Goooooood evening Canucks fans its time for another edition of the Farmies! Last night we drank ourselves into oblivion as we watched a Petterson-less Canucks team struggle against fucking…ARIZONA…a team that is missing literally every good player off their team right now with injury…yes, THAT Arizona. So like you we gather here today to catch up on our Farm teams progress as they chug through the season towards a possible Calder Playoffs run!
Yup, as pointed out in the last Farmies, their little stretch of wins was enough to keep the Comets in third of the North Division (yes I’m aware how many more games they’ve played than everyone else).
But tonight they face the Atlantic Divisions Bridgeport Sound Tigers, a team they will only meet once more before the season done, so we come into tonight’s game with no experience facing the Islanders Farm squad….based on how the all-rookie lineup went on Wednesday, and given all the eyes that were sent the Farms way post-Palmu comments we’re looking at another game where every rookie gets a shot in the lineup with the exception of Tanner MacMaster…
Given all the talk about earning ice time and having to show hard effort night-in night-out…I find it hard to believe that a 6-3 loss where your top 2 lines were invisible would lead to a repeat of t he same. I hate to say it…but I feel like we’re getting another super-rookie lineup tonight to quell the backlash from the Palmu comments and to avert some of the eyes from Vancouver media that are actively questioning the farm’s decisions..
Regardless, its fuckin’ Friday,
The kids are playing,
I don’t really care what the motives are at this point,
I just want to see some memorable hockey after that dreadful Star Wars Night from the Canucks which was more Attack of the Clones than it was the Empire Strikes Back.
Lets get into it boys and girls!
Starting Lineup
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Pyatt | Kero | Boucher |
| Dahlen | Gaunce | MacEwen |
| Lind | Hamilton | Bancks |
| Gadjovich | Darcy | Jasek |
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Brisebois | Sifers |
| McEneny | Blujus |
| Watson | Saucerman |
| G |
|---|
| Ivan Kulbakov |
| Benched | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arseneau | Dirk | Graham | MacMaster |
| 2 | 4 | 1 | 6 |
RE: Benching’s
MacMaster sits for his 6th straight. Dirk is also on his 4th straight despite having VERY impressive games in late December and early January…Legitimately don’t understand how Watson or Wyszomirski were earning a spot in the starting lineup over him, ESPECIALLY after Watson got absolutely torched by Carcone on Wednesday … Watson especially has looked slow, ineffective and in just one game got burned by a forward more than I’d seen from Dirk or Saucerman combined….
Saucerman slides back in the lineup which is good, but really I don’t think he’ll be as effective trying to bail out Watson if the above scenario happens again. I genuinely wonder if Dirk is just injured but they haven’t declared it because I don’t know what he’s done to deserve being benched.
RE: INJURY REPORT
| Injury Report | — | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bachman | Chatfield | Juolevi | Sautner | Woods |
| Out for the Season | foot | Out for the season | his fucking faceeeeeee | lower body |
Chatfield was reported as POSSIBLY returning towards the end of the month, as was Sautner…Brendan Woods who’s been out for ages skated in a no-contact jersey as early as the 7th of January but no word on if he’s anywhere near ready to return. Dylan Blujus slots back in after missing most of early January with injury. Subbed out is Jesse Graham despite his 2 goals and 1 assist this month…hard to argue that one, as despite his tenacious speed and offensive game, his D game still is a huge hole for the blue-liners, wheras Blujus offers a bit more of a well-rounded game, similar to Evan McEneny and thus make them a very solid top D pairing for the Comets both offensively and defensively.
