On Monday May 10th, the ECHL announced that Indy’s game on May 4th against the Fort Wayne Komets had been forfeited and cancelled. As a result, the Indy Fuel have now been awarded with a 1-0 victory. No players received personal stats as a result of the circumstances.
Additionally, the league announced via press release that Indy’s game against the Komets on May 29th will no longer be played at Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. Instead, it will be hosted at Indiana Farmers Coliseum, where the Indy Fuel will host Fan Appreciation Night.
With the forfeit, the Fuel improve to 30-20-5, improving their point total for the year to 65. They currently sit in third place in the Eastern Conference.
In a statement from Michael Franke, President of the Fort Wayne Komets, he said of the hockey club’s decision, “The Fort Wayne Komets are in agreement with the ECHL regarding the game that was to be played on May 4th in Indianapolis. Our players opted not to travel for the game even though all ECHL protocols that had been agreed to prior to the season had been met. We feel bad for the Indy Fuel, our ECHL partners, our fans, and our staff who came back during a major spike in the pandemic to make sure the season could start in February. Losing a Saturday night home game just adds to the financial difficulties that we chose to take on this season to bring back Komet hockey.”
The forfeit does seem a little bizarre to both fans and supporters. Not much detail has been revealed as to why the Komets chose not to travel to Indy. Additionally, the Komets said there would not be further comment to address the matter from team staffers or ownership. Despite the shortsighted decision, the Fuel still travelled to Fort Wayne over the weekend for a series of games on both Friday and Saturday.