Good Evening Canucks fans! Before we settled into darkness, our old friend, as the Canucks face off against the literal greatest team in hockey, Canada’s Team, the Toronto Maple Leafs, lets settle for a little bit of the sunshine, as our Farm enter into the 8th game of the “Galaxy Cup,” a 10 game series between the Utica Comets and the Syracuse Crunch. After going 3w-0L against the Crunch in January, the Comets returned to a bit more of the familiar as they dropped a 4-0 game to the Crunch last month.
The Comets are going to be missing more bodies from the lineup as Guillaume Brisebois was called up to the Canucks today due to a possible lengthy foot injury to Ben Hutton, so with that the Comets had to sign another defenseman PTO, this time, Matt Petgrave joins them from the Brampton Beast of the ECHL, where he put up 8 goals and 32 assists and a +/- of +25 in 50 games. I don’t think Petgrave slides into tonight’s lineup due to the short nature of his call-up but given how badly in need of healthy bodies, the Comets lineup is, the likelihood of him getting a start in this weekend’s double header is pretty high.
The Crunch are 6-2-1-1 in their last 10, while the Comets are 5-3-2-0 in theirs…its Crunch time (not for the Crunch, but for the Comets) as they desperately need points heading down this last stretch of games for the season…the Belleville Senators are HOT on their tails, sharing the same points as the Comets (67), but they lose out due to games played (Utica 59 to Belleville’s 60) and then on points percentage (Utica’s .568 to Belleviles .558).
With all that ominous and terrifying foreboding out of the way lets get into tonight’s game,
But first, a final word about Jonathan Dahlen (until he does another interview that cause the Canuckleverse to implode)…
BE NICE TO ROOKIE HOCKEY PLAYERS ON TWITTER AND INSTAGRAM, YOU FUCKS
Starting Lineup
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Gadjovich | Hamilton | Bancks |
| Boucher | Kero | MacEwen |
| Gaunce | Woods | Lind |
| Pyatt | Darcy | Jasek |
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| McEneny | Sifers |
| Anselmini | Chatfield |
| Graham | Saucerman |
| G |
|---|
| Michael Leighton |
RE: INJURY REPORT
| Injury Report | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bachman | Blujus | Juolevi | LeBlanc |
| Out for the Season | hand | Out for the season | Undisclosed |
| Healthy Scratches | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arseaneau | Gardiner | Petgrave | Thomas |
| 1 | 1 | 1 | 4 |
Arseneau slots out of the lineup with the returns of Tanner Kero and Wacey Hamilton to the lineup, Kero missed the last 4 games due to injury, while Hamilton (I believe) was a healthy scratch, but may also have been on IR given how hard the illness bug seemed to go through that locker room in the past two weeks.
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
- Jonah Gadjovich(#22) with the games first shot on net
- Gaunce on the wing is such a better player for this Comets team its crazy…you’d think it wouldn’t make that much of a difference, but he plays with so much more confidence its insane. Already had 2 centering passes for the Comets before Cory Conacher high-sticks Brendan Woods to put the Comets on the powerplay
- 1st Unit Powerplay: McEneny, Kero, Boucher, Pyatt, MacEwen
- McEneny with 3 long bombs from the blue line on the 1st unit all off Eddie Pasquale’s pads
- 2nd Unit: Darcy, Jasek, Lind, Graham, Gaunce
- Lukas Jasek(#9) sends a floater above Cal Foote, and it almost bounces into the goal as Pasquale looks to have no clue where it landed
- GOAL – SYRACUSE – 1-0 Crunch: Yikers, the Comets give up their THIRTEENTH shorthanded goal of the season as Ben Thomas clears the puck off the wall that goes past Jasek’s(#9) stick and onto the stick of Gabriel Dumonts; poor coverage ensues as Kole Lind(#13) leaves the right side completely open to try check Dumont, letting Andy Andreoff come barreling into the Comets zone for a 2 on 1 that Dumont buries… oh boy not a good start
- After the powerplay ends, Jonah Gadjovich gets interfered with on a breakout attempt and the Comets are back to the powerplay
- 1st Unit: Pyatt, MacEwen, McEneny, Kero, Boucher
- Reid Boucher(#24) gets stripped of the puck along the boards almost leading to the Crunch’s second shorthanded goal of the game
- Zack MacEwen(#15) takes a pass from Tom Pyatt(#20) along the wall and sneakily gets a feed to Tanner Kero(#10) who’s shot gets poked aside by Pasquale, but MacEwen is there for the rebound only to send it high and out of play
- 2nd Unit: Graham, Lind, Jasek, Gaunce, Darcy
- Jasek(#9) gets a one timer on net from the blue line off a feed from Lind(#13) but it rebounds back out to Jasek(#9) who’s SECOND one timer pings off the goal post and out
- Jan Rutta takes a slashing penalty, and the Comets are off to their THIRD powerplay only 7 minutes into the game by the way lol
- 50 seconds into the powerplay the Comets are being hemmed into their own end, and face a shot against off a Boucher giveaway
- Waning seconds of the powerplay, Jasek(#9) in the Dahlen spot looking good with crisp passes, as he plays give and go with Brandon Anselmini(#7) who rifles a slap shot that ALSO goes off the post
- GOAL – SYRACUSE – 2-0 Crunch: Oh man tough one as Anselmini(#7) rifles another blast from the blue line, the puck comes out to the Comets zone and Jalen Chatfield(#5) hands the puck over to Ross Colton who wrists one past Leighton for the two goal lead
- GOAL – SYRACUSE – 3-0 Crunch: welllllllllllp can probably scroll down to the Final Score because this one looks to be all but over…14 seconds after Chatfield gives it away, Colton Saucerman(#39) not wanting him to feel left out, hands the puck over to Carter Verhaege (ALSO with a backhand pass) in front of Leighton and Verhaeage easily pokes it in behind for the 3 goal lead.
