Comets Regain Top Record in AHL Behind Fourth Markstrom Shut-out
By Jay Flemma – Special to Facewash Magazine
UTICA, NY – The AHL is going to have to start a peer support group for league goalies called Markstrom Anonymous or “Mark-anon.”
“Hello, my name is Andy, and my team was shut-out by Jacob Markstrom.…”
“Hi Andy.”
“Hi my name is Dan, and my team was shut-out by Jacob Markstrom…”
“Hi Dan.”
Seriously, it’s become a league wide epidemic. In six games Markstrom has won five times and shut-out four opponents – four quality opponents at that.. He was the AHL’s Goalie of the Month, and he came within 31 minutes of the league all-time record for consecutive shutout minutes. The Binghamton Senators were his latest victims, blanked 1-0 by Markstrom and the rest of the Utica Comets last night at the Utica Aud. With the victory, the Comets regained sole possession of first place in the AHL’s Western Conference and opened up a six point lead over the Rochester Americans in the North Division. They also reclaimed the AHL’s best record at 8-1-2 (18 points).
The game was vintage Markstrom, and he pulled out all his tricks on his way to 19 saves. A Sens defenseman’s slapshot was all but invisible as it streaked towards the goal, but there was Markstrom deftly flicking it aside with the stick. Or perhaps all of a sudden – Total Hell! – It’s a 2-on-NONE! But there’s Markstrom sending the wrist shot wide of goal where the Comets’ hard-digging defensemen retake possession of the puck and send Utica attacking on the counter. Or then there’s my personal favorite – five enemy players crashing the net slashing with their sticks, pushing and shoving, slapping at anything thing that even looks remotely like a puck – yet when the scrum in the goalmouth clears, there’s Markstrom spread eagled perfectly on the ice, the toes of his skates attached like glue to the goal posts, puck tucked safely in his glove.
And when he stands up and tosses the puck to the ref, the roar in the Aud is deafening. He waves his stick in acknowledgement, and the place erupts again.
“They love to love him there. They know hockey in Utica, and they know they are seeing an elite player at the absolute top of his game giving them virtuoso performance after virtuoso performance,” explained hockey expert Bruce Moulton. “He’s what I call ‘The Piece’ – that guy on the team that not only elevates them to the highest echelon, but completes them, so they have top-end skill at every position. The way he and the Comets are playing, they are right to have high hopes in Utica. It’s going to be a fun winter up there.”
Meanwhile Markstrom was his typical team-first self in his post-game presser.
“From the puck drop our D was great getting the puck up the ice and opening up our game, and the result was they didn’t get many shots,” he said. “We blocked shots, we were in the shooting lane, and when we did give up shots it was from the outside. The guys did a great job all night.”
They did indeed, as they have done all season. There’s plenty of offensive skill and blistering speed, (which wins games and sells tickets), but goaltending and defense win championships. Utica has both. The Comets can light up the scoreboard or they can win bruising street fight-style games as they did last night, needing only a Niklas Jensen wrister at 13:41 of the first period to top the Sens. With their mix of styles and both breadth and depth throughout the line-up, the Comets lead the entire AHL in goal differential, (a whopping +14). They are second in goals surrendered, (a paltry 17 in 11 games), and they are fifth in the league in the penalty kill.
“We don’t take many penalties, so the kill is really fresh,” Markstrom observed, and he was right. Binghamton had only one power play opportunity all night, (though there were two rowdy fights and Comets forward Darren Archibald and Sens defenseman Michael Sdoa took matching unsportsmanlike conduct penalties).
Meanwhile, the Comets are also turning heads for the innovative system of alternating starting goalies. Forget home-or-away records, throw out goals against stats, and tell “conventional thinking” to take a flying leap. Travis Green just keeps it simple: Marky-Jokey-Marky-Jokey-Marky-Jokey.
Sounds like a dance craze – Everybody do the Marky-Jokey!
Still, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it, and Utica leads the AHL, so no one’s complaining. Musical goalies? It’s more like interchangeable goalies. Plus it has the added benefit of giving everyone peace of mind – a rhythm they can rely on. With Eriksson playing almost as brilliantly as Markstrom, a team can ask itself “Which goalie’s turn is it against us?” all it wants, but it really doesn’t matter.
“Joacim’s been playing unbelievable, really great hockey,” explained Markstrom, quick to praise a friend he’s known for years. “Me and Jokey go way back. We played junior hockey [in Sweden]. We’d see each other every summer…nothing’s changed. We have two really great goalies, it’s great competition in practice. It makes you want to play great in games,”
Then Markstrom smiled even more broadly and summed up the team’s winning attitude succinctly:
“This system works great. It’s about winning hockey games. If you’re in, you’re in. And if you’re not, you support the guys from this side.”
Now Comets fans are daring to hope that this is the beginning of some separation between themselves and the rest of the competition in the North Division so they could cruise to a playoff spot while also securing home ice advantage throughout the playoffs. (Rochester (6-4) is second in the North, six points back.)
Meanwhile Binghamton goalie Andy Hammond leaves Utica a hard-luck loser. He had a terrific night too, stopping 33 shots, many of them as acrobatic as Markstrom. He and the Sens (3-6-2, 8 pts.) will return to Binghamton tied for last in the Eastern Conference and the East division with the Norfolk Admirals, the Anaheim Ducks affiliate. They won’t see the Comets again until February 8th at the Aud.
Barring anything unforeseen, (like someone getting called up or hurt), they’ll face Joacim Eriksson that day. That’s how much you can set your watch by Travis Green’s goaltender generating system.
Oh well, at least after that game they won’t have to return to the support group meeting for coffee, donuts, “Hi, My name is ____, and I got shut out again, and stories of nightmares where Marky goes all Karl Wallenda on them in goal.
COMING ATTRACTIONS
Now the Comets take to the road for games against the Lake Erie Monsters and Rochester Americans.
“Lake Erie Monsters?” asked some nubile little minx as she proofread the article for me at Swifty’s, her lemonade margarita in one hand, fake Versace purse in the other. “That’s kind of non-descript. Exactly what kind of monster are they?”
That’s a good question, as team branding can’t seem to make up its mind. The logo and unis show a water creature half submerged in a murky current, so you never really get a good look at it. (Isn’t that always the case with legendary water monsters?) Between its snout and its eyes, it may be some sort of aquatic elephant-dragon hybrid. This dubious submerged water creature is supposed to refer to an equally-dubious local legend named “South Bay Bessie,” although that sounds more like a girl from Boston who gets around too much.
The Lake Erie mascot, on the other hand, is completely different: some angry, muscle-bound sea gull with sneakers. It looks like a juiced up stork if you ask me…take the Miami Hurricanes mascot, and feed him nothing but winsterol, clomid, trenbolone, and HGH for three years and that’s what you have roaming the stands in Cleveland. I’m told his name is “Sully.” (Short for Sullivan C. Goal” (Get it? Sea gull?) As Derek Smalls said, there’s a fine line between clever and…you know…
Hello? Branding department? You’re all fired, and we’re sending in the monkeys.
Then Utica returns home for two games against the Chicago Wolves, the St. Louis Blues’ affiliate. The as yet still-unidentified Monsters are the affiliate of the Colorado Avalanche, while the Amerks are the Sabres farm team.
