Well guys, the Farm is on the road again, this time they’re in Belleville visiting the Ottawa Senators farm team aptly named…the..well…Senators…inspired, I know.
Was bound to be an exciting game as both teams were looking to bounce back from some pretty tragic losses, Utica to Binghamton (5-2) and Belleville to Toronto (8-2) so both teams tonight looking to prove something to themselves and to their opponent!
In less than encouraging news, Thatcher Demko continues to be a work in progress as he’s still yet to dress for the Comets, and ongoing injuries to Cam Darcy, Kole Lind, Vinny Arseneau, Wacey Hamilton and call-ups of Darren Archibald, Adam Gaudette and Alex Biega meant that the Farm would be relying on recent PTO signees, Alex Kile and Tony Cameranesi (name will be familiar to you as Tony is the brother of recent Gold medal Olympic champion Dani Cameranesi of the American Women’s Ice Hockey Team).
In some ENCOURAGING news though, the Comets finally got Reid Boucher back from a 7 game absence. Boucher was utilizing his newfound dad-strength and put up 12 points in 8 games before going down with a leg injury.
Starting Lineup
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Dahlen | Kero | Boucher |
| Carcone | Cameranesi | MacEwen |
| MacMaster | Jasek | Bancks |
| Gadjovich | Woods | Kile |
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Juolevi | Sifers |
| Sautner | Chatfield |
| Briesbois | McEneny |
| G |
|---|
| Ivan Kulbakov |
| Scratches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Blujus | Darcy | Lind | Arseneau | Gardiner | Hamilton | Palmu | Graham |
Pretty surprised at the Palmu scratching over someone like Alex Kile. Thought Palmu looked good on the PP. But I guess Cull is set on having Palmu on the left wing, and is more willing to flex Kile and Gadjovich around if that means keeping Palmu out.
Streamable Clarity Improvement Notice
Tonight I’m gonna be doing more to try and improve the clarity of my streamables. So ideally including a players jersey number in parenthesis() next to the name, and perhaps their location at the start of the streamable so you guys know where and what to look for. Again this is all a work in progress so feedback greatly appreciated! Note this isn’t about literal resolution/fps issues, AHL only streams at a certain quality and I can only do my best to reproduce what I’m given to its best quality!
All that being said it should be an exciting game so let’s get into it!
1st period
- Gadjovich (#22) on the PP gets caught offside on a Carcone blitz down the wing
- BELLEVILLE GOAL: Jonathan Racine scores on the Senators first shot of the night…OOF
- Evan McEneny (#2) forgets that Joe LaBate is no longer a Utica Comet and leaves Kulbakov defending the post alone
- Jonah Gadjovich (#22) doesn’t get puck past the Senators defenseman, controller promptly disconnects for remainder of shift
- Jalen Chatfield (#5 – center-top at start of gif) passes to center ice to Reid Boucher (#24) who neatly redirects it to Tanner Kero (#10) who gets a stick between him and dumped into the net, and somehow DOESN’T get a penalty shot, but does get Utica on the powerplay for a hooking minor
- Brendan Woods (#21) sends it down the ice to Zack MacEwen (#15) coming onto the ice for his shift who gets a scoring opportunity on Senators netminder Filip Gustavsson
- Jalen Chatfield goes to play the puck along the boards head down and gets hit a little high by Senators D Jonathan Racine – Chatfield would be down for a bit but fortunately was on his next shift relatively quick afterward
- Lukas Jasek (#9 – bottom left) gets the puck to Jamie Sifers (#26) who gets off a shot that goes wide, Jasek has a chance to tap it in but gets tripped down and no call is made
- Dahlen (#54 – bottom-center @ start of streamable) strips the Senators forward of the puck and has some nice passing to Brisebois (#55) who gets the puck in the offensive zone through some nice puck control
Score at end of 1st period: 1-0 Belleville
2nd Period
- UTICA GOAL: An early Comets powerplay goal – Michael Carcone (#58) sets up Tanner MacMaster (#19) initially for a great one timer then gets set up by Evan McEneny (#2), Jonah Gadjovich providing some real gud net front presence – Game is tied 1-1
- BELLEVILLE GOAL: Belleville quickly regains the lead off a shot from Filip Chlapik who sneaks it under the right pad of Comets netminder Ivan Kulbakov – Belleville 2 – Utica 1
- BELLEVILLE GOAL: 2 goals in 44 seconds as Nick Paul sets up Jack Rodewald for the one-timer as he goes high glove side on Kulbakov – Belleville 3 – Utica 1
- Ivan Kulbakov almost on the receiving end of a goal from center ice off a weird deflection off the backboards
- Comets on an extended 5 on 3 powerplay – Juolevi (#48) and Dahlen (#54) with some nice passing, and a great shot from Juolevi
- UTICA GOAL: Juolevi to Dahlen to Kero to make this a 1 goal game with plenty of time remaining. GREAT pass from Dahlen to Kero here – 3 -2 Belleville
- Juolevi misses a pass and Patrick Sieloff coming out of the box gets a breakaway scoring chance but Kulbakov is there to to stop it!
