Pre-Season on the Farm
Good weekend to you all in R/Canucks land, we are just DAYS away from the regular season FINALLY starting, but before we get to the games that matter, it’s time to recap some games that absolutely DON’T! Yessir, it’s AHL preseason, where tonight, the Comets farm team pits its ECHL PTO’s and young guns against the Binghamton Devils in a key tilt that will determine who’s done a better job shaking off the rust and the cobwebs, in preparation for another grueling season in the AHL’s North Division!
Tonight will be a slightly different format, as tonight I will be joined by /u/papertoonie [+11] between periods and post-game, as we pontificate this rag-tag group of hockey players.
Starting Lineup
| LW | C | RW |
|---|---|---|
| Boucher | Camper | Lind |
| Gadjovich | Hamilton | Perron |
| Bancks | Leier | Arseneau |
| Sadowy | Sorenson | Stevenson |
| LD | RD |
|---|---|
| Teves | Sautner |
| Rafferty | Petgrave |
| LeBlanc | Eliot |
| G |
|---|
| Zane McIntyre |
RE: INJURY REPORT
| Injury Report | — |
|---|---|
| Lukas Jasek | Seamus Malone |
| Foot | Arm |
| Healthy Scratches | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Frye | Chatfield | Blujus | Iacopelli | Thow | MacEwen | Burmaster | Kielly | Edmondson | Juolevi | Bailey |
1st period
Comets in Blue
- Zane McIntyre comes up huge on a shot from Ben Street after a beauty cross-ice feed from Colton White
- GOAL – UTICA – 1-0 Comets: Jonah Gadjovich (#21) picks up a the puck off a lost face off draw in the offensive zone and plays it back through a Devils players skates to Matt Petgrave (#22) who wrists one over the shoulder of Evan Cormier.
- Petgrave (#22) steps up for a big hit at the Devils blue line, opening up the Devils Brandon Gignac to a solo drive through the offensive zone prompting ECHL PTO Boston Leier (#20) to take an interference penalty to prevent a shot on goal – Comets to the penalty kill
- 1st PK group – Eliot, Bancks, Arseneau, Rafferty
- Eliot comes up with a huge shot block where the puck gets lost in his equipment and the Comets get a line change for the next draw
- 2nd PK group – Camper, Teves, Boucher and Sautner
- 2nd unit does well to prevent any chances, and a puck knocked down with a high stick forces the Devils to lose the zone and time winds down on the powerplay
- 3rd PK group – Perron, Petgrave, LeBlanc, Gadjovich
- Leier (#20) from out of the penalty box picks up a loose puck and springs Gadjovich (#21) and Francis Perron (#27) for an odd man rush that almost succeeds – Gadjovich with a good crash on net
- Devils hem the Comets 4th line group in their own end as Sadowy, Bancks and Sorenson along with D-men LeBlanc and Eliot struggle to gain any form of possession to allow a change
- After FINALLY getting a change out of their own end, Josh Teves takes a slashing minor and the Comets are back to the PK
- 1st PK Group – Petgrave, Boucher, Camper and Sautner
- Reid Boucher (#24) with good vision to pick up a Devils giveaway for a shorthanded chance on Evan Cormier’s gloveside
- GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 1-1 Tie: Wacey Hamilton (#36) tries to lead a 2 man shorthanded rush with Carter Bancks, but Bancks overskates a pass, and Hamilton falls to the ice, allowing the Devils a 3 man rush the opposite way leading to a ripper of a shot from Ben Street that goes over the left shoulder of Zane McIntyre.
- Gadjovich (#22) showing off his improved skating along the boards
- Josh Teves (#4) with a not-so-great read of the Devils setup and he gets beat on the outside, allowing a high danger scoring chance for the Devils
- Brogan Rafferty (#25) with some nice moves along the blue line to maintain the zone and extend the Comets offensive pressure
- Teves (#4) attempts to clear the puck but appears to fan or overskate his shot leading to another scoring chance for the Devils
- Carter Bancks takes a slashing penalty while the 3rd line pressures in the Devils zone and the Comets are off to their 3rd penalty kill of the night
- 1st PK Group – Camper, Sautner, Boucher, Teves
- 2nd PK Group – Hamilton, Frye, Eliot, Lind
- GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 2-1 Devils: Lind caught standing flat footed as 2 Devils crash the net to catch a rebound, and Joey Anderson is there uncontested, to pick up the rebound for a backhander over McIntyre’s blocker side to give the Devils the lead – really not a good look for Lind on that one
- Dyson Stevenson on the ensuing play picks up a roughing penalty alongside Brandon Baddock.
- Comets sustain a BIT of pressure during the 4 on 4 but can’t hit the net with anything significant
Score at the end of the 1st period: 2-1 Binghamton Devils
A /u/papertoonie [+11] for your thoughts!
