Fort Wayne, IN — The New Year's Eve tradition of Komet Hockey at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne continues tonight at 7:30 when the Bloomington PrairieThunder visit to help ring out the old and bring in the new.

The Komets and Thunder faceoff at 7:30pm for the 53rd Fort Wayne New Year's Eve game.  The Komets have won their last seven straight Dec. 31 games including a 4-1 romp over Bloomington in 2007 when the Thunder made their first New Year's Eve trip to Fort Wayne.  Overall, the Komets are 35-13-3-1 for a .712 win percentage in 52 New Year's Eve games.  The Komets played one road game on New Year's Eve in 1961, a 5-2 win over the Chiefs at Indianapolis.  Since the tradition started in 1955 the Komets were idle only once on Dec. 31 and that was in 1975.

Fans are encouraged to get to the game early with a huge crowd expected.  Since the Coliseum renovation the Komets have averaged over 10,000 fans per game on New Year's Eve the last seven years including last year's sell out of 10,511 for a new Komet New Year's Eve game record.  Tickets are selling at a brisk pace and are available at the Coliseum Ticket Office or online at www.ticketmaster.com while quantities last.

In addition to free noisemakers and party favors for fans entering the building while supplies last, the Komets will wear their limited edition Technology Specialists/Fort Wayne Children's Zoo Wild Jungle game jerseys.

Haun returning, Klempa waived.....the Komets announced Thursday that goaltender Tim Haun will return to the Fort Wayne net Thursday night against Bloomington after serving suspension.  Haun's last game was Dec. 12 at Port Huron.  Haun has a record of 9-7-0-1 and 2.44 goals-against average in 17 appearances.  In additional player moves Thursday, the Komets announced that right win Tomas Klempa has been placed on waviers.  The rookie had three goals and five points in 24 games.

Komets clip Gems at Dayton 3-2 Wednesday.....The Komets turned the tables on the Gems at Dayton Wednesday night with a 3-2 win after suffering a 6-4 home loss to Dayton Tuesday.  The Komets scored the only goal of the first period when David Hukalo hit the net at 13:30 for his fifth goal of the season on the power play with assists from P.C. Drouin and Konstantin Shafranov.  The Komets opened the second period with a hard high one that hit the net from Kevin Bertram at 1:30. The Gems rallied with a short-handed tally from Jonathon Ornelas at 2:17.  Dayton’s Dan Lapointe pulled the Gems even at 2-2 at 5:32.  The Komets finished the scoring in the third period when Frankie DeAngelis scored the game winner, his fourth goal of the season, at 6:47.  The Komets held on in a scoreless third period for the win improving to 16-11-0-1 and advancing into third-place in the IHL. The Gems dropped to 13-15-3-1.   Komet goalie Nick Boucher earned his seventh win of the season on 26 saves in his seventh straight start while Dayton’s Derek MacIntyre fell to 5-10-1-0 stopping 40 of 43 shots.