Comets Kick Off Two-Game Weekend at Home
The Kansas City Comets are on a two game winning streak that can grow to four after this weekend’s exhilarating games. Kansas City takes on the Orlando SeaWolves at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena tonight and then heads east to face the Baltimore Blast at SECU Arena on Sunday afternoon.
Tonight, the Comets host the Orlando SeaWolves for the second time this season. Orlando sits in fourth place in the South Central division with six wins and eight losses. The Comets (9-7) are in second place of the division. The last time the SeaWolves visited Kansas City, the Comets walked away with a 9-4 victory on February 24, which started Orlando’s current three game losing streak.
Eight of the nine goals came from the quartet of John Sosa, Kevin Ellis, Alain Matingou, and Anthony Grant. Sosa also added two assists on the game to add up to eight goals and fifteen assists for the 2018-2019 season. These offensive threats will help the Comets bring home two wins this weekend.
Leo Gibson, Kansas City’s leading scorer, had one goal against the SeaWolves and currently totals 21 goals and 22 assists. On the MASL leaderboards, he finds himself second in total points, tied for eighth in goals, and third in assists. His 2.7 points per game average is fourth best in the league.
Former Comets player, Elmo Neto was the one to watch out for in the February game after scoring one goal and gaining one assist. Surprisingly quiet during the match was team lead scorer, Gordy Gurson. He has 22 goals and 14 assists for the year, but did not score against the Comets. This was Gurson’s first game since December 14, 2018 that he did not score a goal. However, Kansas City will still need to be on the lookout for him this week.
Piotr Sliwa had eight saves against the Comets. To-date, he has a .554 save percentage and 6.98 goals against average. This will be in Kansas City’s favor if they can continue their goal scoring form from the past couple of games.
Kansas City is at the top of the special teams leaderboard, as of today. They have scored 20 power play goals thus far. The Comets maintain a .645 power play percent, which is one of only two teams in the MASL above .500 percent. Playing on their power play strengths will be key for both matches coming up for the Comets.
After the Comets kick-butt at home on Friday night, they travel to Baltimore to face the Blast on Sunday. The Baltimore Blast and Kansas City Comets have yet to meet up this season. Baltimore is 11-6 on the season and is in second place in the Eastern division of the MASL. Overall, the two teams have played 20 times and Baltimore has beat Kansas City in 14 games while the Comets have won six.
Jonatas Melo is Baltimore’s leading scorer with 16 goals and 9 assists. He has had a goal or an assist in every game this season except two. The Comets will have to keep up the stellar defense against him and the other Blast players in order to triumph.
Vinicius Dantas also has impressive numbers for Baltimore. He has recorded 15 goals and 8 assists this year. Last season when the Comets played the Blast on January 19, 2019, Dantas had four goals and one assist in Baltimore’s 15-8 win.
Kansas City will need to get past the Blasts’ goalkeeper, William Vanzela, to secure the victory. This will not be an easy feat as Vanzela has 4.29 goals against average, fourth best in the MASL. Also good for fourth on the leader board is his .725 save percent. He is tied for fourth in the league with 10 wins.
The Comets aim to bring home two victories this weekend. The quest starts on Friday night at Silverstein Eye Centers Arena. The match begins at 7:35 PM CT. Come see the action live by purchasing tickets available at Ticketmaster.com and KCComets.com. As always, feel free to follow along on Twitter (@KCComets) and Facebook (Kansas City Comets). Sunday’s match starts at 3:00 PM ET/2:00 PM CT. Both games will be broadcast on MASL.tv.