Can I get an F in the comments for Ashton Sautner

Yes, one of the Comets most reliable defenceman of late was officially put on IR for an undisclosed amount of time as he recovers from a broken orbital, cheek AND nose.

The AHL did suspend Eric Tangradi the other day for the egregious hit, but at 1 game, its hard to not consider the suspension a complete fucking joke. Given how reckless and dangerous Tangradi’s hit was on a head-down Sautner. It’s kind of incredible he got away unscathed. Tangradi even boldly tried to apologize on twitter, justifying that he had his arms down the entire time and thus wasn’t intending to injure SAutner on the play….gimme a fuckin break.

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With last weeks games being an absolute wrecking ball to the Comets D-line; Dylan Blujus ALSO joined Sautner on IR, when during play on Saturdays game, Blujus fell awkwardly on his arm and was nursing it before leaving the ice. Filling in however, is Yukon Cornelius a.k.a Colton Saucerman, a.k.a the most glorious hockey name the Comets could’ve possibly called up on short notice. The Sauce had spent most of his time in the ECHL with the Manchester Monarchs, only recently being moved to the Idaho Steelheads where he quickly put up 8 points in 10 games. Filling in for Sautner will be no easy task but between he and Jagger Dirk, I’m sure they’ll be able to pull their weight to attempt to fill the void!

 

Like I said, With the Comets hemorrhaging key players from their forward and defensive group, it will be interesting to see how Trent Cull balances his lineup tonight… The Sauce and Dirk will most likely be sliding into very demanding roles right out the gate, so i assume he’ll be expecting some pretty straightforward traditional hockey play from his veterans, nothing flashy or fancy (at least I hope)…If I see a bunch of blind back passes to nowhere I’ll be pretty choked…now more than ever this team can’t afford defensive lapses without key members of their defensive core to compensate

 

Starting Lineup

 

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

LD	RD
Brisebois	McEneny
Sifers	Graham
Dirk	Saucerman

G
Thatcher “motherfucking” Demko

 

RE: Benchings

Gadjovich and Palmu continue their stretch of benchings. IIRC Cull usually rolls these two out for Friday games, so it really isn’t a surprise at this point. Gadjovich has been looking steadily better and better the past couple games, and both he AND Palmu played with some serious fire when they were slotted in the same game together, so the time will come, but with the Comets despearately needing defensively reliable players…that time…is just not quite tonight!

RE: INJURY REPORT

Apparently Vincent Arseneau started practicing again recently, he’s been gone since November 9th after breaking his hand getting in a scrap…(with another team)…(this aint St. Louis)

 

BENCHED	—	—
Vincent Arseneau	Jonah Gadovich	Petrus Palmu

 

Injury Report	—	—	—	—
Blujus	Chatfield	Hamilton	Juolevi	Sautner
Upper body	lower body	concussion	knee	his fucking faceeeeeee

 

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

 

• praying to lord jeebus that no one gets graphically injured this game
• Reid Boucher(#24) keeps the puck in the zone then draws an interference penalty; Comets to the powerplay 30 seconds into the game.
• Boucher(#24) with a fairly lazy effort to keep the puck in the ozone on the powerplay; then flubs his pass on the break-in attempt which leads to a breakaway for the B’s
• Darren Archibald(#25) with a great break-in on the powerplay but his pass has too much steam for Kole Lind(#13)
• Comets caught with 4 of their players in the O-zone, B’s player sets up an easy 2-on-1 breakaway, but Demko stops the puck with his FACEEEEEE
• Jamie Sifers(#26) channeling his inner Olivia Newton John and getting’ physical; Guess he doesn’t want any liberties taken tonight
• Brendan Gaunce(#16) with some speed plus Jonathan Dahlen(#54) with some more aggressive than usual forechecking
• Jagger Dirk(#4) making great use of his first whiff of ice time since being called up from the Kalamazoo wings, with this solid effort to keep the puck in the o-zone
• GOAL – UTICA – 1-0 Comets: The continuation of the above play, Dirk(#4) fans on his shot, then sets up the beard himself Colton Saucerman(#39) who, on his first shot on net as a Comet, sinks it to put the Comets up by 1. Great effort from Dirk set this whole thing up, good for him!
• “Get Sauced Utica” – Joe Roberts. What a call by the Comets broadcaster haha
• Guillaume Brisebois(#55) gets muscled aside but Demko is there to block the shot attempt
• AHL Cameraman after cutting to the crowd, forgets to white balance, so color is completely off
• GOAL – UTICA – 2-0 Comets : Lukas Jasek(#9) wins the faceoff draw. The cameraman falls asleep on the job and then the puck ends up on Boucher’s(#24)stick as he pots his 13th of the year to put the Comets up by 2.
• Crafty little passing play from Jasek(#9) to Bouche(#24) on the Bruins blue line
• Lind(#13) creates some space and feeds Dahlen(#54) who attempts the wraparound

