Fort Wayne, IN — The defending back-to-back Turner Cup Champion Fort Wayne Komets will raise their seventh championship banner as part of the home opening festivities tonight at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum.

The 58th Fort Wayne Komets home opener gets underway with the introduction of many Komet legends followed by a variety of special events including a special iC/DC concert, the raising of the Komets' 2009 IHL Turner Cup Championship banner and the presentation of championship rings prior to opening faceoff.

Fans are encouraged to arrive early for the festivities which are slated to get underway at 8pm sharp. 

The Bloomington PrairieThunder will make their first of six visits to Fort Wayne tonight.  The Komets and Thunder opened their respective seasons last weekend with two games each, both splitting the weekend games 1-1-0-0.  Last year the Komets won the season series vs. Bloomington 10-2-0-2. 

After tonight the Komets head for Quad City for an 8pm faceoff (Fort Wayne time) Saturday.

Komets make roster changes....the Komets made a few changes to the roster prior to tonight's home opener.  Defenseman Kevin Bertram has been placed on the 30-day injured reserve and forward Vince Laise has been waived.  The Komets also announced today the signings of right winger Tomas Klempa and defenseman Frankie DeAngelis.