AHL Utica Comets

Comets in the Community

Published on March 28, 2014 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Utica Comets News Release


Things just seem to be going right for the Utica Comets both on and off the ice recently.

With the playoff push in full swing, the Comets are gearing up for a tense and sure to be thrilling finish to the 2013-14 season. But off the ice, the team is just as active as ever, with another set of appearances throughout the Mohawk Valley Community.

The week began similar to the one prior, with schools and education being the theme for the Comets. Two of our French speaking forwards, Alexandre Grenier and Alex Mallet, attended French class at Westmoreland High School, to teach the kids a little bit about a language that grew up as primary to them.

Grenier and Mallet are both graduates of the QMJHL and natives of Quebec, the only province in Canada where French is the more widely spoken language than English. The French students had questions prepared for the two Comets about the culture differences between Canada and the United States, amongst other things related to their upbringing with a French flavor.

Two of the Comets veterans, Alex Biega and Brandon DeFazio, made an appearance at the Utica Public Library on Tuesday night. The two players continued to spread the team's message of the importance of reading to children. Biega and DeFazio also took pictures and signed autographs for their fans.

The Comets were starting to become as familiar as the blackboard at local schools, as Jeremy Welsh and Patrick Kennedy made yet another appearance on Wednesday, this to Roscoe Conkling Elementary School in Utica. The two players went between each of the third and fourth grade classrooms to meet with the different classes.

Welsh and Kennedy, along with Audie, gave a class of third graders a special treat just before dismissal as they stopped by to interact with the students. Despite many of the kids thinking Welsh and Kennedy were brothers, the players had a fun afternoon talking with the children.

The week was capped off on Wednesday night, as Joe Cannata and Audie were at the Utica Zoo for a Munchkin Kids Club event. Cannata and our beloved mascot hung out with old fans and new, with several first timers of the animal variety meeting the goaltender for the first time.

The fans were able to feed some of the animals at the zoo, while getting pictures and autographs with Cannata and Audie. A feisty turtle even followed Audie around for the entire evening, giving the alien yet another friend.

The week was capped off by a visit to Hawaiian Holiday in Whitesboro as Kellan Lain and Ray Kaunisto met up with customers from the tanning facility as well as a few customers from all around Whitestown Plaza.

One young child was en route to his birthday dinner with a fresh new Utica Comets jersey in hand when he spotted two of his heroes in jerseys of their own entering Hawaiian Holiday. He was a little to young to tan but not at all underage for a couple of autographs from the two Comets on his fresh merchandise. Both players capped off their evening with a little tanning of their own, Lain's first time in the bed. The bronze coat will surely do the two well this weekend on the ice as well.

For more pictures from Comets appearances, head over to our new Flickr account:  https://www.flickr.com/photos/120266283@N04/

Check out the Utica Comets Statistics

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American Hockey League Stories from March 28, 2014


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