Good evening Canuckets fans, it’s the Farmies back at it again with another thrilling recap!

 

The last time we saw the Comets they were 10 minutes away from ending a 3 game road before they gave up 4 unanswered goals to the Laval Rocket; increasing their point-less streak to 4 games, and bringing them to a 1-6-1-0 record in their last 8 games.

Earlier this week the Comets also saw their hold of that 4th and final playoff spot in the AHL’s North Division disappear as the Belleville Senators beat the Toronto Marlies to gain a 2 point lead over the Comets. I’ve said it I think the last 4 games regarding the “must-win, or at the very least earn a point” nature of these games, but I’m not even going to bother at this point…you all know the drill, they know the drill…but if they cant even hold onto a 2 goal lead with ten minutes remaining in a game against the 2nd worst team in the division, then tonight’s game against the 1st place team in the North Division probably wont be too good if they give up a lead or even manage to earn one.

 

Yes , I know I’m being pretty doom and gloom, but its not even how bad the team has looked in the wake of all the call-ups this past couple weeks, but it’s that Evan McEneny was officially declared “done for the season” by Trent Cull; it’s the fact that that the team has no intentions of getting any NCAA prospects to the farm in this final stretch; it’s the fact that the teams most potent goalscorer is out with a hand injury with no established timetable for return; it’s that the teams #1 center has looked lost since his return from injury; it’s Tom Pyatt being out with a concussion after an innocuous collision into the boards; it’s … well it’s everything… everything is just NOT going the Comets way… and I genuinely worry how this is going to effect the remaining young guns we have left on this squad who are still struggling to earn every minute of ice they get.

 

I have no expectations for tonight’s game, frankly, anything other than giving up 4 unanswered in 10 minutes will be seen as a marked improvement on this team’s ability…but again given how close they are to that final playoff spot, it would be great to see this team try and eke out SOMETHING tonight.

 

Starting Lineup

 

LW	C	RW
Jasek	Kero	MacEwen
Gaunce	Woods	Lind
Bancks	Darcy	Thomas
Gadjovich	Gardiner	Arseneau

LD	RD
Petgrave	Chatfield
Anselmini	Sifers
LeBlanc	Graham

G
Marek Mazanec

 

RE: INJURY REPORT

 

Injury Report	—	—	—	—	—	—
Bachman	Boucher	Blujus	Juolevi	McEneny	Hamilton	Pyatt
Out for the Season	hand	hand	Out for the season	Out for the season	Neck Injury	Concussion

 

Healthy Scratches
Saucerman
1

 

Looks like Stefan LeBlanc returns to the lineup after missing the last 3 games with injury. Saucerman slids out of the lineup, which to me is baffling…Petgrave looked alright in his first game with the Comets, but Saucerman has been much more reliable in both ends of the play in every game he’s played in…

 

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

 

