A day late but only a couple hundred USD short; I’m back from America town, a bit more patriotic, a bit angrier, and ready to double-down on my usage of y’all fer this one der buds. To all the guys living in Utica and going to the games, I fucking commend you, Fridays game was “demand a refund” level of bad. I actually started wondering if I was doing a bad job at picking out highlights and plays, when I sadly realized there simply WEREN’T ANY. It was weird seeing a team collectively phone it in on home ice. The fans deserve better damn it! Maybe y’all will actually show up for Saturdays away game against the Hartford Wolf Pack! The last time the Comets met the Pack, we got a nutty ass game where the team was down 3-1 going into the third, then edged out a gritty shootout victory. Base on THAT meeting with Hartford I’m hoping for at least something competitive….but after Fridays game…I’ll be happy to get at least 10 streamables per period.
Starting Lineup
Holy shit Trent Cull was fucking pissed off at the boys for Fridays game because this lineup is a complete shit show. He’s dressing Jesse Graham who’s been a regular scratch for the last several weeks as a FORWARD, and rotating Dylan Blujus in as the seventh defender…I mean…Gadjovich IMO had a decent enough game Friday, and I dunno I guess he just doesn’t like Palmu…but it’s a roster of AHL lifers featuring Juolevi/Dahlen and Jasek….with the ECHL PTO as your starting goaltender…oh boy this will be interesting.
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Carcone | Kero | MacEwen |
| Dahlen | Cameranesi | Boucher |
| MacMaster | Jasek | Bancks |
| — | Woods | Graham |
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Juolevi | Sifers |
| Sautner | Chatfield |
| Briesbois | McEneny |
| — | Blujus |
| G |
|---|
| Connor LaCouvee |
| BENCHED | — | — |
|---|---|---|
| Gadjovich | Kile | Palmu |
| Injury Report | — | — | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arseneau | Darcy | Demko | Hamilton | Lind | Gardiner |
| Hand | undisclosed | concussion | concussion | week-to-week | undisclosed |
Streamable Clarity Improvement Notice
Continuing with last issues theme, going to be Players full name (jersey number) – place in streamable (if not outright obvious) then every sub sequential play featuring that player it’ll be last name(jersey number) – place in streamable (if not outright obvious) If anyone has suggestions to improve on the clarity of the highlights/plays, I’d love suggestions for improvement! Until then lets get into this one!
1st period
- lotta cycling to start, not much going on until…
- GOAL – UTICA: Comets tendy LaCouvee gloves down a shot and the rebound attempt goes off the post! Reid Boucher(#24) off some passing from Lukas Jasek(#9) and Ashton Sautner(#6) wrists it past the Wolf Pack goalie to make it 1-0 Comets
- Almost goal from Hartford, shot tipped in by a high stick. Nice hand-eye co-ordination but no dice for the Pack!
- Jonathan Dahlen(#54) nice drop pass to Guillaume Brisebois(#55) who fakes a backhand pass then takes a shot on net
- GOAL – HARTFORD: off the ensuing shot from Brisebois(#55), Comets D, Evan McEneny(#2) with a half-hearted poke-check attempt on the Hartford rush which leads to Brisebois(#55) defending the 2-on-1 breakaway alone. Vile Meskanen(#81) roofs it to tie the game
- Brendan Woods(#21) with a nice cross ice feed to Olli Juolevi(#48) who gets a shot on net
- Comets on the powerplay, Jesse Graham(#64) takes the “stop benching me Coach!” attempt instead of going to the wide open MacEneny(#2) on the right circle
- GOAL – UTICA: Utica wrapping up their powerplay, a nice feed from Boucher(#24) to Sautner(#6) who wrists it past Wolf Pack goaltender Marek Mazanec to make it 2-1 Comets
- Jalen Chatfield(#5) ups his grit/60 after missing the poke check
- Chatfield(#5) doubling down on the grit/60 and blocks a shot with his kneecap
- Dahlen(#54) on a breakaway after a lazy Wolf Pack shift change has his shot saved by Mazanec, who bails his team out in a big way!
- OJ48 with a shot on goal off a quick pass from Dylan Blujus(#8)
- GOAL – HARTFORD: the Comets on the penalty kill off a bad Blujus(#8) tripping penalty; LaCouvee overcompensates to cover his right post, but CristovalNieves(#24) simply sets up Tim Gettinger(#26) for the easy tap in powerplay goal
- Comets with some kickback; Juolevi(#48) – top left of streamable – with a great effort to keep the puck in the offensive zone, gets a shot on net, Tony Cameranesi(#27) there for the rebound passes to Dahlen(#54) who’s shot is saved by Mazanec
- Holy moly Zack MacEwen(#15) blasts it off the toe of Mazanec, and Michael Carcone(#58), there for the rebound, rings it off the post…so close to regaining the lead!
