Inside the Rink is ready to kick off its coverage of the ECHL for the 2024-25 Season. Each week, we will highlight three matchups as our must-see games across the league. Here are our picks for this week.
Fort Wayne Komets (3-1-0-0) vs Kansas City Mavericks (4-0-0-0) Saturday Night at 8:05 EST
It’s a big two-game set in the Western Conference as the Fort Wayne Komets (3-1-0-0) will hit the road to play the undefeated Kansas City Mavericks (4-0-0-0). The Komets won their first three games of the season before suffering a 9-2 loss on home ice on Saturday at the hands of the Kalamazoo Wings (3-0-0-0). There’s no doubt that the Komets are looking to get themselves back into the Kelly Cup Playoffs this season after finishing just three points out of a playoff spot last season. One of the big headlines of the series will be the return of Daniel Amesbury, who is eligible to make his debut with the Kansas City Mavericks against his former team after being suspended at the end of the regular season. Undoubtedly, he will bring energy to the Maverick’s lineup, and it will be interesting to see how Tad O’Had uses him moving forward, especially seeing the early success of the Mavericks.
Heading into the week, the Mavericks have three of the top four point leaders in the league: Cam Morrison, Cade Borchardt, and Max Andreev. Morrison is currently tied for the league lead in goals (5). The Mavericks currently lead the league with eight goals in the first period, outscoring their opponents 8-1 in the first period and 7-1 in the third period.
FloHockey Game of The Week: Reading Royals (4-1-0-0) vs Trois-Rivieres Lions (0-2-1-0) on Friday at 7 pm Eastern
The ECHL Game of the Week on Flo Hockey will feature the top and bottom teams in the North Division after these two teams opened up the season against each other, with Reading taking the 2-1 victory in Trois-Rivieres two weeks ago. The Reading Royals will play the second of three games on the weekend. The series begins Wednesday Night in Trois-Rivieres. After finishing at the bottom of the North Division last year, Reading got off to a hot start to the season, winning their first three games of the regular season before suffering their first loss in their home opener to the Wheeling Nailers on Saturday Night.
Trois-Rivieres record isn’t as bad as it should be. They picked up a point last Friday Night vs. Worcester Railers after erasing a two-goal deficit in the third to force OT. Then, they played a strong Adirondack team, who shut them out on Saturday Night. The Lions will look to get their first win in front of their home crowd, who came out to support them, filling over 4,000 seats on opening night after having a rough attendance record during the 2023-24 season.
Wheeling Nailers (2-2-0-0) vs Toledo Walleye (3-1-1-0) Friday Night at 7:15 EST
It will be a rematch of the Central Division Semi-Finals, as the Toledo Walleye will host their home opener on Saturday Night vs. the Wheeling Nailers, the team they swept in the opening round of last year’s Kelly Cup Playoffs. For the Nailers, it will be their first game against a Central Division opponent after being moved to the North Division prior to the 2024-25 season. For the Walleye, it’s been an impressive start for the team, going 3-1-1 in their first five games away from the Huntington Center, including an opening weekend sweep of one of the ECHL’s newest teams, the Bloomington Bison. Coming into the weekend, one of the biggest things for Toledo will be to stay out of the box, as they currently lead the league in minor penalties (30) and are 22nd in the league on the PK, and Wheeling is currently fifth in the league on the PP away from home at 25%. Toledo’s Brandon Hawkins is leading the league in assists (8) and is fifth in points (9) after being named the league’s MVP last season.
