2014-15 Utica Comets

[Southern_Canuck]

Wed Oct 22

AHL

Adirondack 0 Utica 3
Markstrom 29 saves on 29 shots (selected 1st star)

Shinkaruk, (1) (Jeffrey, Ehrhardt), (PP)
Jensen, (1) (O'Reilly)
DeFazio, (2), (SH)

Utica is off to a much better start this season - and the fan support looks solid with a sell-out for the home opener... Shinkaruk with his first pro goal, Jensen with his first of the season, and Markstrom with his second shutout!

ECHL

Kalamazoo 5 Indy 4 (OT)
Blomstrand 1 assist, -1
Fox 0 points, -1
Mallet 1 assist, -2
Valk 1 goal (1st), even

S_C

[herb]

Cole Cassels was named OHL player of the week.

[sagebrush]

After last night's 3-0 win over Adirondack, Markstrom is 0.988 over the first three games.

[Southern_Canuck]

Fri Oct 24

AHL

San Antonio 2 Utica 5
Eriksson 39 saves on 41 shots (selected 1st star)

DeFazio, (3) (Jeffrey), (SH)
Kenins, (1) (Andersson)
Kenins, (2) (Sanguinetti, O'Reilly), (PP)
Jensen, (2) (Ehrhardt, O'Reilly), (EN)
Jeffrey, (3) (DeFazio, Archibald), (EN)

ECHL

Fort Wayne 3 Kalamazoo 2 (OT)
Blomstrand 0 points, -1
Fox 1 goal (3rd), -1 (selected 2nd star)
Mallet 0 points, +1
Valk 1 assist, -1

S_C

[Southern_Canuck]

Sat Oct 25

AHL

Toronto 0 Utica 4
Markstrom 27 saves on 27 shots

Jeffrey, (4) (Archibald)
Grenier, (2) (Tommernes, O'Reilly), (PP)
O'Reilly, (1) (Jensen, Sanguinetti), (SH)
Grenier, (3) (Biega, O'Reilly)

That's Markstrom's 3rd shutout in only 4 games! In fact he has only allowed 1 goal this season - 0.991 GAA.

ECHL

Kalamazoo 8 Cincinnati 2
Blomstrand 1 goal (4th), 2 assists, +4 (selected 3rd star)
Fox 0 points, +4
Mallet 2 assists, +2 (fought Jon Puskar)
Valk 2 goals (2nd, 3rd), 1 assist, +3 (selected 1st star)

Idaho 4 Ontario 1
Cannata 21 saves on 25 shots

S_C

[Chef Boi RD]

Apparently Virtanen was a man possessed last night. 2 goals and 2 assists, 2nd star

It's encouraging seeing the kids they demoted to the ECHL playing well. Sure hope they get rewarded with a promotion to the A

[sagebrush]

Markstrom was named AHL player of the week.

[herb]

Shinkaruk and Gaunce each had a point last night in Utica's win over Binghampton. Sounds like Eriksson played pretty well (two goals against and 27 saves).

Horvat's played four games now in Utica and has 8 shots on goal, two penalty minutes and is a 0 +/-. Horvat is eligible to play two more games in Utica. Utica's next two games are Friday and Saturday.

I have no idea how Horvat is doing, or even how much he is playing (the AHL doesn't log even TOI stats).

[dbr]

Ahh herb, you've got me reading HFBoards again.

Word is that Horvat has been playing in the middle six with no special teams time.. just taking a regular shift.

Here's some of a recap from this game by poster orcatown who's been a regular AHL watcher for some time (although I can't speak much to his or her insight into the game)..

Very uneven performance. Certain players carrying the team. Some real dead weight in this game. Can see certain players getting a bit more of look and then getting moved out. Utica did not play its best line up in this game

Liked

Eriksson - another good game. Made some outstanding saves early in the game. Utica doesn't win this game without good goaltending

Sanguinetti - emerging as the best player on the team. Rushed the puck very well. Actually did everything well.