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
- apparently it’s the “Sound Tigers” … the city isn’t “Bridgeport Sound”… I will continue to refer to them as “The Tigers” as its easier grammatically
- Kulbakov faces the first shot of the night and makes the easy save
- GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 1-0 Tigers: wellp that was quick. Looks like as Evan McEneny(#2) is stuck tying up his man, a puck shot by the Tigers Chris Casto deflects off McEneny’s tied up stick to go above Kulbakov’s gloveside….unlucky tip but Kulb should’ve been able to track that one as it was a pretty slow shot
- After Brendan Gaunce(#16) picks up a clearing attempt at the blueline, he, Jonathan Dahlen(#5 4)and Zack MacEwen(#15) combine for some tick-tack-toery for a shot on goal from Mac but it’s deflected wide
- Colton Saucerman(#39) gets shouldered hard in front of Kulbakov as he tries to escape the pressure from a Tiger’s player
- Guillaume Brisebois(#55) gets away with tugging on a Tiger’ jersey and then holding his arm to prevent him from breaking into the zone ; really dumb play here that would’ve been called had there been competent referee’s watching
- Lot of holding happening from both teams….really not sure what the refs are looking for tonight… should’ve been a couple calls already
- Kole Lind(#13) continuing from where he left off last game with a speedy zone entry with Carter Bancks(#34) then joins the cycle along the boards only to lose possession in the zone after being hacked a few times in the back
- Comets to the powerplay off a hooking penalty to Josh Ho-Sang that happened behind the play
- Comets on the powerplay; Reid Boucher(#24) sends one in on net and MacEwen(# 15)has his backhand attempt denied by Tigers Tendy Jeremy Smith
- The 1st unit powerplay team putting in work here, lead mostly by strong offensive pressure from Bouche(#24)
- The 2nd powerplay unit putting in some pressure of their own off a good zone entry from Tom Pyatt(#20) and a shot on goal from Bisebois(#55)
- **Wacey Hamilton(#36) sets up Jonah Gadjovich(#22) for a HUGE scoring opportunity but Tigers Tendy Smith absolutely robs him
- So I thought it’d be worth making a note of…but every home game, the Comets give a big thanks to a veteran of the US Military, where the entire crowd gives him a standing O and the In-house crew give him a free jersey with his name on it…pretty dope thing from our Farm team
- Gadjovich(#22) sets up Bancks(#34) for what should be a simple dump and change, but Smith mishandles the puck and leads to a dangerous chance for Utica
- need some rules clarification, thought you had to have clearly beaten your opponent to gurantee an icing call this whistle seemed a bit early given to me? Maybe I’m just a pleb who should shut up! Let me know in the comments!
- A cross ice pass to Dahlen(#54 )gets picked off and leads to a slick glove save from Kulbakov
- Dahlen(#5 ) lucks out hard along the boards as he’s caught with his head down…probably would’ve been decapitated if this was Binghamton
- Gadjovich(#22) dishing some sauce to Lukas Jasek(#9) who gets a shot on goal
- Boy all this ice time is really paying dividends for Gadjovich…looking great tonight
- Gbreezy(#55) with a risky pass through center while under pressure
- Gadjovich(#22) finds himself on a breakaway but goes FULL Erikkson
- Dahlen(#54) MacEwen(#15) Blujus(#8) and Kero(#10) combine for a bunch of chances on Bridgeport but see so many deflections
- Comets on the penalty kill off a Wacey Hamilton interference penalty
- Saved by the bar to tend the period
Score at the end of the first period: 1-0 Tigers
Lot of chances for the Comets in the first period….Gadjovich with a tonne of chances tonight and has looked good so far. The Comets outshot Bridgeport 11 to 7 but went 0 for 2 on the powerplay despite numerous chances…Going to have to be slicker on their set-ups if they want to get it past Smith
2nd Period
- After killing off the Hamilton penalty that began at the end of the first period, Reid Boucher picks up a minor penalty for holding a Tiger’s stick
- GOAL – UTICA – 1-1 Tie: Comets gifted an absolute freebie on the ensuing faceoff draw to start the penalty kill. Wacey Hamilton(#36 )follows a dumped puck to the endboards, and Jeremy Smith completely misplays the puck allowing Hamilton an easy tap-in goal to tie the game
- Gaunce(#16) physical on the penalty kill breaks up the Tigers offensive try and gets his patented PK breakaway and sets up Bancks(#34) for a golden scoring opportunity, but of course Smith comes up huge again
- Lind(#13) starts an offensive rush, gets a shot on net and follows up on the rebound with another shot on net
- Comets on the powerplay off a delay of game minor from Bridgeport. Third times the charm right?!
