Afternoon my fellow Canuckers, Farmies back at you with the double header content! I could almost copy and paste what I wrote in preparation for todays game because it looks like Trent Cull liked what he saw from yesterday’s lineup, because no substitutions, no changes, the ol’ CTRL C+V against the Monsters. I can’t say I blame him at all, which kinda blows for guys like Jasek and Gadjovich who’ve in my opinion earned a spot in the lineup. But I hope this lineups iteration proves me wrong and we get another 6-1 game.
Starting Lineup
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Gaunce | Kero | Boucher |
| Dahlen | Gaudette | Pyatt |
| Bancks | Hamilton | MacEwen |
| Arseneau | Darcy | Lind |
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Brisebois | Sifers |
| McEneny | Graham |
| Wyszomirski | Saucerman |
| G |
|---|
| Ivan Kulbakov |
| Benched | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Dirk | Gadjovich | Jasek | MacMaster |
| 2 | 3 | 2 | 4 |
RE: Benching’s
I added a new sub-row on the benching’s table to indicate how many games straight a player has been benched
RE: INJURY REPORT
| Injury Report | — | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachman | Blujus | Chatfield | Juolevi | Sautner |
| Out for the Season | undisclosed | foot | Out for the season | 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
- Zack MacEwen(#15) starting things off early with a drive down the left wing. Good defensive slide breaks up the rush
- Tom Pyatt(#20) and Adam Gaudette(#17) combine for a nice set up on a Jonathan Dahlen(#54) one timer on goal
- Kole Lind(#13) tags up on the blue line before getting a takeaway along the end boards
- GOAL – UTICA – 1-0 Comets: Lind(#13) gets a great pass in close to Cam Darcy(#11) who one-times one 5-hole to give the Comets the lead
- ALT Angle of the goal – really crisp pass from Lind here
- Kulbakov with two saves and dives on the loose puck way out of his crease
- This is why we can’t have nice things; MacEwen(#15) takes a massive hit to the head off a very blatant illegal check to the head
- Mac skated to the bench under his own power, and the offender Kole Sherwood got tossed; given a match penalty and putting the Comets on a 5 minute powerplay.
- Gotta love the fight from Wacey Hamilton(# 36) Carter Bancks(#34) and Jamie Sifers(#26), who were all ready to absolutely murder Sherwood….would be nice to have some guys like that in a certain club I frequently watch play
- Before the 5 minute powerplay is over, MacEwen returns to the bench and looks primed to get in his next shift
- GOAL – UTICA – 2-0 Comets: On the 5 minute powerplay, Brendan Gaunce(#16) picks up the rebound off a Reid Boucher(#24) one-timer and calmly dishes it to Tanner Kero(#10) who taps it in to put the Comets up by 2
- Jesse Graham(#64) with a very speedy zone entry
- MacEwen(#15) showing no signs of slowing down off that hit as he weaves through two Monsters’ players then burns past 2 more to get a shot on net
Score at the end of the first period: 2-0 Comets
Well this was a pretty dominant period from the Comets as they outshot the Monsters 10-8, probably helping that was the 5 minute powerplay. Loved the response from the team after that bullshit hit, and loved it even more that they capitalized on the powerplay by edging their lead some more.
2nd Period
- Not a whole lot through the first 3 minutes of play in the 2nd
- Comets to the penalty kill off a MacEwen hooking penalty
- GOAL – CLEVELAND – 2-1 Comets : The Monsters strike on the powerplay as they connect on an eerily similar goal to the one that opened the scoring in this game..
- ALT Angle of the Lind/Darcy goal …. ALT Angle of the Scott/Dalpe powerplay goal
- GOAL – UTICA – 3-1 Comets: Damn…Vincent Arseneau(#18) is playing his best hockey lately as he finds himself on a breakaway and re-establishes the 2 goal lead off a nice long ice feed from Pyatt(#20)
- What a snipe; alt angle
- Gaunce(#16) with a nice feed to Boucher(#24) while wrapped up with a Cleveland player, leading to a wraparound scoring chance and follow up chance from both players
- Wacey Hamilton called to the box for hooking and the Comets are back on the penalty kill
- Gaudette on the first unit penalty kill with Hamilton in the box
- Guillaume Bisebois(#55) with a big shot block, and then the Monsters get robbed of any powerplay momentum by the net coming off its moorings; moorings took like 2 minutes to get cleaned out and fixed, so yeah safe to say Monsters got completely cucked here haha
- Gaunce(#16) successfully brings the puck through center to dump it to kill off the penalty
- Man, lot of starts and stoppages in play…really slow-going with not much happening
- Colton Saucerman(#39) gets called on a hooking penalty and the Comets are on their 3rd consecutive penalty kill of the period
- Jesus, Comets on the penalty kill and Pyatt(#20) ALSO gets called on a hooking penalty
- That’s 4 consecuitve hooking penalties for the Comets in a single period…really undisciplined stick handling
- Cleveland blows their 5-on-3 with THREE shots that get sailed wide of the goal before Saucerman returns to make it a standard 5-on-4
The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-1 Comets
Sluggish and undisciplined period from the Comets….4 straight hooking penalties would get you benched for the remainder of the game in the NHL. Otherwise…really clutch goal from Arseneau to re-gain the 2 goal lead. Dude’s been clutch since returning from injury. After starting the season with 0 points on 7 shots in 8 games played then being waylaid with injuries and struggling to earn a spot in the starting lineup, the guy has gotten 5 goals in his past 5 games; So props to him for persevering and coming in CLUTCH the past couple games.