The team was all over the place throughout the period; other than a few rushes up ice, they had almost no possession or control. McIntyre played really good and was the only one to stand out but he simply had no help from his team to start. Ugly defense and some bad turnovers left McIntyre having to come up big on more than a few occasions. Any sustained pressure the Comets had in the offensive zone was not controlled and just ended up with a lot of puck chasing as each player took turns turning over the puck at a rapid pace. The Devil’s had lots of good controlled sustained pressure in the Comets zone. Penalty killing was brutal; I just have nothing good to say about the 1st period for the Comets other than McIntyre and a few flashes here and there.
2nd Period
- Whole lot of play chasing from the 3rd and 4th lines – not a whole lot of possession
- Kole Lind gets a nice shot on Cormier from the blue line but its right into his glove
- Ryan Schmelzer takes an interference penalty on the Comets Boston Leier and the Comets are off to their first powerplay of the night
- 1st Powerplay Group – Lind, Rafferty, Camper, Boucher, Gadjovich
- Gadjovich playing net-front and Boucher playing wind-up slapshot from the right side of the blue line, two huge blasts from him but Devils do well to clear
- Matt Petgrave shifts on for Rafferty and has a shot blocked by Ben Street who gets a solo rush on McIntyre who makes a clutch shorthanded save
- 2nd Powerplay Group – Petgrave, Arseneau, Eliot, Leier, Perron
- Comets somehow blow a 4-on-1 rush after Francis Perron whiffs a shot from the right side wide of the net
- Yikes, Boston Leier (#20) goes knee-on-knee with Ryan Schmelzer and the Comets are off to their 4th penalty kill
- 1st PK Group has LeBlanc, Sautner, PLUS Hamilton and Bancks on for JUST the defensive zone faceoff
- The veteran penalty killers immediately shift off for Boucher/Camper when they clear the zone
- 2nd PK Group – Rafferty, Petgrave and Hamilton/Bancks shift back on after the first group does well to deny the Devils any chances
- 4th line once again gets time in the defensive zone after the Devils powerplay ends but they just get absolutely hemmed in by the Devils pressure
- Gadjovich with some decent board work in the offensive zone; gets a puck to Wacey Hamilton who centers it for Francis Perron who appears shocked at the offensive play that Hamilton just created; Perron then nearly takes a hooking penalty as the Comets lose the zone after the missed centering pass
- Brett Seney makes the Comets defense look foolish as he manages to control the puck better with his feet along the boards for 20-30 seconds after losing his stick
- Devils play-by-play announcer announces shots in favor of Binghmaton, 20 to 13
Score at the end of the 2nd period: 3-1 Binghamton Devils
A /u/papertoonie [+11] for your thoughts!
More of the same, as the Comets look messy, while the Devil’s dominate in possession once again. From about 14 minutes in till the end of the period I think the Comets spent around 70-80% of the time in their own end. The powerplay didn’t look terrible, but there was once instance where a shot from Brogan Rafferty was taken when it probably shouldn’t have, which lead to a Devil’s breakaway which put all the pressure on McIntyre to come up huge.
3rd Period
- Some early pressure from the Comets to start the third, but no shots make their way on Cormier
- Comets then get caught with too many men on the ice and thus the Comets head to their 5th penalty kill of the night
- Penalty gets killed – hope the coaching staff gets the too many men stuff in order as they got caught for that WAY too many times last year for a pro-hockey team
- Yowza, Tanner Sorenson takes a Devils clearing attempt right on the ear
- Carter Camper (#19) with some nice puck handling to maintain the offensive zone – then goes cross-ice to Kole Lind (#13) who shows great patience to get himself space for a tight angle shot that gets blockered aside.
- Gadjovich appears to be elbowed in a scrum off a defensive zone draw but picks himself up to forecheck and create a scoring chance for Utica
- I’m still not sure how this doesn’t count as a goal, puck clearly past the line before the whistle – really solid job by Gadjovich to recover off the elbow to create a scoring chance for the Comets but the refs say no
- Following this, Carter Bancks picks up a slashing penalty while forechecking behind the Devils net
- GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 3-1 Devils: Devils capitalize quickly off the o-zone draw as Ben Street rips a one-timer past McIntyre
- Tough sequence of events for the Comets
- oh boy, the end boards almost get on the scoreboard as a dumped puck gets redirected dangerously close to the Comets goal
- GOAL – UTICA – 3-2 Devils: Wacey Hamilton (#36) with a solid job as distributor as he gets his line into the offensive zone, where he drops off for Stefan LeBlanc (#3) who’s shot redirects off a Devils player right by Francis Perron (#27), who wrists one top corner to put the Comets within 1
- Rink announcers credit Gadjovich with an assist but I’m about 99% sure he doesn’t touch the puck on the goal
- The tides may be turning, as the Devil’s Andrew Campbell takes a clear-cut interference penalty on Vincent Arseneau (#18), giving the Comets even more momentum
- 1st Powerplay Group – Gadjovich, Lind, Boucher, Rafferty, Camper
- One-timer bombs from Rafferty AND Boucher miss wide of the net and the Comets are forced to reset twice with their first unit forwards – Petgrave subs on for Rafferty quickly after his one timer though
- 2nd Powerplay Unit – Eliot, Petgrave, Perron, Arseneau, Leier
