The Utica Comets wrapped up their 2015-16 regular season with a 4-3 win overtime win over Syracuse on Saturday, then a 4-2 home loss to Binghamton on Sunday.
The Comets finish the year with a 38-26-8-4 record, good for 88 points and third place in the AHL's North Division. It's a noticeable dip from last season, when they topped the North Division with 103 points, but the Comets' top players spent a lot of time off the roster this season thanks to the Canucks' many injury callups.
Winger Carter Bancks was the only Comets player to appear in all 76 games this season—no small feat.
In fact, Bancks was the only Comet who played more than 70. He finished tied with the departed Hunter Shinkaruk for third in team scoring, with 14-25-39—quite a step up from just 14 points last season.
The Comets handed out the franchise's first-ever team awards before Sunday's game, and 26-year-old Bancks was named the coach's most valuable player. From the
Comets' website:
The Marysville, BC native’s versatile play made him a contributor in every game situation, especially on the penalty-kill. His penalty-killing prowess led the Comets to the league’s fourth best penalty kill overall, and the league’s best penalty kill at home. He became the unquestioned leader in the locker room after the team’s captain, Alex Biega, was recalled to Vancouver, and is the only Comets player to play in every game this season. Earlier this season Bancks was named the Comets IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year for his outstanding contributions to the Utica community during the season.
The NHL window has probably closed for the undrafted Bancks, who played two games with the Calgary Flames back in 2012-13, but he has blossomed into a solid minor-leaguer since the Canucks brought him in on a professional tryout contract two years ago. Good story!
The rest of the awards list is strong on rewarding character:
• Taylor Fedun - best defenseman
Fedun finished the season 8-25-33 including three game-winning goals, and led the team with 18 power-play points
• Wacey Hamilton - Bill Horton award for heart and Dave Armstrong award as "class guy," voted by the Comets staff
• Darren Archibald - Thomas M. Lindsey Foundation Award, voted by members of the Utica Police Department, for dedication to community efforts in Utica.
• Mike Zalewski - voted by Travis Green and the coaching staff as the most-improved player and the media voted him their player of the year. Zalewski started the season on an AHL contract, improved from 3-9-12 in 2014-15 to 16-17-33 this year and finished out the season with the Canucks after being upgraded to an NHL contract. Signed by Mike Gillis out of RPI near the end of the 2013-14 season, Zalewski's 23 and still has a shot to make it as an NHL player.
• Richard Bachman - three stars award. Bachman finished the season 17-12-2-1 with a 2.75 goals-against average and .900 save percentage—actually not as good as Joe Cannata's 2.52 and .909, but Bachman was named a star in 23 of the 35 games in which he appeared—the most of any player on the Comets.
Utica's leading scorer this year was big Alexandre Grenier, who put together a third consecutive solid season and hit a career high with 16-32-48. He's still looking for his first NHL point, however, after spending six games with the Canucks.
Utica will begin the 2016 playoff run on Friday in a first-round best-of-five series against the Albany Devils. Albany finished second in the North Division, and the Eastern Conference, with 102 points, led by rookie Matt Lorito's 18 goals and 54 points. Lorito is an undersized, undrafted 25-year-old who joined the Devils last season after playing four years at Brown University.
The Devils' top defenseman—Marc-Andre Gragnani—remember him? He played 14 games with the Canucks in the 2011-12 season after being acquired from Buffalo at the 2012 trade deadline for Alexander Sulzer.
As one might expect from the New Jersey Devils' farm team, Albany is short on scoring but strong on defense. The Devils' 167 goals against for the season are the lowest in the Eastern Conference, compared to 217 for Utica which is third-highest among Eastern Conference playoff teams. But the Comets' 224 goals rank them fifth in the Eastern Conference, while the Devils' 212 goals are second-lowest of the Eastern Conference playoff teams.
The Comets were 2-4-2-0 against the Devils this season, so they have their work cut out for them if they hope to try to go on a playoff run like they did last season, when they reached the Calder Cup Final.
Of course, if we're talking about the Comets, we have to mention coach Travis Green, whose status after this season remains very much up in the air:
I'll leave it there for now so I can get this posted. Needed to get some sleep this morning after a long weekend of late nights at the Commodore!
On Tuesday, I have a morning dentist appointment, so unless some huge story breaks, I'll catch up with you again on Wednesday.
One quick programming note about Tuesday's hockey schedule:
TSN will be broadcasting the Canada/Finland U18 game at 1:30 PT on Tuesday.
Vancouver Canucks Blogger • 
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