Gaunce - still too many cute little plays around the net for me but he was effective. Best rookie right now

Archibald - was good lugging the puck out of his end and creating chances for others. Shinkaruk especially needs to start converting those chances.

Tommernes - his best game this season IMO. Had to carry LaFranchise. (I'm guessing that Huskins is hurt as he didn't seem to play all of last game and LaFranchise [great hockey name btw] is in for Huskins)

Andersson - don't know if it's playing with Sanguinetti but he has been excellent to date. Effortless skater who has improved greatly in one on one play. Is becoming a legit prospect.

*snip*

Did not like

Grenier - will be back to a healthy scratch soon enough. No coach can watch his miserable defensive play for long. Hard to play a team game with players like
Grenier.

Lain - ugh. Can't track the play fast enough or stick handle at all. On almost every shift he was out, team was under siege in its own end. Mallet would be a better choice then Lain. Can't see him sticking with the team.

*snip*

Non factors

Shinkaruk - I'm surprised how awkward he has looked. Just butchering the puck around the net and not quick enough with his stick to take advantage of chances created for him by people Archibald. Play along the boards is also very questionable. He does need time but the early returns are not suggesting elite talent.

Jensen play has really flattened out. Had little jump tonight and eliminated fromthe play fairly easily

Horvat. - Canucks have dilemma here. Nothing tonight showed he was NHL ready. However, I don't think they want to send him back to Junior..

Reading through other discussion it sounds like Shinkaruk might still be really rusty, and apparently Grenier's been a healthy scratch several times already this season - with the number of bodies they have on hand a lot of guys will get scratched but the fact that he was a top scorer for the team last year and still cannot remain in the lineup says pretty much all you need to know about his NHL future (he has none).

[herb]

Thanks for that dbr.

So, the kids have had trouble adjusting to the pro life. I guess that's hardly a surprise.

Jensen has been getting shots on net at a high rate (23 shots on goal in 8 games).

[damonberryman]

Comets lost in OT last night 4-3. Markstrom gave up a goal in first period to ruin his streak. Corrado scored and the Comets came back from 3-0 to tie the game and get a point. Horvat played but no points.

[Chef Boi RD]

Gaunce, Jensen, Horvat, Shinkaruk have gone MIA on the score sheet the last few games.

Still think that Shinkaruk is going to really struggle making a name for himself in the NHL, a la Jeff Tambellini

Horvat is the kind of player that will take a while to impress but I think the kids going to be a very solid NHL'er in the end, once he gets comfortable in the bigs, nothing flashy just very solid 2nd liner type, he has the game that is suited for todays NHL. I gotta feeling that Gaunce is going to have a decent NHL career, nothing flashy. Jensen, hard to know. Same goes with Corrado, could go either way.

I think Virtanen, McCann and Cassels are guaranteed NHL'ers and potentially very good NHL'ers.

[Southern_Canuck]

Wed Nov 5

AHL

Binghamton 0 Utica 1
Markstrom 19 saves on 19 shots (selected 1st star)

Jensen, (4) (Jeffrey, Sanguinetti)

Wow - Markstrom has 4 shutouts in just 6 games... 0.968 SV% and 0.82 GAA...!!!

S_C

[damonberryman]

It is a sign of good things to come that Markstrom is not another player the Canucks gave up on too early. Instead Benning pulled off some kind of slight of hand thing with sending the big goalie to the ECHL or somewhere like that and now he is tearing up the AHL.

[Southern_Canuck]

Fri Nov 7

AHL

Utica 4 Lake Erie 1
Eriksson 29 saves on 30 shots (selected 3rd star)

Zalewski, (1) (Grenier, Biega)
Shinkaruk, (2) (Jeffrey, Grenier)
Corrado, (2) (DeFazio, Lain)
Archibald, (1) (Biega) (EN)

Corrado was selected 1st star.

S_C