2024-25 Utica Comets and ECHL thread

[Bad Goalie]

1/22/25
Bridgeport Islanders at Utica Comets

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

D-Pairs:
(6) White (17) Nemec
(93) Misyul (44) Osipov
(83) Vilen (3) MacKinnon

Goal - (1) Poulter

This game was over in the first period, but the Comets played like crap the rest of the way trying to hold off the Islanders rather than just playing hockey. perhaps parent wanted them to pull back the offense which demolished the Isles in the 1st. With 2 more games, a home and home with Wilkes-Barre/Scranton on Friday and Saturday and with this one their 5th in 8 days maybe he tried to find a way for them to go a little less heavy and save something for the next 2 games with only 1 day of rest in between. Those next 2 games will make it 7 in 11 days including home and away back to backs on consecutive weekends.

After the Friday/Saturday back to backs they get 3 days off before playing 3 more in 4 days.

Period 1

The Comets took mit to the isles immediately playing the same type of gritty hard hitting, in your face hockey. They never gave the Isles an inch of free ice. Malone cashed in to give the Comets an extremely early lead. His goal was the Comets 4th shot.
Schmelzer at :33, Willman at :34, and Osipov at :38 and Malone deposited Osipov's rebound at :40.

:40 Malone
1-0 Comets

The Comets just kept coming and Malone scored again on their 7th shot.
4:45 Malone
2-0 Comets

Parent and Stillman both had good chances turned away before Malone hit again to record his natural hat trick.
7:33 Malone
3-0 Comets

Immediately after the puck was dropped for the ensuing faceoff Halonen and Cole Bardreau drpped 'em in what was obviously a planned tilt between the 2. Bardreau's gloves came off a the drop of the puck and Halonen accepted the challenge. Halonen took the worst of it, but he slammed his opponent to the ice and the crowd felt that made him the winner.

7:39
Halonen - Utica
Bardreau - B'port
5 each - Fighting

During their rest stop Bowers was whistled.
8:48 Bowers
Holding

Before Bowers was released Cam Thiesling joined him.
10:39
Hooking

Time runs out for Bowers and the Comets go to the PP. Not much happens for most of the 2 minutes.But while still on the PP Nolan Foote scores on their only shot.

12:16 Foote
4-0 Comets

This was the end of Henrik Tikkanen, 4 goals on 11 shots.
Enter Jakub Skarek.

The Isles acted like they were at fault and came hard at Poulter and he ended up making 2 good stops in the next 2 minutes. Then the Comets got control and went the other way. Schmelzer got the puck to Willman took it in and shot. Skarek stopped his shot but Hardman was right there to bang home the rebound.

15:26 Hardman
5-0 Comets

Isles outshot the Comets the restof the way 3-1 and the period ended.

Utica 5-0
SOG:
14-7 Utica

Period 2

B'port came out on fire and took it to the Comets skating hard and hitting every comet to touch the puck. The Comets weathered the outburst.

At 3:24 the Comets went to the PP
Gemmel
Slashing

The Comets did nothing. Not even a shot and the Stillman got stupid. As the IOsles were breaking out behind the play Stillmand got irritated at a little mischief from Travis Mitchell and 2-handed him across the shins. That was enough for Mitchell and went after Chase and dropped him mwithhis 3rd swing. Chase popped right back up from his knees ,but the LM got in there and that was that.

5:06
Stillman and Travisd Mitchell
5 each for fighting
Stillman got an extra 2 for the slash

17 seconds latrer Chris terry got called for slashing.
5:23 Terry
Slashing

Over the course of the next 14 and 1/2 minutes The Isles outshot the Comets 8-3 and poulter was called upon to keep things staus quo and he made some really tough saves.

End of 2
5-0 Comets
SOG:
10-4 Islanders

Period 3
The 3rd was much like the 2nd with the Comets throwing the puck out, icing it, making terrible passes and looking like the team that was being taken to the back shed.

They also started a parade to the penalt box.