- UTICA GOAL: Dahlen(#54) drops it off for Evan McEneny (#2) who takes a slapper on net, the Senators goalie doesn’t know where it is, but Zack MacEwen(#15) does, and he’s there to bury it and make this a tie game at 3 –3-3
- Dahlen(#54) with some nice puck handling through the Senators that creates a scoring chance for Tanner Kero(#10) off a Reid Boucher fumble(#24)
- BELLEVILLE GOAL: Paul Carey casually strolls towards Kulbakov and roofs it team collectively caught watching, Kulbakov daydreaming- 4-3 Belleville
- Brendan Woods (#21) and Zack MacEwen (#15) making the Senators powerplay unit struggle hard…not crossing center-ice for the first 40 seconds of their powerplay
- Ivan Kulbakov with the buck nasty save on the penalty kill
- Lukas Jasek(#9) creates some space and gets a lucky bounce for Jamie Sifers(#21) to get off a shot on Filip Gustavsson
Absolutely nutty 2nd period….guess the Comets coaching staff are learning lessons from the NHL squad about showing some pushback in the 2nd!
The Score at the end of the 2nd period: Belleville 4, Utica 3
3rd Period
- Boucher(#24) draws the slashing penalty
- Some nice play setups from Dahlen(#54) and Juolevi(#48) on the powerplay
- Utica wins the draw and Jalen Chatfield(#5) gets a nice shot on net
- Tanner Kero(#10) gets it to Juolevi(#48) off the draw who smoothly passes it to Reid Boucher(#24) for the one timer
- Boucher draws an interference penalty from Joe LaBate putting Utica on their NINTH powerplay of the night….NINTH…and Utica goes AGAIN to a 5-on-3
- UTICA POWERPLAY GOAL: Olli Juolevi (bottom right of streamable) with insane patience, draws the Senator forwards to him and waits for the Senators defenders to be on the goalies right hand side to set up Tanner Kero(#10) – tie game 4-4
- Still on the powerplay, McEneny hands Belleville a golden shorthanded goal opportunity with a bad no-look pass attempt to Michael Carcone
- At this point the game slowed down HEAVILY. I think Senators were a bit scared due to how undisciplined they had been playing, and Utica because they were exhausted from all the powerplay time
- Michael Carcone(#58 – bottom of streamable) with speed gets a breakaway scoring opportunity
- Juolevi(#48- – center right of streamable) solo stops a Senators break-in attempt
- Senators with some last minute effort to try and put the game away
Score at end of 3rd period: 4-4 tie
OVERTIME
- not too many good looks for either side in OT for the first half of OT. Both sides looked pretty gassed.
- Dahlen with some fancy puckwork on the boards, gets to the neutral zone and gets a nice pass to McEneny who turns awkwardly to avoid a check and gets boarded
- Ashton Sautner(#6) with a bizarre pinch lets the puck go through his legs and leads to a massive scoring opportunity for Senators, fortunately Kulbakov makes a great stick save and Reid Boucher turns it around the other way and gets a shot on Filip Gustavsson with seconds remaining in OT
With no goals, we head to the shootout
SHOOTOUT
- Scores– Rudolf Balcers
- miss – Jonathan Dahlen
- off the post – Gabriel Gagne
- save – Michael Carcone
- Score – Adam Tambellini – BELLEVILLE WINS 5-4
Takeaways
- Really great rally from the team to comeback from a deficit twice to force OT and a shootout is really impressive considering how young and inexperienced this squad is.
- Juolevi is looking more and more legit as a powerplay quarterback
- All 4 goals for Utica tonight came on the powerplay…based on my last post, I would have to argue that benching Petrus Palmu in favor of Alex Kile was a hugeeee missed opportunity. The powerplay was 4 for 9… and goals were only generated by Juolevi/Dahlen and Kero.
- Cant be a 1 line powerplay unit, really think a PP unit of Palmu, Kero, Boucher, Juolevi, Dahlen would light the league up as a #1. Or at least stick Palmu and Juolevi together, because he plays really well when he has a lefty on the right wing to feed it to
- Jonah Gadjovich didn’t have a single shift in overtime (at least not that I recall) he can be pretty hit or miss on shifts, either he’s on or he looks like he’s skating on concrete, the guy NEEDS his skating to be better in order to succeed in the AHL, otherwise he’s going to be passed over in the depths charts relatively quick.
- Don’t be surprised if someone like MacEwen or MacMaster get called up in the event of an injury…they’re playing with great speed hustle and handle the puck real gud.
- Please if anyone from the Comets reads this…do not play Alex Kile over Palmu…I get he’s on a PTO so you want to get what you paid for…but the guy is just a body out there…the team tonight desperately needed some dynamic offense and playmaking outside of Juolevi and Kero.
Whats Next?
Utica may have lost this one, but they’ll be back at home, Friday November 16th against the Tampa Bay Lightning’s farm team, the Syracuse Crunch! The Crunch have one of the lowest goals against in the North Division, so it will be a true test to see if the team can generate bonafide offense OUTSIDE of Juolevi/Kero and Dahlen.
Hope you guys enjoyed this edition of the Farmies, obviously this is still a work in progress so any feedback, improvement suggestions, content or highlights you’d like me to focus/pick out during games, let me know and I’ll do my best to provide! If not in this edition, but at the very least the next edition of the Farmies! Also do let me know about the revised clarity I’m providing on plays, let me know if it’s cluttered or perfectly fine!
EDIT: Formatting on the scratches table wasn’t right + minor spelling errors.
