Comets shift from hopeful uncertainty to unfulfilled reflection in aftermath of season cancellation

The Utica Comets season officially ends at 34-22-3-2, good for third in the North Division as the AHL announced the cancellation of the remainder of the 2019-20 season, Monday.

Eleventh at home against the syracuse crunch.

But this year - they had no idea that when they dispersed - they wouldn't be coming back.

Nats: goal scored.

Cheering... a playoff race cut short.

As the comets neared the climax of the regular season - they were forced to part.

A close knit group - now realizing that they won't get to finish what they started.

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None .

None trent cull: it's difficult i guess it would be no different than four people and families together that can't go see their families and that's what it's like.

We've bece thatfamilh months of the year and it just dissipates within a day it's crazy.

The cancellation of the a-h-l season being made official today ends a campaign at least 15 games early...and who knows how many more.

But the loss of this opportunity is nothing like other defeats in the past.

Trent cull: it's a different feeling.

If you don't make the playoffs or are you going to playoffs and get beat or you go into playoffs and you win i've been in all of those situations and it's whatever happens then you've got to deal with the consequences after.

I feel like now it's just kind of like you ran off of a cliff and you're kind of just hovering in the air, and that's kind of where we are at there is no finality to it, but it's not just us as hockey players it's everybody that's dealing with this.

After two months of hoping from all over the globe about re- converging here in utica - the mindset now changes from competition to reflection.

Trent cull: now it's a season in review that's what today brings i guess.

It's us as coaches what can we do, how can we make our team better, how can we make our group better thinking into next year.

We've tried to reach out to our players, we think now we will switch gears and try to give them almost some closure and some feedback, how their year went, whether it's good or bad, whatever.

Or things they can improve on if there are areas or things that we thought they did really well and tell them how proud we are so they can move on with the season officially over - still more uncertainty lies ahead...but even as the focus shifts - the goal remains the same...the comets hope to be in position to bring playoff hockey back to utica whenever they do return.

Trent cull: we haven't sat down as an organization or talked about how we are going to move forward.

Usually in the off-season, it's this is what we think is going to happen, these might be some holes that are coming our way and what do we think we need to do to try to outfit the best organization or team that we can or ice that team so then we will start to have those talks.

I don't think we are having those talks right now because we don't know what the timeline is on anything with free agency, the draft, this season of the nhl still a possibility so i don't know how those talks will go, the only thing i can say is that by going through this past season it will set us on our path for next year i guess you'd say.

> all stats and standings as of march 12th - the day of the season's suspension - are now final and official.

With that - the comets end the year at 34-22-3-2 - good for third in the north division with 73 points.

That would have been a playoff spot if they held on.

Leading scorer reid boucher had just tied alex grenier's all-time career franchise scoring record of 175 points with 67 this season...surely would have broken that if things continued.

And seven players on this year's comets team had forty or more points...two had 50 or above...giving them an offense we hadn't seen from the comets in quite some time.

On a positive note