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Utica Week In Review: October 19th
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Jeff Veillette
Oct 26, 2015, 16:00 EDTUpdated:
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Welcome back to another week of the Utica Comets Week In Review! This time around, the Canucks’ AHL affiliate played in three games, and at times, even wore those sweet green uniforms that you see above. A strong weekend was a must for a team that dropped their first two matchups, and they definitely delivered, winning two of three games. Here’s what happened:

The Games

Wednesday October 21st vs. Rochester (4-2 Win)
Release from UticaComets.com
The crowd was electric Wednesday for the Comets first home game of the season against the Rochester Americans, as the Comets won their first game of the season by the score of 4-2 at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Hunter Shinkaruk led the way for the Comets with his first professional hat trick.
Shinkaruk (3-0-3) and Alexandre Grenier (1-0-1) accounted for the team’s scoring, while Joe Cannata made 12 saves for his first win of the season.
The Comets got off to a quick start when Shinkaruk fired a wrist shot into the back of the net on a power play for his first goal of the season, just two minutes into the game. Linden Vey and Taylor Fedun assisted on the goal. The Amerks, however, came right back to tie it at one apiece with a goal from Jason Akeson, off a pass from former Comets captain, Cal O’Reilly.
Shinkaruk then gave the Comets the lead again with 1:43 left in the second period, when he scored his second goal of the game, again on another power play. Brendan Gaunce and Jordan Subban assisted on the goal.
Shinkaruk finished off the hat trick with 13:14 left in the third period on assists from Nicklas Jenson and Andrey Pedan. Rochester then cut the lead to 3-2 on a slap shot off the stick of Jerome Leduc on a pass from Chad Ruhwedel. The Amerks pulled their goalie with just under a minute to go, but Grenier put an open netter in for the Comets to cap off the scoring and give the Comets a 4-2 victory.
The Comets dominated the shot count with 47 shots on goal, compared to just 14 for the Amerks. Linus Ullmark recorded 43 saves in net for Rochester.
Friday October 23rd vs. Hershey (1-0 Loss)
Release from UticaComets.com
A questionable Hershey Bears goal in the game’s final minutes was all the Bears needed to defeat the Utica Comets 1-0 on Friday night at the Utica Memorial Auditorium. Comets’ goaltender Joe Cannata made 24 saves in the loss.
The game looked destined for overtime until the 18:49 mark of the third period found the puck in the back of the Comets net. After Cannata covered the puck with his glove, Bears’ forward Garrett Mitchell jammed the puck out of his glove, and through Cannata’s legs for the game’s only goal. The goal was assisted by Connor Carrick and Paul Carey.
The Comets power play failed to convert in their four attempts, while the penalty kill successfully killed all five of the Bear’s power-play attempts.
Saturday Oct 24th vs. Syracuse (4-0 Win)
Release from UticaComets.com
The Utica Comets rebounded from a tough loss last game, and came out strong behind another great crowd at the Utica Memorial Auditorium on Saturday, when they defeated their arch-rival, the Syracuse Crunch 4-0. Joe Cannata had 30 saves two get his first career AHL shutout for the Comets.
Brendan Gaunce (1-0-1), Blair Jones (1-0-1), Linden Vey (1-0-1), and Hunter Shinkaruk (1-0-1) all scored for the men in green. Jordan Subban (0-2-2) chipped in a pair of assists for his first career multi-point game in the professional ranks.
Gaunce started the game’s scoring when he put a wrist shot over the shoulder of Crunch goalkeeper, Allen York, to put the Comets ahead 1-0 just 4:12 into the game. Subban and Nicklas Jensen assisted on the goal. The Comets scored again just seven minutes later on a power play, when Subban fired a shot that deflected off the goalkeeper, and Jones finished it off for his first goal of the season to put the Comets ahead 2-0. Subban and Alex Friesen picked up assists on the goals.
It looked like both teams would go scoreless in the second period until the Comets capitalized on a power play when Vey snuck a wrist shot past the far side of York. Comets captain Alex Biega assisted on the goal.
Just 1:35 into the third period, Wacey Hamilton slipped a backhand pass through the legs of a Crunch defender to Hunter Shinkaruk, who finished it off for his fourth goal of the season.
Syracuse outshot the Comets 30 to 26, but couldn’t get the puck past the great goaltending of Cannata. With the shutout, Cannata raised his season save percentage to .940, and lowered his goals against average to 1.42. Cannata now has 110 saves in just five games this season. Allen York had 22 saves for the Crunch.
The Comets power play converted twice on seven opportunities, and the penalty-killing unit was a perfect six-for-six on the night.