3rd Period
- GOAL – UTICA – 4-1: Saucerman(#39) picks up a lazy clearing attempt off the wing and rifles it on net where Kero(#10) tips it in to give the Comets a 3 goal lead over the Monsters with plenty of time remaining
- Boy it must be tough to be a Cleveland sports fan
- Monsters get an odd-man rush but Mark Letestu takes too long to shoot and Kulbakov makes the save
- LOL Hamilton(#36) gets called on a faceoff violation to put the Monsters on their 5th consecutive powerplay….ref was taking his fucking time to drop the puck holy Christ…waive out two Monsters players, 2 Comets, then dings Hamilton….been a slow game to begin with and the refs really aren’t helping
- Gaunce(#1 6)with his patented penalty kill breakaway off a blocked shot
- Both teams looking completely gassed for the most part…fanning on a lot of shots or shots that go on goal have no steam behind them
- Arseneau(#18) blocks a massive shot right off the shin….ooh boy that looked like a stinger
- Comets doing a great job tonight of clogging up the middle of the ice, practically every shot through center by the monsters is getting directed away from center by the bodies in the middle…really bailing out Kulbakov tonight who’s already faced like 37 shots tonight
- holy fuck man the refs are killing me with this game…practically every faceoff draw gets waved off for a violation….just killing any momentum and dragging this one out so hard…I feel like I’m missing more plays than usual because the constant delays are killing my focus
- Lind(#13) takes a holding penalty and the Comets are on their 6th consecutive penalty kill
- Monsters pull the goalie for a 6-on-4 powerplay advantage
- GOAL – UTICA – 5-1 Comets: Boucher(#24) strips the puck off an entry attempt and sets Kero(#10) up for the shorthanded hat-trick goal, and seals the sure win victory for the Comets
- Note that Colton Saucerman was on ice for 4 of the Comets 5 goals tonight….really clutch tonight in his own end and in the offensive zone
- Arseneau(# 18) with a nice feed to Lind(#13) who ends the game with a slapper on goal
Final Score: 5-1 Comets
Scoresheet
| Period | Team | Goalscorer | Primary assist | helper | type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Utica | Cam Darcy | Kole Lind | — | 5v5 |
| 1st | Utica | Tanner Kero | Brendan Gaunce | Reid Boucher | PPG |
| 2nd | Cleveland | Zac Dalpe | Justin Scott | Alex Broadhurst | PPG |
| 2nd | Utica | Vincent Arseneau | Tom Pyatt | Craid Wyszomirski | 5V5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Tanner Kero | Colton Saucerman | — | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Tanner Kero | Reid Boucher | Evan McEneny | EN,SH |
Takeaways
- 5v5 Scoring:Once again the Comets 5v5 scoring comes up huge against Cleveland. Great rally after the MacEwen high hit, and a great follow-up goal after Cleveland got themselves within 1.
- Discipline: I think I talked about this one ages ago, but man do the Comets just throw their sticks out into their opponents faces/sticks/legs way too often…And its not even to make up for a lack of skating, or being beat on a play, but they just get caught hooking and holding so often and its completely needless….6 straight penalties was rough, and honestly maybe I can attribute it to the exhaustion of playing back-to-back hockey, but if you’re going to be caught on hooking, then you gotta have a response and be able to draw some penalties as well.
- Penalty KillingRegardless the penalty kill was great tonight, 5 of 6 PK’s were successful and really kept them in this game. That blocked shot by Arseneau, holy fuck that looked like it hurt, but he was back on the ice later in the period and contributed that slick pass to Lind that ended the game in style
- Dahlen on another quiet stretch: Since going down with a concussion on the Comets road series against the Charlotte Checkers, Dahlen has only gotten 1 goal on 16 shots. I’ve read a lot of people from Sweden say that this is pretty typical of Dahlen’s style, a slow-starter who really gets into gear in the latter half of the season…I want to believe that…I have to remind myself he’s jumping to one of the top 3 leagues in the world from the 2nd tier Swedish league and is still Top 5 for team scoring…so I do have to temper my expectations…Hopefully this is just a setback cause by the concussion, fatigue, or whatnot, but with tempered expectations I do still hope that we see more of what he’s capable of before the season is over
- Honestly this game was pretty weird; the refs dragged this one out…fucking hard …I do wonder if the delays in faceoff draws nearly every single draw fucked with BOTH teams momentum. Quiet games from MacEwen, Dahlen and Gaudette, but big games from Darcy, Lind, Pyatt and Saucerman; MacEwen’s quiet game could also stem from that massive headshot he took early in the game, so obviously he gets a pass…Gaudette also had a massive game yesterday so fatigue could also be reasonable. Like I said in yesterday’s Farmies about Lind…the more simpler of a game he plays the better and more effective he becomes…I know he wants to play a junior hockey/style over simplicity type of game play so he can get the flashy goals…but they are WAY more likely to come playing the kind of game he’s been playing in his last two outings.
Comets Three Stars
- Ivan Kulbakov – 40 of 41 shots saved. Clutch tonight
- Comets defense – especially Wyszomirski and Saucerman who held the monsters at bay and ended the night collectively +7 in +/-.
- Tanner Kero – who picked up his first hat trick of the season after picking up only 2 goals in his last 13 games
What’s Next?
With the win tonight the Comets find themselves 3rd in the North Division. The Comets return Wednesday night for another road game as they face off against the now, tied for 4th, Toronto Marlies. The Marlies are 3-2 in their last 5 games…weirdly enough having won or lost with 5 goals for/against in each game. The Comets currently lead the season head-to-head record with 2 wins and 1 loss, a loss which came in their opening game of the season.
As always I 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!