1:07 Comets
Too many men

They killed that one. with Poulter called upon to make 3 svaes inclose and 1 of the 3 was brilliant. Then for almost 2 minutes the Comets mounted a turn around and got 3 shots on Skarek and made some nice saves.

The Comets have slowly taken the physicality out of their game and now it's poke schecking and swinging theirsticks acroos the path of the skater who by passes it, both of these moves invite tripping and hooking calls.

5:11 White
Tripping

The Comets block some shots, the Isles miss the net a couple times and also have to schase down clearings, but get a couple more real good chances on Isaac who continues to stifle them,

6:58 Osipov
Tripping

The Comets are now down 5 on 3.
13 seconds later the Isles ruin the shutout effort of Poulter.

7:11 Liam Foudy
5 on 3 PPG
5-1
The Isles stil have a pp with Osipov still in the box. The Isles get a little taste of blood and want some more. Poulter is challenged some more and says no way and makes 3 more big time stops

The Comets act as if they are embarassed by their neglect of their keeper who has actually been called upon to keep from imploding since the end of the 1st period.

Malones's line picks up a little slack with Halonen and Foote joining him to apply some actual pressure for the Comets Halonen finishes it with a goal.

10:52 Halonen
6-1 Comets

The Isles weaken with the Comets goal and the 2 trade 3 chances each over the next 7 minutes or so, but the Comets put their 3rd away. Foote gets his 2nd of the night to go along with his 2 assists.

18:18 Foote
7-1 Comets

That's the game.
SOG for the 3rd:
13-8 Bridgeport

Final Score
Utica Comets 7 Bridgeport Islanders 1

Scoring:
Malone (4) from Osipov (3) and Misyul (6)
Malone (5) from Foote (13) and MacKinnon (2)
Malone (6) from Halonen (9) and Hardman (8)
Foote (10) from Vilen (8) and Willman (11) PP
Hardman (11) from Willman (12) and Schmelzer (9)
Halonen (14) from Foote (14) and Vilen (8)
Foote (11) from Nemec (14) and White (11)

Poulter (29/30)

SOG:
BRI - 7 10 13 = 30
UTC -14 4 8 = 26

PP:
BRI 1/4
UTC 1/3

3 *s
#3 - Brian Halonen (Utica Comets) 1G/1A
#2 - Nolan Foote (Utica Comets) 2G/2A
#1 - Jack Malone (Utica Comets) 3G

Poulter another outstanding job in his 3rd straight start. He won all 3 and allowed only 1 goal in each game.

It was a big night for Jack Malone and his linemates. They scored 6 of the Comets 7 goals.
Hardman had the other goal and also 1A.
Willman and Vilen each had 2 helpers.

Comets now 13-19-2-2 with 5 wins in their last 6 games.

Season is officially half over with this having been their 36th game.

Next up Friday vs the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in the Utica Aud at 7 pm.

 

[tailfins]

Sounds like Parent has found a style that can work for this team. Sounds like it's very high effort - I'm not sure how sustainable that is. But, even seeing some progress vs the early part of the season is welcome. 7 goals must've seemed like a pipe dream a couple of months ago.

 

[Better Call Sal]

These look sick.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Sounds like Parent has found a style that can work for this team. Sounds like it's very high effort - I'm not sure how sustainable that is. But, even seeing some progress vs the early part of the season is welcome. 7 goals must've seemed like a pipe dream a couple of months ago.

 

[Bad Goalie]

You are absolutely correct on all counts. I know the style is impossible to maintain without lapses, but like last night they will have down time for the better part of a game when leading by a bunch, or a shift or 2 when going strong, when out in front you'll see some slackers, and in Syracuse on Monday with their asses dragging from their 3 in 4 days with travel time to and from Laval on a home and home back to back, they protected rather than attacked in their own end and offensively pushed until the play broke down. They always had a man back. We didn't see 3 guys in the corners or bad forced passes with both issues leading to odd man rushes. When they lost possession, they hustled back to keep the Crunch at bay as much as possible, but it's also incumbent on the goalie to do his part when he's called upon. Both Brodeur and Poulter have done that job with flying colors. 4 games form those 2 (1 by Brodeur and the last 3 by Poulter) in which they only allowed 1 goal in each game.

