2024-25 Utica Comets and ECHL thread

[Guttersniped]

Welinski has signed a PTO with the Comets. That can mean a lot of things.

They can let him practice and decide he's not worth having to jockey him around with the other 5 guys already signed and qualified as veterans.

They can give him a couple games and then say thanks, but no thanks.

They can sign him and wait until 1 of the other 5 is injured and then put him in.

They can keep re-signing him to PTOs every time one runs out.

They can give him a contract because they are convinced he's better than 1 of the 6 they are playing.

They can just sign him and keep him around for emergencies.

They give him a contract because that's the deal he worked out with NJ.

Who knows what comes of this.

They only have Vilén coming back from injury now so they could use him on defense.

 

[Bad Goalie]

They only have Vilén coming back from injury now so they could use him on defense.

This is correct, but what I was saying is the Comets have 5 VETS BEFORE Welinski was added. So for him to play one of the other vets has to sit:

Dowling - 1 of only 2 good centers
Schmelzer - Team captain and last season's point leader
Nick DeSimone - The best vet D-man
Colton White - The other VET D
Joe Gambardella - Every day top 6 LW.
Welinski - A VET D We

The D in town are
DeSimone
White
Misyul
Diotte
MacKinnon
vzn de Leest
Welinski

Andy should obviously play before van de Leest! Comets have to sit an important piece.

With Willman, Hardman, Halonen, and Gambardella that's a strong left side.

Halonen likes to play RW. That would allow Filmon to play LW.

Hardman plays both sides like Halonen.

You also have Foote and Leberge on LW.

Parent also plays both sides, but they lost his offense last year when they played him there.

The right side if the 2 LW/RW guys switch over leaves Stillman and Legare.

Malone and Wendt are also RWs.

With Dowling, Bowers, and Schmelzer in the middle They still need a 4th C. Engaras was that guy during the llast part of '23-24. Parent can also play thereas can Hardman and Malone.

This is where Dineen goes nuts. he has too many players up front and he can't play them all. Shortly there will be shipment of Comets to Adirondack. Your guess is as good as mine since every Comet is on an NHL contract of some sort except (off the top of my head, except Gambardella, Parent, and Malone.

Malone can go down and Wendt didn't shown any sense of good play in NJ. Unless Filmon lights things up after having missed the lst few days in NJ, he may also end up with the Thunder for a bit.

Defensively the Comets are hurting. MacKinnon should be depth and van de LLest belongs in Adirondack.

My guess is that Gambardella will suffer the consequences of the D-shortage and sit in order to play Welinski. That's if DiNeen wants to make that move on day 1.

 

[Zajacs Bowl Cut]

Daws might be cooked huh

 

[Bad Goalie]

He was par-boiled tonight. 4 goals on 16 shots. Pulled after goal #4 7:46 into the 2nd period.

He wasn't the only noticeable issue. This may have been the worst exhibition from a professional team that I have witnessed up close and personal since I started going to the the Rochester Americans games at 12 years of age. I'm 75 now and I have watched a shitload of hockey live and in person.

I started counting early in the 2nd period based upon what I thought to be factual. My thought was these guys couldn't make a second pass. Besides the d-men passing the puck from one to the other in their own end with no opponent anywhere near them, I counted the next pass as #1. It got to be ridiculous for the rest of the game. Rarely did the 2nd pass connect. too far in front, too high to capture, bounced off the intended's stick, was picked or deflected away.

The other situation in which more than 1pass connected was on the PP. They passed the puck to each other around the perimeter. When they tried to go inside their possession ended.

They lost most of the puck battles anywhere on the ice.

I defy anyone who watched the game to tell me exactly what their offensive plan was. I didn't see a semblance of any. It was get the puck up ice and that guy tried to get to the net, but inevitably was canceled and the puck turned over. So, when that failed they tried long shots whenever an opening appeared and missed the net on shot after shot. Forget making a move on any defender. They cannot handle the puck. The only guy who can take the puck with confidence into dangerous territory is Dowling, but he couldn't find a single mate getting open to give it to.

After 2 shots in the 1st were taken from in close, the majority of the rest of their shots came from a distance. However, near or far, the shots on the net were highly repetitive. The keeper rarely had to move at all to make a save. The shots were right at the center of his body or high and within easy reach for can of corn glove saves.

The players who should be making things happen Halonen, Foote, Willman, Hardman, Bowers, and maybe Stillman were anemic on offense. Foote is allergic to the tough areas and any physical contact beyond a push attempt at a guy going by him.

Legare, Laberge, Stillman, and Misyul were physically effective. Others tried but were not all that effective. However, the first 3 in that short list are not puck handlers and Misyul is a D-man who doesn't take chances and the way his forwards were turning it over that was a good thing. Willman seems to never be in a position to hit anyone. His contact comes when tying to pick up the puck along the boards andan opponent initiates the contact. DeSimone deals with guys with more skill, leaning on them, stick work, and taking away their space.

I have to say that I have not seen a Dineen coached team play much differently than tonight. they never seem to have a cohesive plan of attack where evrey guy goes to spots that a puck carrier can find them and then the puck carrier goes to open space for the a potential return causing a defender to have to honor him.

Syracuse is mostly very disciplined. They are positionally sound forcing an opponent to have to penetrate their territory and move them out of their position opening holes for their mates. The Comets had no idea how to get through their d and through 3 periods DiNeen didn't lay out any plans to challenge them.

