COMETS ANNOUNCE TWO MORE SIGNINGS
Jul 20, 2021Utica, NY - Utica Comets General Manager Dan MacKinnon announced today that the team signed two more forwards, Samuel Laberge and Ryan Schmelzer, for the 2021-2022 season.
Laberge, 24, hails from Chateauguay, Quebec and signed a two-way contract with the Comets. Laberge, 6-foot-2, 205-pounds, played 50 games last season for the Allen Americans in the ECHL where he scored 15 goals and 22 assists for 37 points placing him tied for 4th in team scoring. Laberge won the Humanitarian of the Year award in back-to-back seasons while with Rimouski Oceanic of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League in 2016 and 2017. Laberge played parts of two seasons in the AHL with the Texas Stars from 2017-2019 totaling 97 games played registering eight goals and 14 assists for 22 points.
Ryan Schmelzer, 27, played the last three seasons with the Binghamton Devils. Schmelzer, 6-foot-2, 187-pounds is from Buffalo, New York and played four seasons of hockey at Canisius College where he captained the team in his senior season. In 143 NCAA games, he scored 40 goals and 66 assists for 104 points. During his time with the Binghamton Devils, Schmelzer played in 133 games scoring 23 goals and 32 assists for 55 points.
The Comets open the 2021-2022 season at home inside the Adirondack Bank Center on October 17th. The game will mark the anniversary of the Utica Devils inaugural game 34 years ago.