2024-25 Utica Comets and ECHL thread

[Devils731]

Nemec got a little tired of people talking about him like his career is stunted.

 

[Devils731]

Nemec got a little tired of people talking about him like his career is stunted.

Nemo says moar!

 

[Bad Goalie]

I see nobody stuck around 'til the end. The 3-1 lead dissolved into a 6-3 loss.
Glad I was unable to catch even a glimpse of this one.

Record now stands at 6-15-1-2. 1 point ahead of the Henderson Silver Kinights for last place in the AHL.

Next up for the Comets the North Division 1st place Rochester Americans once again. This time in Utica tomorrow night at 7 pm.

 

[DerekDevils30]

Nemo says moar!

Nice move and shot on his 2nd goal. Love to see that

 

[NJ07102]

With Desimone back in NJ and White in Switzerland, they were also missing Casey and Vilen. You're not gonna win many games with the likes of MacKinnon, Gosselin and van de Leest I'd assume.

 

[A1LeafNation]

I know Utica is bad this year and they fired the coach...but what's up with Daws? I'd expect him to overcome those things.

Anyone have any insights.

 

[Mgd31]

I know Utica is bad this year and they fired the coach...but what's up with Daws? I'd expect him to overcome those things.

Anyone have any insights.

He was having a nice little streak of good games until the last 2 stinkers. The defense has been short handed in these couple games so maybe that played a part in it. Could be he’s just ultimately not very good.

 

[Bad Goalie]

I know Utica is bad this year and they fired the coach...but what's up with Daws? I'd expect him to overcome those things.

Anyone have any insights.

@Mgd31 was too kind.
Daws gave up 6 to Cleveland on 12/18 and didn't play again until 12/28 when he gave up 6 more to Rochester in a game they led 3-2 going into the 3rd period.

Meanwhile Poulter played Cleveland on 12/27, the 1st night of the back to back, gave up 3G in a 3-2 loss. Just a bit more respectable.

These are Nico's numbers: 16 GP/49GA/3.30GAA/.892SV%.

The entire team is bad. NJ has done nothing to help, particularly at Center, and has actually watched and helped the D corps crumble.

Utica is now playing Nemec with Misyul as the top 2. Very good. and............................................
Will MacKinnon at best an AHL #7, but should be in the ECHL. Daddy is the Utica GM.

Colton White - was called up and has now been reassigned to the Canadian National Team.
Nick DeSimone has been recalled to replace White.
Seamus Casey- is out for weeks with an injury.
Topias Vilen - got a late start after suffering an injury in NJ's training camp. He has been in one day and out the next with an injury or injuries that keeps him out more then he's in.

The rest of the D is an outright insult to the AHL.
Jackson van de Leest - 23-yrs-old. He played 2 years of Canadian college hockey after aging out of Canadian Jrs. Spent the last 2 seasons in Adirondack with call-ups to Utica where he has played 18 games/1A. This year 4 GP and on the ice for 4 GA.
Dmitry Osipov- 28-yrs-old acquired in an ECHL trade for Jace Isley on a Utica AHL contract playing in Adirondack. he's an 8-yr pro with 197 AHL games played with 5 different teams in situations just like this one. He has 19 Pts in those 197 GP. For the Comets 4GA/-5
Kurt Gosselin - 30-yrs-old up on a PTO from Adirondack. Had played 8 AHL games before last night with 3A.

Last night:
Misyul / Nemec
van de Leest / MacKinnon (on his wrong side)
Gosselin / Osipov

I know Fitz is happier than a pig in shit with what Keefe has fashioned with a very talented team shored up by the newbies Fitz acquired for the Devils game night lineup. He should be. He has done a great job. Now he is dedicated to adding a couple of quality players to the Devils roster to make them even better hoping for a run in the playoffs.

All the above means he hasn't had the time or concern to help out the drowning farm in Utica. That's understandable, but he has appointed a GM in Utica who for 3 seasons has done nothing to address the problems in Utica. Either he has no power to acquire players beyond the ECHL level, which is what he has done, or he is the worst evaluator of talent in the hockey world!
IF not Fitz, then this man must do something. You just don't allow your top farm club to be anywhere near this bad. 6-15-1-2 and 1 point from the AHL basement is inexcusable. Not acquiring AHL level centers is equally inexcusable.

Either the lack of centers is responsible for the dearth of scoring or the acquired forwards on very decent NHL contracts are not worth the money they are being paid. The Comets rank dead last in goals scored in the AHL, 52 in 24 GP. Just barely over 2/game. Watching them as I do every single game, I think it's a combination of both.

Pretty frustrating paying the shot for seasons tickets as I have done for all 3 seasons has become a big chunk of change to watch the spectacle on Utica ice. The new state of the art LED lights in the boards is not going to bring in fans for more than 1 game to check them out. Personally, I don't like them at all. Being subjected to a game's worth of advertising is BS. That's their main purpose. Season ticket numbers continue to drop and God only knows what this season will do to that number. Lighted boards won't make up for the crowd losses.

12/27/24 - NONE

 

[Bad Goalie]

12/28/24
Rochester Americans

Final Score - Rochester 3 Utica 2 (OT)

Utica - 6-15-2-2

Forwards:
(79) Laberge (16) Engaras (11) Legare
(67) Parent (15) Bowers (24) Halonen
(34) Beckman (13) Malone (39) Hardman
(20) Willman (26) Schmelzer (25) Foote
Extra forward (5) Gambardella I must admit I never saw Gambardella take a shift. I saw him slide up and down the bench with the line changes, but never saw him get off of it.

D-Pairs:
(3) MacKinnon (44) Osipov
(93) Misyul (17) Nemec
(55) van de Leest

Comets dressed 13 forwards and 5 D-men. 2 actual AHL level D-men, a poor excuse, and 2 ECHLers.