From the neutral zone in the Comets seemed to be tryingto go through walls and were very ineffecive. On the other side, the Crunch had little difficulty penetrating the Comets end and single guys carried the puck into the corner, beat a dfender, took it behind the net, then centered it to guys open in the slot or on the corners of the net or straight to a breaking d-man for open shots. It was a good thing they were not accurate shooters because man did they have chances as the game moved along.

If this is what we have to look forward to for 35 more home games, this building, which was sold out, willbe an empty cavern. Tonight after Daws gave up #4 the building started to empty out. $ goals and a tam that couldn't threaten any kind of offensive effort made a comeback lookpretty bleak. They were correct.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Syracuse Crunch @ Utica Comets

Final score:
Syracuse 5 Utica Comets 0

Forwards:
(20) Willman (26) Schmelzer (24) Halonen
(39) Hardman (10) Dowling (25) Foote
(79) Laberge (16) Engaras (11) Legare
(15) Bowers (13) Malone (61) Stillman




D-Pairs:
(93) Misyul (57) eSimone
(3) MacKinnon (32) Welinski
(6) White (58) Diotte

Goal:
(50) Daws 27:46 16 SA / 4GA
(1) Poulter 32:00 10 SA / 1GA

Scoring:
None

P.S. - Scratches:
Dylan Wendt
Jackson van de Leest

- Filmon (I'd guess he's not ready yet.)
- Vilen has arrived in town. Expect we won't see him unil at least next weekend after he gets some skating and pratice in.
- Parent was in a walking boot and suit next to Vilen during team introductions.
- Gambardella was also in a suit and is not available yet due to recovering from off season knee surgery.
The walking wounded and this was only Game 1.

 

[mdhockey13]

Misyul played with a lot of grit and energy. When a crunch played delivered a cheap shot on a Utica player Misyul stepped in with a rebuttal. Welinski also appears to be a good veteran pick up with the state of the defense.

 

[Louskoolaid89]

He was par-boiled tonight. 4 goals on 16 shots. Pulled after goal #4 7:46 into the 2nd period.

He wasn't the only noticeable issue. This may have been the worst exhibition from a professional team that I have witnessed up close and personal since I started going to the the Rochester Americans games at 12 years of age. I'm 75 now and I have watched a shitload of hockey live and in person.

I started counting early in the 2nd period based upon what I thought to be factual. My thought was these guys couldn't make a second pass. Besides the d-men passing the puck from one to the other in their own end with no opponent anywhere near them, I counted the next pass as #1. It got to be ridiculous for the rest of the game. Rarely did the 2nd pass connect. too far in front, too high to capture, bounced off the intended's stick, was picked or deflected away.

The other situation in which more than 1pass connected was on the PP. They passed the puck to each other around the perimeter. When they tried to go inside their possession ended.

They lost most of the puck battles anywhere on the ice.

I defy anyone who watched the game to tell me exactly what their offensive plan was. I didn't see a semblance of any. It was get the puck up ice and that guy tried to get to the net, but inevitably was canceled and the puck turned over. So, when that failed they tried long shots whenever an opening appeared and missed the net on shot after shot. Forget making a move on any defender. They cannot handle the puck. The only guy who can take the puck with confidence into dangerous territory is Dowling, but he couldn't find a single mate getting open to give it to.

After 2 shots in the 1st were taken from in close, the majority of the rest of their shots came from a distance. However, near or far, the shots on the net were highly repetitive. The keeper rarely had to move at all to make a save. The shots were right at the center of his body or high and within easy reach for can of corn glove saves.

The players who should be making things happen Halonen, Foote, Willman, Hardman, Bowers, and maybe Stillman were anemic on offense. Foote is allergic to the tough areas and any physical contact beyond a push attempt at a guy going by him.

Legare, Laberge, Stillman, and Misyul were physically effective. Others tried but were not all that effective. However, the first 3 in that short list are not puck handlers and Misyul is a D-man who doesn't take chances and the way his forwards were turning it over that was a good thing. Willman seems to never be in a position to hit anyone. His contact comes when tying to pick up the puck along the boards andan opponent initiates the contact. DeSimone deals with guys with more skill, leaning on them, stick work, and taking away their space.

I have to say that I have not seen a Dineen coached team play much differently than tonight. they never seem to have a cohesive plan of attack where evrey guy goes to spots that a puck carrier can find them and then the puck carrier goes to open space for the a potential return causing a defender to have to honor him.

Syracuse is mostly very disciplined. They are positionally sound forcing an opponent to have to penetrate their territory and move them out of their position opening holes for their mates. The Comets had no idea how to get through their d and through 3 periods DiNeen didn't lay out any plans to challenge them.

From the neutral zone in the Comets seemed to be tryingto go through walls and were very ineffecive. On the other side, the Crunch had little difficulty penetrating the Comets end and single guys carried the puck into the corner, beat a dfender, took it behind the net, then centered it to guys open in the slot or on the corners of the net or straight to a breaking d-man for open shots. It was a good thing they were not accurate shooters because man did they have chances as the game moved along.

If this is what we have to look forward to for 35 more home games, this building, which was sold out, willbe an empty cavern. Tonight after Daws gave up #4 the building started to empty out. $ goals and a tam that couldn't threaten any kind of offensive effort made a comeback lookpretty bleak. They were correct.

I had this game on for about 5 mins. That was enough.