Utica Jr. Comets

The Utica Jr. Comets are an American junior hockey team based out of the Adirondack Bank Center at Utica Memorial Auditorium in Utica, New York. The organization is a member of the United States Premier Hockey League. The team was renamed in March of 2019. They had played in Utica for the 2018-19 season as part of an agreement with the ownership of the Syracuse Stars organization. The Comets organization had previously dealt with just youth level teams.
==History==
The Syracuse Stars were a Tier III Junior A American junior ice hockey team from Syracuse, New York. They played in the Eastern Junior Hockey League, and also had an associated team of the same name in the Empire Junior B Hockey League. A later version of the team was a member of the United States Premier Hockey League.
On December 9, 2009, Maksymum Hockey LLC, based in Rochester, New York, announced plans to operate the Stars and move them to Rochester beginning with the 2010-11 season. They will play at the ESL Sports Centre.
The team would return to operation with the 2015-16 playing season as the Rockland, Massachusetts based Bay State Breakers organization sold their rights to a team in the United States Premier Hockey League's Premier Division to what would become a reborn Syracuse Stars organization. The Breakers were returning their focus to youth level teams.
On March 15, 2019 it was announced that the Stars organization would fully merge with the Utica Jr. Comets youth organization and relocate to Utica for the 2019-20 season.https://www.usphl.com/news_article/show/1004591  Several of the team had alreay been based out of Utica, NY for the 2018-19 season as the National Collegiate Development Conference team and United States Premier Hockey League Premier Division teams had already relocated to the Adirondack Bank Center at Utica Memorial Auditorium while retaining the Syracuse Stars moniker.  As part of the 2018 reorganization the USPHL Elite Division team sat out the 2018-19 season. The changes coincides with the proposed Nexus Center which would be a three-sheet facility that is located next to the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
In 1996, the Syracuse Junior Crunch were founded to play Canadian Junior A in the Metro Junior A Hockey League, which was absorbed by the Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League in 1998. The team moved to Auburn that year, and was re-named the Auburn Junior Crunch. US Hockey Report, August 1998, "A New Season A New Home" In 2005 the franchise was sold and renamed the Syracuse Stars, joining the Eastern Junior Hockey League.US Hockey Report, Jan 2005, 
"EJHL Adds an Expansion Team" 
==Team Members and Regular Season==
The Syracuse Stars hold tryouts in April of each year.Syracuse Stars Official Web Site Tryouts Page. The season starts the day after Labor Day and playoffs finish during the third week of March each year. The schedule includes 45 EJHL regular season schedule games plus three rounds of playoffs.
==Alumni==
In addition to those players which have gone on to play for various college teamsEJHL Certified College Signings, a number of former Stars players have gone on to play at the NHL level, including the following:
Dustin Brown of the Los Angeles KingsYahoo! Sports Player Bio for Dustin BrownLegends of Hocky Player Bio for Dustin Brown
Tim Connolly of the Buffalo Sabres Yahoo! Sports Player Bio for Tim ConnollyLegends of Hockey Player Bio for Tim Connolly
T.J. Fox of the San Jose SharksWorcester Sharks Player Profile for TJ FoxUS Hockey Report Article "Pacific Takes Gold at 16's" 7/1/2000
