Wellp. Here we are, back again with another edition of the Farmies; last night went about as poorly as any game of hockey could go for a team. Outshot 41 to 33, abysmal powerplay going 0 for 6, two goalie substitutions, first team in the AHL this season to allow 10 goals against, 3 shorthanded goals against IN A ROW, totaling 12 on the season for the league HIGHEST…….I mean…it LITERALLY could not have been a worst game from our farm team…I’m genuinely curious what Cull is going to roll out tonight to try and wake up this lineup because since the Christmas break, this entire team has looked collectively, completely out to lunch.

I don’t really want to do too much investigation on the Americans, because frankly I spent a while prepping for the Syracuse game only to have the team just collectively no-show. So I’ll sum it up with; the Amurks are good. They lead the North Division, have outscored the Comets 19-8 while leading their season head-to-head record with 3 wins and 1 loss so yeah they’ve pretty much crushed the Comets so far this season…so the team will collectively need to forget the Syracuse game ever happened and show up big for the home crowd!

 

Starting Lineup

 

LW	C	RW
Dahlen	Gaunce	Archibald
Jasek	Kero	MacEwen
Gadjovich	Hamilton	Bancks
Arseneau	Darcy	Lind

LD	RD
Brisebois	Blujus
McEneny	Sifers
Dirk	Saucerman

G
Thatcher Demko

 

 

RE: Benchings

Rightly so, Boucher, Graham and MacMaster are on the bench after their absolutely awful games last night…I think if the Comets had more healthy bodies available, there’d probably even more guys sitting out tonight.

Benched	—	—
Boucher	Graham	MacMaster

 

TRANSACTIONS

Thank Gaud, Gaudsplan will be returning to the Comets lineup. A MUCH needed boost to the teams center depth…he won’t be here until the New Year but this is a welcome relief to the Comets.

With Gaudsplan’s return to the Comets, the team released Tony Cameranesi from his PTO…while he was serviceable at times, he also had many bad games that probably would have gotten him benched in any other scenario had the team not been THAT in need for centermen for the entire 2018 stretch of the season.

RE: INJURY REPORT

Coming off the bench for the first time this season in game 36 fittingly, is #36 Wacey Hamilton, who had been sidelined with a concussion since pre-season this year. Hamilton was signed to a year contract after achieving a career high # of points with the Comets (22 in 45 games)…yeah…I know…

Also coming off the bench is Jonah Gadjovich who had missed several possible games with an ankle injury off a block attempt…I’ve yet to see Wacey Hamilton play this season, but given how poorly Bancks has looked, I have major reservations about seeing Gadjovich on a line with a guy coming off THAT big of a layoff and the offensive black hole that is Carter Bancks…

 

Injury Report	—	—	—	—	—
Bachman	Chatfield	Gadjovich	Juolevi	Sautner	Woods
Achilles	lower body	lower body	Out for the season	his fucking faceeeeeee	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.

 

1st period

 

Comets in Blue

 

• good start, Jamie Sifers(#26) takes a penalty 9 seconds into the game for a check to the head
• Zack MacEwen(#15) blocks a hard shot on the penalty kill
• GOAL – UTICA – 1-0 Comets: a goal! My god I forgot what those were like! Kole Lind(#13) steals the puck off an Amurk defender, gets the pass to Cam Darcy(#11) who sets it up for Vinny Arseneau(#18) who roofs it for his 2nd goal in 2 nights! Really great play off Lind’s takeaway here
• Sifers(#26) gets beat on a lone ice pass to Victor Olofsson but Demko is there for the save
• Jonah Gadjovich(#22) gets a good takeaway and feeds it to Hamilton(#36) but Hamilton turns instead of driving down the wing and loses possession, shame
• Darcy(#11) has the puck stolen from him off the blue line by Victor Olofsson who gets his SECOND breakaway on net, fortunately Demko again is there to deny the scoring opportunity
• Jonathan Dahlen(#54 )gets a breakaway feed but he turns too late to make his run and can’t beat the defender to the puck; on the ensuing play Darren Archibald gets crosschecked after a wraparound attempt to give the Comets their first powerplay of the night
• Archibald(#25) gets a nice feed from Brendan Gaunce(#16) and on his drive to the net, baits a hooking penalty to put the Comets on an extended 5-on-3 powerplay
• Archibald(#25) bangs it off the post off some nice passing from the team on the 5-on-3 powerplay
• GOAL – UTICA – 2-0 Comets: Some great patience and passing, and movement from the team on the 5-on-3 powerplay finally pays off as Dahlen(#54) squeaks a puck through Jonas Johansson’s 5 hole
• looks like Johansson stretched thinking Dahlen was going for the tip pass to Kero and that little pad lift was enough to have the puck get by
• Canucks and Comets announce an extension of their partnership for the next 6 years which is awesome as far as I’m concerned. Comets have a great fanbase  best logo in the AHL. Happy for their fans!
• poppin’ bottles in the broadcast booth to celebrate!; Serious congrats to the fans of Utica, building is always packed, practically every kid is wearing a jersey, always get great fancam stuff, they’re a passionate fanbase for such a small arena
• Utica despite its small building, outdraws 7 other AHL teams, 2 which are from California
• Lind(#13) tries to take the puck along the boards but gets denied, doesn’t give up though and manages to get his stick on a shot to deflect a shot attempt
• Saucerman(#39) goes to the box for roughing…one of the problems I have with Utica’s camera crew is they don’t do any penalty replays whatsoever…practically every other team does except them. Don’t get me wrong I appreciate the shots of the crowd here and there but still annoying
• lmao, Demko with a header that would make a footy fan proud
• Dahlen(#54) gets called for slashing (rightly so) to put the Comets on the 4-on-3 penalty kill
• GOAL – ROCHESTER – 2-1 Comets : Zach Redmond with a nice drop pass to C.J. Smith who wrists one past Demko…not sure if Demko was screened but he had a late reaction as if he had no tracking of the shot
• Lind(#13) needs to up his speed a bit…a couple times in the past 3 games I’ve seen him go for the zone entry but take an extra step before crossing the line that ends up with his linemates being offside
• Gadjovich(#22) with some nice hustle along the boards to maintain possession, and even gets a nice backhand centering feed that gets poked away
• Sifers(#26) with a nice diving poke to Evan McEneny(#2) after losing the footrace down the wing
• LOL, Gaunce(#16) looks like he’s about to give an Amurk a slash, stops himself and opts for the stick lift instead