- More crisp passing on the powerplay from Kero(#10) McEneny(#2) and Dahlen(#54) to set up Boucher(#24) for a one timer on goal
- after that crisp passing play, the Comets don’t get anything else going and the powerplay ends without any other shots on goal
- Jaime Sifers(#26) controls the puck and sets up Bancks(#34) who in turn sets up Lind(#13) for a backhander on net that gets blockered aside by Smith
- Gaunce gets called for the Comets second interference penalty on the night putting the Comets on their 3rd penalty kill on the night
- GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 2-1 Tigers: Tigers score off a tipped Mitchell Vande Sompel shot by Tanner Fritz who has Kulbakov completely screened in front
- Comets are 0-10-0-1 when trailing after the first period…Only team in the AHL to not win a game after trailing in the first…not a great stat lol
- Comets back on the penalty AGAIN off a Brisebois tripping penalty
- Kulbakov picks up the puck through traffic in front to stop play and get his penalty killers a much needed break
- Gaunce(#16) and MacEwen(#1 5) combine for another huge shorthanded scoring opportunity
- Audio is out so don’t worry its not you it’s the stream
- A puck from the blueline goes high and catches Blujus in the face; followed by a sace from Kulbakov to blow the play dead; Thought refs were supposed to stop play when a guy goes down with injury in the middle of play
- Lind(#13) fishes the puck around the boards to Brisebois(#55), then tries to whack the puck in at the front of the net…then he gets a little heavy with his shove at the end of the play and gets called for roughing
- re the above, if that ref wanted to he probably could’ve given him a misconduct for shoving the ref with that little elbow he gives at the end of the streamable
- Hamilton(#36) picks up the puck through a multitude of bodies, clears the zone, eats a hit and still manages to dump the puck; great penalty killing shift from him
- GOAL – UTICA – 2-2 Tie: Gaunce(# 16)outworks Josh Ho-Sang along the boards and feeds Pyatt(#20) with an absolute beauty of a pass to tie the game at 2
- Bancks( #34)takes some pretty vicious crosschecking from behind and goes headfirst into the boards…
- At the end of all this somehow, Hamilton and Wotherspoon get roughing penalties, but nothing is given for the incredibly dangerous boarding penalty
The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 2-2 Tie
Lot of penalties to the Comets, but god damn their penalty killing units are so good; I still wish they threw Gadjovich out there once or twice to learn from Hamilton and Bancks… If they want Gadjovich to learn to adapt his style of play that was successful in the minors to the big leagues, I feel like playing alongside those two in pressure situations like on the PK would be great for his development. Despite the penalties being taken I’d still say the Comets had a succesful period…it won’t go down as a shorthanded goal but that entire game-tying sequence happened while the PK was still going on and man….call Gaunce up and get Schaller out of there…the guys been so clutch for Utica its crazy.
3rd Period
- Boucher(#24) with a slick cross ice pass to McEneny(# 2)who wires a shot of Smith’s blocker
- MacEwen(#15 )sets up Bisebois(#55) for a tip in front, then catches the rebound but sends it high and wide of the goal
- Dahlen(#5 4)sets up Hamilton(# 36)on the right wing where he hits the breaks to attempt a centering feed to Pyatt(#20) but the shot gets deflected high to prevent a scoring opportunity
- Gadjovich(#22) gets sent on to replace Pyatt and Hamilton and immediately parks in front to attempt a tip in, then gets set up by Dahlen(#54) for a scoring opportunity at the front of the net
- Gadjovich(#22) off a dzone start, goes chip and chase into the Tigers end, then prevents a clearing attempt with his stick; despite eventually losing possession, a really solid shift from Gadjer
- Dahlen(#54 )reads the puck direction wrong and that opens the door for the Tigers to set up some tick-tac-toery of their own, but Kulbakov comes up HUGE with the glove stop
- Jasek(#9) with a nice pass through the feet of a Tigers forward to Gadjovich(#22)who leads the rush into the Tigers zone
- GOAL – UTICA – 3-2 Comets: Dahlen(#54) walks the puck in and passes it to MacEwen(#15) who turns in front and rolls the puck up Smith’s stick into the top shelf to give the Comets their first lead of the night
- Wacey Hamilton gets called for a double-minor for high-sticking ….so immediately after coming ahead with the lead, they go onto a 4 minute penalty kill…yikes
- 56 seconds left in the powerplay
- GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 3-3 Tie: interesting…Kulbakov screened as a shot from the blueline gets past him…Steve Bernier….yes…former Canuck, Steve Bernier, turns and gets in Kulbakov’s grill after the game tying goal is scored and picks up an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty to put the comes on the powerplay with 4:40 remaining in the game
- LOL Kulbakov helping his boys out as he steps in front of the Tigers Connor Jones and gets shoved down to bait the interference penalty
- Comets now on a 5-on-3 powerplay
- Lot of one-timers from Boucher but nothing substantial or sustained by the Comets to really pressure the Tigers on the 5-on-3…shame…Comets 1 for 6 on the powerplay tonight
- Gaunce(#16) with the moves amongst 4 Tigers players; gets a backhander on net, but the sustained pressure from the Comets at the end of the period doesn’t pay off so we head to OT
Final Score: 3-3 Tie
Comets outshot Bridgeport 10 to 7 in the third period, but boy they just could not get shots past the bodies clogging up the middle. Being unable to capitalize on 3 powerplays, ESPECIALLY the 5 on 3 to round out the period is quite tragic… could’ve ended it there but Boucher’s need to be the triggerman on the powerplay probably cost them there. Too many telegraphed one timers from the 1st powerplay unit.
Overtime
- MacEwen(#15) leads the zone entry and drops it off for Gaunce(#16) who puts it right into the chest of Smith
- Gaunce McEneny and MacEwen double shifted. Next unit Dahlen, Blujus and Pyatt.
