Komets re-sign Szydlowski, Petruzzelli and Jenks

Fort Wayne, IN-- The Fort Wayne Komets announced Tuesday their first signings of 2020-21.  Shawn Szydlowski and Anthony Petruzzelli will return to Fort Wayne along with AJ Jenks.

Szydlowski, 29, will be returning for his 8th season with the Komets.  The 2017-2018 ECHL Most Valuable Player led the league in power play points and assists last season while adding 15 goals, 41 assists and 74 penalty minutes to his Komets totals.  Szydlowski is currently 13th on the Komets all-time goal scoring list with 164.  The St. Clair Shores, Michigan native also has 269 career assists as a Komet ranking him 16th all-time.  

Petruzzelli, 27, scored 17 goals and 16 assists in his second full season as a pro and was presented with The Komets Mr. Hustle and Stonewall Defensive Forward awards at the end of last season. He also took home the Bud Gallmeier Community Service Award and The Wiegmann Family “True Komet” Award, exemplifying team spirit and a positive attitude on and off the ice. Petruzzelli is only the second player to take home four End of Season awards.  Petruzzelli’s season was also highlighted with his first professional hat trick scored on January 25th during a 4-3 loss at Toledo. 

Jenks, 29, will wear the orange and black for the second straight season and his 11th overall as a pro.  After five seasons with the rival Toledo Walleye, Jenks signed with the Komets in August 2019.  After playing 51 games with the Komets, Jenks has now appeared in 349 regular season ECHL games. The veteran finished the 2019-20 campaign with 15 goals, 22 assists for 37 points and was named captain on December 31, 2019.   

"The first three Komet player signings are part of the core unit of the Komets for the 2020-2021 season,” Komets General Manager David Franke said.  “Shawn Szydlowski, Anthony Petruzzelli and AJ Jenks are solid on the ice players, team leaders and great people off the ice.  This is a great start to our ’20-’21 recruitment, we have some unfinished business to take care of after abruptly ending last season.  Komet hockey can’t come fast enough for all of us.” 

The trio have a combined total of 1,207 professional regular season games played in the ECHL, CHL and AHL. Szydlowski and Jenks will occupy two of the four veteran roster spots allowed by the ECHL when training camp begins.  Any player who has played in at least 260 regular season games of professional hockey is considered a veteran. 

The Komets will open the 2020-21 campaign on Saturday, Oct. 17 when the Indy Fuel visit for a 7:35pm faceoff on Sweetwater Ice at the Memorial Coliseum.

Season tickets for the 2020-21 season are on sale now at the Komet office at 1010 Memorial Way.  Single game tickets will go on sale in September.  For more information call 260-483-0011.