- Less than twenty seconds after the Verhaeage goal, Jaime Sifers takes a tripping penalty and the Comets are off to the Penalty Kill
- Comets miraculously kill the penalty, against all odds they don’t embarrass themselves
- Oh good…Evan McEneny gets hit hard behind the net, and he struggles to get up, and appears to not put any pressure on his left leg…the same one he’s had reconstructive surgery on 3 times already in his career….
- New pairing appears to now be Sifers/Graham – Saucerman/Anselmini – Chatfield floating
- Boucher(#24) with a laser of a pass to a speeding MacEwen(#15) on net but his backhander gets knocked wide
- Anselmini gets another 2 shots on net from the blue line…liking his shot so far…one of the few positives of this period
- Comets showing some sustained pressure and MacEwen(#15) displays some great puck handling through traffic as he dangles the puck through his legs to feed Sifers(#26) on the blue line who has his shot tipped just wide of the goal Nice look from Boucher(#24 )there to try set MacEwen up front but the puck rolls just out of reach
- the Sustained pressure pays off as Nolan Valleau gets dinged fro holding, putting the Comets on their 4th powerplay of the game
- With McEneny out with injury, Jesse Graham slots in as the 1st unit powerplay quarterback.
- Cull also elects to leave Boucher, Kero and MacEWEN ON THE ICE despite having been on the ice for the last 30-40 prior to the stoppage in play
Score at the end of the first period: 3-0 Crunch
I mean…it could be worse…right? Remember the 10-1 game? … They at least had SOME sustained pressure towards the end of the period. They were outshot 15 to 8, but they had some good looks from Jasek, MacEwen and Anselmini in that period…if those two shots off the post make it in, it’s a totally different game we’re looking at…just need to see more of that fight that we saw at the end of the first.
2nd Period
- Comets still on the powerplay for 1 minute of play to start the second period
- Gadjovich(#22) comes away with the puck from a battle behind the net and sets up Sifers(#26) for a shot that goes wide for a tip by Wacey Hamilton(#36) but it goes up and out of play
- Comets are getting a lot breakout rushes but the speed of the Crunch players is proving quite a tall task for the Comets, 5 minutes in and the Crunch are all over ever Comets rush attempt
- by the way McEneny did not return to the bench for the second period…fingers crossed it’s nothing serious, but oh boy the optics of how he went down and his history of left knee injuries is greatly concerning…with Brisebois up, our d-core is then Sifers, Graham, Chatfield and 4 PTO’s, probably 5 if McEneny is out long term
- Mitchell Stephens gets dinged for delay of game as he shoots the puck over the glass and the Comets are off to their 5th powerplay of the game lol
- Comets absolutely struggling in the absence of McEneny as their powerplay quarterback. Graham has got the speed to gain the zone but his ability to control the play from the blue line isn’t anywhere on Evan’s level.