• 34 seconds into the period and Mazanec’s first shot against of the game NEARLY goes through Mazanec’s pads into the net
• Not sure if intentional, but regardless I’m going to act like it was to hype these guys up, Lukas Jasek(#9) possessing along the boards pulls his stick back as if he’s going to play the puck back to Zack MacEwen(#15) on the corner, but then goes to the blue line with a quick pass to Brandon Anselmini(#7) for the one-timer on goaltender Scott Wedgewood
• Jonah Gadjovich(#22) (top left of streamable) ends his first shift of the game holding the blue line by denying a chip pass and a dump in to Kole Lind(#13 ) who tries to set up Brendan Woods(#21) in front for a shot on goal but is deflected wide
• Gadjovich (#22) with his second steal of the game, leading to a zone entry and shot on goal
• Yikes Brandon Anselmini passes along the boards to Lukas Jasek who turns to race down the wing only to collide knee to knee with the Amurks Zach Redmond who hobbles off the ice with a limp. Jasek appeared to be okay after the collision. Redmond shifted on again after so I think he’s fine too.
• Brendan Woods gets high-sticked pretty clearly in front of Rochester’s bench but no call is made
• on a defensive zone draw, Lukas Jasek tries to escape the zone with the puck but gets muscled to the ice and stripped of the puck, but he regains to set up MacEwen for a speedy zone entry into the Amurk’s zone
• Reid Gardiner gets dinged for hooking and the Comets are off to the Penalty Kill
• 1st Group: Sifers, Bancks, Woods, LeBlanc – 1s unit does a good job of blocking traffic, even allows for Gaunce and Darcy to shift on for Bancks/Woods.
• 2nd Group: Chatfield, Graham, MacEwen, Woods
• In true Coemts/Canucks form, Jaim e Sifers dumps Dalton Smith to the boards with a shoulder, then Eric Cornel charges Jonah Gadjovich hard in the numbers as he goes head first into the boards, a scrum ensues, Gadjovich heads from the ice down the tunnel and Cornel picks up a 5 minute major for boarding and a game misconduct.
• JFC the bullshit just doesn’t stop for the Comets – hoping Gadj is ok and this is just precautionary…he’s been IMO one of the best rookies for the Comets alongside Jasek
• Sifers manages to pick up a minor for roughing in the scrum so the Comets and Amurks will be at 4v4 for the first 2 minutes, and then a 3 minute powerplay
• Brendan Gaunce(#16) picks up the pucks behind the Amurks net and has a beauty through the legs pass to Woods(#21) who’s shot gets deflected by Wedgewood
• Gadjovich returned to the bench with 2 minutes remaining so a sigh of relief is breathed
• Powerplay Unit: MacEwen, Gardiner, Graham, Darcy, Kero
• 2nd powerplay unit: Petgrave, Lind, Anselmini, Jasek, Gaunce
• Lind(#13) with a beauty drive down the right wing for a play setup on the Comets powerplay, no clue how he missed that check at the blue line

 

Score at the end of the first period: 0-0 Tie

 

Pretty competitive 1st period from the Comets, outshot marginally 9 to 7; Comets playing a good physical game throughout the period, quite a few good hits from each line, have a feeling Brendan Woods is going to score tonight…he’s had a few good looks tonight already playing with Lind and Gaunce. All things considered, I liked the battle of the team so far and the plays being generated by the play of our rookies.

 

2nd Period

 

• Lind(#13) enters the zone on the right side, goes for a cross ice pass but it goes off a skate, he then lifts the stick of his check and pushes hard to the net forcing Wedgewood to cover it giving the Comets an offensive zone draw
• Game getting reallllll chippy early in the 2nd…Dalton Smith goes for a high hit on Sifers, then Arseneau shifts on and attempts to blow up a Amurk player but he intelligently does everything he can to avoid the hit
• 4th line getting the ozone draw, Vincent Arseneau(#18) turns for a shot on goal that goes off the end boards, and Reid Gardiner(#14) is there for the quick setup to Gadjovich(#22) in front for the one timer but Wedgewood is there for the quick save
• Arseneau(# 18) sidesteps Dalton Smith for a huge hit on Matt Tennyson
• 6:47 into the second and Brendan Gaunce gets dinged for interference, Comets to their 2nd penalty kill of the night
• First PK group: Woods, LeBlanc, Bancks, Sifers – tie up the forward group along the boards killing a bulk of the penalty, one shot against but its high and wide of the goal
• 2nd PK Group: MacEwen, Kero, Chatfield, Graham – no shots against, clears to allow a third group
• 3rd PK Group: Petgrave, Anselmini, Darcy, Thomas – Petgrave knocks down a shot to conclude the penalty and leads to an odd man rush for Utica the other way
• Comets getting pressured in their end, Zach Redmond with loads of time and space winds up for a shot, and Cam Darcy(#11) takes a slashing penalty trying to deny C.J. Smith the rebound try
• Comets on their 3rd penalty kill of the game – First group: Woods, Gaunce, LeBlanc, Sifers
• Comets clear the first drive, and then Woods picks up two loose Amurk pucks in a row for easy clears for the Comets
• 2nd Group: Bancks, MacEwen, Chatfield, Sifers – Sifers clears the puck as the 2nd group allows no shots
• 3rd group kills the remaining 8 seconds of the PK, they’re 3/3 on the kill tonight
• Joe Roberts observing that Gadjovich not on the bench in the waning minutes of the period
• Jasek(#9) with a good stick placement to create a turnover leading to a setup for MacEwen(# 15)but the pass gets tipped wide
• Super soft penalty called on Jasek here, first things first, Anselmini(#7 )goes rinkwide to Woods(#21) who again sends it wide of the net, then Jasek(#9) crashes the boards to retrieve the puck but loses his stick, then appears to take a holding penalty when he gives a light shove to the back of an Amurk player while without his stick
• 1st Group: Woods, Bancks, LeBlanc, Sifers – a shot goes off the post and down to the Amurks end of the ice – 2nd drive a weak shot to the side of Mazanec gets gloved down allowing for a change.
• 2nd Group: Gaunce, Darcy, LeBlanc, Sifers – a bad pass from Danny O’Regan goes straight to Cam Darcy who clears it down the ice
• LeBlanc and Sifers were on for the entire penalty kill and tie up the puck in front of the Amurks bench to kill the final 15 seconds of the Jasek penalty
• Carter Bancks(# 34) takes a late crosscheck to the body/face well after the whistle and a scrum ensues
• MacEwen (#15) outraces Zach Redmond to deny the icing

