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Comets Easily Sweep Ambush

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February 27, 2014 - Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Missouri Comets INDEPENDENCE, Missouri (February 27, 2014) - The Missouri Comets closed out their season series against the St. Louis Ambush with their sixth win versus the cross-state rival. Max Touloute led all scorers with five goals while Leo Gibson chipped in with four assists. Altogether, six different players scored for the Comets as they roll to a 27-6 victory.

Missouri got off to a hot start when Alex Megson tapped in a rebound off an early Gibson shot, then Max Touloute scored his first of night 30 seconds later to put the Comets up 4-0 in the first two minutes of the game. Stefan St. Louis and added a score before Touloute closed the opening period with another goal.

Leading 12-0, the Comets did not rest on their laurels and attacked with high pressure. John Sosa scored midway through the quarter and Touloute completed his hat trick towards the end of the half. Gibson assisted on three scores in the first half, helping his side to a 12-0 lead at the midway point.

The second half began just as the first did, with the Comets scoring less than 30 seconds into the period. This time Stefan Stokic found the net. Milan Ivanovic scored another impossible angle shot, followed by yet another Touloute score.

Leading 16-0, veteran goalkeeper Danny Waltman gave way to rookie Brendan Allen for the rest of the night.

The St. Louis Ambush finally got on the board with eight minutes remaining in the third period, but it was too little, too late for the home team.

Leo Gibson put his name in the goal-scorer column twice in the second half, after Touloute notched his fifth goal. The Ambush were able to score twice, but the Comets were never in danger as the finish 6-0 against their rivals from the east, final score 27-6.

Missouri travels to face the Milwaukee Wave at 2:00p.m. CT on Sunday, March 2nd for the final regular season game. With the win tonight, the Comets have secured the third seed in the MISL Playoffs and will face either the Wave or the Baltimore Blast on March 9th in Game 1 of the MISL Semi-Finals.

For group tickets and information call 855.4KC.GOAL or email tickets@kcproscoccer.com.

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Comets Easily Sweep Ambush

Comets Win, Lose In Regional

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Stew-Stras basketball got off to a good start in the Cumberland 1A Regional by beating Cumberland, 57-48. Then they lost their semifinal to Dieterich, 76-37.

The Comets were almost shut out in the 1st period on an 11-2 Toledo run. They then matched Toledo in the 2nd and reeled off a 16-9 run in the 3rd to knot the score, 29-29. The 4th was a jailbreak with both teams scoring 17 points and having the game called a draw at the end of regulation. In OT, the Comets flipped the coin on Cumberland. They answered the Pirates 11-2 run in the 1st with a Comet 11-2 run in OT for the win.

Cumberland made 21 field goals and Stew-Stras just 17. But, the Comets were 19-of-29 at the line and Cumberland just 5-of-8.

Monday

Toledo Regional

Stew-Stras 57, Cumberland 48 - OT

St-St 2-11-16-17-11--57

Cland 11-9-9-17-2--48

Stew stats: Helmuth 22 (4-2s, 2-3 pt FGs, 8/10 FTs), 11 rebounds, 5 steals; Fry 15 (4 FGs, 7/12 FTs), 5 rebounds, 3 steals, 3 assists; Jones 10 (2-2s, 2-3 pt FGs); Bugger 5 (FG, 3/5 FTs), Kessler 2 (FG), A. Blythe 2 (FG), Rincker 1 (1/2 FTs). Team FGs 17. 3-Pointers: 4 (Helmuth 2, Jones 2). Team FTs 19-of-29.

Cland stats: Shoan 12 (6 FGs), Bauguss 10 (3-2s, 1-3 pt FGs, 1/2 FTs), Mo. Wolke 9 (3 FGs, 3/4 FTs), McMechan 7 (3 FGs, 1/2 FTs), Napier 6 (3 FGs), Brumleve 4 (2 FGs). Team FGs 21 (1-3). Team FTs 5-of-8.

