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Utica Week in Review: February 24th
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Jeremy Davis
Feb 24, 2016, 17:00 ESTUpdated: Invalid DateTime
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Photo credit: Lindsay A. Mogle / Utica Comets
It’s the final week before the NHL trade deadline, so it’s awfully hard to focus on anything but. All the same, why don’t we take a walk through the last week of Comets hockey and decompress from all things deadline related…
Oh, right. The Canucks traded away the Comets best offensive player and thus far have not replaced him in the AHL. Oh dear.
Well, that’s a problem for this weekend’s Comets. Let’s see how they did last week.

The Games

February 17th vs Portland: 5 – 2 Win
Once again the Utica Comets special teams stepped up to lead the team to a 5-2 win over the Portland Pirates. Buoyed by a power-play goal and a short-handed tally, the Comets completed the season sweep of the Pirates with a perfect 4-0 record.
Alexandre Grenier (1-2-3) exploded for three points, including the eventual game-winning goal in the second period. Brendan Gaunce (0-2-2) and Jon Landry (1-1-2) recorded multi-point games for the Comets, while Joe Cannata made 33 saves for his 14th victory of the season. Gaunce’s multi-point game gives him eight points (4-4-8) in his last five games.
From the Utica Comets post-game recap.
February 19th at Syracuse: 5 – 4 Loss
The Utica Comets could not overcome two early Syracuse Crunch power-play goals and saw their eight-game point streak snapped at the War Memorial on Friday night by the score of 5-4. The Comets were able to cut the Crunch’s lead to one goal on four separate occasions, but could not find the equalizer in their first regulation loss since Jan. 24 in Toronto.
Carter Bancks (1-0-1), Ashton Sautner (1-0-1), Andrey Pedan (1-0-1), and Brandon Prust (1-0-1) scored for the Comets, while Richard Bachman made 26 saves in the loss. Ronalds Kenins (0-2-2) recorded his third multi-point game in the team’s last four games.
From the Utica Comets post-game recap.
February 20th vs Albany: 3 – 2 Overtime Loss
The Utica Comets jumped out to a quick start Saturday night, leading 2-0 after the first period, but couldn’t keep up the tempo, and ultimately fell 3-2 to the Albany Devils in overtime at the Utica Memorial Auditorium.
Ronalds Kenins (0-2-2) recorded his fourth multi point game in the team’s last five games with two assists. Brendan Gaunce (1-0-1) and Andrey Pedan (1-0-1) each scored for the Comets while Joe Cannata made 31 saves for the Comets.
From the Utica Comets post-game recap.

Roster Report

Roster Information:
So the big news is obviously the loss of Hunter Shinkaruk. For Canucks fans, the Shinkaruk has been a tough pill to swallow. But for the Comets, it is frankly devastating, particularly to their power play, which has only been average even with Shinkaruk’s team leading ten goals. I won’t talk much more about the trade, as you can read about it from Ryan Biech, Jeff Veillette, Jeff Paterson, JD, Petbugs, and JD again. It was a big deal… 
In other news, the Canucks sent Alex Friesen back to the Comets, which, as it turned out, was a precursor to the arrival of Markus Granlund in Vancouver.
The Comets also let John Kurtz go from his PTO. Kurtz had been with the Comets since the beginning of the season. He played his role when there was a spot, and was well liked amongst teammates and fans, but he was a healthy scratch 26 times, more than anyone else on the team, and more times than he actually played games (25). Soon after, he signed a deal with the Toronto Marlies.
Injury Update:
Poor Blair Jones has had all the bad luck this season. After missing 11 straight games with an injury, Jones returned to action last Friday, only to sustain a new and separate injury. He’s currently back on the shelf, and is skating with the team, but wearing a non-contact jersey.

