April Fool, World! Utica is Back on Top
By Jay Flemma, Special to Facewash Magazine
UTICA, NY – If it’s an April Fools joke, it’s on everyone who ever kicked Utica when it was down: With a 5-1 smearing of the Rochester Americans on Wednesday and losses by Adirondack Flames, Toronto Marlies, and Hamilton Bulldogs over the next 24 hours, the Utica Comets ended a 22 year AHL-playoff drought for the region’s devoted hockey fans, setting off jubilation on Genesee and Varick Streets that went on long into the night. The Comets went wire-to-wire, leading the Western Conference North Division from day one of the season and now gallop towards the playoffs winners of eight straight, while scoring four goals or more in each game.
“They’ve been tremendous, especially the recent stretch of home games. They are totally killing it,” explained AWITP correspondent Hannah Fiorenza. “They got ahead early, kept the pressure on, and coasted to victory – total control from the drop of the puck. That’s how you head into the playoffs.”
The Rochester rout looked much like the entire month of March, which saw the Comets go 9-2-1 turning an ever-tightening division race into a romp and a rise to the top of the Conference standings as we go to press. The Comets scored first, (Hunter Shinkaruk tallied a power play goal while Tom Coyne was still announcing Michael Pelach’s interference penalty…how’s that for adding insult to injury?), then the Comets blew the game open, (newly-signed U. Maine star Ben Hutton and sharp-shooter Sven Baertschi added goals before five minutes elapsed in the second period), then the Comets put the game away, slowly squeezing the Americans with sleeper-hold defense and the ever present threat of another explosive counter-attack. At the right time to strike, Alexander Grenier scored early in the third to make it 4-1. Baertschi, (pronounced “BARE-chee”), netted his second with 2:51 left for the final tally.
That’s what’s been missing all season until now – that killer instinct to finish a team, put them away for good, rather than let them hang around. The cardiac Comets had been setting AHL record after AHL record for one-goal games, but since the trading deadline new acquisitions have added the offensive firepower that have turned the Comets from plucky upstarts to downright dominant – a fitting reflection of the iron will and steely nerve of their coach Travis Green.
“This is the best we’ve seen them all year long,” stated Comets beat writer Don Laible.
“They’re not letting their foot off the gas: all four lines for 60 minutes,” added Utica Observer-Dispatch writer John Piterresi, and both he and Laible are right. That’s the mindset needed at this level, and that’s the stoic leadership and guarded optimism that has the Comets looking forward to the playoffs, but not relaxing in the slightest.
“We’re happy to win the North Division, but know we have more work to do to make this season a special one,” said team Captain Cal O’Reilly. “Playoff hockey is a different animal, and we know our team, our fans, and our building are all built for this.”
It’s the addition of the new faces that have also made the Comets a different animal. Baerschi – who to the disappointment of Utica fans was called back up to parent Vancouver yesterday – added goals, Cory Conacher plays far taller than his seemingly small size would dictate, Hutton scored his first professional goal in his first professional game, and defenseman Adam Clendening further solidifies a suffocating defense…and they all add depth and chemistry
“The new guys are fitting in with the hallmarks and trademarks of our team,” Coach Green said. “They were a real good shot in the arm for us…they adapted well to the team, but the rest of thee team has stepped up their game as well….and [that] allows the new players to been comfortable in the locker room.”
“It was like what happens when you give Popeye spinach – someone gets steamrolled,” added hockey fan and commentator Rodney Zilla. “Over last weekend they totally dismantled two solid, play-off quality teams in Oklahoma City and Rockford. Those two teams led their respective divisions almost the entire season and the Comets skated circles around them at times.”
Take, for example, the 18-3 shots on goal advantage the Comets had over the Barons in the first period of their 4-2 in at the Aud last Friday night.
“The time of possession stat had to resemble the shots on goal because the Comets played the entire period in the Barons’ end,” explained Zilla. “Watching them swarm relentlessly like they did, you just knew they were waiting to explode, and the next thing you knew, it was 4-0.”