- 10 minutes deep, and a powerplay down and the Comets have still yet to register a shot this period
- MacEwen(#15) registers the first shot for the Comets in the second period
- lol, Cal Foote takes a slashing penalty and the Comets are off to their 6TH penalty…maybe this time they’ll actually register a shot
- Boucher(#24) with his second shot on the powerplay, after some hectic passing from Kero(#10) and MacEwen(#15)
- Jasek(#9) pressured by 2, gets a nice short pass to Cam Darcy(#11) who moves towards center but his shot goes wide of the goal
- Despite sending what feels like a bulk of the period in the Crunch’ zone, the Comets just are getting no shots off…the Comets will cycle in the Crunch end for 20-40 seconds, then the Crunch usually clear the zone, enter the Comets end and then rifle a shot into Leightons glove
- Darcy(#11) with speed gets the puck up to Jasek(#9 )on the line who snaps a tape-to-tape cross ice pass to Tom Pyatt(#20) who sadly just puts it right into the chest of Pasquale for a stoppage in play
- bahaha…Brady Brassart gets dinged for High-Sticking and the Comets are onto their 7th powerplay…last one had 2 shots on goal….so, pretty high bar has been set this period.
- 1st unit powerplay: Boucher, Hamilton, MacEwen, Pyatt, Graham
- Looks like Cull had Hamilton out for the specific purpose of winning the faceoff draw thaen immediately changing off for Tanner Kero…brilliant play cause it works as Hamilton wins the draw lol
- Graham(#64) attempts a shot from the blue line but it gets blocked and leads to a two man rush going the other way
- 0 shots as the period ends; Comets with 3 powerplays that period but manage only 3 shots.
The Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-0 Crunch
Oh boy, I mean, if everyone could stop cycling along the walls and just take shots on the net from wherever they can that’d be greaaaaaaaaat. Comets, despite 3 powerplays, manage to get oushot 6 to 5 that period…and if I’m being completely honest, probably 4 of those 5 shots were 0-danger chances for. Everyone of Syracuse shots on goal were off speedy zone entries that led to a lot of time and space for Crunch shooters. There is little pieces of gold in this game, with some great passing plays from Jasek, but man the timing and play making of this team without their core defenders is just truly awful.
3rd Period
- GOAL – UTICA – 3-1 Comets: so this is what joy feels like! A shot from Colton Saucerman(#39) ricochets around the boards and Jalen Chatfield(#5) is there to pass it back the other way to Tanner Kero(#10) who twists around Jan Rutta to feed Boucher(#24) at the front of the net who goes five-hole on Eddie Pasquale to put the Comets on the board
- Brady Brassart checks into Brandon Anselmini who takes exception, and Brendan Woods steps up to him letting him chickity check himself before he wrickity wrecks himself
- Some hard hits from both sides off the next faceoff draw, both teams getting a bit chippy
- bit of a Kane loose net situation, but the refs call it right this time, as the Comets have a rush going the opposite way and elect to not blow the play down until the puck is in control of the goalie
- Anselmini having a really strong game tonight on the blue line…shame the team is just struggling so hard to find the back of the net
- GOAL – SYRACUSE – 4-1 Crunch: After a pass by Jasek(#9) in the Crunch’ zone gets picked off in the ensuing play, after the puck comes out from behind the Comets net to Cal Foote, he goes cross ice to Nolan Valleau who’s shot ping pongs around the front of Leightons net, where Carter Verhaege gets the final touch and puts the Comets back on a 3 goal deficit
- LOL we get the atypical crowd shots post-goal and the entire arena is basically clearing out, and the mascot is just in the stands waving at people leaving, it was quite funny – respect to all the fans who are still sticking around.
- A LOT CAN HAPPEN IN 8 MINUTES FOLKS!!! NEVER GIVE UP! NEVER SURRENDER!
- Off an offensive zone faceoff draw, Cal Foote takes a slashing penalty and the Comets pressure with the man advantage
- GOAL – UTICA – 4-2 Crunch: Lind(#13) catches a pass along the boards and sends it to Gaunce(#16 )who attempts a cross ice pass but it goes off a skate back to him, on the second try he edges closer to the goal and THEN goes cross-ice to a trailing MacEwen (#15) who sinks it past Pasquale to put the Comets back within 2
- Sifers(#26) with a great dive to prevent what probably was a guaranteed goal
- GOAL – UTICA – 4-3 Crunch: holy shit, a puck battle along the end boards and Lind(#13) fishes it out to a wide open Anselmini(#7) who has all the time in the world to snipe it high blocker side on Eddie Pasquale to bring the Comets within 1
- Bet those guys who left now are feeling pretty silly, this game just got crazy
- 4 minutes left and the Comets are outshooting the Crunch 33-18
- 2 minutes left, and for whatever reason Cull is shifting on Tom Pyatt who has been dishing muffins all night on net…and sure enough he muffins a pass to Chatfield on the blue line, causing the Comets to lose possession in the zone
- minute 30 remaining and the Comets have an offesnsive zone faceoff and the goalie is pulled…again Pyatt is working the Dahlen spot for some reason
- GOAL – SYRACUSE – 5-3 Crunch: well they tried…unfortunately the Comets win a puck battle along the boards but Kero(#10) trips and loses possession leading to an empty netter for Jan Rutta.