The Stats

#
Player
GP
G
A
P
+/-
Sh
PIM
10
B. Gaunce
3
1
4
5
-1
5
2
28
A. Grenier
3
1
3
4
0
6
0
15
R. Kenins
3
0
4
4
0
4
2
37
A. Pedan
3
2
1
3
-1
10
2
20
J. Landry
3
1
2
3
0
4
2
9
H. Shinkaruk
3
1
1
2
-1
8
0
26
B. Prust
3
1
1
2
-1
2
0
34
C. Bancks
3
1
0
1
-1
3
2
21
C. Higgins
3
1
0
1
-2
9
0
16
J. LaBate
3
1
0
1
-2
5
2
6
A. Sautner
2
1
0
1
-1
4
2
7
J. Subban
2
0
1
1
0
3
2
25
D. Archibald
3
0
1
1
-1
2
11
5
D. Shields
1
0
1
1
0
1
0
11
J. Negrin
2
0
1
1
0
2
2
2
T. Ehrhardt
2
0
1
1
-1
0
5
14
M. Zalewski
3
0
0
0
-2
5
6
27
T. Fedun
3
0
0
0
-1
5
0
36
W. Hamilton
3
0
0
0
-1
4
6
24
C. Cassels
3
0
0
0
-2
1
0
8
*
A. Friesen
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
22
†
B. Jones
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
Goalies:
#
Goalie
GS
Record
GA
SA
Sv%
GAA
32
R. Bachman
1
0-1-0
5
31
.839
5.19
35
J. Cannata
2
1-0-1
5
69
.928
2.44
Joe Cannata had another strong week while Richard Bachman had another poor one. I’ll reiterate my point from last week. As the Comets get closer to playoff time, and especially if they make the playoffs, they should strongly consider letting Cannata run with the ball, rather than continue swapping game in and game out, as they’ve done all year.
The goaltending situation for next season in Utica makes me a little nervous. In all likelihood, Ryan Miller and Jacob Markstrom will return as the tandem in Vancouver. Additionally, there will be a strong push from Vancouver brass to get Thatcher Demko signed, and he will likely head into next season splitting the starting duty in the AHL. The question is, with who? Joe Cannata has been the better goaltender, but his NHL contract is expiring at the end of the season, whereas Richard Bachman has another year remaining on the two-year deal he signed last summer.
In the grand scheme of all things Canucks, this is the tiniest blip on the radar. But for the Comets, I would wager that bringing Bachman back over Cannata next season will make wins harder to come by in the games that Demko doesn’t play.
Prospects:
Brendan Gaunce led all prospects in points last week, picking up four assists and adding a beauty of a power play goal. Who knew the two-way guy had such great hands? Gaunce is starting to show that he can do just about anything at the AHL level. It’s only a matter of time now.
Alex Grenier picked up four more points last week, a goal and three assists. It’s great that he’s finally getting some bounces, as he’s had a pretty miserable season to date. His goal last week was the first on a goaltender since December 18th. Yikes.
Ronalds Kenins, who I pegged as the Player of the Week in the last edition of the Utica Week in Review, picked up four more points last week, all assists. After a season that has mostly been marred by injury, Kenins’ point totals are starting to look a little more respectable. With ten points (one goal, nine assists) in 18 games, his 0.56 points per game is on par with Mike Zalewski (0.57) and Alex Grenier (0.58).
Andrey Pedan had a great week, scoring two goals (he was the only Comet to do so last week) and adding an assist.
Hunter Shinkaruk (RIP) had two points in his three final games as a member of the Utica Comets, including a goal and an assist. The goal was typical of how Shinkaruk has scored this season: curl into the high slot and fire a wrister past the goaltender from distance. Without getting too deep into this now, these bread-and-butter goals of Shinkaruk’s may be the type that Vancouver management is worried about not translating – whether he gets to that spot at the NHL level, whether that shot finds its way through NHL shot-blockers, and whether it beats an NHL goaltender are the questions that you’d have to consider. It’s open to discussion.
Joe LaBate and Ashton Sautner both had goals last week. The two rookies are having decent years, given their respective levels of expectation.
Jordan Subban had a slow week, by his standards, notching one assist in two games. He was a healthy scratch on Friday for the first time since December, which had some people up in arms in Vancouver. I’m going go ahead and say that it’s not a big deal – he is still a rookie, and in spite of his high point total, he still has plenty to work on. One healthy scratch is too small a thing to use as evidence that the regime has given up on him. On the other hand, their general coolness when speaking about him is reminiscent of their ambivalence towards Shinkaruk in interviews – points totals are impressive, but what about that other stuff? Not saying anything will happen, but it wouldn’t shock me if they moved him. I would be terribly disappointed though.
Mike Zalewski and Cole Cassels were held without points.
Team Level:
In an exceedingly rare turn of events, the Comets were outshot in all three games last week. Typically the Comets are the ones dominating the shot clock. Across the whole weekend, they were outshot 100-83. In both the Wednesday and Saturday games, the Comets jumped out to early leads and then appeared to take their foot off the gas. This worked out fine in Wednesday’s game, as they won 5-2. In Saturday’s game, however, after outshooting Albany 13-5 in the first period, they were outshot 13-2 in the second period and 13-7 in the third, squandering a 2-0 lead and eventually losing 3-2 in overtime.
Special teams were okay for the Comets last week. They converted on three of 15 power plays opportunities (20 per cent), which is well above their season conversion rate of 15 per cent.
While they killed off all five shorthanded occurrences in Wednesday’s game, and all six in Saturday’s game, the penalty kill got lit up on Friday, allowing three goals on six opportunities. This uncharacteristic letdown played a major part in their loss to Syracuse, which broke an eight-game point streak for the team. Utica’s penalty kill has been a strong point for most of the season, ranked 10th in the league at 84.4 per cent. 
Leaders:
Enjoy one final chart with Hunter Shinkaruk’s name at the top. Next week it will be reset, likely with Brendan Gaunce as the team leader.

