EDIT: Formatting and grammar might be a bit off, I’m getting really nauseous and sick as I was wrapping this one up, and just wanted to get it out there before I’m too far gone. Really nutty ass game though

 

Whats happening R/Canucks, sole-member of the “I don’t like the Carcone trade” club here with another issue of the Farmies! We are on C-Day+2 as the Comets play their second game without top forward Michael Carcone on the roster. The Comets are looking to come back from a pretty sad loss to the Rochester Americans Wednesday, as they face the Springfield Thunderbirds at home. The T-Birds have lost something like 4 of their last 5 road games, so that’s at least a smidgeon of leverage to the Comets side. Looking specifically to tonights game, I’m expecting players like Dahlen, McEneny and MacEwen to step up pretty big tonight, despite the loss against Rochester, the three of them had fairly strong performances despite being completely outmatched for much of the evening.

 

Tonights roster is a great reminder of why I wanted to do something like the Farmies with my spare time. Because it looks like were getting nearly EVERY drafted rookie in tonights line-up with the exception of Kole Lind and injured players. Dahlen, Palmu, Jasek and Gadjovich all slot into tonights lineup on different lines, and I’m sure for Trent Cull this is a huge “prove it” type game for them. A lot of questions have been thrown towards Cull for his repeated healthy scratches of Gadjovich, Palmu and Jasek, so it will be up to those guys to show they do deserve more regular games on this struggling Comets lineup.

 

Starting Lineup

 

LW	C	RW
Dahlen	Gaunce	MacEwen
Palmu	Darcy	Cameranesi
Archibald	Kero	Jasek
Gadjovich	Woods	Bancks

LD	RD
Sautner	McEneny
Brisebois	Blujus
Sifers	Graham

G
Thatcher “motherfucking” Demko

 

RE: Benchings

Kole Lind sits out after his few game stint since his return from injury, where he didn’t look TOO bad, but he definitely looked a bit shaky out there on a couple shifts. I think this is more of a “lets see what I got in everybody else” as opposed to a “Lind is not good” type of benching.

The bigger surprise benching here is Reid Boucher, who since returning to the Comets lineup has been pretty ineffectual on the ice for most of his shifts, and has shown why he wasn’t given a better look in the NHL as his back-checking was practically non-existent. I wouldn’t read too much into this though, I feel like he’s a mainstay for the Comets top line, and they just wanna evaluate the rookies on another typical back-to-back weekend.

 

BENCHED	—	—	—
Reid Boucher	Jagger Dirk	Kole Lind	Tanner MacMaster

 

Injury Report	—	—	—	—
Arseneau	Bancks	Chatfield	Hamilton	Juolevi
Hand	upper body	lower body	concussion	knee

 

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) I’m also going to reduce the amount of hyperlink in the GOAL streamables, since that’s what I think MOST people are here for and don’t want some gaudy blue taking up the screen.

 

1st period

 

Comets in White

 

• Comets broadcaster Joe Roberts rocking the greatest suit I think I’ve ever seen for tonights game
• Apparently scouts for this game inclue Ottawa, Toronto, Buffalo and the Grizzlys Wolfsburg from the DEL in Germany. Toronto has taken enough from this team so I’d appreciate it if they were kindly shown the exit
• Jonah Gadjovich(#22) on tonight’s starting line. Good for him!
• Gadjovich(#22) with some aggression in his first shift in a long time!  Good effort on the draw and a big hit afterwards
• GOAL – SPRINGFIELD – 1-0 T-Birds: Comets on the penalty kill off an Ashton Sautner(#6) high sticking minor – Jayce Hawryluk tips a shot up front that hops over Demkos pad to give the visiting team the lead.
• Lukas Jasek(#9) at the end of a lengthy shift defending sets up Darren Archibald(#25) on a 3-on-2 breakaway. Good aggressive checking on the boards after the play to maintain control
• Zack MacEwen(#15) with some speed and aggression tries to set up in front of the net but loses it; puck ends up on Brendan Gaunce’(#16) stick who fans his shot on net
• Petrus Palmu(#52) with a slick pass to Dylan Blujus(#8) who rips a shot on net
• Long streamable but I had to capture this whole sequence: Jasek(#9) goes full D2:Mighty Ducks with the puck, Tanner Kero(#10) gets run into, then Jayce Hawerluk absolutely suckers Jasek(#9) way after the whistle was blown….
• Comets on a 4 minute powerplay but get literally nothing going, keep turning over the puck or passing it past the blue line. Eventually Gadjovich(#22) gets interfered with, putting the Comets on a 5-on-3
• GOAL – UTICA – 1-1 Tie: Jonathan Dahlen(#54) tired of trying to make his passing plays work simply drives the net himself to tie the game. Good effort from JD54

 

1st period score: 1-1 Tie

Utica outshot the T-Birds 10 to 7 that period and they looked to be playing with quite a bit of aggression which is good to see. Still a lot of bobbling of the puck being done, and some wishy-washy passing, but otherwise the team is looking pretty good tonight so far!

