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The Kalamazoo Wings just wrapped up their 42nd season of professional hockey at the Wings Event Center, but the schedule for next season has already been released.
Kicking off their 43rd season on the road, the K-Wings travel to Norfolk, Virginia to take on the Admirals on October 14 and 15. This will be the K-Wings first ever visit to the Norfolk Scope Arena.
The home opener will be on October 21 when the K-Wings host the Fort Wayne Komets.
Many games that K-Wings fans have grown accustomed to are on the schedule. The 13th annual Halloween Orange Ice game will be on Sunday, October 30, the annual New Year’s Eve game on Saturday, December 31, and the 36th annual ‘World Famous’ Green Ice Game on Friday, March 17.
Games that are played at Wings Event Center on Monday-Saturday will begin at 7 p.m. while Sunday games will begin at 3 p.m. The exceptions to those start times are on Wednesday, November 9 and Monday, February 20, as the Wings will host their annual Education Day games, which invite local schools for a day filled with learning and fun with a special 10:30 a.m. start time. Monday, January 16 will also have a unique start time, as the Wings will entertain the Wheeling Nailers for a 2 p.m. contest on Martin Luther King, Jr. Day.
The 72 games will be spread out over two Mondays, one Tuesday, four Wednesdays, twelve Fridays, ten Saturdays and seven Sundays.
Kalamazoo’s schedule includes games against (total match-ups in parenthesis): Toledo (10), Wheeling (10), Fort Wayne (9), Brampton (8), Quad City (8), Cincinnati (5), Indy (4), Norfolk (4), Florida (4), Orlando (2), Manchester (2), Elmira (2), Allen (1), Adirondack (1), Greenville (1), and Tulsa (1).
The K-Wings will be entering their eighth season in the ECHL, which is known as North America’s premier AA hockey league. Entering its 29th season, the ECHL has developed into a 27-team league that spans coast to coast, with all but three of its teams holding affiliations in both the NHL and AHL. Since its inception, the league has produced 599 players that have gone on to play in the NHL. During the 2015-16 season, 30 former ECHL players made their NHL debuts, including three former members of the Kalamazoo Wings.
Submitted by Mark McGlothlen