- Dylan Blujus(#8) walks in alone and puts one on Smiths 5 hole to try and end it for the Comets
- 3rd unit – Brisebois, Boucher and Kero
- Boucher(#24) steps on the gas and puts one on Smith and Kero(#10) is there to try put it through his open 5 hole but sends it wide of the net
- Kulbakov with two massive toe saves with a minute 53 left in OT …holy shit he just kept them in this one
- GOAL – BRIDGEPORT – 4-3 Tigers: Tanner Fritz walks around the net all the way to the blue line to drop it off for Parker Wotherspoon who wrists it past Kulbakov’s gloveside to end it in overtime…lil scrum ensues afterwards, not sure what about
Final Score: Bridgeport Sound Tigers 4, Comets 3
Scoresheet
| Period | Team | Goalscorer | Primary assist | helper | type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Bridgeport | Chris Casto | Josh Ho-Sang | Travis St. Denis | 5v5 |
| 2nd | Utica | Wacey Hamilton | — | — | SHG |
| 2nd | Bridgeport | Tanner Fritz | Mitchell Vande Sompel | Chris Bourque | PPG |
| 2nd | Utica | Tom Pyatt | Brendan Gaunce | — | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Zack MacEwen | Jonathan Dahlen | Evan McEneny | PPG |
| 3rd | Bridgeport | Yannick Rathgeb | Josh Ho-Sang | Steve Bernier | PPG |
| OT | Bridgeport | Parker Wotherspoon | Tanner Fritz | — | 3V3 |
Takeaways
- Why are we not trying Lind or Gadj in OT? Lind thrives with time and space, so put him out there with Dahlen and let them work some magic…I mean fuck…just like the Arizona game…the team had no business getting to overtime with their undisciplined play and would most likely lose anyway so why not give the kids the experience? This is where I’m of the whole, Cull is rolling out all the rookies to quell rookie prep talk amongst Vancouver media, but the reluctance to roll anyone other than MacEwen, Gaunce, Boucher or Kero out for the last 2 minutes of the third or at all in overtime is pretty weak.
- Powerplay still needs some work…the Boucher triggerman is super telegraphed….most teams know he isn’t likely to pass to anyone else for a one timer even if they’re completely wide open. I know he has a lethal shot but he’s cooled off quite a bit since his early season run and only has 1 goal in his past 6 games…maybe try someone else in his spot…aint nothing wrong with variety…especially when your team is going 1 for 6 on the powerplay and one of those was a 5 on 3.
- Still not really sure why Watson is playing over Dirk…he just looks beat to the punch most of the night…and Saucerman has good speed, but he doesn’t have the speed to compensate for both he AND someone else getting burned. Dirk/Sauce or Wiz/Sauce please…Watson just doesn’t look effective enough to warrant icetime over Dirk… again that is IF Dirk is actually being healthy scratched and isn’t injured.
Comets Three Stars
- Ivan Kulbakov – dude once again gets some awful puck luck… 2 brutal tips that he had no chance on…completely screened on the game tying goal….and the only goal that was really on him loses the game for the team… the stats will make it look like this was on him but dude was clutch tonight just super fucking unlucky….didn’t help that his team puts him against 7 Bridgeport powerplays to boot
- Brendan Gaunce – dudes been so fucking clutch for this team man…shorthanded this guy is just a beast, toss out Schaller and get Gaunce up in his spot….Gaunce originally looked pretty shaky after returning to center, but he was absolutely lights out tonight. This has to be a huge confidence boosting season because he looks like a completely different player than the one that gets put on an incredibly short leash while up in Vancouver
- I want to give the 3rd Comets star to Wacey Hamilton….but oh boy that double minor for highsticking, plut the roughing AND interference penalties all in one game….I know the guy plays hard every shift and he really is a difference maker on the ice but boy those penalties essentially lost the game for the Comets tonight…too bad too because besides those penalties he was having a killer game.
What’s Next?
Comets have now dropped two in a row but they return tomorrow for their 2nd of 5 straight home games when they face the North Divisions 2nd place Syracuse Crunch…the season series against the Crunch has been interesting…after dropping a 10-1 game to them in their last outing, the Comets beat them in an incredibly competitive 4-2 win. Now the real question is, do they start their backups backups backups backups Alex Sakellaropoulos? The last time Kulbakov started against the Crunch and he got absolutely lit the fuck up, course that was in the middle of a triple header, but the guy will have started 5 straight if he plays again tomorrow…and that can’t lead to good things off the heels of a brutal overtime loss tonight to Bridgeport…Should be an interesting one though and you can catch that game tomorrow for free on theahl’s game service (I think that’s where at least?) OR you can give me a follow and keep your eyes peeled for the Farmies tomorrow!
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!
