January 1, 2015 - American Hockey League (AHL) Utica Comets The Utica Comets fell to the San Antonio Rampage 8-4 on New Year's Day at The Utica Memorial Auditorium in their first regulation loss in 11 games. This also marks the first time the Comets have lost in regulation in front of a sell-out crowd at The AUD.

Despite offensive production from four different Comets players, San Antonio's goaltender Dan Ellis bested Utica in net with a total of 28 saves on 32 shots on net. Rampage forward, Bobby Butler (1-2-3), helped record the most offensive production on the team while being awarded the second star of the game.

After a handful of saves on both ends of the ice, San Antonio found the first goal of the night with just under three minutes left in the first period. Following a puck battle along the boards, Brett Olson retrieved the puck from the chaos behind Jacob Markstrom's net. Olson didn't hang on the puck for long and opted for a quick pass back out to the blue line from in between the hashmarks. Shane O'Brien received Olson's pass and immediately propelled the rubber over Markstrom's glove hand for the 1-0 lead. Butler was credited with the secondary assist.

The second period left a bitter taste in everyone's mouth except for San Antonio. In 11 minutes and 23 seconds, the Rampage scored six goals.

Their second of the game and first of the period came at 4:07 after Andrey Pedan took an interference penalty a minute prior. Drew Shore made a pass across the blue pain to Connor Brickley who then popped it past Markstrom's left side to make it 2-0. Wade Megan was also tallied an assist on the play.

Before San Antonio could unleash another attack, the Comets answered back roughly two minutes later. After Cal O'Reilly rushed into the neutral zone, the puck made its way to Pedan who then left the puck with Alex Biega. To finish the play, O'Reilly was waiting to the right side of Ellis' net to pop in the cross-ice pass from Biega to keep the score within one.

Despite the Comets efforts to fight back, Rampage continued on with their destruction. At 8:06 Butler forced the Comets to turn over the puck behind Markstrom's net. Oncer Butler had possession, he pass the puck to Garrett Wilson who took a point blank shot that popped between Markstrom's legs to make the two goal lead theirs once again with a score of 3-1.

The Comets next goal was the perfect definition of a give-and-go play. A minute and a half after San Antonio's last goal, Brandon DeFazio and Dustin Jeffrey rushed into the offensive zone. With two consecutive passes, the puck made its way to Biega's stick just above the center hashmarks. With a flick of the stick, Biega's wrist shot was buried top shelf over Ellis' glove hand for a shorthanded goal to make it 3-2.

San Antonio scored another at 10:45 on a 5-on-3 opportunity. With one slapshot from Rocco Grimaldi and a tip in front of the net by Jesse Blacker, the Rampage made the score 4-2 on the power-play goal. Mark Mancari took credit for the secondary assist.

Immediately one minute after, the Comets answered back for the last time of the period with a DeFazio wrist shot. After some board play by O'Reilly and Wacey Hamilton, the puck found its way to DeFazio who netted his 14th of the season to make it 4-3.

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Comets Fall to Rampage 8-4