The Mohawk Valley Comets were a professional ice hockey

Ice hockey

Ice hockey, often referred to as hockey, is a team sport played on ice, in which skaters use wooden or composite sticks to shoot a hard rubber puck into their opponent's net. The game is played between two teams of six players each. Five members of each team skate up and down the ice trying to take...

 team based in Utica

Utica, New York

Utica is a city in and the county seat of Oneida County, New York, United States. The population was 62,235 at the 2010 census, an increase of 2.6% from the 2000 census....

, New York

New York

New York is a state in the Northeastern region of the United States. It is the nation's third most populous state. New York is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and by Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...

. They were a member of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League

Atlantic Coast Hockey League

The Atlantic Coast Hockey League was a minor league hockey organization that operated between 1981 and 1987. The league was founded by Bill Coffey....

 from 1985 until the league suspended operations until 1987.

History

The Mohawk Valley Comets competed as the Mohawk Valley Stars in the Atlantic Coast Hockey League from 1981 to 1985. The Stars would win the inaugural Bob Payne Trophy, which was awarded to the ACHL playoff champions.

By the time the 1982-83 ACHL season started, all but two teams from the previous season either left the league or folded due to financial difficulty. The Winston-Salem Thunderbirds rebranded themselves as the Carolina Thunderbirds

Carolina Thunderbirds

The Carolina Thunderbirds were a professional ice hockey team located in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA. The Thunderbirds played their home games at the old Winston-Salem Memorial Coliseum before the arena was demolished in 1989...

, leaving the Stars as the only "original" ACHL team. The Stars would struggle over the next few years, including a season of 14 wins in 1984-1985.

1986-87 season

The Comets started the season struggling, winning one game in their first nine. With the nearby Troy Slapshots

Troy Slapshots

The Troy Slapshots were a professional ice hockey team based in Troy, NY. They were a member of the Atlantic Coast Hockey League in the 1985-86 season.-History:...

 failing to bring fans to the game (including one game that had an estimated 120 fans) and the inability for the team to pay several bills, the league decided to revoke the Slapshots' franchise on November 18, 1986. As a result, the league decided not have a dispersal draft for the league. Instead, they decided to give the Comets the rights to the former Slapshots player for ten days. Twelve players who had skated with the Slapshots would see ice time with the Comets throughout the season. The Comets would also fire coach Bill Horton. In his place, the Comets would hire Joe Selenski as their new coach and general manager. The Comets would go 22-22-3 under Selenski and make the playoffs. The Comets would eventually lose to the Virginia Lancers

Virginia Lancers

The Virginia Lancers were a minor league hockey team that played in several leagues from 1983 until 1990. Their home ice was the Vinton Sports Complex, which held 3400 people.-Atlantic Coast Hockey League :...

 four games to three in the Payne Trophy Finals.

Transfer

After the 1986-87 season, the Mohawk Valley franchise announced that they would be leaving the ACHL for the American Hockey League

American Hockey League

The American Hockey League is a 30-team professional ice hockey league based in the United States and Canada that serves as the primary developmental circuit for the National Hockey League...

. They would later be renamed the Utica Devils

Utica Devils

The Utica Devils were an ice hockey team of the American Hockey League. The team played in Utica, New York at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.-History:...

.

With the transfer of the Mohawk Valley franchise to the AHL and the announcements that the Carolina Thunderbirds and Virginia Lancers would be leaving for the newly formed All-American Hockey League

All-American Hockey League

The All-American Hockey League was a minor league hockey organization formed in 1972 with teams based in the Upper Midwest and Great lakes regions of the United States as the Continental Hockey League. In 1986 the league folded and the Danville, Dayton, Troy went on to form the All-American Hockey...

, Commissioner Ray Miron

Ray Miron

Ray Miron is the former owner of the new Central Hockey League, founded in 1992 by Miron and William "Bill" Levins, as well as a former National Hockey League executive, serving in the Toronto Maple Leafs organization and as General Manager of the Colorado Rockies . They founded the league under...

announced that the league would be suspending operations indefinitely on July 25, 1987.