What’s happening R/Canucks, I passed out about 6 minutes after posting last night’s Farmies, then was up for 4 hours coughing up my lungs, then sleeping for another 3 hours, then again more coughing. IN THEORY, I should be rested enough to be able to put together a more dynamic Farmies issue. Last night I feel like there may have been more minor aspects of our rookie’s games that could have been captured, but I was just so out of it, it started getting really tough to stay focused. So I’m hoping tonight’s installment will be more encompassing and true to the original goal of the Farmies!

 

Last night was a game that I’m still in a bit of disbelief after having watched; between the rookies all slotting into the lineup and having impactful and meaningful games, the minor league style fighting/cheapshots or the post-game staredown at center ice; I truly don’t think any game going forward will be able to top the magic that was last night. Like think about it…the team was without Carcone AND was Reid Boucher, two of their top 5 point getters and playing with 4 lines featuring a checking winger and a skill/scoring winger…By all accounts last night’s game should’ve been this dull affair where nobody scores and Demko is left high and dry once again. BUT THAT DIDN’T HAPPEN! The whole team showed up to FUCKING PLAY.

 

Tonight the Comets are facing a team who’s had their number all season in the Binghamton Devils, fortunately the Devils have lost back-to-back games and are winless in 7 of their last 10, with their most recent loss being a 5-0 rout against the Syracuse Crunch. If Richard Bachman can have a good showing, and fingers crossed, Trent Cull rolls out the same lines he did last night, we could be in for a competitive game against the Devils.

 

Starting Lineup

 

LW	C	RW
Jasek	Kero	Boucher
Dahlen	Gaunce	MacEwen
MacMaster	Cameranesi	Gadjovich
Archibald	Darcy	Bancks

LD	RD
Sautner	McEneny
Brisebois	Blujus
Sifers	Graham

G
Richard Bachman

 

RE: Benchings

Kole Lind sits out again tonight; Joining him are Brendan Woods and Petrus Palmu. Palmu did have a pretty solid game last night, but again still seeks the elusive first goal of his AHL career, wish he would’ve got the start over Tanner MacMaster who’s been pretty ineffectual the past couple weeks of games.

 

BENCHED	—	—	—
Jagger Dirk	Kole Lind	Petrus Palmu	Brendan Woods

 

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 Blue

 

• GOAL – UTICA – Comets 1-0: 17 seconds into the game, Reid Boucher(#24) scores off some nice passing between he and Tanner Kero(#10) to put the Comets ahead 1-0 with PLENTY of time to spare
• Holy moly Binghamton’s Bastian mishandles the puck on a wide open net
• LOL of the night: On the end of a long shift, Springfield scores off a puck that trickles past Bachman but it’s waived off due to goaltender interference… BUT ITS TEDDY BEAR TOSS NIGHT SO THE BEARS RAIN DOWN REGARDLESS
• GOAL – UTICA – Comets 2-0: Comets on the Powerplay; Boucher(#24) to Zack MacEwen(#15) to Jonathan Dahlen(#54) who scores his 3rd goal in two games
• Absolutely incredible Binghamton chant to the tune of the chicken dance
• GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 2-1 Comets: Bachman super late on his setup lets an easy one get past him on a Devils rush
• 3 goals on 5 shots in the first 5 minutes of the game haha…guess last nights game CAN be topped
• GOAL – UTICA – 3-1 Comets: Make that 4 goals on 6 shots on net. Ashton Sautner(#6) fans his first shot attempt but Jonah Gadjovich(#22) feeds it right back to him and he gets it right the second time. Comets regain the 2 goal lead
• Comets score but the ref’s rule it as a kick…looks more like he just lifted his leg though
• Refs elect to not even review it….pretty bizarre the guy clearly just lifted his leg..no kicking motion?
• Fucking LOL. Mackenzie Blackwood makes his FIRST save of the night and the crowd gives a sarcastic cheer haha
• Some really nice passing from our #1 powerplay unit : Liking MacEwens’(#15) netfront presence, big body but great passes on rebounds
• GOAL – UTICA – 4-1 Comets: Comets with unrelenting pressure in the first period; Guillaume Brisebois(#55) with a good effort to keep a Cam Darcy(#11) pass in the offensive zone and gets a shot on net, Darren Archibald(#25) is there to pick up the rebound and roof it to put the Comets up by 3 with 5 to go in the 1st period.
• Comets while facing their first sustained pressure of the period end up on a breakaway led by MacEwen(#15); Macdaddy sauces it to Brendan Gaunce(#16) who puts it right on Blackwood for the save. Good wheels from the big guy
• Oh god, this looked brutal. Ashton Sautner appears to take an elbow or the butt-end of Eric Tangradi’s stick to his eye…kicking the ice in pain…yikes…you really don’t wanna see that
• Tangradi gets 5 minutes for boarding. Yikes I hope that’s not a broken orbital
• Close-up of the elbow and the hit into the boards

