COMETS FALL TO AMBUSH 6-3 TO END REGULAR SEASON

by Pete Richmire

INDEPENDENCE, MO. – The Comets (13-9-1) hosted the St Louis Ambush (10-12-2) to conclude their 2021-22 regular-season schedule and dropped a 6-3 decision Sunday at Cable Dahmer Arena. The outcome did not affect the playoff positioning for the Comets as they will match up with the Dallas Sidekicks in the Ron Newman Cup Playoff Quarterfinals.

To open scoring with the only goal of the first quarter, Ray Lee sent a pass to Rian Marques, who converted to become the third Comet player to reach the 20-goal milestone this season. His marker made it a 1-0 Kansas City lead and the teams went to the second quarter with that score.

24 minutes passed between the first goal and the second. With 2:54 left in the half, Lucas Sousa fired a laser on a restart from the sideline near the right boards and beat Ambush keeper Eduardo Cortes to the upper left corner for a 2-0 Kansas City lead.

This time, only 26 seconds elapsed between goals as the Ambush got on the board on a goal from Lucas Almeida and the first half ended with the Comets leading St. Louis by a 2-1 margin.

With their playoff chances on the line, the St. Louis Ambush woke up after the break and went on a run in the third quarter. They scored all five goals in the frame, including two by William Eskay to take a 5-2 lead into the final quarter.

The Comets snapped the Ambush run when Nicolau Neto sent a long outlet pass to Marques who moved to the right around a St. Louis defender and sent home a goal from just outside the box to put the score at 5-3 in favor of the Ambush with 8:13 to play in the game.

St. Louis picked up the final goal of the game from San Guernsey to secure the 6-3 win.

Next up for the Comets will be the first game of the playoff series in Dallas on Saturday, April 9 at 7 pm CDT. The series will shift to Cable Dahmer Arena on Tuesday, April 12 at 7 pm to decide which team will advance to the Ron Newman Cup Playoff Semifinals.

SCORING SUMMARY

1st – KC Marques (Lee) 2:45. Penalties – STL Eskay (bc- tripping) 13:44.

2nd – KC Sousa 2:54; STL Almeida (Berry) 12:32. Penalties – KC Anderaos (bc- kicking) 5:56; KC Sandivari (yc- dissent) 12:32.

3rd – STL Almeida (Junqueira) 4:35; STL Eskay (Karidis) 5:13; STL Kristo (Eskay) 10:27; STL Eskay 12:12. Penalties – None.

4th – KC Marques (Neto) 6:47; STL Guernsey (Kranz) 13:04. Penalties – KC Neto (bc- tripping) 1:53.

Power Play – Comets 0/1, St. Louis 0/2

Penalty Minutes – Comets 9, St. Louis 2

Shots – Comets 35, St. Louis 27

Attendance – 2,538