The Utica Comets | 2020-2021 Thread

[Bad Goalie]

Comets to the PP on a faceoff interference call.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Another shortie 2 on 1 chance and misses.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets with absolutely nothing on the PP.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Focht is a slow motion center for this league.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets called for tripping, Kaspick. 1:56 left in the 2nd.

Comets SCORE.

A shorite of their own.

Jasek to McKenzie.

4-1

 

[Bad Goalie]

2nd ends with the Comets trailing 4-1.

SOG are 21-21.

Poor Comets D-zone coverage, poor back checking, and Samuel Montembeault in the Crunch net are the keys thus far. He has made some amazing saves.

Kielly has made some very good saves but none of the spectacular quality we have seen from Monty. I can't blame Jake. The play by his team that led to the rushes the Crunch scored on was terrible to say the least.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets really need 2 centers. Focht plays like a center, but skates in quicksand.

Kaspick has shown why San Antonio isn't high on him.

McGing hasn't shown signs of being much better. It's only been one game for each of them.

 

[Bad Goalie]

3rd is under way
Lind avoids a killer hit.
Near the end of 1 minute Kielly makes a great glove save. There's one Monty type save.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets behaving like they would like cameras instead of sticks in their own end. Just watching the Crunch move the puck.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Anas a good effort on a pass from Arseneau. Held by Monty.

 

[Bad Goalie]

3 on 2 for the Crunch drop pass to a trailer walking right down the slot and shouldered away by Kielly.

 

[Bad Goalie]

another 3 on 2 for the 'cuse and they screw it up themselves

 

[Bad Goalie]

Lockwood dishes out a hit on the offensive boards, gets the puck and passes it off and it's flubbed and out.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Crunch score on a weak backhand that hit Kielly and rolled over his stick/leg and into the net. A very weak goal. That one is the first on him out of the 5.

Arsenau deals out an injurious hit on Day who labored to the bench. Hit was clean. Stillman arguing with the refs during the TV TO. I assume it was over the Arseneau hit.

Look for Witkowski to get on the ice vs Arseneau before this one is over.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets to the PK again.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Boulet passes the puck so hard his mates can't handle them. This guy is very good offensive hockey player. at 5'10" and 175 he may not be the prototype NHL player, but he puts up a ton of points , skates well, has a Hell of a shot, and has a good hockey IQ. The Lightning might be willing to trade this kid at some point and he might be the answer to the 'nucks 3rd line center and Lind may be better than Gaudette as his RW.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Another goal to a Crunch just standing in the crease eye to eye and he just flips it into the net.
6-1
It's one thing to lose a draw, but to allow the opponent to flood your crease with bodies is inexcusable.

Woo and Wesley the biggest culprits on that one. You can't allow players to crowd into your crease without a battle. They were virtually unmolested. Part of this is on Cull. He can't let 2 kids this inexperienced to be out there together. They were a pair all night long.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Every time the Comets try to shoot the puck someone is on them or in the way. When the Crunch attempt a shot it's like shooting practice when it's just you and the goalie and you are working on your shot. The other issue is the Crunch rushes looked like 3 on 2 and 2 on 1 practice drills.

That's what it's looked like all night long.

Arseneau tossed from the game with little time left after breaking his stick on a shinpad before the faceoff. Misconduct. Witkowski won't get a chance at him. Mark this one in your brain calendar. Those 2 will go at it. Witkowski took Walker out of the game and Arseneau sent Day struggling to the bench. A hit for a hit and both guys will have to atone for it. It's stupid but it still happens in this league.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Last minute of the game and the Comets on the PP and Anas had the far upper corner picked and the puck hit Monty's knob. Anas eyes to the heavens.

Monty another brilliant save diving back across the empty net on a cross ice pass and tipped it wide with his outstretched stick with 2 seconds remaining.

The kid was brilliant to unbelievable all night long.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Comets drop this one 6-1.
This one was not pretty.
The Comets inexperience was exposed.
The opposition goalie pitched a fantastic game.

The Crunch were tough enough on their own supplied by Tampa Bay, but they are combined this year with the Florida Panthers AHL Springfield farm. They have 32 players in total and the mix is nicely spread out. They have 19 forwards, 11 D-men, and 2 goalies.
The Comets combined with San Antonio, the ST. Louis farm, have 26 players and the mix is not spread out evenly. They have 16 forwards, only 7 D-men, and 3 goalies. This season will not end well if the shortage on defense is not shored up.

SOG
33-31 Syracuse.

Utica goal:
McKenzie (1) from Jasek (2)

Kielly 23/29

3 Stars all Crunch
1) Gabriel Fortier - 2G
2) Henry Bowlby - 1G
3) Ryan Lohin - 1G/1A

 

[Bad Goalie]

This weekend the games are free on AHL TV (but the one team full season package is only $35 so I got it)

Just finished watching the game:

Lind looks very good at C, faceoffs were iffy but that's to be expected. He's a smart positional player and is using that to his advantage from the centre of the ice, good reads and sneaking into good spots to generate scoring opportunities. Love the shit disturber aspect to his game and he seems to be a little sturdier on his feet than he was before, which is necessary to play that role. Someone took a healthy run at him leading with an elbow to the face and he bounced right back up, lucky there. Exhibiting a great shot both at ES and PP, he easily could have had 3 or 4 goals. This is his last year to show that he has any sort of meaningful NHL potential IMO and it's off to a good start.