 

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

 

A bit of a rougher period for the Comets; penalty killers with their work cut out for them this period, 3 successful kills with extra props to guys like Jaime Sifers and Stefan LeBlanc for double or even triple shifting on those kills. Comets outshoot the Amurks 10 to 7 that period. Once again Brendan Woods with a really strong period, lot of turnovers created by him on the blue line and a couple breakaway chances as well…just needs to work that shot…maybe Elias Pettersson could run shooting drills in the offseason for the entire Canucks organization

 

3rd Period

 

• Gadjovich confirmed out for the remainder of the game
• Jasek(#9) blocks a shot leading to a MacEwen(#15) breakaway and backhand on net – Jasek follows the play he creates for a follow up try
• MacEwen (#15) after a long shit stuck in the Comets zone skates past Lawrence Pilut for a shot attempt on Wedgewood
• Matt Tennyson takes a high-sticking penalty after he goes a little high on Cam Darcy and the Comets are onto their second powerplay of the night
• 1st Unit PP: Graham, MacEwen, Darcy, Gardiner, Kero – a one timer attempt from MacEwen goes wide then the play gets broken up after some cycling and they’re forced to change
• 2nd Unit PP:Lind, Anselmini, Jasek, Gaunce, Petgrave – a shot from Petgrave gets blocked at center and forces the re-try
• Huge chance for the Comets at the end of their powerplay as Jasek(#9) fires a wicked pass to Lind(#13) at the side of the net then follows the play by driving to the net for the tap in but gets denied by Wedgewood
• GOAL – ROCHESTER – 1-0 Amurks: After an offensive zone draw for the Comets, Jasek(#9) gets dinged for a slashing minor – and on the delayed penalty C.J. Smith steps in with blazing speed to loop around Jasek(#9 )in the Comets zone to wrist one past Mazanec
• Gaunce(#16 )attempts to even things out with a bit of the ol Sedinery
• Woods(#21) goes for his 4th drive on net of the night but gets held by Zach Redmond causing him to crash into Wedgewood, Woods does draw the holding penalty
• Genuinely think at this point the Comets need to roll that 2nd unit powerplay out as their first as the Darcy/Kero/MacEwen/Gardiner/Graham bunch is getting NOTHING going once again
• 1 minute into the powerplay and Matt Petgrave gets dinged for tripping and so the Comets are off to the 4on4 for a minute and then a minute of penalty killing
• Amurks just kill the minute of 4v4 and wait for their minute of powerplay time – Gaunce and Woods combine to get a shorthanded drive into the Amurks zone to kill what little powerplay time the Amurks have
• GOAL – ROCHESTER – 2-0 Amurks: Comets pressuring in the Amurks zone when Woods(#21) attempts to go cross-ice but his pass is picked off, and Andrew Oglevie chips it ahead to Taylor Leier all alone and he wrists it under Mazanec’s gloveside
• Minute later, Jaime Sifers gets dinged for tripping and the Comets are onto their 7th penalty kill
• haha, on the penalty kill, Taylor Leier takes a penalty for roughing on Cam Darcy and the game is off to an extended 4 on 4
• Darcy(#11) with some hustle to try get a shot from a tight angle, then Bancks(# 34)gets yanked to the ice pretty hard after the whistle, refs losing a bit of the control on this one, no call on roughing for Wiliam Borgen despite a bit of an egregious grab on Bancks
• Viktor Olofsson gets a breakaway chance and Jesse Graham just goes for the outright hold so the Comets are off to a 4 on 3 penalty kill…oh boy this game
• Gaunce(#16) and Kero(#10) combine for another shorthanded opportunity to kill part of the 4 on 3, enough for Jaime Sifers to return for the 5 on 4.
• Stefan LeBlanc takes a penalty for nutshotting a player…yeaaaaa you can’t do that. Back to the 5 on 3
• GOAL – ROCHESTER – 3-0 Amurks: C.J. Smith gets the puck off the o-zone draw and goes cross ice to Viktor Olofsson who absolutely rifles a one timer past Mazanec
• MacEwen gets a slapper on Wedgewood’s gloveside and that felt like the first show on net for the Comets in a long time
• Mazanec pulled for the final minute
• Apparently there was a good chance for the Comets, but they literally faded out to do some graphic of Victor Olofsson..lol …time winds down and the Comets drop their 5th straight.