 

Score at the end of the first period: 2-1 Comets

 

Well this certainly was infinitely better than last games first period! Team had better passing on the powerplay and just in general looked more cohesive out there. Despite being outshot 12 to 9, it genuinely felt like the Comets had more meaningful possession, and that’s even with the first penalty kill and the 4-on-3 PK that let in a goal. Still a promising start from the boys…

 

2nd Period

 

• MacEwen(#15) picks up the puck from a Amurk players feet and gets a nice shot on goal from the circle
• so one of the benefits of getting drunk and pausing my recap of the game. I learned after the fact that Boucher was actually an injury scratch and not a “you played like shit” scratch. No word on what the injury was
• Lukas Jasek(#9) and Tanner Kero(#10) combine from some nice passing along the boards to maintain possession in the Amurks zone; slick pass from Jasek to Kero at the end of the clip to get a shot on goal
• Kero(#10) gets called for hooking; when Saucerman(#39) touches the puck to blow the play dead he takes a blatantly late hit, which naturally gets no call. Gadjovich’s(#22) grit/60 goes up a bit
• Gaunce(#16) and Archibald(#25) patented PK breakaway^TM
• MacEwen(#15) takes the hard hit to keep the puck in the zone, then gets high- sticked to put the Comets on the powerplay;
• Gadjovich(#22) with a long reach to block a long ice pass from the Amurks and allows the Comets to re-enter the zone
• Dahlen(#54) rips a one timer that somehow gets glove down
• Comets on the powerplay and Dahlen(#54) again rips one on goal that gets stopped; Archibald(#25) has a great backhand pass to Dahlen but it’s out of reach for the easy tap in
• Lind(#13) comes on for a shift and immediately breaks up an Amurk exit attempt
• Jasek(#9) and Gadjovich(#22) combine for a great breakaway feed to Hamilton(#36) who gets stopped; Hamilton also manages to draw the holding penalty to put the Comets on another powerplay
• Chances from Lind(#13) and Archibald(#25) on the Comets powerplay off a shot attempt from McEneny(#2)

 

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

 

No scoring, but it was a pretty dominant period from the Comets, 3 powerplays, albeit unsuccessful ones; outshot the Amurks 15 to 9 and generally were really good along the boards to maintain their own possession as well as mucking up a lot of the Amurks zone-exit attempts with well-placed sticks. Props to Lind and Gadjovich in that department, as they’ve been very noticeable in that department for the team so far tonight.

 

3rd Period

 

