Aeros v. Icehogs 3/15 - The Final Countdown

Yesterday's game couldn't have been a more important regular season game if it tried. And boy, did it ever look grim there for a while. I've been harping on Kolanos a lot this weekend, and deservedly so, but he was spectacular last night.

I'm normally running "on time" to games, but with the season winding down, and the prospect of no games to go to looming large and sad before me, I've been getting there earlier just to soak it all in. In doing so, I've caught a couple of warmups, which I think are pretty fun to watch.

Yesterday, I happened to notice in particular that Kolanos was really picking those corners off nicely when he was putting practice shots on the net, and I thought, "I bet we get to see some of that tonight." And indeed we did. I see he got 2nd star of the night for the AHL, too.

I also noticed Khudobin and the rest of the guys doing the little "crowd the net and throw the puck at Dimples until someone gets the puck past him" game. He actually kept it out for a really long time, which impressed the hell out of me, but I also noticed that the guys were looking pretty loose, laughing and razzing each other, which was nice to see. Though it didn't change my prediction that the Aeros were going to get shut out. Stoner and Beaudoin shut me up in a hurry on that one.

Speaking of Stoner, John gave Irms the super secret star of the game, which I can't argue with at all, but I also felt like Stoner had a terrific game and deserves the defensive super secret star of the game. And I do think Locker should have gotten one of the stars of the game, as he got the party started in the second that triggered the final three goals.

And even though I said yesterday's game couldn't have been more important, the harsh reality is, every single game matters a whole hell of a lot right now. The team cannot afford their usual long-layoff rust on Saturday. Peoria has 5 games in 7 days, with the Aeros right in the middle. They may be a bit tired (and probably a bit beat up, since they'll have San Antonio on Wednesday and Thursday), but they'll NOT be rusty.