The Stats

Pos#NameGPGAPTS+/-ShPIM
D
2
T. Ehrhardt
3
0
1
1
1
1
0
D
3
A. Biega
3
0
1
1
2
10
2
D
6
A. Sautner
1
0
0
0
-1
2
0
D
7
J. Subban
2
0
3
3
1
3
0
C
8
A. Friesen
3
0
1
1
0
3
14
LW
9
H. Shinkaruk
3
4
0
4
2
8
0
LW
10
B. Gaunce
3
1
1
2
0
5
4
D
11
J. Negrin
3
0
1
1
0
5
2
LW
12
J. Kurtz
1
0
0
0
0
1
0
C
14
M. Zalewski
2
0
0
0
-1
6
0
LW
15
R. Kenins
2
0
0
0
0
1
2
LW
16
J. LaBate
2
0
0
0
0
1
0
RW
17
N. Jensen
3
0
2
2
2
5
2
C
18
L. Vey
3
1
1
2
1
7
2
C
22
B. Jones
3
1
0
1
0
9
0
RW
24
C. Cassels
2
0
0
0
-1
0
0
D
27
T. Fedun
3
0
1
1
0
8
0
RW
28
A. Grenier
3
1
0
1
0
9
2
LW
34
C. Bancks
3
0
0
0
1
1
6
C
36
W. Hamilton
3
0
2
2
2
3
11
D
37
A. Pedan
3
0
1
1
1
4
4
According to the ever-so-useful CHLStats.com, the Comets remain in the top third of the league in shots for, averaging 32.2 pucks on net per game. Pair that with just 23.6 taken against them on average (2nd best in the league), and you have a top-five possession team (est. 56.48% Fenwick Close). The Comets could benefit from some puck luck (their 5.59 SH% is 27th in the league), but I don’t think being at half the league average is overly sustainable.
In the meantime, Joe Cannata is holding the fort in spectacular fashion. This week, he stopped 65 of 68 shots, good for a 0.956 SV% and a shutout. This brings him to 0.940 on the year through five starts. Perhaps Jacob Markstrom’s injury was a blessing in disguise for the entire organization; while it doesn’t help him out much, Vancouver’s lack of trust in Richard Bachman has allowed for Miller to play more minutes, and as such, get back in his groove. Meanwhile in Utica, the lack of Richard Bachman has allowed for Cannata to play more minutes, and as such, get back into his groove.
I’d call Richard Bachman a beacon of moral support, but I don’t think he was much help to the Oilers last year.

Player of The Week

Cannata would have been a good choice, but I’m going to give this one to Hunter Shinkaruk. His Hat Trick against Rochester felt like a sign of things to come for the AHL sophomore, and he also grabbed a goal against Syracuse. His eight shots were third amongst forwards as well.

Looking Ahead

The Comets return to the ice on Friday night to start a three-in-three weekend, where they take on the Binghamton Senators (Ottawa), Albany Devils (New Jersey), and Bridgeport Sound Tigers (NY Islanders). The veteran-laden Albany roster has proven to be capable, though not at all interesting from a prospect perfective. The bookending teams have a bit more of a diverse talent portfolio, but haven’t been particularly good or bad to start the year.
Puck drops are at 4 PM (Friday), 2 PM (Saturday), and 4 PM (Sunday) Pacific time.
Photo via UticaComets.com

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