Bad Goalie
Registered User
- Jan 2, 2014
- 20,094
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I don't know what the Comets did for the X-mas break, but it destroyed what they had going. Last week the Comets went on the road and defeated the Charlotte Checkers twice in their own barn. Why was that significant? Because the Checkers by virtue of points are the best overall team in the AHL.
They then defeated Springfield in their barn on the way home from North Carolina via Massachusetts. They brought their record to 3 games over .500 and were on a great streak of 8 games without a regulation loss.
Then just before the break they lost to Binghamton at home, followed up the vacation with a second loss to the Devils last night, and tonight were outright humiliated by the Syracuse Crunch 10-1. They get to face 1st place Rochester at home tomorrow night.
Those who follow this site know I alerted the masses that the real meat of the Comets season is still ahead of them and Syracuse and Rochester are on the slate a ****load of times.
They play Syracuse 9 more times and Rochester 6 counting tomorrow. Their record vs these 2 North Division powers is 2-5 and they have been shut out 2x and scored 1 goal 2x while being outscored 36-13. Syracuse is 16-3-2 after a 3-5 start and trail the Rochester Americans, who have led the Division all season, by 2 points and have 3 games in hand.
Tonight's game doesn't deserve a recap. It's one for the ages and best just put to rest. Suffice to say they were outclassed in every sense of the word. They only surrendered 1 PP goal. So you might say then the rest of the 10 came at even strength, right? Nope, only 6 did. The other 3 were surrendered while the Comets were on the PP!
This was a historical night that you wish the history books could forget to record, but the Comets set a new milestone as the 10 goals are the most a Comets team ever surrendered with the past infamous number being 8.
Syracuse Crunch 10 - Utica Comets 0
Forwards:
Dahlen/Gaunce/Archibald
Boucher/Kero/Jasek
MacMaster/Darcy/MacEwen
Arseneau/Bancks/Lind
D-Pairs:
Brisebois/Sifers
Graham/McEneny
Blujus/Dirk
Goal -
Kulbakov - 23:17/4GA
Demko - 16:43/2GA
Kulbakov - 20:00/4GA
Hopefully, Ghost Johnson and Benning are looking for some veteran net help.
Hey, they have needed veteran center help for 4 years and still didn't get it. Tonight PTO Cameranesi was scratched and Carter Bancks filled the middle for AHL/ECHL plug Arseneau and highly regarded prospect Kole Lind. Arseneau scored his first goal of the season playing in only 13 games due mostly to injury. Lind played his 18th game tonight and is still looking for his first pro goal.Bancks is NOT a center. He's not even an offensive player.
As long as we are counting:
Palmu - 0 in his 13 GP**
Lind - o in 18 GP
Chatfield - 0 in 13 GP*
Dirk - 0 in 7 GP
Juolevi - 1 in 18 GP*
Gadjovich - 1 in 19 GP
Graham - 1 in 22 GP
Brisebois - 2 in 32 GP
MacMaster - 2 in 26 GP
** no longer a Comet. Returned to Finland.
* missing from the lineup with long term injuries.
MacEwen - 13 in 34 GP
Jasek - 7 in 29 GP
Dahlen - 7 in 31 GP
All 3 of these guys have played at some time with Kero, the only quality center the Comets have had until Gaunce was moved into the middle 10 games ago. Dahlen and MacEwen have been on his wings for the better part of those 10 games.
Dahlen for the first 4 games and then he was hurt and rejoined Gaunce tonight. MacEwen for 8 of 9 games a he was suspended for 1 game in that time span. He was taken off the line for Dahlen tonight. Archi and Gaunce have become very effective. Kero has been centering Jasek and Boucher. Darcy and Cameranesi have been centering the other 2 lines for some time now. Darcy's 6 assists in 29 GP are all you need to know about his ability to be a play maker. Cameranesi is an ECHL center on a PTO who will not put up points at this level (1g/3A in 19 GP). So, nothing resembling a play maker after Kero and Gaunce and Kero's lack of strong play making is evidenced by Boucher's even strength struggles.
The scoring of late (maybe the last 10 games or so) has come from individual plays and slip ups from the opponents resulting in breakaways, odd man rushes, turnovers in their own zones resulting in goals by the Comets, and some bad goals. There has not been any kind of actual offensive system goals. The fact is, I am still trying to figure out if Cull actually has a system at all beyond dump and chase, odd man breaks from opponent turnovers, and PP play goals which carried them early on, but that well has dried up.
