0-0-0  
xFort Wayne         73    48    21      1     3   100   .685   256    177    1532   27-7-1-1    21-14-0-2   7-2-0-1   5-0-0-0  
xPort Huron         74    45    25      0     4   94    .635   250    218    1265   27-9-0-0    18-16-0-4   6-4-0-0   1-0-0-0  
Bloomington         73    31    32      4     6   72    .493   234    260    1815   21-14-2-1   10-18-2-5   3-5-1-1   0-3-0-0  
Flint               73    31    35      3     4   69    .473   224    251    1454   19-11-2-4   12-24-1-0   5-5-0-0   0-1-0-0  
Quad City           74    28    35      4     7   67    .453   202    258    1087   21-11-1-4   7-24-3-3    5-5-0-0   0-1-0-0  
Dayton              75    25    45      4     1   55    .367   200    265    1073   15-20-1-1   10-25-3-0   2-7-1-0   0-4-1-0  
TOTALS              516   258   212    17    29   562   .545   1644   1644   9771   -           -           -         -        

FORT WAYNE KOMETS TEAMSTATS  thru games of 4/11/2010
#     PLAYER              POS  GP  G     A   PTS  +/-   PIM   PPG  PPA  SHG  SHA  GWG  FG  OTG  UAG  ENG  SHOG  SHOA  SHO%   SHOTS  SPCT 
91    Chaulk, Colin       C    68  25   58   83   +34   111    5   23    1    1    6   7     0   1   4    1      2    .500   162    .154 
71    Drouin, P.C.        LW   73  26   55   81   +28    56   10   20    1    4    5   1     1   3   0    1      3    .333   206    .126 
44    Thomas, Leo         C    69  33   26   59   +27    57    8    7    4    1    6   6     2   3   0    0      3    .000   167    .198 
24    Shafranov, Konstan  LW   58  19   38   57   +30    20    4   14    0    0    5   6     0   0   0    2      4    .500   92     .207 
27    Syroczynski, Matt   LW   45  30   21   51   +24    55   11    5    0    0    5   5     0   1   1    0      0    .000   220    .136 
29    OConnor, Sean       RW   69  23   28   51   +17    53    8    6    3    1    4   1     0   3   0    0      2    .000   220    .105 
2     Dupuis, Guy         D    73  13   29   42   +29    95    6   16    2    0    2   0     0   2   1    1      1    1.000  219    .059 
14    DeAngelis, Frankie  D    70  9    32   41   +29    18    2   11    2    0    3   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   140    .064 
96    Chwedoruk, Justin   F    63  15   17   32    -3    45    5    4    1    1    1   3     0   1   1    0      2    .000   165    .091 
79    Schrock, Kaleigh    RW   73  20   11   31    +2   163    0    0    1    2    3   2     0   2   2    0      1    .000   216    .093 
21    Hukalo, David       RW   39  12   17   29    +8    40    4    6    0    0    4   3     1   0   0    0      1    .000   103    .117 
9     Warner, Brandon     D    60  3    19   22   +10    20    0    5    0    0    0   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   86     .035 
20    Phillips, Bobby     D    63  2    13   15   +19    57    0    0    0    1    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   71     .028 
22    Bertram, Kevin      D    64  2    12   14   +22    92    0    0    0    0    0   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   64     .031 
19    Rodger, Keith       D    67  2     9   11    +7   108    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   73     .027 
15    MacMillan, Brad     RW   42  7     2   9     +6   223    0    0    0    0    1   1     0   1   1    0      0    .000   65     .108 
3     Mironovic, Danko    D    69  1     8   9    +19    88    0    1    1    1    0   0     0   1   0    0      0    .000   66     .015 
    X Woodard, Matt       D    49  4     4   8     -5    33    2    2    0    0    0   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   64     .063 
    X Varone, Rick        C    23  1     5   6     -4    14    1    3    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   47     .021 
    X Klempa, Tomas       RW   24  3     2   5     -6    2     0    2    0    0    0   2     0   0   0    0      0    .000   69     .043 
17    Woods, Mitch        RW   31  1     3   4     0    106    0    1    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   25     .040 
35    Haun, Tim           G    40  0     3   3     0     14    0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000 
    X Stayzer, Blair      D    13  1     0   1     0     34    1    0    0    0    0   1     0   0   0    0      0    .000   16     .063 
    X Whitehead, Travis   C    7   1     0   1     0     4     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   6      .167 
    X Saidachev, Evgeny   RW   7   0     1   1     -2    2     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   6      .000 
33    Boucher, Nick       G    37  0     0   0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000 
    X Laise, Vince        F    2   0     0   0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000 
    X Duffus, Parris      G    1   0     0   0     0     0     0    0    0    0    0   0     0   0   0    0      0    .000   0      .000 
                               GP  G     A   PTS  +/-   PIM   PPG  PPA  SHG  SHA  GWG  FG  OTG  UAG  ENG  SHOG  SHOA  SHO%   SHOTS  SPCT 
      TOTALS                   73  256  413  669  +291  1532  67   126  16   12   48   42    7  21   10   5      19   .263   2571   .100 
#       GOALIE              GP  MIN      W   L   OTL  SOL  SO  GA   GAA   SHOW  SHO  SHOGA  SHOAA  SAVES  SPCT 
35      Haun, Tim           40  2304:22  25  11  0    2    3   83   2.16  3     5    5      18     976    .922 
33      Boucher, Nick       37  2103:40  23  10  1    1    3   88   2.51  0     1    1      3      1020   .921 
    X   Duffus, Parris      1   0:31     0   0   0    0    0   0    .00   0     0    0      0      0      .000 
        TOTALS              73           48  22  1    3    6   177  2.42  3     6    6      21     1996   .919