It’s the biggest weekend of the season so far for the Utica Comets.
In heart of a headlong drive to try to qualify for the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup playoffs, the first-year team has a golden opportunity to make up some ground with three home games this weekend.
The Abbotsford Heat visit the Utica Memorial Auditorium Friday and Saturday (7 p.m.), and the Iowa Wild visit at 3 p.m. Sunday.
The Comets are 29-28-3-4 for 65 points, six points out of the last Western Conference playoff spot held by the Charlotte Checkers. The Rochester Americans (70 points) and Oklahoma City Barons (69) also are ahead of the Comets, who have played two fewer games than the Amerks and Barons, and three fewer than Charlotte. The Comets, however, do not own the tie-breaker against any of those teams and would need to finish ahead of them to qualify for the postseason.
The Comets pushed past the .500 mark for the first time this season in Saturday’s shootout victory over the Milwaukee Admirals, winning for the seventh time in nine games.