2017-18 Utica Comets Thread

[Stierlitz]

10 minutes ago, hobart16 said:

The empty netter was off a gorgeous one hand pass from Goldobin that was slicker than dog poop.  

[Noble 6]

Does anyone know for sure whether Dermott, Johnsson and Kapanen will be available for the next game?

[Vinny in Vancouver]

38 minutes ago, Hutton Wink said:

Looks like Debrusk on Gardiner and Andersen...

Ouch! Tough for Toronto Hockey Fans tonight. Oh well, there's still the Raptors.

[Stierlitz]

The game highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpVbtnwQIeI

[Hairy Kneel]

Awesome!

[TomatoPieFan]

 

[TomatoPieFan]

There was an earlier question. MacMaster first signed an Amateur Try Out (ATO) with the Comets and then given a PTO.  He has excellent vision and has played on the top line and first powerplay on several occasions.  I was at the game tonight and the crowd was back in rare form like in the Calder run.  Archie was a surprise honorary puck drop that really got the place rockin.  Not sure who at the Comets is asleep at the wheel because they haven't posted a video in a while.  3 goals on 7 shots including 3 consecutive shots and Sparks was pulled in the first.  The addition of all the youngsters was definitely noticeable tonight and Demko definitely deserved the first star and his D did play well.  The Comets had to kill off a full 4 on 3 and a 5 on 4 for the last 4 minutes of the first period and the place went bonkers.  Listen to to Marlies commentator at the very end of the highlights.  It's gonna be tough Friday but hopefully they can bring this game again.  The Scrunch did sweep the Amerks tonight so the winner of this series will face a very hot team thats scored 18 goals in 3 games.  This was the 132 consecutive sellout at The Aud dating back to the Calder run.  There is a good chance we will break the St Johns consecutive regular season sellouts early next season.

[rizzuto&hatoum]

2 thoughts:

Dermott, Johnsson and Kapenen will be a huge help to the Marlies. I don't see how they won't be playing Friday in Utica unless they're injured.

 

What I'm hoping for is that Dahlen (son of Ulf) gains a few pounds over the summer and be like Kapenen (son of Sami) in swatting away Marchand.

 

 

[-AJ-]

2 hours ago, Stierlitz said:

The game highlights:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpVbtnwQIeI

Dang, hearing those Utica chants at the end is nuts when you consider they have a capacity of about 25% that of an NHL rink. Those fans are crazy! I love 'em.

[spook007]

3 hours ago, TomatoPieFan said:

There was an earlier question. MacMaster first signed an Amateur Try Out (ATO) with the Comets and then given a PTO.  He has excellent vision and has played on the top line and first powerplay on several occasions.  I was at the game tonight and the crowd was back in rare form like in the Calder run.  Archie was a surprise honorary puck drop that really got the place rockin.  Not sure who at the Comets is asleep at the wheel because they haven't posted a video in a while.  3 goals on 7 shots including 3 consecutive shots and Sparks was pulled in the first.  The addition of all the youngsters was definitely noticeable tonight and Demko definitely deserved the first star and his D did play well.  The Comets had to kill off a full 4 on 3 and a 5 on 4 for the last 4 minutes of the first period and the place went bonkers.  Listen to to Marlies commentator at the very end of the highlights.  It's gonna be tough Friday but hopefully they can bring this game again.  The Scrunch did sweep the Amerks tonight so the winner of this series will face a very hot team thats scored 18 goals in 3 games.  This was the 132 consecutive sellout at The Aud dating back to the Calder run.  There is a good chance we will break the St Johns consecutive regular season sellouts early next season.

Good and loyal fans... Comets deserve a good run. Best of luck.

[alfstonker]

9 hours ago, SID.IS.SID.ME.IS.ME said:

 

Motte is seriously quick. I like his physical game too. I think he will settle on the Canucks 4th line. 

I also expect Cassels to have a shot in Van as he is improving a lot.