Since Brodeur's win in Toronto, the Comets are 5-1. Brodeur is 1-0, Poulter 3-0, Daws 1-1 and the game he won the Comets scored 7 goals and he was weak on 2 of his 3 allowed. Many of us in Utica are not as enthralled with Daws as NJ may be. We are actually hoping Daws gets a callup with Marky maybe needing a short break. That would leave Utica to playing Poulter and Brdeur getting starts on the back to backs coming up. Maybe that will keep good things happening and not be a fluke where they revert back to their losing ways like they di earlier in the season. They broke their horrid streak of 13 losses to start the season by winning 5 in a row and then went right back into the same play that plagued the horrid start.

The 7 goal pipe dream vs Bridgeport last night was actually deja vu of the 7-3 win over Hartford on 1/15 except the Comets absolutely owned Bridgeport in the 1st last night. Then, like I said, the in your face fast physical game was no longer necessary and they cooled down. The critical piec is that they don'r forget whst has been resposible for their recent success. They have to bring it right back on Friday vs the Pens.

 

[Triumph]

Am I wrong or wasn't Utica rendered on the AHL.com scoreboard as UTI? Thankfully someone finally corrected that.

 

[Mgd31]

Xavier Parent is crushing it lately. Call him up! Our new 3C!

 

[Bad Goalie]

1/24/25
Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins at Utica Comets
Final Score -
Utica 5 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 3

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

D-Pairs:
(6) White (17) Nemec
(93) Misyul (44) Osipov
(83) Vilen (3) MacKinnon

Goal - (50) Daws

Scoring:
Halonen (15) from Osipov (4) and Misyul (7)
White (2) from Schmelzer (10)
Parent (8) from Engaras (5)
Parent (9) from Stillman (4) and Vilen (10)
Schmelzer (9) Unassisted ENG

SOG:
WBS - 16 10 9 = 35
UTC - 10 11 6 = 27

PP:
WBS -1/2
UTC - 0/2

3 *s
#3 - Jesse Puljujarvi (W-B/Scranton) 1G/1A
#2 - Ryan Schmelzer (Utica Comets) 1G/1A
#1 - Xavier Parent (Utica Comets) 2G

Daws - 32/35

Period 1
The Comets scored first on a Halonen goal at 4:36. This has been a recent trend with Utica scoring first and early.
They came out playing the style that has made them successful. They scored on their 1st shot. The SOG at that point were 4-1 WBS.

The Comets were playing a physical game and trying to play the body on every puck carrier, but the Pens are so fast, pass the puck so quickly, and accurately that the Comets were fighting for their lives most of the period.

At 11:07 Dan Renouf tied it up at 1. It was breakawy goal. Daws had already stopped 2 others. Utica was allowing Pens to get behind them and their mates were firing stretch passes to them.
Utica had to fix this or it would be curtains.

At 16:01 Colton White wristed a long high shot from the left point that eluded former goalie, awarded a Stanley Cup ring, with the Penguins even though his name is not on the cup, Tristan Jarry*, for goal #2.

* Tonight was only Jarry's 6th game with the Jr. Pens. He was assigned to WBS on 1/16 after having cleared waivers. He came into tonight's game with a 4-1 record and a 2.16 GAA/.926 SV%. After tonight his GAA rose to 2.48 and his SV% is now .914

Comets took their 2-1 lead to the lockerroom even though being outshot 16-10 and outchanced by a lot more.

Period 2
Again the Comets opened a period scoring early when Xavier Parent got a breakaway of his own and slid it under Jarry to put the Comets on top by 2 at 3-1.

At 12:31 Laberge took a dumb roughing penalty behind his own net. He responded to a cheap shot to a mate. If he had left it to the first hit, he would have escaped, but when he did it againt he refs hand went up.

Jesse Puljujarvi*, former 2016 1st round draft pick of the Edmonton Oilers, took advantage of Laberge's blunder when he scored at 11:07 on a goal that I think Daws should have had. It was a low shot from the top of the left circle that Nico saw all the way and it just went right by him. Other than that goal Nico was very good.