 

1st period score: 2-0 Comets

 

The Comets had some real gud hockey this period; playing a nice and simple game, nothing too fancy or flashy, lot of successful break-in attempts from the wings. I love these games where the Comets opt to NOT resort to blind drop-passes on every break-in and instead rely on their speed to accomplish things.

 

2nd Period

 

• Gaunce(#16) gets caught on an early hooking penalty after a break-in attempt gets broken up
• Sifers(#26) takes a high-sticking penalty while on the Comets penalty kill and puts the Comets on a very long 5-on-3
• GOAL – PROVIDENCE – 2-1 Comets: No chance for Demko on this one. Providence on the 5-on-3 powerplay, Brisebois (#55) has his skate sticking out to block the B’s pass attempt but inadvertently re-directs the puck behind Demko
• [Cam Darcy(#11) with a nice takeaway on the blue line and gives it to Gaunce(#16) who ends up on a breakaway with Jesse Graham(#64); Gaunce sauces it to Graham who for whatever reason takes his sweet ass time with it…giving up a golden scoring opportunity for Utica
• Boucher(#24) with a breakaway opportunity, but for whatever reason he slows down and then passes it into Zack MacEwen’s(#15) skates]( https://streamable.com/c5z0p)
• Archibald(#25) picks the puck off a Bruins player and Utica ends up on another odd man rush where Archie puts it off the post…close one!
• With that breakaway, the Comets kill off the remainder of the 5-on-4 powerplay
• Saucerman(#39) draws the tripping penalty to put the Comets on the powerplay
• Evan McEneny(#2) with a blind back pass that gives the Bruins a scoring chance on the Comets powerplay, Boucher(#24) with a super lazy check on the giveaway
• Comets get legitimately nothing going on the powerplay, then Graham(#64) takes a holding penalty to put the Comets on the penalty kill
• Comets under pressure, Demko without his stick, and Graham(#64) tries to play the puck THROUGH two Bruins instead of wheeling around the net…odd play
• Tony Cameranesi(#27) takes a penalty and the Comets are back AGAIN on the penalty kill
• Comets kill the penalty and pretty soon after MacEwen(#15) takes a penalty so Comets AGAIN on the penalty kill
• Comets opting for aggressive forechecking after killing of the MacEwen(#15) penalty and miraculously draw a penalty from the Bruins to go up on the powerplay to end the period

 

The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 2-1 Comets

 

Providence outshot the Comets 16 to 6 in the second period; Super undisciplined play at times. Demko didn’t have too many highlight reel saves, but given that he was 15/16. It’s safe to say he’s the only reason tonight’s game remained a lead for the Comets. Hopefully some more disciplined 5v5 play will come this next period. The Comets start the third on a powerplay so IN THEORY…we should be getting more than 6 shots to close this game out.

 

3rd Period

 

• The B’s goaltender absolutely robs Dahlen(#54) off some nice Tic-Tac-Toery
• MacEwen( #15)with a nice shot attempt from an awkward angle
• GOAL – UTICA – 3-1: Boucher(#24) scores his second of the night off some nice work from Jasek(#9)
• thank god something happened because holy moly it was getting painful. Comets looking exhausted and slow in their own end for the first 8 minutes of the 3rd period. Have to wonder if the endless penalty killing of the second sucked the wind out of them
• The effort level along the boards between Jasek(# 9)and Bouche(#24) is pretty crazy. Boucher seems so lethargic compared to Jasek who puts himself everywhere to make things happen
• GOAL – UTICA – 4-1 Comets: Comets and Bruins on a 4v4; Gaunce(#16) moves the puck along to Sifers(#26) who drops the puck off to MacEwen(#15) who quickly fires it off to put the Comets ahead by 3.
• Stop blind drop passes on the blue line, they fail so often for the Comets its nuts
• Mystic Mac’s effort to strip the puck that led to his earlier goal
• Tanner MacMaster(#19) with a bit too much sauce on a 2-on-1, but makes up for it with some solid effort along the boards to set up Brisebois(#55)
• Jasek(#9) with some good hand-eye, stops the puck mid-air to disrupt the Bruins break-in attempt and forces the offside
• GOAL – PROVIDENCE – 4-2 Comets: Sifers(#26) can’t clear the puck, and a shot from the B’s gets tipped in front by Zach Senyshyn. Again, I know I sound like a broken record, but Demko no chance on that one
• Comets facing the extra attacker and Demko makes some clutch sprawling saves to keep the two goal lead
• Impeccable sign from the crowd
• GOAL – UTICA – 5-2 Comets : Boucher(#24) picks up the puck off a fanned one timer attempt, unselfishly hands it to Archibald(#25) who buries the empty netter from center ice to seal this one for the Comets