[wildcam]

1 hour ago, alfstonker said:

Motte is seriously quick. I like his physical game too. I think he will settle on the Canucks 4th line. 

I also expect Cassels to have a shot in Van as he is improving a lot.

I agree Motte should be on 4th line...Cassels has too many  player already a head of him on depth chart he wouldn't be in top 6 in any forward position..

This is his 2rd year in Utica has he even had 12 goals...Sorry he won't make the Canucks at wing or centre...

Maybe he will be a late bloomer...He will be good for all the young prospects in Utica next season..

Lind, Gadjovich Dahlen, Jasek, 

[hobart16]

The biggest cheer of the night, and the loudest all season, was after the 3-5 penalty kill at end of the first.  Guys were diving all over the ice to make plays.  Fantastic atmosphere in the first period.  No Lucas Jasek last night and no Megna.  But that is a small, fast lineup.  Toronto is way bigger and tried to assert themselves in the first to no avail.  They are very good though with a nice mix of players.  

 

At the D end we might a bit shy of the mark for the Calder Cup but Sautner looked very confident out there.  Time in Van did him some good.  Chatfield really played hard last night too.  His last month has been very good getting up the ice.  

[Angry Goose]

7 hours ago, alfstonker said:

Motte is seriously quick. I like his physical game too. I think he will settle on the Canucks 4th line. 

I also expect Cassels to have a shot in Van as he is improving a lot.

I like Motte too.  Reminds me of Dorsett without the after the whistle stuff. 

[JamesB]

9 hours ago, wildcam said:

I agree Motte should be on 4th line...Cassels has too many  player already a head of him on depth chart he wouldn't be in top 6 in any forward position..

This is his 2rd year in Utica has he even had 12 goals...Sorry he won't make the Canucks at wing or centre...

Maybe he will be a late bloomer...He will be good for all the young prospects in Utica next season..

Lind, Gadjovich Dahlen, Jasek, 

Cassels is just finishing his 3rd year in Utica and is in his Draft+5 season, He turns 23 in a few days. His point totals in the years have been: 7 pts. in 67 games, 11 pts. in 66 games, and 26 pts in 69 games. That shows improvement but that is only a third line level in the AHL even this past year. And he does not bring speed or size to the table. Forwards with that trajectory very rarely become NHL regulars. Being realistic I would say he has virtually no chance. It is far from obvious that the Canucks will re-sign him to an NHL contract. I think he is more likely to get an AHL contract next year to play with the Comets. He has established himself as a valuable AHL player, although far from a star.

 

Motte will be in the mix fighting for a spot on the Canucks in camp but I think the odds are against him. My prediction for the Canucks 4th line is Gaudette between Leipsic and Virtanen.  There is not much room at the Inn for any of those guys in the top 6 as I expect Pettersson to be on the team, and Eriksson and Gagner pretty much have to be on the team. Sutter will center the shutdown (third) line, maybe between Archie and Granlund and other guys will also be fighting for forward spots -- Dahlen, Goldobin, Gaunce, etc.

[TomatoPieFan]

 

Ed Willes: Canucks love what they have in Utica

UTICA, N.Y. — Five years ago the Vancouver Canucks’ plan seemed simple enough.

Buy an AHL franchise. Stick it in a suitable market. Build it to their specs. Watch it flourish.

How tough could it be?

Uh, did we mention these are the Canucks?

Three months after purchasing the Peoria Rivermen, the Canucks were still conducting a frantic search for the new home of their top minor-league affiliate. Negotiations broke down with the city of Abbotsford. They rejected Peoria. Seattle was considered but the NHL had other plans for that market. Portland, Ore., was a no-go.

With the clock ticking rather loudly, Utica, N.Y., suddenly popped up on the Canucks’ radar after that city’s negotiations broke down with the Calgary Flames. Then Canucks assistant general manager Laurence Gilman and then Canucks executive Victor de Bonis made the journey to central New York where they encountered Robert Esche, the former NHL goalie, who was knee deep in a renovation at Utica’s beloved Memorial Auditorium.