 

Final Score: 3-0 Rochester Americans

 

Scoresheet

 

Period	Team	Goalscorer	Primary assist	helper	type
3rd	Rochester	CJ Smith	Victor Olofsson	Rasmus Asplund	5V5
3rd	Rochester	Taylor Leier	Andrew Oglevie	—	5v5
3rd	Rochester	Victor Olofsson	CJ Smith	Wayne Simpson	PPG

 

Takeaways

 

¯_(ツ)_/¯

 

I mean all things considered, they were in this game for 2 of 3 periods against the best team in the division…but man when this team unravels they unravel HARD.

 

Comets Three Stars

I don’t even know at this point

 

What’s Next?

 

13 Games left in the season now; a 5 game losing streak; the major players of this squad are invisible or out for the season; or playing for San Jose…pretty crazy how not but one month ago I was applauding this group for their 8 game point streak despite their struggles and the losses in added time…but here we are 5 straight regulation losses; outscored 20 to 7 in that time…I don’t know what this team can do to try and make it happen…but it’s genuinely looking like it just won’t happen.

 

Despite the penalties and giveaways I’ll still contend that Lukas Jasek and Brendan Woods had solid games tonight, Kole Lind had a solid first two periods, but as he usually does, was pretty invisible in the final frame…which could have also done with that fact that team spent 8 of the 20 minutes penalty killing…

 

That first unit powerplay needs an overhaul – I don’t think Graham is a good puck distributor; He has the wheels but the play usually ends with him struggling to find a lane to pass to.

1st unit: Anselmini, Kero, Gaunce, Gardiner, MacEwen

2nd unit: Saucerman, Darcy, Lind, Jasek, Woods,

 

Jasek has had great passing chemistry with Darcy Lind AND Woods in the past few weeks, and Anselmini has looked like a great puck distributor and has a wicked shot from the blue line that can get through traffic, Graham honestly should be slotted as a forward if on a powerplay, but his shot from the blue line requires a lot of time and a lot of space which this team right now, cant appear to create for him.

 

The penalty killing groups have been absolutely fine, but the discipline of this team has been shit lately…of course they’re going to be constantly giving up late goals if they’re taking ¾ penalties in the final frame of every period. That’s a fuck load of extra work on these guys that are ALSO playing 1st/2nd line minutes.

 

The team returns this Friday against the Springfield Thunderbirds, and usually those games are quite spirited affairs so hopefully we get some more highlights out of that one. Anyways, apologies there wasn’t much in tonight’s issue, but I do hope you guys enjoyed this edition of the Farmies, I’ll see you all back here on Friday 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!