Aeros vs. Rockford, The Prelude

I am not sure how much energy the Aeros spent losing to both Quad City and San Antonio earlier this weekend, but winning today against Rockford, who did not play anywhere yesterday, is going to to very difficult.

Stranger things have happened, but this has a completely lost weekend look to it.

Here is my recap from the Chronicle. I was at the game in San Antonio last night, and it was just more of the same from an Aeros team that just does not generate enough offense when they other team wants to play dirty, physical or a combination of the two. And if you get a chance to read the story, you'll notice a rare insult. Normally I don't do that, especially publicly, but I thought it was warranted considering how big the game was, and how poorly the team fared against a last-place team.

Steve Goertzen got things started on his cheap boarding play that led to his dismissal and eventually the Aeros only goal of the game. But there were many other plays throughout the game that were obvious cheap shots. It was like the Rampage were just waiting until referee Jeff Smith was out of position before throwing the wayward elbow, etc.

Although I don't condone that kind of play, it does work with certain teams. The Aeros don't want to be one of those certain teams, especially now that the division bottom-feeders are now getting closer, closer and closer.

If they aren't too careful, and don't start showing a little more passion pretty soon, they are going to be in a word of you-know-what.

The keys to Sunday's game are surviving the first period when Rockford is going to blitz, getting good goaltending from Nolan and scoring the first two goals of the game. Get the IceHogs out of it from the get-go will help snap this weekend's funk.

I would like to see Kolanos step up his game tonight. He, especially when Tony Hrkac starts playing, is going to be the key to the how well the Aeros do down the proverbial stretch.