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Comets Win, Lose In Regional

Appreciation: Franny Beecher, lead guitarist of Bill Haley's Comets

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Other than die-hard fans and music journalists, few people would have recognized the name of Franny Beecher before stories surfaced Monday about his death at age 92. Beecher was the longtime lead guitarist of seminal rocker Bill Haleys band, the Comets.

Thats one reason that in 2012, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame finally got around to formally acknowledging several of the bands without whom Haley and many other rock, pop and R&B stars previously inducted individually would have been solo acts stranded singing a cappella.

To complete the story on the early inductions of James Brown, Bill Haley, Buddy Holly, Gene Vincent, Hank Ballard and Smokey Robinson, the hall welcomed the musicians who were crucial to the music they brought to the world: the Famous Flames, the Comets, the Crickets, the Blue Caps, the Midnighters and the Miracles. Coming up in April, the next group to be honored with the Rock halls award for musical excellence will be Bruce Springsteens longtime cohorts, the E Street Band.

PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2014

Some obituaries noted that Beecher actually wasnt the musician who came up with the incendiary guitar solo in Rock Around the Clock that helped create the template for several generations of rock guitar heroes who followed. That was session guitarist Danny Cedrone, who died in 1954, just a few weeks after recording what would be come one of the flashpoint songs in the birth of rock n roll.

Then Beecher joined the Comets, having honed his considerable chops playing with King of Swing Benny Goodman and with singer Buddy Greco.

Rock Around the Clock generated few ripples upon its original release in 1954, the B side of Haleys single Thirteen Women (And Only One Man in Town). But it exploded a year later when it was used during the opening of the 1955 film Blackboard Jungle.

The exuberant song, and its thinly veiled reference to all-night sex, not only tied in perfectly with the films theme of juvenile delinquency, but also gained considerable sonic impact when pumped through movie theater sound systems rather than the tiny speakers common to record players and radios of the time.

Beecher was the guitarist most young fans first saw when Haley went on tour after Rock Around the Clock hit the top of the Billboard singles chart, and he was the one who was with the group as its hit streak continued with Burn That Candle and See You Later Alligator.

PHOTOS: Daughters of rock stars

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Appreciation: Franny Beecher, lead guitarist of Bill Haley's Comets

Comets advance to district title game

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Abington Heights held Honesdale scoreless for nearly four minutes with aggressive defense at the beginning of the game and led 12-4 with 1:38 left in the first quarter.

The Hornets answered back by scoring the next nine points to go ahead 13-12 with 5:57 remaining in the second quarter.

Theyre battlers, Abington Heights head coach Ken Bianchi said of Honesdale. We told our kids theyre never going to give up, and we settled for too many threes. We had a 10-1 lead and instead of getting the ball inside, we shot five threes in a row, missed them all and they turned them into baskets. We have to be more intelligent than that.

Despite the Comets two key interior players, Tim Toro, a 6-foot-7 sophomore and Evan Maxwell, a 6-10 senior, sitting on the bench for all of the second quarter after picking up two early fouls, Abington Heights defeated Honesdale, 61-36, in a District 2 Class AAA semifinal Tuesday night at Scranton High School and secured a spot in the PIAA playoffs.

Top-seeded Abington Heights (24-1) will play seventh-seeded Pittston Area (18-7) Friday night in the district title game at Lackawanna College at 8 p.m.

Comets senior guard J.C. Show, who led all scorers with 22 points, ended the Hornets momentum by scoring six consecutive points. Clay Basalyga followed with a basket, Ethan Danzig then hit two shots and Show added another bucket to give Abington Heights a 27-13 lead with 1:09 left in the first half.

They knocked us off our flow, Danzig said. We got up quick, then they came right back and got it to 13-12 and we were all out of sorts. We had to start scoring again and keep playing.

