Comets Get Set for “COVID” Home Opener on TV’s WPNY

The unprecedented and historic 2020-21 home opener for the Utica Comets is set for Wednesday night from the Adirondack Bank Center. The game, along with all home games, will be telecast live on WPNY channel 12.

The last time the Comets faced competition in the Aud was back on March 11th of last year, when in front of another sell-out crowd, they lost to the Syracuse Crunch. The next day, the season was suspended due to the COVID-19 outbreak, and later, the remainder of the season was scratched.

Now, the Comets will face Syracuse at home once again, only no fans are allowed inside the Aud because of lingering pandemic restrictions. Recently, Governor Andrew Cuomo lifted some restrictions on arenas seating more than 10,000 people. The Aud seats around 4,000.

Wednesday’s game marks the second time this season the Comets will play the Crunch. Both teams are slated to battle it out 14 times during the 2020-21 campaign. The Crunch took the first game of the series in Syracuse winning 6-1 back on February 6.

Although fans will not be in attendance for Wednesday’s home opener, team president Robert Esche worked hard to land a television deal, and all 16 of the Comets home games will be broadcast live on WPNY channel 12 (Spectrum Cable) in both standard and high definition and will be available over the air on channel 20.2. WPNY is the Mynetwork TV affiliate for the Mohawk Valley. WPNY is also available via the Spectrum streaming app. The station is owned and operated by Nexstar Inc. and is a sister station to WUTR and WFXV, which carries WIBX's Keeler in the Morning show each weekday morning. Also, fans can watch all Comets home and away contests on AHLTV, which can be streamed on any PC/Mac, iOS/Android, Apple TV, Roku, Android TV or Amazon Fire TV.

The Comets enter Wednesday night at home with a 2-1 record after their best offensive output on Saturday, potting five goals and winning in a shootout 6-5 against the Binghamton Devils. The Comets continue to be led offensively by third year forward Kole Lind, with four goals in three games played. Goaltenders Jon Gillies and Jake Kielly both have victories under their belts. Syracuse enters Wednesday’s game in Utica with a record of 1-1-1.

Head Coach Trent Cull talked to the media today and emphasized how great the fanbase makes playing in Utica, “We have great fans. We always know when you go out there and are doing something well you’re going to get a ‘Utica’ chant going. So, we’re going to miss that. We miss our fans for sure and we miss having them around. But, we are excited to be at home.”