Comets Wrap Up Month of November in Syracuse, Edged by Crunch 5-3
Nov 29, 2025Syracuse, NY – The Comets visited Syracuse on Saturday and fell by a score of 5-3 for the second straight game.
The Comets and Crunch faced off for the second time in four days, and it was another action-packed first period. The contest started with a fight between Xavier Parent and Syracuse forward Dylan Duke just 1:28 into the game, which followed up the two fights we saw on Wednesday night. A few minutes later, the Crunch executed a tic-tac-toe passing play which left Jakob Pelletier with the puck on his stick in the right circle who buried it to make it 1-0 Syracuse at the 5:23 mark for his team-leading ninth goal of the year. The Comets, however, stormed right back when Seamus Casey fed Calen Addison in the high slot who beat Brandon Halverson high glove side to make it 1-1 at the 6:14 mark on his second goal of the year, snapping Syracuse's shutout streak against the Comets at the Upstate Medical University Arena.
Not long after Addison’s goal, Crunch forward Conor Geekie was assessed a five-minute major and a game misconduct for elbowing Jonathan Gruden. Despite great pressure, the Comets were unable to cash in on the ensuing power play. The Crunch would eventually regain the lead later in the period when Wojciech Stachowiak deflected home a centering pass from Tristan Allard past Nico Daws at the 16:35 mark to make it 2-1.
The action continued in the second period, and the Comets came out buzzing. They drew a couple of Syracuse penalties which put Utica on a 5-on-3 advantage and Mike Hardman cashed in for his fourth goal of the year with just three seconds left in the 5-on-4 to tie the game at two at the 6:31 mark. The Crunch would regain the lead when Wojciech Stachowiak broke into the offensive zone, gave it to Dylan Duke who set up Matteo Pietroniero who beat Daws high blocker side to make it 3-2 at 13:10. The Crunch doubled the lead on their first power play of the game when Jakob Pelletier found a loose puck in front of Daws’ crease and jammed it home for his second goal of the game at the 17:35 mark of the second. The Comets would not go away, though, as Xavier Parent stole the puck in the offensive zone, wheeled behind the net, threw it out in front and had his pass ricochet off a Syracuse skate into the net to make it 4-3 with just 32 seconds left in the period for his fifth goal of the year.
The Crunch had a good start to the third period and were able to restore the two-goal advantage when Mitchell Chaffee snapped one past Daws from the right circle after a pass from Dylan Duke at the 4:15 mark for his fifth of the season. The Comets ramped up the pressure as the period went on, outshooting the Crunch 17-3 in the final frame but were unable to cut into the lead and the Crunch walked away with a 5-3 win over Utica.
The Comets outshot the Crunch 40-21, while going 1-for-3 on the power play and 1-for-2 on the penalty kill.
The Comets are back home on Friday against Bridgeport at 7 pm. For tickets, please visit uticacomets.com/tickets or call 315-790-9070.