Comets visit Milwaukee for Sunday showdown

by Nathan Dunn

Kansas City Comets @ Milwaukee Wave

MASL Regular Season — Game 13

When: Sun, Jan. 18 - 2pm CT

Where: UW-Milwaukee Panther Arena, Milwaukee, WI

The Kansas City Comets hit the road for the first time in 2026 as they visit the Milwaukee Wave on Sunday afternoon. Fans are invited to watch the game at Paul & Jack’s in North Kansas City.

The Comets conclude the weekend with hopes of completing a 6-point weekend, already having 3 points in the bag after a dominant performance on Friday night, defeating the Tacoma Stars 9-2. The trio of Nacho Flores (2 goals), Rian Marques (4 assists) and Christian Anderaos (1 goal, 2 assists) led a complete team performance that had a shutout going for the first 54 minutes of the game.

After three consecutive defeats, the Comets hope Friday’s win on home turf can recalibrate the team as they begin the second half of their season on Sunday in Milwaukee against the Wave — a team the Comets have beaten just once in their last five tries.

While the Comets travel on short rest, the Wave also have a quick turnaround as they host the San Diego Sockers on Saturday evening.

The Comets boast a 4-1-1 record away from home this season, taking a pair of wins in St. Louis and a pair of wins in Utica City earlier this season. A win in Milwaukee would be their first since Game 1 of the 2024 Eastern Conference Finals.

The Comets hope to use their strength in transition play on Sunday. It had previously been exploited as a weakness in their three-game losing streak, but was used as a strength against Tacoma.

The target duo of Zach Reget and Rian Marques sit atop the scoring leaders in the MASL, combining for 45 points in the opening half of the season. Neither scored a goal on Friday, but they still lead the league with 16 goals for Reget and 12 for Marques, who was tied with Milwaukee’s Alex Sanchez for second in the MASL entering the weekend.

The Comets were defensively sound throughout Friday’s victory, holding Tacoma to just 16 shots — the same amount of blocks the Stars had to make. Phillip Ejimadu picked up his league-leading sixth win, becoming the third goalkeeper to make 100 saves this season, while Lesia Thetsane added a pair of blocks to edge closer to Chad Vandegriffe’s league-high tally of 33. Julio Coronado has been another goaltending option for the Comets, making 25 saves with a record of 1-1-0 in three appearances.

After falling twice at home to the Wave with a 9-6 loss on Dec. 12 and an 8-7 defeat on Jan. 11, the Comets hope to return the favor on Sunday. Both teams will meet one final time on Feb. 10 to conclude the regular-season series.

Milwaukee Wave

The Milwaukee Wave host two games in two days with hopes of moving from third place in the MASL standings to first place.

They open the weekend with a Saturday night clash with the second-place San Diego Sockers. If they win that in regulation, then another regulation win on Sunday against the Comets would drop the Comets out of first place.

The duo of Mario Alvarez and Sanchez lead the Wave with 16 points each, followed by Alex Steinwascher’s 13-point tally and Max Ludwig’s 10 points. Sanchez’s 12 goals are second in the league, averaging 2.0 points per game for the second consecutive season.

The Wave have looked upon William Banahene and rookie Gerardo Perez for their shot-stopping this season. Banahene has a record of 4-1-1 with a 5.99 goals against average and a 67% save percentage while Perez picked up his first career win after coming off the bench to shut out the Baltimore Blast in the final 20 minutes of an overtime victory.

Milwaukee’s injury report is headlined by the absence of Ricardo Carvalho (toe) and Ian Bennett (knee) for this weekend, while Carson Hodgson (groin) and Nestor Dominguez (ankle) are also out. Tanner Hodgson (groin) is questionable, while Oscar Flores (ankle), Javier Steinwascher (knee), Mario Alvarez (lower back) and William Banahene (elbow) are probable.

The Comets continue their two-game road swing next Sunday, Jan. 25, when they visit the Empire Strykers. The Strykers repay the Comets a visit for Star Wars Night on Jan. 30 at Cable Dahmer Arena.