By Tim Ubels (Contributor) – Email
Print Edition: January 29, 2014
Twenty-three-year-old Utica Comets keeper Joacim Eriksson may have been the difference in net this weekend, but it was Benn Ferriero who provided game-winning overtime goals in back-to-back contests, extending the team’s unbeaten streak against the Abbotsford Heat to six games.
Playing in front of a nearly packed house on Friday and Saturday, the Heat had their eye on top spot in the West, but were foiled by the great play of Eriksson, who stopped 59 of 62 shots over the weekend.
Despite sloppy play and a number of poor turnovers, the Heat’s first period had some highlights. Aldergrove native Jordan Kremyr, playing in his first home-province game after an ECHL call-up, laid out Comets defenseman Yann Sauve in the Comets’ end. The Heat’s best chance came from Markus Granlund, who was stoned by Eriksson with the glove hand to keep it scoreless through the first period.
Eriksson brought the fans to their feet once again at 5:24 of the second period, as a loose puck made its way in front of the Comets’ goal and onto the stick of Sven Baertschi. The only thing standing between Baertschi and a surefire goal was the goalstick of Eriksson, who miraculously made contact with the puck. The goal horn sounded, the referee signalled a goal, and the Heat began to celebrate the icebreaker.
But after about a minute of confusion on the ice, the referee reviewed the goal, ruled that the puck never crossed the line, and waived it off. Undaunted, the Heat kept pressing.
Max Reinhart, who briefly left the game for stitches in the first period, returned in the second and was blanked by Eriksson on several occasions. The most notable of these was a clear-cut breakaway Reinhart had near the end of the period. Heat defenseman Chris Breen feathered a perfect tape-to-tape pass to Reinhart at the Comets blueline, but Eriksson was there to turn the chance aside with his pad.
After a generally unremarkable third period of scoreless action, the two teams picked up a single point and prepared for sudden-death overtime. It wasn’t long before Benn Ferriero sauntered off the corner boards and whizzed the winner over Joni Ortio’s shoulder to end the scoreless draw and seal the victory for the Comets.
After the game, Heat coach Troy G. Ward remarked that the team wasn’t very good fundamentally on Friday night, citing that the rust from being inactive for a week was hard to shake. He complimented the 6’6 Breen, commenting that in the first period, “he made more saves than Orts.” Breen, who was named the game’s third star, blocked shots and cleared pucks all game long, arguably playing his best game of the season.
On Saturday night, the Heat attempted to end their losing skid facing the Comets once again, but fell behind early as Utica forward Brandon DeFazio was the beneficiary of a lucky bounce off the endboards, registering his fifth of the year to open the scoring at 2:05 into the first frame. The teams then exchanged goals, with the Heat’s coming from Granlund on the powerplay. His top-corner wrist shot counted as their first goal on Eriksson in almost three games, dating back to the two teams’ mid-December meetings.
Brett Olson momentarily gave the Heat the 3-2 led in the third period after a great individual effort led to his first point in the 13 games. After the game Olsen said that it felt good to get “the proverbial monkey off the back.” Ward added that Olsen was nearly a healthy scratch, but ended up getting the call for the Heat and delivered. Soon after Olson’s goal, Comets forward Pascal Pelletier took advantage of a defensive miscue between John Ramage and netminder Joey MacDonald, feeding the puck out to Alexandre Grenier for the easy tally. Ferriero wired his 15th of the season past MacDonald in overtime, giving the Comets the weekend sweep, who are now rolling with four consecutive victories.
In other news, Heat defenseman Mark Cundari has been officially loaned out to the Chicago Wolves in exchange for centre Corey Locke. This deal will see Cundari returned to the Flames organization at the end of the season, but Locke will stay with the Heat. The move solves both teams’ problems, as the Heat have a surplus of defenseman looking to dress every night, while the Wolves have too many veterans on their team every night, resulting in a number of unnecessary healthy scratches for both teams. Locke, who heard about the trade on Thursday, travelled all day and all night to get in the lineup for Friday night’s matchup and said he was excited to get into a game.
The Heat will look for the first win of their eight-game home-stand against the Hamilton Bulldogs next Friday at the AESC. The game starts at 7 p.m.