- Tanner Kero(#10) bobbles the puck on a Comets powerplay and it turns into a scoring chance for Hartford…yeesh
- Comets still on the powerplay. Some nice passing from Dahlen(#54), Juolevi(#48) and Boucher(#24)
- McEneny(#2) misses a wide open net off a great Tanner MacMaster(#19) feed, and AGAIN seconds later
An eventful 1st period see’s Utica outshooting their opponent, 17 to 10
2nd Period
- MacMaster(#19), after a Utica penalty kill for too many men, blitzes down the left wing and gets a shot on net; Hartford defender blocks Jasek(#9) from getting the rebound
- McEneny(#2) fighting along the boards, with a risky pass through the middle, but Carcone’s(#58) there to break up the scoring opportunity
- Juolevi(#48) almost finds the net through traffic
- GOAL – HARTFORD: Chatfield(#5) jumps up to join the cycle but collides with Jasek(#9) who doesn’t seem to realize what Chatfield’s trying, the ensuing collision leads to a 2-on-1 breakaway and an easy goal from Nieves(#24)
- Comets on the powerplay – Dahlen(#54) off a rink wide pass from Boucher(#24) tries to go backhand on Mazanec but gets stopped
Couple powerplays, but not much to write home about this period, very controlled play from Hartford, and a lot of panicky backhand passes from Utica to try and get some offense going. Michael Carcone goes down with an injury off a big hit as well so that’ll be a huge blow to the Comets moving into the third period if he cannot return.
Shot production dropped immensely by the comets here, getting outshot marginally by Hartford 10 to 8.
The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-2 Hartford
3rd Period
- Carcone was late coming back to the bench, so it looks like the Comets WON’T be without one of their top 6 forwards
- Comets on their 4th powerplay of the night, McEneny(#2) gets an open net shot blocked
- This is the comets on the penalty kill, good stuff from Cameranesi(#27) and Boucher(#24). Comically bad power play from Hartford here haha
- Sautner(#6) with a huge block on the penalty kill
- Dahlen(#54) picks the puck off the Hartford aggressor along the boards and later gets a nice pass to Chatfield(#5) who gets a shot off on Mazanec, nice passing from the team on this one
- Good fight from the youth, Dahlen(#54) with a nice tip attempt in front of the net, then Jasek(#9) with some nice moves along the boards which leads to a great scoring opportunity from Jamie Sifers(#26)
- Chatfield(#5) –bottom left of streamable – crosschecks Hartfords Dylan Leedahl(#25)…really stupid penalty to take
- GOAL – HARTFORD: the Comets still defending the Chatfield(#5) penalty can’t find the puck at the front of the net, but Cole Schneider can, and he knocks it in to make it 4-2 for Hartford
- GOAL – HARTFORD: LaCouvee to the bench for the extra attacker, but Cameranesi(#27) loses the puck and Hartford gets an easy empty netter to make it 5-2 Hartford
- GOAL – HARTFORD: LaCouvee screened by Chatfield(#5) and a shot from Brandon Crawley takes a weird bounce to make this 6-2 Hartford….3 goals in little under a minute and a half…brutal
- GOAL – UTICA: Dahlen(#54) and Jasek(#9) tip a Sifers(#26) shot and make it a 6-3 game with 10 seconds left in the game
Our Final Score: 6-3 Hartford Wolf Pack
Takeaways
- Comets drop their FOURTH straight, and with the lingering injuries, lackluster goaltending and terrible 5v5 scoring, this team needs to step up and show they want to win.
- Tanner Kero with his 2nd straight game of basically just being a body out there; not sure what happened in the past week to make him completely change his gameplay
- Juolevi with another impressive first period, 3 shots, and a 0 +/- rating, but boy if he doesn’t get going, this team really has nothing to offer
- Dahlen and Jasek are slowly building some quality chemistry…I hope to see Cull let this keep going, but with the teams current work ethic, I have a feeling we’re in for another line blender this upcoming Wednesday.
- LaCouvee didn’t actually look too bad out there, doesn’t help the team playing in front of him is slow on the defensive and leaving him out to dry when teams are whacking away at the front of the net. Even Kulbakov is left high-and-dry on a lot of those “whack at the goalie till the buzzer goes”-type goals
Whats Next?
This game was marginally better to watch than Fridays annihilation by Syracuse, but that isn’t saying much. The team seems to live and die by Juolevi and Dahlens hand…with guys like Carcone and Kero disappearing, a huge burden is falling on the rookies to win games, which is fine, but that doesn’t mean you can just coast every shift. Next up the team returns home to face the Laval Rocket; the Comets have had a pretty tightly contested series with Laval this season, so hopefully we get something competitive this Wednesday!
And by competitive I mean, I HOPE the team collectively finds some energy to generate some offense outside of 48, 54, and 24. TBH though, I’m not expecting much, so much of the team is just coasting right now. I think some of the AHL regulars need to be benched for the ECHL PTO’s and rookies, because the dismal effort from some of these guys isn’t exactly inspiring
Hope you guys enjoyed this edition of the Farmies, 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 during the next Farmies! Sorry for the delay on this one, was away in America as I said, but hopefully this gives you guys something to read up on Monday morning, instead of you know…*shudders* work…