Guard Nate Hollander gave the Comets a jolt off their bench with his hustle plays and unselfishness. The senior grabbed five rebounds and forced three turnovers.

A lot of the coaches tell me he is a pain in the neck, Bianchi said. They hate to see him get in the game because hes like a little gnat, hes all over the place. Hes a spark plug for us. He comes up with some loose balls, he makes passes to the right guys and made a nice layup for us.

While the team was able to make up for the loss of its big guys during the second quarter, Hollander knows they will be critical to the group if the Comets plan to make a deep postseason run.

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Comets advance to district title game

Bill Haley and His Comets Guitarist Dies at 92

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Franny Beecher, who joined Bill Haley and His Comets as lead guitarist after the group had helped kick off the rock 'n' roll era with the hit "Rock Around the Clock" in the 1950s, died on Monday in a nursing home near Philadelphia. He was 92.

His daughter, Pauline Grinstead, confirmed his death.

The Comets, whose hits also included "See You Later, Alligator," are credited by some music historians with recording the first rock n roll song, in 1953, with "Crazy Man, Crazy," the groups biography on the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame website says.

The Philadelphia session guitarist Danny Cedrone, who died in 1954, played on the original recording of "Rock Around the Clock." Mr. Beecher, his replacement, played when the band performed the song for the first time on national television, in 1955, and also for films, notably "Blackboard Jungle" in 1955.

"Rock Around the Clock" became a hit again nearly 20 years after its release when it was included on the 1973 soundtrack of "American Graffiti."

The Comets broke up in 1962, but in the 1980s Mr. Beecher and some of the original members reunited and toured in the United States and internationally.

Francis Beecher was born on Sept. 29, 1921, in Norristown, Pa. He started playing guitar in front of crowds when he was 17 and continued until he was 90; before the Comets, he performed with Buddy Greco and Benny Goodman, Ms. Grinstead said.

In addition to Ms. Grinstead, Mr. Beechers survivors include two sons and six grandchildren.

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Bill Haley and His Comets Guitarist Dies at 92

Comets Looking for Season Sweep

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February 26, 2014 - Major Indoor Soccer League (MISL) Missouri Comets INDEPENDENCE, Missouri (February 26, 2014) - The Missouri Comets travel down I-70 tomorrow for the final match of the season against their cross-state rivals, the St. Louis Ambush. Kickoff at the Family Arena is scheduled for 7:35p.m. CT. This is the sixth match between these two teams, with the Comets holding a 5-0 series lead.

These two teams rekindled the Kansas City-St. Louis indoor soccer rivalry last November when the expansion Ambush hosted the Comets. Missouri's 28-7 victory on that set the tone for the season as the Comets have been one of the highest scoring teams all season. Against the Ambush, they are averaging nearly 24 points per game.

The Comets have won six of their past eight games, including two against St. Louis. They have outscored their competition 134-79 in that stretch. Lucas Rodriguez, current MISL Player of the Week, has surged through Missouri's recent swing of games. In those eight games, he has scored 25 points, including 7 goals. With the absence, due to injury, of team captain Vahid Assadpour, he has stepped up to fill the midfield void.

St. Louis will be closing out their 2013 home schedule on Thursday. As they celebrate the end of their return season to the MISL, they will honor the rich indoor soccer history of the city with a Retro night, very similar to the Comets annual tradition. As legends such as Mark Moser and Jeff Cacciatore watch on, the dangerous duo of Odaine Sinclair and Kory Dowell will be the ones helping the Ambush try and keep pace with the Comets on the scoreboard.

Game time is scheduled for 7:35p.m. CT and fans can watch online at CometsIndoorSoccer.com/Live-Feed. Missouri will close out the 2013-2014 Regular Season on Sunday against the Milwaukee Wave in a match that could ultimately decide the seeding for the 2014 MISL Playoffs.