 

Final Score: 5-2 Comets

 

Scoresheet

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
1st	Utica	Colton Saucerman	Jagger Dirk	Brendan Gaunce	5v5
1st	Utica	Reid Boucher	Jamie Sifers	Jesse Graham	5v5
2nd	Providence	Jordan Swarz	Kyle Cumiskey	Anders Bjork	PPG
3rd	Utica	Reid Boucher	Lukas Jasek	—	5v5
3rd	Utica	Zack MacEwen	Jamie Sifers	Brendan Gaunce	5v5
3rd	Providence	Zach Senyshyn	Joel Messner	Peter Cehlarik	5v5
3rd	Utica	Darren Archibald	Reid Boucher	—	EN

 

Takeaways

• Despite an absolutely horrific second period showing, the Comets proved resilient, and keep making me have to eat my own words as the team continues to find even-strength scoring from all lines in the wake of Carcone’s absence
• Thatcher Demko is still so fucking unreal for this team. I don’t know any other goalie that faces as rough of a 2nd period as the Comets did tonight and get away with it. 15/16 saves in the second, 10/11 in the third period. Demko is just such a pro out there; clutch as hell
• I know a lot of people will think I’m just hyping him up cause of the beard, but Colton Saucerman was huge tonight. Not many defenceman get called up from the ECHL and immediately get slotted in a special team’s role their first game and are depended on in practically all other scenarios. Guy was given powerplay time, defensive starts, offensive starts; I was genuinely worried how this team would be without Chatfield, Juolevi, Blujus AND Sautner for this game, but the Sauce was huge tonight, as was his D partner Jagger Dirk…both were absolutely clutch tonight for Utica

 

Comets Three Stars

1. Thatcher Demko – see above…guy was absolutely clutch tonight. You can blame the AHL cameramen for having such poor reaction times, so a lot of his saves tonight were on lightning quick one-timer that the camera guys weren’t keeping up with…but yeah, the stats speak for themselves 31 saves on 33 shots, only 2 goals against and they were completely unlucky tips in front.
2. Reid Boucher – despite his shortcomings defensively; his lack of aggressive backchecking or board work, the guy still puts up terrific offense in the AHL…he’s basically a less selfish version of Carcone, just without the speed. I can see why he got benched by Cull in that one game, because for all his offensive prowess the guy is just soooo lethargic when it comes to defensive work. If he didn’t have 2 goals and 1 assist with 7 shots, he’d probably be benched again, but I don’t think any coach can deny what he brings to the ice 5v5.
3. Colton Saucerman/Jagger Dirk – both guys stepped up huge as fill-ins for the Comets staple blue-liners in Sautner and Blujus. Jesse Graham was having a great offensive game tonight, but defensively had quite a number of gaffes. Dirk and the Sauce were sound offensively and defensively tonight, were pinching up at key moments with success, and had good speed on their backchecking. Not to mention being quite effective on what ended up being a very demanded Comets penalty kill unit. Really great stuff from the ECHL PTO’s!

 

What’s Next?

 

The Comets riding a 3 game win streak are back at home this Friday when the Binghamton Devils visit once again. Ironically, Fridays game will see the return of Eric Tangradi, who will be coming off his LENGTHY….AND I MEAN, UNIRONICALLY LENGTHY 1…COUNT EM….1 GAME SUSPENSION… for his brutal elbow to Ashton Sautners face that will keep him out of action for the next several months. The Comets absolutely decimated the Devils 7-4 in that game, and I’m sure they will want to keep that tradition up at home to avenge their fallen comrade. The Devils last two games they’ve been outscored collectively 10 to 2. So haha. Fuck you Devils and your shit ass farm team. Fingers crossed for another game where we absolutely embarrass their goalie!

 

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!