logo
CanucksArmy has no direct affiliation to the Vancouver Canucks, Canucks Sports & Entertainment, NHL, or NHLPA
Comets Militia: Down on the Farm – April 3rd, 2015
alt
Josh W
By Josh W
Apr 3, 2015, 11:00 EDTUpdated:
Comments
Courtesy: UticaComets.com
We are back
with this week’s Comets Militia report, where we review all the latest in news,
statistics, rumours, gossip and made up narratives regarding the Vancouver Canucks
farm team: The Utica Comets.  Not only have the Comets continued their winning streak, they have earned their first ever playoff berth and clinched the AHL’s North division banner!
Read past
the jump to see how that went down.

The
Statistics

The Utica
Comets continue to dominate having won all 3 games this week and earning a big
6 points.  Their underlying numbers
continue to improve as their depth is bolstered by the addition of players from
the NHL, NCAA, and other leagues.  The
Comets have jumped back into first in the Conference, earning their first
playoff berth.  They have jumped back to
2nd in the league in possession statistics while their penalty kill
is the only portion of their team that has seen some negative regression.

Friday’s 4-2 Win vs Oklahoma City

[ CometsRecap ] [ Highlights ]
Starting
off the week was a match against the Oklahoma City Barons where the Comets
absolutely dominated.  Four goals were
scored by Comets players, including Hunter Shinkaruk.  Shinkaruk has been on a 5 game goal scoring
streak thanks to his jump up to the top line (while sending Nicklas Jensen
down).  Alex Grenier did his best to
score putting 9 shots on goal and Joacim Eriksson gave the team a Quality Start.  The power play failed to score on any of
their five attempts while the penalty kill went 2 for 3.  This was Wacey Hamilton’s first game back
after being injured for over 2 months.

Saturday’s
4-2 Win vs Rockford

[ CometsRecap ] [ Highlights ]
The next
night the tired Comets faced another top possession team: The Rockford
IceHogs.  Whether it was the team being
tired, an off night, or the Comets truly being out played, this time it was
Utica that had their butts handed to them in terms of possession –thankfully
Joe Cannata was there to post a Quality
Start while the IceHogs tender was not able to match his performance.  I’ve noticed lately that Travis Green is more
willing to switch up his goaltenders in back-to-back performances – maybe after
two years of me pointing it out has finally made him change. 

Wednesday’s
5-1 Win vs Rochester

[ CometsRecap ] [ Highlights ]
This was a
very exciting game for the Comets.  To
start with the basics: The Comets dominated Rochester in possession, received
goals from a number of key personnel who were assisted by everyone else.  Joacim Eriksson put up a Quality Start while the power play was clicking scoring on 2 of
their 6 chances.  The lone goal against
came 1 second into the Rochester power play that was a make up call.  The high goals for was a result of Rochester
playing a young goaltender who seemingly was in his first game.
The Comets
were able to clinch a playoff position with this game under a number of
conditions including the Comets earning 2 points while a number of other
conference rivals lost.  With the dominos
all lined up the Comets managed to meet those conditions and earn their first
playoff berth!  To top things off, the icing on the cake, with a Hamilton loss on Thursday night, the Comets have also won their division banner – the first team to win a division.
This was
the first professional game from Ben Hutton, who from all accounts, seemed like
he had been with the team all season.  He
had 2 shots, received 1 penalty for interference and managed to score his first AHL goal on his second shot of the night.
Hunter
Shinkaruk continued his scoring streak while Sven Baertschi continued to be a much
welcome addition to the Canucks prospect pool. 
Alex Friesen continued to score but it seems to be too little and too
late for this 24 year old.  It would be surprising to see him re-sign as an RFA with Vancouver.  Alex Grenier
though is having a second season of quietly scoring a lot.  He is 3rd
on the team in scoring and should get a look with the Canucks next season. 
Also, Trevor
Linden was at this game and on the post-gamer he said that The Canucks and
Utica look to be franchise partners for at least the next two seasons.  Not a surprise as they are in prime real
estate for optimal travel + practice ratios. 
If they move to the Eastern Conference next season things will only get
better. 