• Comets to another early penalty kill off this hit from Dylan Blujus(#8) on the Amurks Rasmus Asplund; actually looks like he lets up a bit too but an elbow is an elbow
• McEneny( #2) blocks an absolute laser on the penalty kill
• GOAL – ROCHESTER – 2-2 Tie: Eric Cornel rifles a wrister above Demkos blocked side for the powerplay goal and ties the game at 2.
• big oof, Blujus(#8) goes BACK to the penalty box after spinning to clear the puck, his stick goes high and clips Dalton Smith in the face
• GOAL – UTICA – 3-2 Comets: MacEwen(#15) stops the puck mid-air and gets the puck to Gaunce(#16) who channels his inner Mason Raymond and goes spinorama to regain the lead for the Comets
• I hope everyone appreciates that MacEwen pass block with his stick…great hand-eye that led to that goal
• Comets on their 6TH powerplay of the night off a tripping minor but can’t get much going
• Gadjovich(#22) work along the wal to maintain possession leads to a scoring chance for himself and Hamilton(#36); really liking this combo of Gadjer Hamilton and Bancks.
• Gadjovich(#22) and Bancks(#34) work to enter the zone and then combine for another scoring opportunity, but Gadjer’s shot goes wide;
• Comets onto their 7TH powerplay of the night after Blujus takes a high stick
• Dahlen(#54) meets the puck on the boards and somehow chips it to center right to Archibald(#25) who takes his time to get the perfect shot but puts it off the post
• MacEwen(#15) gets a nice little chip off the boards to Hamilton(#36) who has a great burst of speed to drive to the net for a shot on goal
• Rochester pulls the goalie for the extra man; Hamilton(#36) continuing with his phenomenal debut game of the season, chips it up to MacEwen(#15) who gets tripped up while going for the empty netter and puts the Comets on their 8th powerplay of the game
• GOAL – UTICA – 4-2 Comets: Archibald(#25) collects a rebound of Demko’s pad and flicks it to the heavens and it miraculously comes down and goes into the empty net…what a goal haha
• Despite going off Demko’s pad, the AHL didn’t rule Demko as available for the assist, but I mean it clearly goes off of him…pretty bizarre
• GOAL – ROCHESTER – 4-3 Comets: Justin Bailey wraps around the net and puts it under Demkos pads as Demko used the post to pivot the net fly’s off its moorings…refs don’t care though and rule it a good goal.
• The Comets end 2018 with a win, and they bounce back with an impressive effort against Rochester

 

Final Score: 4-3 Comets 

 

Scoresheet

 

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
1st	Utica	Vincent Arseneau	Cam Darcy	Kole Lind	5v5
1st	Utica	Jonathan Dahlen	Darren Archibald	Evan McEneny	PPG
1st	Rochester	CJ Smith	Zach Redmond	Victor Olofsson	PPG
3rd	Rochester	Eric Cornel	Justin Bailey	Brendan Guhle	PPG
3rd	Utica	Brendan Gaunce	Zack MacEwen	—	5v5
3rd	Utica	Darren Archibald	Thatcher Demko	—	PPG/EN
3rd	Rochester	Justin Bailey	Sean Malone	Referees	5V5

 

Takeaways

• Well this was an impressive effort, particularly from guys like, Wacey Hamilton, Jonah Gadjovich, Kole Lind, Jonathan Dahlen and Darren Archibald. The team played like they had something to prove and the scoreline reflected their efforts tonight. Their aggressive forechecking from the 3rd and 4th lines opened up a lot of scoring opportunities, and their work along the boards is absolutely topnotch; tonight was a heavily favored towards the Comets for possession , they were maintaining the offensive zone super well, and rarely got caught in their own for extended periods of time.
• Jonathan Dahlen certainly looked more together tonight than he had the previous couple games. I think some of the line shakeups after Friday night’s game may have done wonders, because the teams passing looked completely different on the powerplay than it had since the return from the Christmas break.
• Props to Wacey Hamilton who despite being out the majority of this season with a concussion, didn’t look out of shape, or late to the puck or anything tonight, they guy played lights out, and had some serious chemistry going with Bancks and Gadjovich right from the get go.
• I wonder if someone from the team reads the Farmies because this was the most physical the team has played I think all year…lots of hard hits when finishing their checks, physically aggressive along the boards and on their checks, again, I’m not just blowing smoke, but it was literally like watching a completely different team tonight compared to the team that played against Binghamton and Syracuse during this triple header.

 

Comets Three Stars

1. Jonathan Dahlen for getting a goal, 5 shots, really crisp passing tonight on the powerplay
2. Wacey Hamilton for being a difference maker despite a huge layoff for a brutal concussion and showing great chemistry with Jonah Gadjovich that appears like it could be a staple line that isn’t worth breaking up.
3. Darren Archibald for his 2nd ridiculous goal of the season, 8 shots total, and generally having some really solid centering passes tonight that lead to some prime scoring opportunities for the team…again totally different player tonight than the past 3 games. Will that carry over to the New Year though? Who knows…

 

What’s Next?

 

The Comets return next year on Wednesday January 2nd to face off AGAIN against the Syracuse Crunch. *insert comical cartoonish gulp gif*. The last meeting as we all know went as badly as any game of hockey could possibly go…so legitimately I have no clue what kind of tweaks the team will make to prep themselves for the Crunch…obviously they wont be starting Ivan Kulbakov that’s for sure… Kubby will probably be saved for the back-to-back next Saturday/Sunday when the team visits the Cleveland Monsters.

 

As always I Hope you guys enjoyed this last edition of the Farmies for 2018! 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!