Comets look to get back to winning ways against Orlando

Kansas City Comets vs Orlando SeaWolves

When: Friday, January 10th, 2020 at 7:05 PM CT

Where: Silverstein Eyes Centers Arena, Independence, Missouri

How to Watch/Stream: Masl.tv/YouTube

The Kansas City Comets will face the Orlando SeaWolves on Friday night, as the Comets look to get back on the right track.

Formerly the Cedar Rapids Rampage, the Orlando SeaWolves are into their second season in the Sunshine State, but it has been a very rough start for the SeaWolves. Their 1-5 record is not ideal, but their original GM and head coach, Chris Kokalis, abandoned his franchise prior to a doubleheader last month, leaving the team for MASL to run for short time. On January 2nd, the franchise announced that former Cedar Rapids Rampage head coach Tom Traxler would fill the vacant position.

The SeaWolves have since traded several players, including: Richard Schmermund, Mario Alvarez, Hugo Puentes, and Derek Huffman. With all this distractions off the field, the team has still had to barrel through two games without a designated head coach. That weekend they went 1-1, losing to the Milwaukee Wave and beating the Baltimore Blast.

The SeaWolves enter Friday’s match with fresh legs, as their first match since the win against the Blast on December 22nd will be their first match under the management of Tom Traxler. The SeaWolves have had a variety of contributors this season, including former Comet, Odaine Sinclair, who has racked up two goals and two assists in his five games this season. Park University graduate Rodolfo Lopes has also contributed two assists for the SeaWolves in his rookie season.

The desperate Comets, who sit in seventh place of the Eastern Conference with a 3-5 record, will look to reignite their playoff hopes with a couple wins, and they must start with a win against a SeaWolves team that is building for their future. Kansas City has lost two straight, losing away to the Ambush and at home against the Milwaukee Wave. Kansas City is led in points by Leo Gibson, who’s two goals last weekend dropped him from first to fourth in the league’s points leaders, as his 19 points come from 12 goals and 7 assists.

Kansas City will hope that they can get a couple more players healthy, as they ended last weekend's loss to Milwaukee with six players on the injury report. While the Comets want important players like John Sosa, Stefan Stokic, and Lucas Rodriguez back, they must not rush back if they aren’t fully healthy. Head coach Leo Gibson did hint that Mark Saxby will likely return in goal after dealing with an injury and illness last week.