*Jesse has played most of 8 seasons in the NHL Edmonton, Carolina, and Pittsburgh (381 GP) with intermittent trips to the AHL with Bakersfield and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton (68 GP) Tonight was only his 2nd game with WBS this season.

The period ended with the Comets still leading by 1 now at 3-2.
Period 3
The Pens came out strong, but the Comets weatherd the storm on the back of Daws, some shot blocks, and a few whiffs by different Pens in glorious scoring positions.

At 10:33 Vilen broke the Comets out with a pass to Stillman and eventually it ended up on Parent's stick and as he has done quite often of late, it ended up in the net.

4-2 Comets.

From this point the Pens came at the Comets with both barrels, but Utica stymied their attacks in the Comets end and kept working to just keep getting the puck out of their zone and deep into the Pens' end.

Jarry left at 16:40.
He had to come back on at 16:59, but left again at 17:27.
At 18:14 Sam Poulin scored on his 2nd shot in 13 seconds and suddenly it was 4-3 with almost 2 minutes left.

They would come right back in after the center ice faceoff win and Jarry went off as they did.

They would get 3 more real good chances, but Daws answered the call.

With just past :30 seconds to go and the Pens at 6 on 5 pouring it on, Schmelzer was battling and desperately trying to win a race for a loose puck to high on the right side of the Comets end to clear the zone. He backhanded the puck past the defender up and out. It skidded up the ice and curved just a bit and entered the empty net to slam the door on the Pen's valiant efforts to tie it up. The building noise grew with every foot the puck slid and erupted as it crossed the goalline!

The Comets ragged the puck for the final seconds and the horn ended it.

The victory 4th straight and 6th of their last 7 for the Comets.
They are now 14-19-2-2. The once never seemed possible .500 mark is lurking on the horizon. That;s the miracle they have to be shoting for before even thinking of anything more. Another one of their skids would erase that idea from existance.

Both teams will board buses at some point tonight and head to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for a rematch tomorrow night at 6:05 in the Mohegan Arena. Get some rest boys. The buses are much more comforable than they used to be.

 

[Bad Goalie]

1/21/25 - NONE
1/22/25 - NONE
1/23/25 - NONE
1/24/25 - NONE

 

[Bad Goalie]

1/24/25
Utica Comets at Wilkes-Barre?Scranton Penguins

Forwards:
(39) Hardman (26) Schmelzer (20) Willman
(25) Foote (13) Malone (24) Halonen
(67) Parent (16) Engaras (61) Stillman
(5) Gambardella (15) Bowers (34) Beckman

D-Pairs:
(6) White (17) Nemec
(3) MacKinnon (7) Strand
(93) Misyul (44) Osipov
Goal - (50) Daws

Period 1
Comets came out very strong. Had control for most of the period. At the 10:31 mark the SOG wer 10-1 Comets and there were 2 scrums in front to the net with the puck free, but they just could not get it through the maze of bodies.

Puljujarvi got the Pens 1st shot at 6:24

At 13:01 Bowers scored to make it 1-0 Comets.

Pens got their 2nd shot at Dawsat 13:52. A shot at Daws off to his left. He was down on his knees in the middle of the crease. The shot came from the right side, went off the post and deflected right down in front of Daws at his knees. He covered it for a whistle. He was completely lost on the play and no where near to playing the shot.

Pens made a pass from the right side way wide of the net all the way across in front of Daws to a Pen on the left side of the net. He shot the puck and scored. Daws didn't track the pass as it crossed in front of him and he lazily moved across the net and was beaten clean on a shot he didn't even seem to expect. It was their 3rd shot of the period at 14:43

He was beat on 2 chances in a row without giving himself a chance to stop either one of them. The 2nd went in the net and the game was tied at 1.

They got their 4th shot with 1:25 to go, a breakawy that Daws stopped.

End of 1 and it was tied at 1-1.
SOG:
13-4 Utica

I got the feeling that the Comets failure to score on many amazing chances in the 1st would bite them in the ass at the end.