Playoff Scenarios

Four teams make the MISL Playoffs and are seeded #1-4. The teams will face off with #1 vs #4 and #2 vs #3. The teams will play a home-and-home series for the chance to advance to the MISL Championships. Should either of the series be tied after two games, a 15 minute "mini-game" will be played immediately after game two. The MISL Championship Series will be decided in the same manner.

The Comets currently hold the third seed, a spot that can be clinched with a win in either of the two remaining home games. Should the Comets lose to both St. Louis and Milwaukee, and Syracuse defeats Rochester on Sunday, then the Comets would be the fourth seed in the playoffs.

The Milwaukee Wave and Baltimore Blast are still fighting for position among the first and second seeds of the playoffs. Baltimore holds a .5 game lead on the number one seed currently, but Milwaukee owns the tiebreaker between the two with a better head-to-head record.

Baltimore has one game remaining against the Pennsylvania Roar on Sunday. Milwaukee plays St. Louis on Saturday and the Comets on Sunday. If Milwaukee wins both games or if Baltimore loses, then the Wave will be seeded first. If Baltimore wins and Milwaukee loses one of their two games, then the Blast will be the top seed.

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Comets Looking for Season Sweep

Gameday: Comets vs. San Antonio

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February 26, 2014 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets SAN ANTONIO RAMPAGE (23-23-3-5) @ UTICA COMETS (22-24-3-4)

Utica Memorial Auditorium, 7 pm

Radio: 94.9 K-Rock

Tonight's Game: The Utica Comets return home following a four game road swing, which saw the team claim six of a possible eight points. The Comets host the San Antonio Rampage for both the first time in franchise history and the only time this season. Tonight marks the first of a stretch with four games out of five played at The AUD.

When They Last Met: The Utica Comets peppered the San Antonio Rampage's net all night, but Jacob Markstrom stopped all but two of the Comets 36 shots, including all five in the shootout, to lead his team to a 3-2 victory on Jan. 13. Winger Nicklas Jensen scored both Utica goals, while Mathieu Corbeil turned aside 21 of the 23 shots he faced.

Comets Outlook: A weary Utica Comets squad put in a valiant effort in their third game in as many nights, but came up just short in a 2-1 defeat to the Albany Devils. Jeremy Welsh found the back of the net with Utica's lone goal, as the Comets dropped to 22-24-3-4 for the campaign. Winger Darren Archibald and defenseman Frank Corrado picked up the assists on the play. Joe Cannata, who was vying for his fourth consecutive victory, made 26 saves on 28 shots but took the regulation loss despite several point blank stops.

Rampage Outlook: The Rampage dropped a 3-1 decision to the Hamilton Bulldogs on Sunday at the FirstOntario Centre. Martin St. Pierre scored twice for Hamilton, while Quinton Howden scored the lone goal for San Antonio. Dustin Tokarski picked up the win with 31 saves on 32 shots, while Jacob Markstrom was the loser with 28 stops. The loss marked just the third time over the past 19 games that the Rampage had failed to record a point.

Nicking And Screaming: Winger Nicklas Jensen remains on a tear during the month of February, with two goals over Utica's three games this weekend. Jensen has amassed eight goals during February, the most on Utica's roster. Jensen also surpassed Colin Stuart and Benn Ferriero for the team lead with six power-play goals.

It's Always Erikssony In Utica: Goaltender Joacim Eriksson won his third straight start with a 25 save effort against the Binghamton Senators on Saturday. Eriksson has now held his opposition to two goals or less in 13 of his past 18 starts. Amongst all netminders in the AHL with more than 30 games played, the Galve, Sweden ranks tenth with a .914 save percentage.

Can Do Attitude: Netminder Joe Cannata saw a three game winning streak snapped on Sunday in Albany. Cannata has recorded a .954 save percentage over his past four starts, with 126 saves on 132 shots faced. The Wakefield, MA native tied his AHL career high in victories last Sunday in Toronto.

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Gameday: Comets vs. San Antonio


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