IHL Honors Fort Wayne Komets As 2007-08 Member Club of the Year
Published on April 10, 2008 under International Hockey League 2 (IHL 2) News Release
ROCHESTER, MI--- The International Hockey League (IHL) announced Thursday that the Fort Wayne Komets have been named the 2007-08 IHL Member Club of the Year as selected by the league's Board of Governors. The IHL Member Club of the Year is determined by the team's overall success both on and off the ice.
Off the ice, the club has made significant donations to the community and to various charities. The Komets raised over $10,000 for the Special Operations Warrior Foundation, a charity that has provided full college educations to the surviving children of fallen Army, Navy, Air Force and Marine Corps special operations personnel. The players wore special US Army jerseys that were auctioned off after the game. Another jersey auction raised over $4,700 for Arts United was the Design-a-Jersey contest, where the Komets gave a fan the opportunity to design a jersey for the players to wear on March 22nd. Another contribution made by the Komets was Project Komet Kare. For the second year in a row, the club accepted donations to help support the military stationed over seas. Continuing the tradition of ringing in the New Year with the fans, the Komets hosted the 51st straight game on New Year's Eve in Fort Wayne.
On the ice, the team has compiled a regular season record of 54-12-5-2 with three games remaining on the regular season. They have led the league in wins (54), home wins (32) and road wins (22). The Komets captured the Huber Trophy for the eighth time as a member of the IHL. Fort Wayne has won a total of 11 regular-season championships in their 56-year history.
Several players earned weekly and monthly honors from the IHL, including 11 different players earning 22 player of the week honors and five different players earning 12 player of the month honors. Fort Wayne personnel also earned many end-of-the-season awards from the IHL including Michael Franke- IHL Executive of the Year, Al Sims- IHL Coach of the Year, Guy Dupuis- Pepsi Defenseman of the Year and Most Sportsmanlike Player, David Hukalo- Outstanding Defensive Forward, Luciano Aquino- Aquafina Rookie of the Year and Kevin Reiter- Southern Sports Supply Goaltender of the Year. Reiter also had a league-high eight shutouts between the pipes for the Komets, recording three straight back on January 11th, 12th and 13th. He became the first goaltender in the Komets 56-year history to collect three shutouts in three consecutive Fort Wayne games.
The Komets broke their franchise record for consecutive home wins of 18 in a row on Friday, March 14th. They then tied the IHL record of 22 straight home wins set back in the 1965-66 season on March 22nd. They broke the IHL record on Friday, March 28th and have increased it to 25 straight to date. The Komets have also set a franchise record for earning their 54th victory in a 4-3 overtime win over Muskegon yesterday (4/9). With that win also came a team record 115 points earned in the regular season.
The Komets have led the IHL in regular season attendance with 282,584 fans visiting Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Their per-game average of 7,637 fans is the fourth-highest in professional minor league hockey, with one home game remaining on their schedule.
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