FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 18, 2025

K-WINGS ROAR BACK IN HOME OPENER, KOMETS PREVAIL

Kalamazoo rides Colin Bilek’s four-point night back into the game, but Fort Wayne escapes with late goal.

BOX SCORE

KALAMAZOO, MI – The Kalamazoo Wings (0-1-0-0), proud ECHL affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks, lost 6-5, in a down-to-the-wire thriller that saw K-Wings forward Colin Bilek (3g-1a) put the team on his back in the Home Opener versus the Fort Wayne Komets (2-0-0-0) at Wings Event Center Saturday. 

In a thunderous response, the K-Wings scored four third-period goals to erase a 4-1 deficit, only to fall with seven seconds remaining.

Forwards Ryan Cox (1) and Blake Christensen (1) drew the K-Wings to within one, with goals at the 2:38 mark and the 8:21 mark of the third. 

First, Cox fired one bardown with Cam Knuble (1) picking up his first pro point with the primary assist. Then, Christensen tucked the puck inside the left post from underneath. Ryan Helliwell (1) earned his first pro point with the primary assist, and Bilek (1) picked up the secondary assist on the goal. 

The Komets then scored a short-handed tally at the 12:07 mark to extend the lead to 5-3. 

That’s when Bilek went off for two straight, one at the 16:58 mark on the power play, and another with a 6-on-5 advantage at the 18:56 mark.  

On the power play goal, Bilek skated to the high slot from the left circle and sniped the top left corner. Quinn Preston (2) and Davis Pennington (1) assisted on the goal. 

Then the heroics for the hat trick came on a shot from the left circle that found a home to tie the game 5-5. Preston (3) and Zach Okabe (1) assisted on the game-tying goal.  

The Komets took the early advantage with two first-period goals at the 5:29 and 6:23 marks. 

Kalamazoo’s first goal of 2025-26 also came off the stick of Bilek (1), as he scored short-handed at the 18:56 mark. Preston (1) assisted on the breakaway goal to cut the deficit to 2-1. Preston earned three assists in the contest.

Fort Wayne scored twice in the second, once at the 2:52 mark on the power play, and again even-strength at the 9:28 mark to extend the lead to 4-1. 

Hunter Vorva (0-1-0-0) made 23 stops in the loss, and the K-Wings were 1-for-3 on the power play. 

Next up, the K-Wings will take on the Iowa Heartlanders (1-0-0-0) at 7 p.m. on $3 Friday ($3 beers, sodas and hot dogs) at Wings Event Center. 

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The Kalamazoo Wings are a professional hockey team based in southwest Michigan, having been a staple in the Kalamazoo, MI, professional sports landscape since 1974. The K-Wings compete in the ECHL and are the AA affiliate of the National Hockey League’s Vancouver Canucks and the American Hockey League’s Abbotsford Canucks. Kalamazoo plays its 36 regular-season home games at Wings Event Center from October through April.

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