 

1st period score: 4-1 Comets

 

Comets with an absolutely dominant first period, I think this is their first 4 goal period of the season. Shots registered as 13 to 7 for Utica but it really feels like Utica had triple that amount; Absolute domination from them so far. Doubtful Sautner returns into the game as he looked to be in an incredible amount of pain when he went down…if that was the butt end of a stick or an elbow then I wouldn’t be shocked if he maybe had his orbital cracked.

 

2nd Period

 

• Comets on the extended 5 minute powerplay due to Tangradi’s boarding
• New powerplay unit tonight being tried was Jasek, MacMaster, Archibald, Graham and Gaunce…really odd combo that doesn’t work as they had the Devils breaking up every single one of their break-in attempts on the PP
• Evan McEneny(#2) with the long ice pass to MacEwen(#15) for a breakaway but he can’t hit the net
• GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 4-2 Comets: Kero(#10 )steps up to keep the puck in the offensive zone but it goes past him leading to an odd man rush. Bachman cant control his rebound, and the Devils are there to tap it in
• Devils player John Quenneville gets away with a blatant high hit on Jesse Graham(#64) along the boards
• Brisebois(#55) gets a blatant elbow to the head. Wtf is going on this weekend?
• LOL watch Schmelzer along the boards acting like he got shot when approached by Archibald…what a fucking puss
• Nice passing on the powerplay
• Cam Darcy checks Colton White in the numbers and goes down like he’s been shot. In the ensuing melee, Eric Gryba offscreen gets a 10 minute game misconduct and is sent off
• GOAL – UTICA – 5-2 Comets: Jamie Sifers(#26) from the blue line puts the Comets ahead by 3
• Gadjovich(#22) with speed takes a shot on net
• GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 5-3 Devils: Comets on the penalty kill off a Tanner MacMaster holding penalty; Michael McLeod squeaks a pass through Archibalds(#25) feet where Nathan Bastian is waiting for the one timer to put the Devils within 2

 

The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 5-3 Comets

 

This game is literally turning into a repeat of last night’s game against the Thunderbirds. Comets having a bit of a hard time as Blujus went down with an arm injury in the middle of the second so now they’re down to just 4 D. Still, the Comets outshot the Devils 12 to 10 in that period. It will be interesting to see if the Comets can ramp it up again for the third to seal it.

 

3rd Period

 

• No audio to start the 3rd period
• Lukas Jasek(#9) disrupts a clearing attempt that Boucher(#24) picks up and gets back to him for a shot on goal
• GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 5-4 Comets: Comets on the penalty kill, Bachman can’t track the puck through traffic, and Colton White nails the one-timer to make this a one goal game with plenty of time remaining
• Boucher(#24) tries to avoid a hard hit on Schmelzer, and gets CALLED for “roughing”…unbelievably bad call
• The eam genuinely looks quite exhausted out there in their own end, lot of end to end play with no real scoring opportunities
• GOAL – UTICA – 6-4 Comets: Tanner MacMaster(#1 9)with a great effort, as he lifts Gryba’s stick and sinks it on Blackwood to put the Comets back up by 2
• GOAL – UTICA – 7-4 Comets: Devils with the extra man off the pulled goalie; Darcy takes a high stick but it doesn’t matter as the puck gets scooped to MacEwen(#15) who puts it in the empty net for his 11th goal of the year
• really slow period as far as action was concerned, which is baffling considering 3 goals got scored. 6 shots apiece for Utica and Binghamton, but oh boy did both teams look tired, not a lot of structured play setups during the third
• as an apology for the slow period, here’s Indiana with my $20 Utica knockoff jersey hopefully getting a real one with Santa this year!