Lockwood looks fast and physical, glad that he hasn't totally taken that out of his game after the injuries in NCAA, it's what made him way more interesting as a prospect. Had some good chances, I think he was on the third line and he should be up higher.

Jett Woo was impressive, good mobility, effective at breaking out the puck, and did not back down in any way physically. One of his first shifts he absolutely crushed someone in the neutral zone with an open ice hit. Won board battles, even one against a 6'5 guy. One confusing thing is that he's playing with Mitch Eliot who's also a RHD and there seems to be no instruction at all from the coach as to who is LD and who is RD, and Eliot wanders worse than Tyler Myers which caused some bad breakdowns.

Gadjovich scored a good goal in tight but aside from that was fairly average, his skating looked average which is a big improvement on the past. Physical and good net front presence, wish we had someone like that on the Canucks.

Baertschi is a big fish in a small pond at this level but he didn't take his foot off the gas. Almost wish he was in Roussel's spot instead, provides a little bit more in the offensive zone and would help the 2PP. Team is done with him though it seems.

Josh Teves is fast but not particularly good, Steve Santini is a big pylon, Reinke seems like a good dman. Mitch Eliot is in over his head at this level.

Jasek seems to have acclimated to the C position and was good overall, not sure if he has NHL upside though just kind of a jack of all trades type player as is.

Carson Focht was able to keep up but doesn't seem like anything special.

One thing that stands out was that we didn't sign a goalie for the AHL (BG mentioned this too). DiPietro is with Taxi Squad, they knew he would be there with the requirements for return to play, and yet they didn't sign another goalie. Bachman had taken off to Europe. Jake Kielly is there but is he even AHL caliber? His ECHL numbers were ugly. Did they really just plan to come into the season with no goalie for the farm team? Or just another management flub? Fortunately StL is on top of things.

In response to Kielly as an AHL keeper. 6-1 tonight and the Comets outshot them by 2. The Crunch keeper was just outstanding. Kielly was good, but not AHL quality. He stopped what was at him except the 5th goal.\, but didn't make any of the quality stops seena t the other end. It wasn't like hw as brilliant but just couldn't stop everything. To his defense the rushes given up by the Comets and the poor defensive coverage didn't help him any, but Gillies looks to be the superior keeper and I had no doubts about that before the season ever started.

I don't believe you analysis of Game 1 will match your take on game 2.

Oh, Lockwood did get moved to the 2nd line. His play matched pretty much what you said about him last night. His physicality does show up and he is the only forward being decisively physical besides Arseneau for whom his physicality is pretty much his game. The rest of them put on a bump or a push and occasionally a hit, but nothing to get excited about.

 

[Hansen]

In response to Kielly as an AHL keeper. 6-1 tonight and the Comets outshot them by 2. The Crunch keeper was just outstanding. Kielly was good, but not AHL quality. He stopped what was at him except the 5th goal.\, but didn't make any of the quality stops seena t the other end. It wasn't like hw as brilliant but just couldn't stop everything. To his defense the rushes given up by the Comets and the poor defensive coverage didn't help him any, but Gillies looks to be the superior keeper and I had no doubts about that before the season ever started.

I don't believe you analysis of Game 1 will match your take on game 2.

Oh, Lockwood did get moved to the 2nd line. His play matched pretty much what you said about him last night. His physicality does show up and he is the only forward being decisively physical besides Arseneau for whom his physicality is pretty much his game. The rest of them put on a bump or a push and occasionally a hit, but nothing to get excited about.

Im gonna tune in tonight/tomorrow and I expect that my opinions will be very different based on the scoreboard I saw hahah

 

[VanJack]

Comets really need 2 centers. Focht plays like a center, but skates in quicksand.

Kaspick has shown why San Antonio isn't high on him.

McGing hasn't shown signs of being much better. It's only been one game for each of them.

In terms of skating it sounds like Focht is the second coming of Brendan Gaunce in the Canucks organization. Oh well....at least he wasn't a first round draft pick.

 

[Bad Goalie]

Im gonna tune in tonight/tomorrow and I expect that my opinions will be very different based on the scoreboard I saw hahah

Uh-Huh.

 

[Bad Goalie]

In terms of skating it sounds like Focht is the second coming of Brendan Gaunce in the Canucks organization. Oh well....at least he wasn't a first round draft pick.

The Comets coaching staff would kill to have a center doing what Gaunce did down here. He was PPG for the Comets. Let Lind have his setup men of Baertschi and Anas Put Gaunce on that 2nd line with McKenzie and Lockwood. Let Jasek center Gadjovich and Nolan Stevens. Now Focht/McGing can battle for #4 with Walker and their pick of everything that's left for the other side. Focht is going to have to reinvent himself overnight to match Gaunce's AHL effort.