The story of this game was Isaac Poulter. He stopped several breakaways, net front great scoring chances, a couple unreal rebound stops from one side of the net to the other, an insane kick out from a prone position, and many other labeled shots. Without him Rochester walks away with this one big time. 33 saves on 36 shots. None of this counts the number of great chances the Amerks missed the net and the large number the Comets blocked (many in desperation). The Amerks lived in the Comets end of the ice.

Scoring:
Parent (3) from Bowers (5)
Halonen (10) Bowers (6) and MacKinnon (2)

The OT winner was scored 42 seconds into the OT. Utica had no ability to play a man to man vs the Amerks. Way too slow and and the puck talent was a major mismatch.

12/28/24 - NONE

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Diotte just seven games to this point; five with Utica, two in the ECHL.

Is he injured? HockeyDB doesn't have him on either roster.

 

[Jersey Fan 12]

Colton White - was called up and has now been reassigned to the Canadian National Team.

Would love to know the process behind picking the Spengler Cup team.

Joe Thornton is listed as one of the three GMs. In addition to 35+ former NHLers currently not on any roster like Matt Irwin and Sam Gagner there are several Canadian players who formally played in the NHL but now play in Europe.

Then there are AHL players like White and former Devil Brett Seney.

 

[Guttersniped]

Diotte just seven games to this point; five with Utica, two in the ECHL.

Is he injured? HockeyDB doesn't have him on either roster.

He’s been out since this. I don’t have any other info.



Edit: more info and it’s not good. Season ending injury.

ECHL: Adirondack Thunder Injury Report | 11/29/2024

The Adirondack Thunder have had a couple of players go down in the last week or so and tonight’s we got a timeline on a couple of those players, including one name that went down during Friday Night’s game. “It’s really tough, you lose Gillespie and Francis before the year even starts for...

insidetherink.com

 

[My3Sons]

He’s been out since this. I don’t have any other info.



Edit: more info and it’s not good. Season ending injury.

View attachment 953490

ECHL: Adirondack Thunder Injury Report | 11/29/2024

The Adirondack Thunder have had a couple of players go down in the last week or so and tonight’s we got a timeline on a couple of those players, including one name that went down during Friday Night’s game. “It’s really tough, you lose Gillespie and Francis before the year even starts for...

insidetherink.com

Thanks for sharing that. Hopefully he comes back 100%

 

[forceten]

Slash as a season ending injury? What? Was it a suspension or something?

 

[Bad Goalie]

Utica has recalled Jeremy Brodeur which means one of Daws or Poulter has a problem. Poulter was brilliant in the Game against Rochester in Saturday's loss to Rochester and Daws was the backup.

The Comets have signed another ECHL D-man to a PTO. Matt Anderson, a 25-yr-old, 6'0"/194 , left shot D-man. He comes to the Comets on loan from the Toledo Walleye. 9GP/1G/3A/4Pts/+8. He is a 3yr-pro all in the ECHL with the South Carolina Stingrays his rookie season and the last 2 with the Toledo Walleye. He was on loan to the AHL Toronto Marlies for 3 games last season.
I question the total of 9GP this season. Injured for a lot of the season?

Kurt Gosselin was signed to a PTO from Adirondack on 12/26. He played against Rochester on Friday, the 27th. On Saturday, the 28th, he didn't dress for the game with Rochester in Utica where the Comets only dressed 5 D-men. He has not been returned to Adirondack. Can only guess he was injured in Rochester and unable to play the next day in Utica.

The Comets will be in Belleville on Tuesday/New Year's Eve. NO Seamus Casey nor Topias Vilen will mean Daniil Misyul/ Simon Nemec on the 1st pairing and the next 2 pairs will come from Jackson van de Leest, Matt Anderson, Dmitri Osipov, and Will MacKinnon.

It just keeps gettin worse as the season slogs along.

12/29/24 - NONE
12/30/24 - NONE

 

[Bad Goalie]

12/31/2024
Utica Comets at Belleville Senators

The Comets played their 2nd OT game in their last 2 outings. They lost last Saturday to Rochester 3-2 in OT in Utica.
They took to the road for a New Year's Eve game in Belleville, Ontario. They ended the year with a 4-3 OT win.

Sorry, I didn't watch this one. I was disappointed on Saturday and today was New Year's Eve. Had better things to do and just sat down to check this one out. I'm not going to watch it now and break it down. I'll give you what I can gather from AHL.com.

The Comets set out with an early 2-0 lead with Goals by Nolan Foote at 3:22 and Brian Halonen at 11:33.

However, as they have done so often this season they let the Sens have goals in the last minute of the 1st and the 1st minute of the 2nd. This has been a frequent event with this team for the past 2 seasons.

Laberge put the Comets back on top at 8:47, but as they again do repeatedly, they gave it right back in a short order at 12:31. This team is incapable of holding onto a lead.

The 3rd was scoreless.

In OT the Comets have been fortunate to gain control of the puck early on, but have failed to cash in and then lose when the opponent gains control and skates and passes the Comets out of position and scores on a left out to dry goalie as they did on Saturday.

The difference tonight was they scored on their early possession and won it. Mike Hardman got the winner at :59.

The Comets were outshot 42-23, but as was the case Saturday, Isaac Poulter was outstanding. Based upon the game's outcome, he probably should have been awarded the 1st star. However, Stephen Halliday with 2 goals and Garrett Pilon with 2 assists were #s 1 and 2 respectively.

I think my guess that Brodeur's recall on Monday meant someone was having a problem was a fact. Daws lost 6-3 on Friday in Rochester and backed up on Saturday also against Rochester, but was missing tonight with Brodeur backing up.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'm off to watch the ball drop.

 

[Bad Goalie]

12/31/24 - NONE