Player of the Week

Andrey Pedan gets the nod this time around as the player of the week. He potted two goals, added an assist and led all Comets in shots last week with 10.
Pedan usually demonstrates his worth in ways other than on the scoreboard – lots of minutes, big hits, clearing the net front – but last week he showed that he’s capable of putting points up too.
While he isn’t a flashy player, like Jordan Subban, his numbers are still respectable. Combined with his impressive size (6-foot-5, 215 pounds) and young age (22 years old), Pedan has one of the highest likelihood’s of NHL success on the Comets. In fact, with the trade of Shinkaruk, Pedan moves into the team lead in terms of percentage of statistically comparable players that attained NHL success, at a mark of 42.86 per cent.
With some uncertainty on the Canucks blueline heading into next season, Pedan certainly deservers every opportunity to make the team next year, and probably deserves a call up before the end of this one. He’s looked good in three games so far this season (two on defence), and may even be an upgrade on some of the players that the team is playing already (looking at you Bartkowski).

Looking Ahead

The Comets are set to engage in a three-in-three set this weekend, at home on Friday before hitting the road for Saturday and Sunday.
The Comets will hosts John Scott and the St. John’s IceCaps on Friday. These teams have matched up four times already this season, with each team taking two victories. In all four games, the winners have been the visitors. St. John’s has lost its two previous games, both against the Binghamton Senators, though they will play once more before Friday’s game in Utica. The IceCaps are currently tied for fourth in the AHL’s North Division with a points percentage of 0.519.
On Saturday, the Comets will head to Lehigh Valley to take on the Phantoms for the fourth time this season. There have been some high scoring affairs in the previous three meetings, including 7-1 and 5-2 wins for Utica. That Phantoms won the remaining game by a score of 3-1.  Lehigh Valley is sitting in seventh place in the Atlantic Division with a points percentage of 0.500.
On Sunday, the Comets will complete the three-in-three by making their second ever trip to Hershey to take on the bears, affiliate of the Washington Capitals. In two meetings this season, the Comets are winless, dropping 1-0 and 6-3 decisions. The Bears are second in the Atlantic Division as of now, and boast the AHL’s scoring leader, Chris Bourque.
From here on out, we’ll be keeping you posted on how the Comets are doing in the AHL standings. They’re clinging to a spot as of now, but whether they can stay afloat without Shinkaruk remains to be seen.

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