The Utica Comets have officially reached the 10-game mark after their 4-0 shutout loss to the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins on Saturday night at Mohegan Sun Arena. It was a difficult start, as the club was winless through the first month, earning its first victory on Nov. 1 against the Penguins. The club's record stands at 2-7-1-0.
Let's catch up on what has been going on with the Comets on and off the ice to kick off the 2025-26 season.
1) It seemed like the duo to watch would be Shane Lachance and Lenni Hämeenaho, who have been glued to each other's side since the 2025 Propects Challenge in Buffalo, New York. Turns out the actual duo to watch has been Xavier Parent and Matyas Melovsky.
Parent and Melovsky have played on a line together in nine of 10 games, and have combined for 4 goals for the Comets.
"(Melovsky) has been great on draws so they start with the puck a lot," head coach Ryan Parent told The Hockey News. "He has good vision and is a great passer. (Parent) is a worker. He gets to a lot of loose pucks and drives a lot of offense. We just feel like they complement each other really well."
Parent leads the team with six points, followed by Melovsky with five.
2) Nico Daws has seen plenty of defensemen play in front of him over the first 155 games of his professional career. When asked if there was one on the Comets' current blue line that he felt was underrated, the goaltender said he could say all of them, but eventually gave one teammate a shoutout.
"Dmitry Osipov. I love him because he eats pucks for a living. He's a psycho," Daws said with a chuckle. "I don't know how he does it. If I were a (skater), I would never block a shot. They don't have enough padding for that. I am safe, so it doesn't hurt me, but them it hurts."
Editor's Note: After that exchange, Daws walked out from the locker room to tell me to add Ethan Edwards' name as well. In Daws' last start, he got run over, and Edwards immediately dropped the gloves to come to his defense.
3) Speaking of Edwards, Parent said that the rookie is eating up a ton of minutes, averaging over 20 per night.
"He has been adjusting to the game," he said. 'Trying to feel it out to find how he can be as effective as he can as a player at the next level. I thought he has been doing a great job. He gets to play a ton of minutes in a lot of different situations. It's good for him."
4) After beginning the season with the New Jersey Devils, Brian Halonen was assigned to the Comets on Sunday. When asked if he thought his forward group felt the absence of Halonen through the first 10 games, Parent simply said, "That would be an easy one to say, yeah."
5) Angus Crookshank admits that his now teammates probably did not like him too much when he was a member of the Belleville Senators. One player he always seemingly battled when the Sens played the Comets was defenseman Colton White.
"Whenever we played Utica, I always had to deal with (White) just whacking me and cross-checking me anywhere I went on the ice," he said. "It would drive me absolutely nuts."
The two are now alternate captains for the Comets.
6) A lot of people are waiting for Lenni Hämeenaho to offensively pop. Here is the latest on the 21-year-old, while we wait for that first point in the American Hockey League.
He has worked hard on his defensive play and has been entrusted to be part of the team's top penalty kill unit. As someone told The Hockey News, the youngster is more focused on the overall process vs the production, which everyone knows will eventually come.
7) When things aren't going well, it is important to have guys in the locker room who can keep things light and the rink an enjoyable place to be. This season, those players are Jonathan Gruden and Calen Addison.
8) It has become clear to the guys in the Comets locker room why Shane Lachance was handed the "C" as a sophomore at Boston University.
"It really sticks out for me," White said. "Being a young guy and asserting himself that way, it takes a long time to do that usually, but he seems to do it right away. He is really great to be around, and has a great work ethic. A special player, for sure."
9) Speaking of White, he spent a lot of time playing alongside Seamus Casey last season and has always provided great insight into the youngster and his development.
"I think the world of him, he is a phenomenal player," the defenseman said. "He is so skilled. I tell a lot of people he is one of the most gifted players I have played with. He's had success in the NHL and the American League.
"He is so good at running the power play and moving pucks, and worked really hard on his defensive game, and he works really hard," White continued. "I think from training camp, he played great when he was in and then the injury kind of slowed him down. Even in the game in Utica that I played with him, he was great, same old Seamus. Just really good with the puck and much better defensively compared to last year at this time. I think if he keeps doing the work on the defensive side of the game, I don't see why he won't be in the NHL."
10) Sewer ball is a warm-up game in which hockey players stand in a circle and use their feet to keep a soccer ball from hitting the ground. It is also known as "two-touch." There is a group of players in Utica who have sewer ball as part of their pre-game routine. Word is that at the moment Nico Daws is the best player, while Gruden is the worst.
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