Now the Comets carry the entire region into the AHL playoffs for the first time since the 1993 season when the Utica Devils were ousted 4-1 in the first round by the Americans. The area hasn’t celebrated a championship since the EHL’s Clinton Comets won their third consecutive league championship in 1970.
45 years…that’s a lot of long, cold, snowy winters in between popping champagne corks, and the fans are eager to erase four and half decades of frustration.
“What they’ve done for this city is incredible,” said local lawyer and fervent hockey fan Joe Giruzzi. “The whole area has gotten behind them and it has us all excited and energized.”
The feeling’s mutual. The Comets have sold out the Aud a record 24 times already this season. At times, it sounds like a rock concert, and the Comets are making the most of the fans’ ardor, feeding off the energy and making the season a symbiotic and vicarious joyride.
“The fans and community have been on the same page with us all season long. We try to be the hardest working team in the league, and they are the hardest cheering fans. They love coming to see us every single day, win or lose, and we battle to the last second of the game for them,” added fan favorite Darren Archibald, who scored twice against Rockford on Saturday night. “We’ve been through some roller-coasters – it’s a long season – but they’ve welcomed us and made us feel comfortable here since day one, and when you have that behind you, it’s easy to give a huge team effort every night. They deserve a long playoff run, and I hope we can give it to them.”
Stanley Cup-winning hockey coach Dan Bylsma once said every team needs “the piece” – that last player or two that adds the one facet to the team that they were lacking to be completely well rounded. It’s the new offensive firepower that’s invigorated the power play, (nine goals in thee last eight games), ignited counter-attacks, added depth, and solidified the lines. It’s elevated everyone’s game, especially the trio of Grenier-O’Reilly-Shinkaruk, which saw O’Reilly put up a ten game point streak, Grenny tally 12 points, and Shinky score goals in each of his last four games.
“And the scary thing is the Comets are doing it without [Jacob] Markstrom, the All-star goalie that got called up to the Canucks when Ryan Miller got hurt on that freak collision,” added Zilla. “Joe Cannata had huge wins over Syracuse and Rockford, including 35 saves against the Ice Hogs, and Jokey’s [Joacim Eriksson’s] parents were in all the way from Sweden to watch him in net for the wins against the Barons and Amerks.
On a side note: Hey Jokey! Where’d you take your parents out in Utica?
“We went for sushi at Sumo,” he giggled sheepishly.
Not very Italian, but hey, if they win a Calder Cup I think all the Giruzzis, Zillas, Venturas, and Delmonicos will have no problem celebrating with sake bombs and eel cucumber rolls too, for one night at least.
BONUS! TREVOR LINDEN QUELLS RUMOR FRANCHISE MIGHT MOVE, CONFIRMS COMETS WILL STAY AT LEAST TWO MORE YEARS
Back on Valentine’s Day we here at Facewash Magazine debunked the rumor that the Comets were headed west in this article: http://jayflemma.wpengine.com/?p=6381.
But rumor loves to make the hearer’s flesh creep, and everyone wants to seem clued in, so the rumor continued that the Canucks were moving the affiliate – this time the New York Rangers were supposed to step in, moving the Hartford Wolfpack to Utica.
“it make sense,” sad one fan. “The Rangers will help them draw attendance.”
What??!! That makes no sense because the Comets are already setting records for sellouts. That’s just some Rangers fan trying to sell refrigerators to Eskimos.
But don’t take our word for it…Canucks President of hockey operations Trevor Linden was in Utica for the win over the Amerks and unequivocally stated the Comets were here for the next two years.
“We’re gonna be here next year no question, we’re gonna be here the year after. The fact that people care here and that our players love playing here, it’s a great facility, it’s a great atmosphere, that’s super important to us,” confirmed Linden. “And the proximity of this team with their competition is important as well….you can bus a couple hours and hit six or seven different teams, and that’s important. More rest, more time to work out…there’s a lot of positives…and we’re on the road half the time and if we needs a player and we’re out east, it hasn’t been a problem. This is a pretty special place to play….Robert [Esche] has done a tremendous job with this organization, and we couldn’t be happier.”
The Comets are in the second year of a six year deal with Vancouver.