I'm going to go to tomorrow's Rochester game with the hope that embarrassment can stimulate at least one good effort out of this 3-game weekend.
They then defeated Springfield in their barn on the way home from North Carolina via Massachusetts. They brought their record to 3 games over .500 and were on a great streak of 8 games without a regulation loss.
Then just before the break they lost to Binghamton at home, followed up the vacation with a second loss to the Devils last night, and tonight were outright humiliated by the Syracuse Crunch 10-1. They get to face 1st place Rochester at home tomorrow night.
Those who follow this site know I alerted the masses that the real meat of the Comets season is still ahead of them and Syracuse and Rochester are on the slate a ****load of times.
They play Syracuse 9 more times and Rochester 6 counting tomorrow. Their record vs these 2 North Division powers is 2-5 and they have been shut out 2x and scored 1 goal 2x while being outscored 36-13. Syracuse is 16-3-2 after a 3-5 start and trail the Rochester Americans, who have led the Division all season, by 2 points and have 3 games in hand.
Tonight's game doesn't deserve a recap. It's one for the ages and best just put to rest. Suffice to say they were outclassed in every sense of the word. They only surrendered 1 PP goal. So you might say then the rest of the 10 came at even strength, right? Nope, only 6 did. The other 3 were surrendered while the Comets were on the PP!
This was a historical night that you wish the history books could forget to record, but the Comets set a new milestone as the 10 goals are the most a Comets team ever surrendered with the past infamous number being 8.
Syracuse Crunch 10 - Utica Comets 0
Forwards:
Dahlen/Gaunce/Archibald
Boucher/Kero/Jasek
MacMaster/Darcy/MacEwen
Arseneau/Bancks/Lind
D-Pairs:
Brisebois/Sifers
Graham/McEneny
Blujus/Dirk
Goal -
Kulbakov - 23:17/4GA
Demko - 16:43/2GA
Kulbakov - 20:00/4GA
Hopefully, Ghost Johnson and Benning are looking for some veteran net help.
Hey, they have needed veteran center help for 4 years and still didn't get it. Tonight PTO Cameranesi was scratched and Carter Bancks filled the middle for AHL/ECHL plug Arseneau and highly regarded prospect Kole Lind. Arseneau scored his first goal of the season playing in only 13 games due mostly to injury. Lind played his 18th game tonight and is still looking for his first pro goal.Bancks is NOT a center. He's not even an offensive player.
As long as we are counting:
Palmu - 0 in his 13 GP**
Lind - o in 18 GP
Chatfield - 0 in 13 GP*
Dirk - 0 in 7 GP
Juolevi - 1 in 18 GP*
Gadjovich - 1 in 19 GP
Graham - 1 in 22 GP
Brisebois - 2 in 32 GP
MacMaster - 2 in 26 GP
** no longer a Comet. Returned to Finland.
* missing from the lineup with long term injuries.
MacEwen - 13 in 34 GP
Jasek - 7 in 29 GP
Dahlen - 7 in 31 GP
All 3 of these guys have played at some time with Kero, the only quality center the Comets have had until Gaunce was moved into the middle 10 games ago. Dahlen and MacEwen have been on his wings for the better part of those 10 games.
Dahlen for the first 4 games and then he was hurt and rejoined Gaunce tonight. MacEwen for 8 of 9 games a he was suspended for 1 game in that time span. He was taken off the line for Dahlen tonight. Archi and Gaunce have become very effective. Kero has been centering Jasek and Boucher. Darcy and Cameranesi have been centering the other 2 lines for some time now. Darcy's 6 assists in 29 GP are all you need to know about his ability to be a play maker. Cameranesi is an ECHL center on a PTO who will not put up points at this level (1g/3A in 19 GP). So, nothing resembling a play maker after Kero and Gaunce and Kero's lack of strong play making is evidenced by Boucher's even strength struggles.
The scoring of late (maybe the last 10 games or so) has come from individual plays and slip ups from the opponents resulting in breakaways, odd man rushes, turnovers in their own zones resulting in goals by the Comets, and some bad goals. There has not been any kind of actual offensive system goals. The fact is, I am still trying to figure out if Cull actually has a system at all beyond dump and chase, odd man breaks from opponent turnovers, and PP play goals which carried them early on, but that well has dried up.
I'm going to go to tomorrow's Rochester game with the hope that embarrassment can stimulate at least one good effort out of this 3-game weekend.
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