- oof that 2nd unit just gets absolutely nothing going on the powerplay, but pressure begins mounting for them as the 4th line gets rolled out to continue the pressure and for once don’t get hemmed into their own zone
- GOAL – BINGHAMTON – 4-2 Devils: genuinely not sure how this happened, but Binghamtons Ara Nazarian leads a rush down the left wing and finds an all alone Marian Studenic who gets the tap-in goal to regain the 2 goal lead for Binghamton
- Comets pull the goalie for the man-advantage – Camper, Boucher, Lind, Gadjovich, Rafferty and Perron all out to try some late game heroics
- Stoppage in play happens and Sautner, Eliot, Arseneau, Bancks, Hamilton and Stevenson get shifted on
- Minute 10 and the original 6 man group comes back on
- GOAL – UTICA – 4-3 Devils: The Comets bring the game within one off some sustained pressure in the Devils zone but it might be too little to late, as Kole Lind (#13) fishes the puck through traffic in front of the Devils net and passes to Carter Camper (#19)on the left side who roofs one past Cormier with just 9.2 seconds left to try and tie the game
- Comets fail to win the next faceoff draw but the Devils clearly ice the puck, but the refs have to go home early I guess as the whistles don’t blow and this one ends
Final Score: 4-3 Binghamton Devils
Scoresheet
| Period | Team | Goalscorer | Primary assist | helper | type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | Utica | Matt Pegrave | Jonah Gadjovich | — | 5v5 |
| 1st | Binghamton | Ben Street | — | — | PPG |
| 1st | Binghamton | Joey Anderson | — | — | PPG |
| 3rd | Binghamton | Ben Street | — | — | PPG |
| 3rd | Utica | Francis Perron | Jonah Gadjovich | Stefan LeBlanc | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Binghamton | Marian Studenic | Ara Nazarian | — | 5v5 |
| 3rd | Utica | Carter Camper | Kole Lind | — | 6v5 |
Preseason Player Pontification
- Zane McIntyre – genuinely hard to blame him for the loss in this one as the group in front of him look disinterested and at times appeared to be coasting had on their skates. Hard to face as many odd man rushes in 60 minutes as he did tonight, and hopefully the coaching staff works through the possession issues that plagued them in tonight’s game
- Kole Lind – defensive game still a huge work in progress, but his offensive game looked strong – confident in his passing and his shot
/u/papertoonie [+11] says
Lind had some good chances, some fancy plays, but didn’t play too crazy, his late game takeaway to setup the Camper goal was very smooth
- Matt Petgrave – I mean he looked better than he did last year, he was arguably the most efficient defender alongside Rafferty this game, however, he’s throws his stick and his body around with reckless abandon and I think against a real AHL team, hje would be brutally exposed with how often he leaves his D partner hanging out to dry. Would be best for him to play out the season with the K-Wings.
/u/papertoonie [+11] says
Decent defensive play and was probably the best defender for the first 2 periods of the game
- Jonah Gadjovich – although his skating is still looking clunky, and not the greatest, he seemed to be in the right place at the right time for every shift of his, contributing on two of the Comets goals at even strength is also a huge positive to his game – I don’t know how much of his offensive contribution is hinging on luck, but solid positioning can carry slow players pretty far in hockey (cough cough not mentioning anyone cough cough); I’m also not sure if what he showed tonight translates against a full AHL roster, but I think games like this are good for his confidence and development
/u/papertoonie [+11] says
Won some battles on the boards and managed to setup a few players from there but wasn’t able to make much of it
- Francis Perron – looked solid IMO, contributed offensively, led some solid rushes down the wing and got a nifty goal – liked him alongside Gadjovich and Hamilton… a pretty decent crash and bang line
/u/papertoonie [+11] says
Didn’t notice him a whole lot in the first 2 periods, he was mediocre and had a few flashes and looked to be one of the few guys who was ACTUALLY trying; could be a great addition to the Comets
- Josh Teves – kind of a big yikes for me, took a bad penalty, had some bad giveaways and generally didn’t show great puck control skills as a defender…chalking this one up to preseason jitters, but not exactly a good first impression
/u/papertoonie [+11] says
Didn’t do well getting the puck out of the zone successfully and took a bad penalty alongside one really bad giveaway …overall not a great night for Teves
Thanks for tuning in to such a mean-nothing recap guys, and special shoutout to /u/papertoonie [+11] for helping me between the periods! This season ought to be quite exciting for the Comets, its hard to take anything from AHL PRESEASON TOO seriously, but I think their ought to be some pretty solid storylines throughout this season, especially when the Canucks make their final cuts and waiver transactions! Monday ought to be QUITE exciting!
Well Canucks nation, this has been the first edition of the Farmies for 2019-20 and I hope to see you all back here October 5th for the start of the AHL regular season where things start to REALLY heat up!
You can also catch me on theSinBin.net’s “In the Corners” podcast this Monday where I’ll discuss the season outlook for the Comets and the rest of the AHL’s eastern conference!
There might be some other things cooking with the SinBin too so stay tuned
As always, if you want to read up on this Farmies or past Farmies editions you can find them all at my Farmies Blog here
