Utica Comets
AHL team in Utica, New York, affiliated with the New Jersey Devils.
The Utica Comets are a professional ice hockey team based in Utica, New York, competing in the North Division of the American Hockey League’s Eastern Conference. They serve as the top minor-league affiliate of the NHL’s New Jersey Devils and play home games at the Adirondack Bank Center. The franchise began in Utica for the 2013–14 season after the Vancouver Canucks moved their AHL club there.
Utica has hosted one other AHL team before: the Utica Devils, also a New Jersey Devils affiliate, played in the city from 1987 to 1993. Before the 2021–22 season, the Canucks relocated the Comets franchise to Abbotsford, British Columbia, while the Devils shifted their own franchise—the former Binghamton Devils—to Utica, keeping the Comets name. The team is owned by Josh Harris and David Blitzer under Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment (HBSE), the same group that owns the Devils.
**History**
**Establishment of the Comets** On March 29, 2013, Canucks Sports & Entertainment (CS&E), owners of the Vancouver Canucks, announced a deal to buy the Peoria Rivermen franchise. The AHL approved the purchase on April 18. This franchise is one of the oldest in professional hockey, tracing back to 1932 as the Quebec Beavers. After moving to Springfield in 1935, it became the Indians, reviving a name from an earlier team that folded during the 1932–33 season. Over the decades, the franchise also operated as the Syracuse Warriors, Springfield Kings, Worcester IceCats, and finally the Rivermen.
CS&E initially wanted the team near Vancouver, with Abbotsford as the top choice. At the time, the Abbotsford Heat—Calgary’s AHL affiliate—were rumored to be moving to Utica. But by April 22, negotiations between the Canucks and Abbotsford fell through, keeping the Heat in place. Media then speculated the Canucks might move the team to Vancouver’s Rogers Arena, also owned by CS&E, but that was impossible because Vancouver lies within Abbotsford’s 50-mile AHL territorial radius. A plan to play in Seattle’s KeyArena was blocked by the NHL, which considered Seattle a potential home for the troubled Phoenix Coyotes. Ultimately, the Coyotes found a new owner who kept them in Arizona, and Seattle later received an expansion team, the Kraken, to play in that arena.
By May 2013, CS&E’s options narrowed.
Quick Facts
- Text Color
- #000000
- Team
- Utica Comets
- City
- Utica, New York
- League
- American Hockey League
- Conference
- Eastern
- Division
- North
- Founded
- 1932 (first franchise) / 1998 (second franchise)
- Arena
- Adirondack Bank Center
- Owner
- Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment · (Josh Harris and David Blitzer)
- Coach
- Ryan Parent
- President
- Robert Esche
- Captain
- Ryan Schmelzer
Facts from the source article.
Lore & Background
The Comets are the second AHL team to call Utica home; another New Jersey Devils-affiliated team, the Utica Devils, played in the city from 1987 until 1993. Before the 2021–22 AHL season, the Vancouver Canucks relocated the franchise used by the Comets to Abbotsford, British Columbia, and the Devils relocated their franchise, the then-Binghamton Devils, to Utica to play as the Comets. The Comets' nickname honors several prior professional hockey teams in the Mohawk Valley, most notably the Clinton and Mohawk Valley Comets, which played from 1927 until 1977; the Atlantic Coast Hockey League's Mohawk Valley Comets (1985–1987); and a third team of the same name in the North Eastern Hockey League during the 2003–04 season.
The franchise itself is one of the oldest professional hockey franchises in existence, dating back to 1932, when the team was known as the Quebec Beavers. It moved to Springfield in 1935 and became the Indians, and later was known as the Syracuse Warriors, Springfield Kings, Worcester IceCats, and then the Peoria Rivermen before being purchased by Canucks Sports & Entertainment in 2013. The Comets played their first game on October 11, 2013, a 4–1 loss to the Rochester Americans, with Pascal Pelletier scoring the first goal in Comets' history. In their second season, the Comets won the Robert W. Clarke Trophy as Western Conference champions, advancing to the Calder Cup finals against the Manchester Monarchs, falling in five games.
Reader's Guide
The Utica Comets represent a significant chapter in AHL history, both as a franchise with deep roots dating to 1932 and as a team that set a league record for consecutive regular-season sellouts, reaching 121 on October 19, 2018, and later 200 on February 29, 2020. The team's initial affiliation with the Vancouver Canucks saw them become Western Conference champions in the 2014–15 season, reaching the Calder Cup finals. The Comets also maintained a remarkable sellout streak that included all 17 playoff games hosted during that span, for a combined streak of 138 consecutive sellouts. In 2021, the franchise underwent a major transition: the Canucks relocated the Comets' franchise to Abbotsford, British Columbia, while the New Jersey Devils moved their Binghamton Devils franchise to Utica, retaining the Comets name and beginning a ten-year affiliation agreement. The team changed its colors to match the Devils and hired Kevin Dineen as head coach. The Comets' legacy includes their role as a key development affiliate for two NHL organizations and their deep connection to Utica's hockey history, which includes the earlier Utica Devils and multiple prior Comets teams dating back to 1927.
Did You Know?
- The Comets' franchise dates back to 1932, when it was known as the Quebec Beavers.
- Pascal Pelletier scored the first goal in Comets' history on October 11, 2013.
- The Comets set an AHL record with 121 consecutive regular-season sellouts on October 19, 2018.
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