12/21/18 – Utica Comets vs. Springfield Thunderbirds

2018, December 10 Minutes

Ayyyyyyyyy its Friday, last day of work until next Thursday so I can’t wait to crank out this Farmies, because we got a weekend of good hockey coming up for the Canucks and the Comets, where the teams face Winnipeg and Binghamton respectively.

Anyways I want to cut to the chase and say I hope the Comets just annihilate this team of bloody goons disguised as an AHL team called the Springfield Thunderbirds. Last time they played we got some of the trashiest shit I think I’ve ever seen in hockey. Example 1, example 2, example 3 … yah… safe to say I’m no fan of this team…anyways lets get into it because like myself I’m sure everyone is under the Xmas time-crunch and don’t have that much time on their hands as the clock ticks by until the 25th so LETS. GET. INTO. IT!

 

Starting Lineup

 

LW C RW
Jasek Kero Boucher
Archibald Gaunce MacEwen
Arseneau Cameranesi Gadjovich
Lind Darcy Bancks
LD RD
Brisebois McEneny
Dirk Blujus
Sifers Graham
G
Richard Bachman

 

RE: Benchings

Saucerman is on the bench again, makes sense, Dirk has been playing pretty solidly the past couple games…with Juolevi out for the season, and apparently Chatfield now out for “a few more months” there’s definitely room for him to slide in should Dirk fall-off, or should ANOTHER injury befall this tattered Comets blue line.

Benched —
Saucerman —

RE: INJURY REPORT

Apparently Wacey Hamilton practice for the first time in months with the Comets in a no-contact jersey, apparently he looks to return pretty soon, but given how solid the team has looked without him, I wonder if he finds a place to slot in, or will Trent Cull just defer to Hamilton’s experience and just bench Cameranesi despite his serviceable gameplay?

Dahlen still remains out with a concussion…no word on a timetable for his return

Injury Report — — — — — —
Chatfield Dahlen Hamilton Juolevi Sautner Sifers Woods
lower body Concussion concussion Out for the season his fucking faceeeeeee lower body lower body

 

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.

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1st period

 

Comets in Blue

 

 

Score at the end of the first period: 1-0 Comets

 

Despite a pretty rough start where the Comets were being outshot 7 to 1. They turn it around and end up leading 15-12 in shots against the T-Birds and open up scoring as well. Really irritates me that Hunt didn’t get an instigator penalty on top of his two cross-checking penalties…. *heaviest of east coast Canadian accents* THAT GUY’S JUST A FACKIN’ GOON DATS FUR CHUR!”

 

2nd Period

 

 

The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 2-0 Comets

 

Shots were even this period, 9-9. Comets powerplay has struggled hard tonight, going 0-4 on the night. Springfield doing a good job to keep the puck away from Zack MacEwen all night and have done well to stifle his offense; Reid Boucher looking real dangerous most shifts too, should be on the board but Springfield’s goalie is bailing them out hard.

3rd Period

 

 

Final Score: 2-1 Comets

 

Wasn’t too much clippable content from tonight’s game…Comets were hemmed in their own zone for a majority of the first and third periods…in the third period specifically the comets got outshot 17 to 5. When Demko subbed in for Bachman, with 10 minutes and change remaining in the period, he ended up facing 11 shots. Across the game, Utica was outshot 38 to 29, and boy did it feel like the Comets were just getting nothing of note with their shots on net.

Scoresheet

 

Period Team Goalscorer Primary assist helper type
1st Utica Darren Archibald Brendan Gaunce Zack MacEwen 5v5
2nd Utica Brendan Gaunce — — SHG
3rd Springfield Josh Brown Paul Thompson Joel Lowry 5V5

 

Takeaways

  • Bit of a weird one tonight, team looked drained coming into the first period, and in the third they just had nothing left in the tank. Having to kill 7 penalties, and running 5 full powerplays I guess exhausts your top lines when guys like Boucher and Kero are used in BOTH special teams first units, but man it was just a huge difference in gameplay from tonight compared to the games against Charlotte. I wonder if burnout is starting to factor in due to the burden being put on the special teams now that a majority of their top end talent is out with injury?
  • I’m pretty bummed for Bachman; he was absolutely lights out tonight. I wish he didn’t get injured and was able to secure the shutout because man he made this game winnable for the Comets, if it wasn’t for his several clutch saves this is probably a blowout from Springfield because they were all over the Comets tonight.
  • Once again Brendan Gaunce notches himself a couple penalty kill breakaways where one leads to a goal…I wonder if this year was going to be HIS year in the NHL and he was finally going to make that leap…because the guy I’m watching right now in the AHL feels like a completely different player to what I’ve seen with the Canucks. I wouldn’t be terribly opposed to him being called up if he could show the kind of aggression and offensive instincts he’s shown since returning to the Comets lineup this season.
  • Bit of a quiet night for guys like Lind, Gadjovich and Jasek, not to say they didn’t play poorly or anything, but it looks like the team collectively had an off night, bailed out by goaltending so I wouldn’t put any stock into it. I think those efforts in Charlotte REALLY took a lot out of them.
  • During tonights game I realized how little the Comets hit. They are really NOT a physical team. That isn’t to say they dont finish their checks or anything, but compared to a team like Springfield it just seems like the Comets are very anti-hitting and more of a playmaking squad who want to beat you with skill rather than toughness…which is fine…but again there were some hits tonight where I think there SHOULD have been some kickback/pushback but just didnt get any…

 

Comets Three Stars

  1. Richard Bachman
  2. Brendan Gaunce
  3. Darren Archibald

 

What’s Next?

 

The Comets, inch themselves a bit closer to that 1st place spot in the North Division of the AHL; 3 points shy of the first place Rochester Americans who lead the division with 3 less games played than the Comets. The Comets find themselves on a pretty solid streak here though; 7w-1L-1otl in December, with 4 of those wins and the overtime loss coming on the road. I feel like if the team can shore up their discipline (lot of hooking and tripping penalties) and give their special teams guys a bit of a break from that end, and with Demko playing like a monster, and Bachman providing solid backup games like tonight, this team could make a run for the Calder Cup, but I don’t think they can be having too many of these offnights where they get outshot 17-5 in the third period of a 1 goal game.

 

Next up the Comets face the Binghamton Devils on Saturday, right now the Comets have split their series against the Devils 2-2; most recently winning 5-2 and 7-4 in the month of December…with the Devils main goalie Mackenzie Blackwood called up to the big team, they’ll be relying on Cam Johnson who will be starting his 4th game straight. In theory this should be a winnable game for the Comets; at home, against an ECHL goalie, with the bulk of their core healthy and producing as of late. Now that I’ve said that though, I expect the Comets to lose 17-2 in a game where they are outshot 68-13

 

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!

Published by Cody Severtson

Published

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