
The Games


Roster Report
#Comets scratches:
Sautner, Subban, Carcone, Cassels (injured), Valk
— Utica Comets (@UticaComets) October 22, 2016
Travis Green said Cole Cassels is “week-to-week” with an upper-body injury.
Saw Cassels in street clothes during practice
— Ben Birnell (@OD_Birnell) October 25, 2016
The Stats
# | Player | Pos | GP | G | A | P | Sh | PIM | |
26 | M. Chaput | C | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 3 | 2 | |
41 | C. Billins | D | 2 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 0 | |
28 | A. Grenier | RW | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 5 | 0 | |
23 | J. Megna | C | 2 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 0 | |
24 | † | D. Hulak | LW | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 |
18 | M. Carcone | LW | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
38 | C. Valk | C | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 0 | |
34 | C. Bancks | LW | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 0 | |
14 | M. Zalewski | C | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 | |
5 | D. Shields | D | 2 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
11 | M. Roy | LW | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | |
2 | T. Stecher | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |
71 | B. Rendulic | RW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | |
16 | J. LaBate | LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 16 | |
36 | W. Hamilton | C | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
25 | D. Archibald | LW | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | |
8 | J. Negrin | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
9 | Y. Laplante | LW | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | |
37 | A. Pedan | D | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
7 | J. Subban | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
6 | A. Sautner | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | |
19 | † | C. Cassels | C | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
4 | E. McEneny | D | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 |
# | Player | GS | Record | GA | SA | Sv% | GAA |
30 | T. Demko | 1 | 0-1-0 | 3 | 27 | 0.889 | 3.07 |
32 | R. Bachman | 1 | 1-0-0 | 4 | 23 | 0.826 | 4.00 |
- Alex Grenier continues to contribute at a point per game pace. Adding another goal and an assist last weekend, he’s got two of each on the year, and is leading the team in primary points. His goal on Friday was a nice one too, one-timing a faceoff win from Michael Chaput.
Shortly later – Alex Grenier snaps home the face-off win to put @UticaComets up 2-0 early. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/qe0bD3PMrb
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) October 21, 2016
- Michael Carcone was bumped up to top six duty this week. After spending his professional debut with Wacey Hamilton and Carter Bancks on the Comets’ shutdown line, Carcone started to the left of Jayson Megna and Borna Rendulic on Friday, and had a goal to show for it. On Saturday however, he was a victim of Travis Green’s rotational scratches.
- Curtis Valk scored his second goal of the season in Friday’s game against Syracuse, and this one was much prettier than the tap in he scored in the opener – he sniped this one home from the high slot. But, like Carcone, he was scratched on Saturday, as Green looked to take out some younger players.
Curtis Valk scores on the beauty pass from Alex Grenier@UticaComets now up 4-2 in the late first period. #Canucks pic.twitter.com/yCSvWk6otQ
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) October 21, 2016
- Mike Zalewski is still looking for his first goal of the season, but he did pick up an assist last week. Green shuffled the lines heading into the weekend, so Zalewski, who had been playing wing on the second line, moved down to centre the third line. There may be a little less ice time there, but the versatility of being able to play centre and the wing in the American League will only help his stock when the Canucks go hunting to injury replacements later in the year.
- Marco Roy played his first game as a Comet on Saturday, jumping straight into top line duty with Michael Chaput and Alex Grenier. He picked up his first point feeding Derek Hulak, whose shot bounced off a few bodies before landing in the net.
- Everyone’s favourite Richmond born offensive defenceman Troy Stecher was pointless in two games, but looks to have settled in in his second week as a pro. He was particularly noticeable in Saturday’s game while Jordan Subban sat out, running the top line power play and pushing for the tying goal at the end of the game. With time running out and down a goal, Stecher orchestrated a barrage of shots on the Albany net. He was tied for the team lead in shots over the weekend with five, but must have taken at least that many attempts (many of which missed or were blocked) in his final shift alone, though the Comets couldn’t break through.
The next time Troy Stecher hits the ice, it will be for the Vancouver Canucks, as he was called up yesterday and is in to play against the Ottawa Senators tonight.
- After scoring four point in his first two games, Jordan Subban took a step back in week two. He was noticeable in Friday’s game mostly for his defensive gaffes and getting caught up ice, and he spent Saturday on the sidelines. Seeing Stecher getting the call to Vancouver can’t be easy, so here’s hoping that this motivates Subban to keep moving his game forward and not let this get to him mentally. His offensive game has so much promise.
- Joe LaBate played two games last weekend, mostly on the third line. His second game was cut short when he put his shoulder into the head of an Albany player and he was assessed a match penalty. The hit was reviewed by the league afterwards, and he was handed a three game suspension, so LaBate won’t be seeing any game action this week.
- Cole Cassels didn’t get far into last weekend before leaving and not returning with an injury. His ego might have been injured as well, as the line shuffling bumped with out of the middle and on to the wing – on the fourth line with Hamilton and Bancks. Cassels is now listed as week-to-week, which is unfortunate timing as the Megna call up should have allowed him to move back to centre and up the lineup.
- Andrey Pedan has been solid for the most part in Utica, getting plenty of ice time on the top pairing and the top penalty kill rotation. He doesn’t have any points to show for four games yet.
- Ashton Sautner has played one game in each of the first two weeks. On Friday he was paired up with Jordan Subban, and the two had a rough night all around. Sautner was relied upon quite a bit defensively last year in his rookie year, so he’ll want that to be the focus of his game going forward.
- Evan McEneny played his first game on the season on Saturday. His biggest impression on the scoresheet was a pair of minor penalties, but he did make a nice diving play to knock the puck of the stick of an opposing forward, which could have otherwise led to an odd man rush.
- Yan-Pavel Laplante played one game last weekend, again with Wacey Hamilton and Carter Bancks. He fit himself in on that line by banging and crashing in the offensive zone. That suits Laplante, as his ability to carry the puck has been iffy.

Player of the Week
Chaput scores a shorthanded marker – @UticaComets down 2-1#Canucks pic.twitter.com/OziAxM1Lks
— Ryan Biech (@ryanbiech) October 22, 2016