Rob Schremp Of the New York Islanders
==Season-by-Season results==
Season 	GP 	W 	L 	T 	OL 	GF 	GA 	P 	Results 	Playoffs 	
1996-97 	50 	10 	37 	3 	- 	220 	358 	23 	15th Metro A 	 	
1997-98 	49 	29 	16 	4 	- 	273 	219 	62 	4th Metro A 	 	
1998-99 	51 	27 	22 	2 	0 	232 	195 	56 	6th OPJHL-E 	 	
1999-00 	49 	9 	36 	2 	2 	170 	303 	22 	10th OPJHL-E 	 	
2000-01 	49 	20 	24 	4 	1 	195 	234 	45 	8th OPJHL-E 	 	
2001-02 	49 	20 	24 	5 	0 	187 	226 	45 	6th OPJHL-E 	 	
2002-03 	49 	4 	43 	1 	1 	114 	308 	10 	10th OPJHL-E 	 	
2003-04 	49 	20 	26 	0 	3 	192 	223 	43 	7th OPJHL-E 	 	
2004-05 	49 	8 	35 	3 	3 	158 	267 	22 	9th OPJHL-E 	 	
2005-06 	45 	11 	27 	1 	6 	127 	208 	29 	13th EJHL 	 	
2006-07 	45 	19 	18 	3 	5 	155 	175 	46 	8th EJHL 	 	
2007-08 	45 	30 	9 	5 	1 	155 	120 	66 	3rd EJHL 	Lost Quarter-final 	
2008-09 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2009-10 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2010-11 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2011-12 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2012-13 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2013-14 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2014-15 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2015-16 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	 	
2016-17 Premier	45 	26 	14 	- 	5 	179 	152 	57 	4th USPHL Premier	Lost Semifinal 	
2016-17 Elite 	45 	30 	12 	- 	2 	198 	99 	62 	3rd USPHL North 	Lost Round Robin 	
2017-18 Premier	44 	30 	12 	- 	2 	198 	135 	62 	3rd North 	Lost Division Quarterfinals 	
2017-18 Elite 	45 	8 	28 	- 	5 	110 	243 	21 	6th North 	Did not qualify 	
2018-19 Premier	44 	21 	18 	- 	5 	147 	141 	47 	3rd North East 	Eliminated in Nationals Round Robin 	
Season 	GP 	W 	L 	OL 	SL 	GF 	GA 	P 	Finish 	Playoffs 	
2019-20 Premier	44 	30 	11 	- 	3 	63 	194 	122 	1st North East 	Playoffs cancelled after team advances to National Tournament 	
2020-21 Premier	42 	14 	26 	- 	1 	33 	154 	201 	6th Mid-Atlantic 	L, DQF 2-0 (Philadelphia Hockey Club) 	
2021-22 Premier	44 	26 	15 	3 	- 	55 	174 	142 	2nd Atlantic West	W, DSF 2-1 (Hershey Cubs)L, DF 0-2 (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights) 	
2022-23 Premier	44 	30 	11 	3 	0 	63 	211 	132 	3rd Mid Atlantic 	W, DQF 2-0 (Hershey Cubs)L, DF 1-2 (Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights) 	
2023-24 Premier	44 	36 	6 	1 	1 	74 	220 	105 	1st New England 	W, DSF 2-0 (Boston Jr. Bruins)Lost in first round of nationals 2-4 (MJDP)	
USPHL - NCDC 	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC	USPHL - NCDC 	USPHL - NCDC 	USPHL - NCDC
Season 	GP 	W 	L 	OL 	SL 	GF 	GA 	P 	Results 	Playoffs 	
2017-18 	50 	19 	22 	9 	- 	150 	199 	47 	7th of 11 	L, QF 1-2 (Boston Jr. Bruins) 	
2018-19 	50 	27 	19 	3 	- 	173 	165 	58 	8th of 10 	L, QF 0-2 (Connecticut Jr Rangers 	
2019-20 	50 	22 	24 	4 	0 	161 	177 	48 	10th of 13 	Did not qualify 	
2020-21 	36 	13 	20 	3 	0 	104 	140 	29 	5th South 	L, DQF 0-2 (Connecticut Jr Rangers) 	
2021-22 	49 	21 	24 	4 	0 	155 	187 	46 	5th South 	Did not qualify 	
2022-23 	50 	18 	28 	3 	1 	157 	204 	40 	6th South 	Did not qualify 	
2023-24 NCDC 	52 	30 	17 	4 	1 	188 	154 	65 	3rd South 	Lost Division Semifinals 	
==Notes and references==
==External links==
*Syracuse Stars Official Website
*Eastern Junior Hockey League Website
Category:American ice hockey teams
Category:Eastern Junior Hockey League (1993-present) team
Category:Empire Junior B Hockey League team
Category:Established in 1996
Category:Ontario Provincial Junior A Hockey League team