Period 2
Both teams had some good chances The Comets still held the edge in play. T
The Comets failed to cash in on 2 PPS.

1 at 2:48 in which they failed to get a single shot, Daws had to stop 2 Penguins chances.
The Comets didn't get their firstt shot on net until,the 6:52 mark.

They got the 2nd PP at 16:43.
Halonen got 2 shots on the net in the 2 minutes.

4 minutes of PP time and the Comets recorded a total of 2 SOG.

Period ended with the score still 1-1.
SOG:
9-7 Pens
2-period total
20-13 Utica

2 periods gone and the game is still up for grabs.

Period 3

The 3rd opened with the Comets unable to gain control of the puck for more than split seconds before losing it to rabid Pens group. It finally ended with the Pens breaking the tie at 3:03.

At 14:24 I wrote down the Comets are dead.
They can't even skate anymore.

Then Parent went on a sudden spurt in which he controlled the puck all by himself in the Pens end. He was stopped on a shot crashing to the net from the right side. Chased down the deflected chance and got the puck again and turned in form the left, went down the middle and was stopped again from in close.

As the period progressed it was the old Comets. Nobody could come close to scoring, frequent turnovers, icing, bad passes, standing around in their own zone while the Pens attacked. It was like the old cowboy movies when the defenseless settlers were huddles behind their circled wagons and the angry indigenous fighters tried to chase the invaders from their homelands. Daws was the only reason they weren't blown out. Somehow he found his game after 2 very shaky periods. The go ahead goal seemed to wake him up! Sorry, Nico too little too late. Your brethren are dead on their feet and skating in mud. This stretch has finally caught up with them.

Aside from a little spurt from 1 or 2 players here and there the Comets exerted almost nothing.

Besides Daws the other reason this game didn't get out of hand with the Comets literally standing around was that the Pens couldn't finish anything against no pressure. Missing the net, whiffing on shots, losing passes., clearing the Comets zone on their own ineptitude to keep the puck in, and seeming to tire out themselves.

As the period moved towards the end, Murashov was having little trouble with the Comerts shots. Then with 6 minutes to go Engaras hit him square in the mask knocking it aside and gaining an instant whistle. His line, engineered by Parent, was putting on serious pressure. The other lines not so much.

With 2:32 to go Daws was treying to get to the bench, but the Comets couldn't get throughg the neutral zone without turning it over. At 1:40 he left the ice, but the ZComets still can't get into the Pens' zone. Finally strand, of all pepole took the puck and crashed his way to the net forcing Mura shov to stop him.

1:00 minute to go.
2 shots stopped
:30 to go and they don't get another shot.

Final Score -
WBS 2 Utica 1

SOG:
UTC - 13 7 10 = 30
WBS - 4 9 11 = 24

PP:
UTC - 0/3
WBS - 0/0

Scoring:
Bowers (2) from Gambardella (5) and Beckman (15)

Daws 22/24

3 *s - all WBS Pens

Next up for the Comets
1/29/25 at Rochester Americans at 7:05

 

[Bad Goalie]

@MasterofGrond
Hey, are you going to walk down to the Blue Cross Arena (Rochester War Memorial in my days) to watch the Comets play the Amerks on Wednesday?

That's always a bit of a struggle game for me as I have mixed loyalties.

I'm nosey and don't deserve an answer, but is there a Mrs. MasterofGrond?

 

[MasterofGrond]

@MasterofGrond
Hey, are you going to walk down to the Blue Cross Arena (Rochester War Memorial in my days) to watch the Comets play the Amerks on Wednesday?

That's always a bit of a struggle game for me as I have mixed loyalties.

I'm nosey and don't deserve an answer, but is there a Mrs. MasterofGrond?

Unsure. Normally I would, without a doubt, but we have clients in town from Kyoto Tuesday and Wednesday, and I'm not sure which day we're doing our big dinner. If the dinner is Tuesday, I'll be there.

Yeah I feel you. I'm a Devils fan obviously, but I attend a ton of Amerks games so I'm probably an Amerks fan more than a Comets fan, so I'm never quite sure how to feel at those games.

