Photo credit: Scott Kinville/315 Hockey
By Scott Kinville/315 Hockey.
The Utica Comets (0-1-0-0, 0 pts, last in the North Division), have had an interesting week. Amidst much fanfare, they played their first game at home for the 2022-23 season on Monday night against the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins. It was a festive atmosphere, as the team held a pregame fan fest and raised their 2021-22 North Division Regular Season championship banner to the rafters in a ceremony just before puck drop.
Utica Comets vs Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Three Observations 10-17-2022
As everyone knows, that game was not completed that night and will resume on January 24th. What lies ahead for the Comets now is a Friday night date at home against North division rival the Cleveland Monsters (2-0-0-0, 4 pts, second place in the North Division). This is the first of eight meetings between the two teams this season, last season the Comets won the season series 5-1-1-1. Last season, the Monsters missed the playoffs with a record of 28-35-8-5.
On Monday night veteran forward Andreas Johnsson made his Utica Comets debut. The twenty-seven-year-old forward is a veteran of 246 NHL games and was assigned to the Comets by the New Jersey Devils last Saturday. On Monday, the Devils sent even more help to Utica in the form of forward Tyce Thompson. The twenty-three-year-old Thompson played in sixteen regular season games for the Comets last season, notching six goals and nine assists. He also played in all five of Utica’s playoff games as well, where he recorded one goal and one assist. He has been practicing with the Comets this week and could make his season debut against the Monsters.
With the 2022-23 season being so young, there isn’t a large sample size of statistics for either team as of yet. According to https://theahl.com, the Comet’s individual statistics from Monday night’s suspended game count, while the game itself will not show up in the standings until it is officially completed. Without further adieu, here is how the Utica Comets and Cleveland Monsters stack up against each other going into their game on Friday night.
Offense
Utica Comets Team Statistics
- Goals For: 3.
- Shots: 33.
- Power Play: 16.7% (1 for 6).
Utica Comets Individual Leaders
- Goals: Brian Pinho, Nick Hutchinson, and Nolan Foote with one each.
- Assists: six tied with one each.
- Points: Brian Pinho with two.
- Shots: Mason Geertsen with four.
Cleveland Monsters Team Statistics
- Goals For: 11.
- Shots: 72.
- Power Play: 0% (0 for 4).
Cleveland Monsters Individual Leaders
- Goals: Kirill Marchenko with three.
- Assists: Trey Fix-Wolansky and Brendan Gaunce with three each.
- Points: Kirill Marchenko and Trey Fix-Wolansky with four each.
- Shots: Trey Fix-Wolansky with nine.
Defense/Goaltending
Utica Comets
- Goals Against: 4.
- Penalty Kill: 60% (3 for 5).
Goaltending:
- Nico Daws: a record of 0-0-0 (only appearance this season is the suspended game, 1.61 GAA, and 0.950 save percentage.
- Akira Schmid: a record of 0-1-0, 2.05 GAA, 0.909 save percentage.
Cleveland Monsters
- Goals Against: 9.
- Penalty Kill: 42.9% (3 for 7).
Goaltending:
- Jet Greaves: a record of 2-0-0, 4.16 GAA, and 0.870 save percentage.
- Pavel Cajan: no appearances or statistics thus far for the 2022-23 season.
Friday night’s game between the Utica Comets and Cleveland Monsters at the Adirondack Bank Center is scheduled to begin at 7:00 pm EDT. Television coverage will be on AHLTV beginning at 7, and radio coverage begins at 6:45 with the pregame show on WKLL, 94.9 K-Rock.
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