 

2nd Period

 

• Lot of end to end play but no real chances
• Palmu(#52) gets in front of the net for a scoring opportunity but is denied
• A 3 on 1 for Utica is denied
• GOAL – SPRINGFIELD – 2-1 T-Birds: Jasek(#9) gets a pass to Jamie Sifers(#26) who flubs a pass that leads to a breakaway and an easy goal for Springfield. Oof.
• Dahlen(#54) with a shot on net, close to being his 2nd of the night
• Blujus(#8) loses his stick so Dahlen(#54) hands him his to break up a Springfield pass
• Palmu(#52) shot attempt after some nice puckhandling
• Brendan Woods(#21) takes a roughing penalty for defending Demko
• GOAL – UTICA – 2-2 Tie: absolutely insane chain of events. McEneny(#2) takes a high stick, then another, Utica pulls Demko for the extra attacker, and Dahlen(#54) capitalizes to score…in the ensuing celebration Springfield’s captain Paul Thompson drives his stick into the face of Tanner Kero(#10)
• Butt-end to Kero’s(#10) face isolated
• Already on a 4-on-3 powerplay, Springfield’s McCougheon boards Archibald(#25) to extend the Comets powerplay time
• Comets on the extended 5-on-3 Dahlen(#54 )with numerous chances with Kero(#10) and Jesse Graham(#64) 
• Springfield with a chance on Demko that leads to a fight between Horvat (not that one) and McEneny(#2)
• GOAL – UTICA – 3-2 Comets: Kero(#10) wins the draw and Graham(#64) hammers it in to give Utica their first lead of the game
• Comets powerplay units exhausted so Cull rolls out Jasek(#9) and Gadjovich(#22) who put in work to end the period

 

The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-2 Comets

 

Damn this period was fucking nutty, Springfield has got some dirty players holy moly. Not sure if the refs are losing control of the players or what, but the amount of cheap shots is fucking ridiculous. First time I’ve seen Cull have to roll out completely different forward groups on his powerplay simply because they had already had TOO MUCH POWERPLAY TIME.

 

3rd Period

 

• GOAL – UTICA – 4-2 Comets: Bancks(#34) from Blujus(#8) and Woods(#21). Play set up off a good puck pick up from Gadjovich(#22)
• Comets on the penalty kill, Bancks(#34) and MacEwen(#15) combine for a try going the other way
• GOAL – UTICA – 5-2 Comets: Archibald(#25) sets up Kero(#10) in front to put the Comets up by 3
• Palmu(#52) with a nice pass to Woods(#21) with speed who passes to Bancks(#34) on the edge who tries to set up Woods in the front of the net. Nice speedy play from these 3
• Dahlen(#54) with a great rink-wide pass to Graham(#64)
• Blujus(#8) running down the clock gets run at by Bobby Farnham well after the puck has left his stick; Demko, play still going on, leaves his net to give him some choice words
• Demko cellying to throw it in Bobby Farnhams face to end the game. What a fucking beauty
• Jesus christ this game is fucking nuts. Springfield desparately trying to instigate a fight with the Comets, and then T-Birds player Ian McCoshen shoves a Referee…yikes what a trainwreck of a team

 

Final Score: 5-2 Utica Comets

 

Scoresheet

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
1st	Springfield	Jace Hawryluk	Henrik Borgstrom	Jacob MacDonald	PP
1st	Utica	Jonathan Dahlen	Jesse Graham	Evan McEneny	PP
2nd	Springfield	Sebastian Repo	Jayce Hawryluk	—	5v5
2nd	Utica	Jonathan Dahlen	Brendan Gaunce	—	5v5
2nd	Utica	Jesse Graham	Tanner Kero	—	PPG
3rd	Utica	Carter Bancks	Dylan Blujus	Jonah Gadjovich	5v5
3rd	Utica	Tanner Kero	Darren Archibald	Jamie Sifers	5v5

 

Takeaways

• Comets needed a game like this, a statement win at home with goals coming from nearly every line, good pushback and didn’t get suckered into playing a dirty game by Springfield
• I still can’t believe no game misconducts were handed out after the Jasek suck punch, or the blatant attempt to injure kero with the buttend of the stick during the goal celebration…pretty trashy play from the Thunderbirds
• Jonah Gadjovich had one of his better games of the season, looked like a real AHL’er out there tonight, lots of aggression, fast skating and was creating offense nearly every shift, even got slotted in on some second unit powerplay time as well which was great to see!
• Palmu looked dangerous out there, even though he was paired with Cameranesi and Darcy who aren’t exactly known as finishers, they had some prime scoring opportunities created off his puck possession and passing
• Jasek still looks like the most well rounded rookie on the squad, effective along the boards and has the vision/awareness to create plays from anywhere on the ice.
• Demko leaving his net during active play to shit talk Bobby Farnham should earn him a call-up alone. Not even the 23 saves, but the guys got attitude and I love it.
• You could tell that Dahlen wanted that third goal BAD. He was aggressive tonight and wasn’t as picky/choosy with his passing game, a lot more straight-forward playmaking; 7 shots on net with 2 goals…really effective gameplay from him tonight.

 

Comets Three Stars

1. Dahlen
2. Gadjovich
3. Graham

 

What’s Next?

 

They play tomorrow. My headache is ramping up like fucking crazy, but they play a road game if my memory serves me right! Hopefully I feel better and can get a timely recap in!

 

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!