Yes, my wife inexplicably agreed to move back to New York State with me from Colorado (she went to high school down near Corning). Didn't have to marry her to get her to follow me from San Francisco to Oakland, or Oakland to Chicago, or Chicago to Colorado, but before I tried Rochester, I locked her down

I like Rochester a lot, and she does too, but the weather here is a bit of an ask for her, personally.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Unsure. Normally I would, without a doubt, but we have clients in town from Kyoto Tuesday and Wednesday, and I'm not sure which day we're doing our big dinner. If the dinner is Tuesday, I'll be there.

Yeah I feel you. I'm a Devils fan obviously, but I attend a ton of Amerks games so I'm probably an Amerks fan more than a Comets fan, so I'm never quite sure how to feel at those games.

Yes, my wife inexplicably agreed to move back to New York State with me from Colorado (she went to high school down near Corning). Didn't have to marry her to get her to follow me from San Francisco to Oakland, or Oakland to Chicago, or Chicago to Colorado, but before I tried Rochester, I locked her down

I like Rochester a lot, and she does too, but the weather here is a bit of an ask for her, personally.

NY State weather is a challenge from western NY Buffalo and all the towns and cities from there from the Canadian border to the Pennsylvania borders, big time snow events; the western North Country Tug Hill Plateau, Watertown, and up the St. Lawrence to Ogdensburg, Canton, Potsdam, Massena more snow and really cold with little else to offer if you don't hunt or fish; The Finger Lakes region, great summer living on the lakes, wine regions, grapes, apples, peaches, fresh vegetables, etc, from the many area farms and cold bitter winters; Central, NY, if you don't like the weather wait a few minutes, cloudy, rainy, hot with high humidity, really cold, lots of snow, mild winter, take your pick it's all here.

Rochester gets some of the Buffalo weather, some of the Lake effects from Lake Ontario, summer heat and humidity, Finger lakes type snow storms, rainy summers and the next year dry as a desert. Falls can be beautiful with unreal foliage or dry with the leaves all yellow and brown, but the lilacs are something to behold in the Spring if it doesn't get hot too soon. In the good lilac Springs you could sit on my front porch on Diem or Whitmore Sts. and swear you were in Highland Park. The lilac bouquet was so fragrant. People all over the city grow their own and it's a fragrant beautiful time.

I loved my life there and now I love my life in Central, NY. I'll take the worst most of the state has to offer over the destructive massive floods, droughts leaving the crops dead in the fields, tornadoes, hurricanes, forest fires, mud slides, heat waves of 100+ degrees for many days or even weeks, etc. I can dress down and air condition, and watch the hummingbirds at my wife's several feeders in the summer; dress warmer, turn up the heat, and clear my driveway and front walk with the snow blower and keep my woodpeckers, juncos, finches, cardinals, nut hatches and chickadees fed from the feeders in the winter; garden in the spring; watch the leaves turn colors in my wooded back lot while the turkeys, deer, and rabbits scrounge around for the food left from the trees and wild summer foliage.
To quote the radio and TV ads, "I love New York."

At least this season going to an Amerks game has to be much more enjoyable on most nights than going to the Comets games, which are more often than not uninspiring evenings. LOL

 

[MasterofGrond]

Yeah my dad is the same. Just loves New York, truly. Never really wants to leave now that’s he’s finally moved back.

And yeah, seeing the Amerks is usually good fun. And as long as the Sabres continue to be a laughingstock, the games will probably keep being fun lol

 

[Bad Goalie]

Yeah my dad is the same. Just loves New York, truly. Never really wants to leave now that’s he’s finally moved back.

And yeah, seeing the Amerks is usually good fun. And as long as the Sabres continue to be a laughingstock, the games will probably keep being fun lol

LOL

My wife says tell your wife there's not bad weather just bad clothes!

 

[Bad Goalie]

1/25/25 - NONE
1/26/25 - NONE

 

[Bad Goalie]

1/27/25 - NONE
1/28/25 - NONE