The Players

NamePosGPGAPTS+/-PIMPPGSOGSoG/GSh%
47
Sven Baertschi
LW
12
7
6
13
6
4
1.08
26
2.17
26.92%
44
Adam Clendening
D
3
0
3
3
3
0
1.00
7
2.33
0.00%
20
Ben Hutton
D
1
1
0
1
2
2
1.00
2
2.00
50.00%
16
Cal O’Reilly
C
68
8
44
52
5
10
0.76
84
1.24
9.52%
28
Alexandre Grenier
RW
59
15
24
39
10
64
0.66
153
2.59
9.80%
6
Bobby Sanguinetti
D
56
15
22
37
22
16
0.66
130
2.32
11.54%
24
Brandon DeFazio
RW
67
18
22
40
7
76
0.60
167
2.49
10.78%
89
Cory Conacher
LW
12
3
4
7
5
18
0.58
35
2.92
8.57%
8
Alex Friesen
C
52
9
18
27
14
53
0.52
78
1.50
11.54%
17
Nicklas Jensen
RW
53
12
12
24
-16
35
0.45
144
2.72
8.33%
41
Will Acton
C
45
11
8
19
-1
26
0.42
73
1.62
15.07%
36
Wacey Hamilton
C
33
5
9
14
5
25
0.42
47
1.42
10.64%
10
Brendan Gaunce
LW
67
11
15
26
0
31
0.39
142
2.12
7.75%
9
Hunter Shinkaruk
LW
66
13
12
25
0
28
0.38
139
2.11
9.35%
26
Frank Corrado
D
27
5
5
10
7
19
0.37
60
2.22
8.33%
25
Darren Archibald
LW
62
12
10
22
10
98
0.35
118
1.90
10.17%
3
Alex Biega
D
54
3
16
19
1
22
0.35
107
1.98
2.80%
37
Andrey Pedan
D
42
3
11
14
6
70
0.33
79
1.88
3.80%
15
Ronalds Kenins
LW
36
5
7
12
6
23
0.33
61
1.69
8.20%
5
Jeremie Blain
D
14
0
4
4
-2
2
0.29
17
1.21
0.00%
14
Mike Zalewski
C
47
3
8
11
-4
12
0.23
54
1.15
5.56%
34
Carter Bancks
RW
51
6
5
11
5
42
0.22
61
1.20
9.84%
40
Peter Andersson
D
51
2
8
10
13
20
0.20
63
1.24
3.17%
2
Travis Ehrhardt
D
37
3
4
7
-8
22
0.19
39
1.05
7.69%
29
Kent Huskins
D
43
1
5
6
7
6
0.14
27
0.63
3.70%
11
John Negrin
D
30
0
3
3
4
8
0.10
26
0.87
0.00%

The Goaltenders

NameGPMinsGASOGAAWLOTSASVSSV%
1
Joe Cannata
3
179:00:00
6
0
2.01
2
1
0
94
88
0.936
2
Jacob Markstrom
28
1665:37:00
53
5
1.91
19
7
2
785
732
0.932
3
Joacim Eriksson
38
2215:39:00
92
0
2.49
21
10
5
1013
921
0.909
4
Pat Nagle
1
58:42:00
3
0
3.07
0
1
0
28
25
0.893
While
Joacim Eriksson has been playing reasonably well as of late, his save percentage is still below
average for the AHL this year.  But it is completely disingenuous to say, “Joacim Ericsson hasn’t missed a
beat since Markstrom was called up, his
numbers not entirely different from Markstrom’s” when they are in fact over
2% different – a massive gap within goaltending.

The Transactions

  • Adam
    Clendening sent to Utica to be able to play
  • Joseph
    LaBate     signed to a PTO by the Comets for the Canucks to make a decision
    on him
  • Jeremie
    Blain sent back to the ECHL
Also look out as Ashton Sautner’s Edmonton Oil Kings were eliminated on Wednesday
night.  It is likely for the Comets to
sign him to a PTO and bring him on board for the Calder Cup run.  Don’t look for him to play any time soon though.  Jordan Subban’s Belleville Bulls were also eliminated on Thursday, so the Subban Watch is on!

The Schedule

The
schedule is not too difficult for the Comets as they are looking to wrap up the
regular season.  They have two games
against a much weaker possession team with rest in between.  Utica cannot take their foot off the pedal, despite
earning a playoff berth they want to try and win the conference banner as well.
This does
mean that the newer players are less likely to see some action, such as Joseph
LaBate and other possible additions from the CHL, given Travis Green reluctance
to use rookies.

Extra Reading

Breaking News