“It was a mess,” says Gilman. “Rubble everywhere.”

But it would get better. For all concerned.

Five years later, the NHL team and this town in the Mohawk River Valley have forged a powerful relationship that stands at the centre of the newly imagined Canucks organization. The Aud — it’s official name is, ahem, the Adirondack Bank Centre at the Utica Memorial Auditorium, the Aud to locals — has sold out all 131 games since the franchise’s rebirth in 2013-14 and will sell out again for Wednesday’s Game 3 of the Comets-Toronto Marlies AHL playoff series. This has created an all-hockey, all-the-time environment and a level of accountability which the Canucks love and a huge economic generator for this city of just over 60,000.

The AHL — which is now, literally, all over the map — has seemingly outgrown these small, rust-belt towns, but something of its history lives on with the Comets. Yes, the Canucks’ agreement with the Comets expires at the end of next season, but there’s no reason to think this relationship won’t continue.

Just ask Trevor Linden.

“You think about the atmosphere you want your young players walking into,” says the Canucks’ president. “The results matter. The building is sold out every night. It’s a hockey atmosphere with snow on the ground. For me it’s a special place. I love what it represents.”

So do the players.

“It’s kind of an old-school hockey city,” says team captain Carter Bancks, a B.C. boy from Marysville. “When they got the team back five years ago they were really excited. They want to hold on to it. We feel that every single day.”

In Utica, Canucks prospects like Lukas Jasek, left, get to play in a charged pro-hockey atmosphere and have the support of veteran AHL players like Carter Bancks, right. Submitted / Utica Comets

This is Bancks’s fourth season with the Comets and he’s part of a leadership group the organization has carefully constructed to help mentor its young players. This playoff season Jonathan Dahlen, Lukas Jasek and Kole Lind have all arrived in Utica, where they figure to play next season under the tutelage of head coach Trent Cull and GM Ryan Johnson. They’ll be joined by another layer of high-end Canucks prospects and yet another level of young pros who could move up and down between Vancouver and Utica.

Collectively, that group represents the Canucks’ future and the development of those players is crucial to whatever hopes the team has of reversing its fortunes. Johnson and Cull will play huge roles there.

But so will this city and everything that comes with it.

The Aud is a jewel of a facility that offers every conceivable modern convenience and a few that are inconceivable for a town and venue (capacity: 3,924) this size. There are, for example, five bars on site and a fancy new restaurant being constructed. There are also seven suites, all with a sleek, polished look.

The Aud opened in 1960 and its futuristic cable-suspension ceiling was the inspiration for Madison Square Gardens.

Here’s another reason to love the rink. Scenes from Slap Shot were filmed here.

Esche, who knew Gilman from their days with the Phoenix Coyotes, was the driving force behind the original renovation in 2013 and a subsequent expansion last summer. A native of Utica, he’s tapped into some generous state funding — $10 million for the first go-round, $10 million more for the second — and he’s created “the heartbeat of the city,” according to Johnson.

“Robert has pushed the envelope,” says Johnson. “This was a last-minute throw together (in 2013) and it was like it had been up and running for 10 years.”

Utica, in fact, had an AHL franchise from 1987 to 1993 before the New Jersey Devils moved their affiliate to Albany. A series of teams then operated in second-tier minor leagues — the Bulldogs in the Colonial Hockey League, the Mohawk Valley Prowlers in the United Hockey League, the Mohawk Valley IceCats in the North Eastern Hockey League — before the Canucks came calling.

“It’s like Winnipeg,” says Linden. “They lost their team and felt they got cheated. And then they came back. It means a lot to them and their city.”

There are challenges. Utica is three time zones and 3,000 miles away from Vancouver, by far the greatest distance between an NHL team and its affiliate. This makes the transshipment of players an eight-hour, one-car-ride, three-airport ordeal.

Johnson counters the proximity to other AHL cities — the Comets play in a division with Toronto, Rochester, Syracuse, Binghamton, Belleville and Laval — means more practice days for the Comets and less time travelling. The Comets’ GM said his team had 69 full practice days this season, which doesn’t count game-day skates. The Canucks had 39.

