UTICA, N.Y. -- Colton Saucerman is not new to hockey. He has played in more than a dozen career AHL games. However, he is new to the Utica Comets. He signed on as a PTO just a few days ago.

"It's been good,” Saucerman said. "First day I got here, it was nice to get a practice in. Normally it's not like that. It's usually the day of the game or sometimes I got to try to learn the system on the fly and it was nice to get a practice in. Like I said, all the guys have been great and super welcoming."

The new defenseman made quite the debut with the Comets. He scored in his first game with the team.

"I try to bring a lot of energy and physicality and I like talking and being loud and vocal out there so I just tried to do that," he said. "I kind of was just fortunate that I scored."

He has skill, and he also has a beard. It's a beard that is reminding a lot of people of Yukon Cornelious, a character from the Christmas movie, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

"It was originally just a thing to do after I decided to shave my head so I had something, something cool. You can't be bald and have nothing so I decided to just grow it out and I never dreamed that it was kind of -- be known for it," Saucerman said of his beard.

Fans and Saucerman's teammates, including his roommate and new player Jagger Dirk gets a kick out of it too.

"Yeah we have a lot of fun with it in the room, just reading some of the tweets and the pictures that the fans are posting. We get a good laugh out of it. But at the end of the day we're here to play hockey. It's not all about the beard, but it definitely brings that fun element to it," Dirk said.

When asked if he had anything to say to his fans, Saucerman said, "Fear the beard."

The Utica Comets will face the Binghamton Devils on Friday.

"Get Sauced Utica" shirts will be available at Friday's game at the Adirondack Bank Center. The proceeds will go to the Save the Day Foundation, which will make a donation to pediatric cancer causes per Saucerman's request.