 

Final Score: 7-4 Utica Comets

 

Scoresheet

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
1st	Utica	Reid Boucher	Tanner Kero	—	5v5
1st	Utica	Jonathan Dahlen	Zack MacEwen	Reid Boucher	PPG
1st	Binghamton	John Quenneville	Colton White	—	5v5
1st	Utica	Ashton Sautner	Jonah Gadjovich	Tanner MacMaster	5v5
1st	Utica	Darren Archibald	Guillaume Brisebois	Cam Darcy	5v5
2nd	Binghamton	Michael McLeod	Nathan Bastian	Josh Jacobs	5v5
2nd	Utica	Jamie Sifers	—	—	5v5
2nd	Binghamton	Nathan Bastian	Michael McLeod	Brandon Gignac	PPG
3rd	Binghamton	Colton White	John Quenneville	Blake Pietila	PPG
3rd	Utica	Tanner MacMaster	—	—	5v5
3rd	Utica	Zack MacEwen	—	—	EN

 

Takeaways

• Early aggression from the Comets was a godsend, hit them hard and fast, team looked way more cohesive than they have in the past; I love it when they have these games where they ditch the relentless backwards no look passes that always end up in odd-man rushes going the other way. A much more simple passing forward playstyle that leads to more goals and better offense
• Bachman despite the win still looks very weak in net. Maybe it’s his size, but he appears to have trouble tracking the puck through traffic. Most of the goals against were the result of traffic
• While I appreciate our team not getting goaded into playing dirty, old school, fight everybody hockey, there really should have been some more kickback on the Sautner elbow. Some really scummy shit once again goes unpunished…but I suppose at that point they were winning and didn’t want to lose off of losing their composure…so its fair I suppose!
• Goals came from 7 different players tonight, so its good to see the team collectively stepping up in the wake of Carcone’s absence. Much more team oriented gameplay which is great!
• LOL at Reid Boucher having 2 points on the night but still ending as a -1 in a 7-4 victory. Don’t get me wrong there isn’t much you can do when Bachman can’t control a rebound or see past anyone on his team except for Palmu.

 

Comets Three Stars

1. Zack MacEwen – again, I think this guy has cemented himself as the number 1 call-up to the Canucks…great speed, solid offensive instincts, doesn’t need powerplay time to produce, great net front presence, playmaking ability, and his defensive game is coming around really nicely. I think if the Canucks needed a big bodied winger who can score…and I’m being completely hypothetical here because the likelihood of it happening is like 0.0001%…stick him in the top 6 and guaranteed he’d produce. The guys improvement has been nuts
2. Tanner MacMaster – as the game was kind of slipping by the team in the third, he came up huge with the goal in front of the net to seal it for Utica. He’d struggled for the better part of the last 5-10 games to find a spot on the roster and it was good to see him make a difference tonight
3. Reid Boucher – negative +/- aside, the guy had a goal and an assist with 7 shots on net. The guy was a machine tonight for the first two periods at least, as he really tried to show the coach why benching him was a mistake. Dad strength + something to prove is a deadly combo

 

What’s Next?

 

The Comets return home to face the Providence Bruins on Wednesday; Given how rough the last two games were on the team in terms of cheapshots and rougplay…it will be interesting to see what a game against the Boston B’s farm team will look like.

Dahlen is currently riding a 3 game goal streak so it’ll be great to see him extend it against the B’s at home. Fingers crossed we keep getting more exciting gameplay from the Comets, and toes crossed that we get another game where all our rookies get slotted in again because I really think that worked quite well for the team.

 

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!