“Say we put this in Abbotsford,” says Linden. “We’re going to lose half those practice days, flying in, flying out of YVR. I don’t know. I like this.”

Seems like the love affair between this team and their town won’t be ending any time soon.

[TomatoPieFan]

While the Utica Comets came up short in last season's Calder Cup finals, Utica's fans proved just how important we can be. Paul Bissonnette of the Manchester Monarchs told ESPN he was intimidated to play at the Utica Auditorium.

Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

 

In an article published on ESPN.com March 29, 2016, Bissonnette was asked if he had any interesting memories from his Championship run with the Manchester Monarchs (who have now relocated to Ontario, California), here is his response:

They had a crazy atmosphere in Utica. It was nuts. My parents were sitting behind a guy who had a prosthetic leg. When they would score, the guy behind him would fill it with beer and chug it out of the prosthetic leg. They were all over us. The most I've ever been intimidated [in] an opposing rink.

Since professional hockey came back to Utica in 2013, the Utica Auditorium has made a name as one of the loudest and most intense places to play in the AHL, and Bissonnette's comments now solidify that reputation.

 

[Noble 6]

2 hours ago, TomatoPieFan said:

While the Utica Comets came up short in last season's Calder Cup finals, Utica's fans proved just how important we can be. Paul Bissonnette of the Manchester Monarchs told ESPN he was intimidated to play at the Utica Auditorium.

Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

 

In an article published on ESPN.com March 29, 2016, Bissonnette was asked if he had any interesting memories from his Championship run with the Manchester Monarchs (who have now relocated to Ontario, California), here is his response:

They had a crazy atmosphere in Utica. It was nuts. My parents were sitting behind a guy who had a prosthetic leg. When they would score, the guy behind him would fill it with beer and chug it out of the prosthetic leg. They were all over us. The most I've ever been intimidated [in] an opposing rink.

Since professional hockey came back to Utica in 2013, the Utica Auditorium has made a name as one of the loudest and most intense places to play in the AHL, and Bissonnette's comments now solidify that reputation.

 

 

That's crazy 

 

I know it's tough to do with so many variables and moving parts, but I really want us to make a conscious effort to load up Utica next year. They should have a solid glut of prospects for the whole year with Lind, Jasek, Gadjovich, Brisebois, Chatfield, etc. down there for the whole year. Guys like Dahlen, Juolevi and Demko have a chance to split time between the two teams. Hopefully we can bring back some players like Chaput, Archibald and Boucher in addition to new guys like Lindholm potentially. I feel like it would be worth it for the Canucks, the prospects and for Utica to be the best it can be every year, but especially when we're trying to turn our organization over to the youth. 

[SilentSam]

3 hours ago, TomatoPieFan said:

While the Utica Comets came up short in last season's Calder Cup finals, Utica's fans proved just how important we can be. Paul Bissonnette of the Manchester Monarchs told ESPN he was intimidated to play at the Utica Auditorium.

Bruce Bennett, Getty Images

 

In an article published on ESPN.com March 29, 2016, Bissonnette was asked if he had any interesting memories from his Championship run with the Manchester Monarchs (who have now relocated to Ontario, California), here is his response:

They had a crazy atmosphere in Utica. It was nuts. My parents were sitting behind a guy who had a prosthetic leg. When they would score, the guy behind him would fill it with beer and chug it out of the prosthetic leg. They were all over us. The most I've ever been intimidated [in] an opposing rink.

Since professional hockey came back to Utica in 2013, the Utica Auditorium has made a name as one of the loudest and most intense places to play in the AHL, and Bissonnette's comments now solidify that reputation.

 

Sounds like the Charlestown Chiefs    Old time hockey.

[Rush17]

Next game tomorrow? Or Saturday?

 

ok i googled it myself back on pc for a min lol

 

4pm PST tomorrow and Sunday if needed at 1pm PST.