Fans Ask “Is it our Time?” as Plucky Comets Steal Another win
By Jay Flemma, Special to Facewash Magazine
UTICA, NY – This was game the fans had been waiting for. This was the moment of truth: that gut-check, dig-deep, “go out there and take it” win that eluded local teams for forty-five years.
This was the kind of game four and a half decades of other Utica teams always seemed to lose. They’d pull a Jets or Bills or Mets and flush a big lead late, leaving the fans snarling and sniping as they drove home.
Same old Utica? Well not any more.
Last night the Comets showed their mettle, their desire, their resolve: wresting a 4-3 win away from an excellent Chicago Wolves club that had battled back from a 3-1 deficit by relentlessly dominating play in the third period. With just 3:38 showing on the clock Comets winger Hunter Shinkaruk dumped a loose puck into the Wolves end which bounded like a football through sticks, skates, and pads before trickling into the net behind goalie Matt Climie.
“I got the puck at the red line, and just wanted to get it in deep, get it in play in their end,” Shinkaruk recalled, a sheepish grin spreading across his face. “I was getting hit, and it was kind of a rolling puck and bouncing, and with those you never really know, and it bounced around and went in the net. I just turned to my teammates and smiled.”
“It was a dirty goal,” Chigago winger Dmitri Jaskin bitterly griped. “Nothing else to say about that, it was a hole in the ice. We had more chances….they got the dirtier bounce, that’s all.”
Then he got even more bitter. When one reporter observed that the two teams might meet again in the playoffs, Jaskin responded, “Hopefully not. I don’t want to see them again.”
Comets fans might well wish the same thing, as the Wolves – the AHL affiliate of the surging St. Louis Blues – seem a mirror image of the Comets with one critical improvement – their passing skills are much better. They can match the Comets’ speed and skill, they play the same smothering defense, and swarm to the net, banging and bruising, slapping at any loose puck. Chicago is unquestionably the best team the Aud has seen this season, followed by San Antonio. On their heels for most the game, the Comets were fortunate to survive wave after wave of Chicago attack…doubly so after squandering a two goal lead in the third period.
The Comets opened the scoring just 32 seconds into the game when Brandon DeFazio tucked a penalty shot just over the line past Climie.
“I thought I had more time than I did, and he [Chicago center Kellan Lain] hooked me as I was shooting. He got me right in the ribs right in front of the ref. On the penalty shot I got a fortunate bounce,” DeFazio explained, describing a goal that was initially waived off by linesman Matt Brady, but was upheld by referee Chris Brown after he, Brady, and linesman Francis Trempe huddled behind the goal for a wait-a-minute-what-did-you-see conference.
“It only trickled over the line for second, and the Wolves goalie swept it out of there pretty quick,” said one Comets insider. But the goal judge lit the lamp, and they don’t make mistakes like that.” He’s right. Brown was right on the spot, and when the refs got together that quickly, you knew he saw it differently and had a better angle. Brady’s view was blocked by Clinie.
The Comets lead swelled to 3-1 after Shinkaruk and forward Alexander Grenier scored 2:25 apart in the middle of the second period. Both goals came on deflections, as the Comets found a gear they didn’t have in the first 29 minutes when they were outshot 20-9 by the Wolves. Zooming past the Wolves like they were standing still, it looked like the typical Utica win this season. Grind, work, pass, and transition until they take the lead, then slowly strangle the other team until they are too worn down to fight back.
But Chicago fought back, and buoyed by two third period goals, they had all the momentum before Shinkaruk’s dump turned into a seeing-eye rabbit scampering into the net.
It was the kind of game Utica always used to lose and lose depressingly. Sometimes it might even trigger a multi-game skid.
But his team is different.
“I’m so proud of these guys and how hard they work,” Comets coach Travis Green remarked earlier. “Everyone is pulling together and their details are sharp. They are winning battles for pucks, putting sticks in lanes, covering the right place, keeping the goalie’s view clear, and blocking shots. Guys are buying in and working together, and that’s what winning teams do.”
