Fort Wayne, Ind. – The Fort Wayne Komets Hockey Club announced Thursday that the storied minor league hockey franchise has withdrawn from the Central Hockey League and has been admitted as a member of the ECHL. The Fort Wayne membership will take flight with the 2012-13 ECHL season. 
The ECHL, originally established as the East Coast Hockey League in 1988, changed the league name to ECHL prior to the 2003-04 season. With the addition of Fort Wayne and Evansville, announced earlier Thursday, and previously announced expansion teams in Orlando and San Francisco, the ECHL will field 23 teams for it’s 25th anniversary season when the puck drops on 2012-13 in October. Brian McKenna has served 10 seasons as Commissioner of the ECHL and is the driving force behind the league becoming the Premier ‘AA’ Hockey League. “The ECHL is pleased to welcome the Fort Wayne Komets to the league as we celebrate our 25th anniversary in the 2012-13 season. Having just celebrated the 60th season of professional hockey in Fort Wayne, the Komets bring a history and tradition that is well known in hockey circles. With their strong fan support and history of success, the Komets will be a strong addition to our Midwest geography,” McKenna said. The Komets began operation in the International Hockey League with the 1952-53 season. After 47 consecutive seasons yielding seven regular season titles and three IHL Turner Cup Championships, the Komets joined the United Hockey League in 1999. The Komets participated in the United Hockey League for eight seasons, earning three UHL regular season titles and winning the Colonial Cup Championship in 2003. The Komets joined the renewed International Hockey League in 2007 and posted two regular season titles and three IHL Turner Cup Championships before joining the Central Hockey League in 2010. As an affiliate of the CHL the Komets capped their two-year membership winning the 2011-12 Turner Conference title and the 2012 CHL Presidents’ Cup Championship. The nine-time champion Komets completed 2011-12 with an average of 7,770 fans per home game marking the 10th straight year Fort Wayne has registered a per-game average of over 7,000 fans. “The entire Komet organization is looking forward to facing off our first ECHL season this October. Having such great nearby regional rivals like Evansville, Toledo, Kalamazoo and Cincinnati will help re-kindle Old Time Komet Hockey,” Komet President Michael Franke said. The Komets will open their 61st season of play in Fort Wayne in October as a proud member of the ECHL. 2012-13 will carry a 72-game schedule including 36 home games and 36 road games and will be announced in the coming weeks. Contact comments@prohockeynews.com