Final Score: 5-3 Syracuse Crunch
Scoresheet
| Period | Team | Goalscorer | Primary assist | helper | type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Syracuse | Gabriel Dumont | Andy Andreoff | Ben Thomas | SHG |
| 1st | Syracuse | Ross Colton | — | — | 5v5 |
| 1st | Syracuse | Carter Verhaeghe | — | — | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Reid Boucher | Zack MacEwen | Jalen Chatfield | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Syracuse | Carter Verhaeghe | Taylor Raddysh | Nolan Valleau | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Zack MacEwen | Brendan Gaunce | Kole Lind | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Brandon Anselmini | Kole Lind | — | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Syracuse | Jan Rutta | Cory Conacher | — | EN |
Takeaways
- Oddly enough, Trent Cull had a bit of a post-practice scrum with the team, stressing the importance of the games to come down the stretch (RE: Playoffs etc.) Doesn’t look like the pep talk did much, because the boys just look completely out to lunch
- It wasn’t for a lack of trying, but defensive blunders from the Comets early totally blow the game open for the Syracuse Crunch who basically let the Comets dig themselves a grave to find their way out of…A really unfortunate game through and through…we had really quality games from Kole Lind, Zack MacEwen, Lukas Jasek and Brandon Anselmini, but they just struggled so hard until that Reid Boucher goal…the team needed confidence and inspiration, and Boucher gave it to them…really too bad that first period set them so far back, because like most games against the Syracuse Crunch, the Comets ARE competitive, but every loss it genuinely feels like they beat themselves more than they get beat.
- Tom Pyatt had a pretty brutal game…tonne’s of muffins for shots and passes, basically every shot of his was predictable or straight into the chest of Eddie Pasquale…on that 2 on 1 with Jasek, I almost wish he passed it, but his passes were so weak this game that I think I’d end up wishing for him to shoot instead…but then I see all of his shots tonight and go…oh I guess there’s no winning at all here…just a really rough game for the NHL veteran
- I actually REALLY like Brandon Anselmini’s game tonight, guy has a wicked shot from that blue line, absolute rifle of a shot that we saw multiple times tonight. He registered 4 shots on goal tonight, which is pretty impressive considering his fellow D-man, Jesse Graham, who quarterbacked 4 of the teams powerplays only managed 1 after 60 minutes of play.
- Can I get an F in chat for Evan McEneny…between being written off by Jim Benning as a depth guy (despite Jim admittedly having not watched a single second of Utica hockey this season), he’s 5th on the team in points, THE powerplay quarterback, an effective penalty killer and generally one of the most sound defenceman on this team…I’m fucking begging the gods to spare this man from another severe knee injury…the man has had several already, and ending his absolutely stellar year in this way seems truly, fucking cruel. Take my knee McEneny, you’ve earned it dude….I’ve been calling for you to get called up over Brisebois this entire season…you were ready, despite your speed, the composure of your game made you easily the best on this team…fuck. Fingers crossed my dude… your play deserved better your season ends here tonight.
- Also minor shout out to Kole Lind, who despite playing some really forgettable hockey since Adam Gaudette got called up, he stepped up pretty big tonight creating plays with some pretty fantastic passes to guys in the open. He and Colton Saucerman were the only guys to end the night with positive +/-…and yes…I know the stat is not indicative of how the game played out…but still impressive given how awful this team was in the first period with their turnovers, and how long it took them to turn it around.
Comets Three Stars
- Brandon Anselmini
- Kole Lind
- Zack MacEwen
HM: Brendan Gaunce, who looked much more like the Gaunce of old while playing on the wing, as opposed to his recent run of playing at center where he looked much more uncomfortable.
What’s Next?
Well it’ll be a lot of scoreboard watching for me…as the Comets fail to pick up a point tonight despite their best efforts; the Belleville Senators play Thursday and then again on Friday, in matchups that could prove to be the difference maker against the Comets in this playoff push. The Comets are back against the Crunch this Friday…and depending on how Belleville’s games go, this could be a Canucks vs. Vegas type of game…a do or die if you will.
Until Friday, I Hope you guys enjoyed this edition of the Farmies, and as always 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!
