View from the pressbox; Peoria, March 21

No matter how you slice this one up, huge win.
The Aeros normally don't play well when they have a lot of time off, but that certainly was not the case Saturday. Former NHL goalie Manny Legace was the ONLY reason this game was not 4-1 or 5-1.

So one bad turnover by Max Noreau and Justin Falk led to the Rivermen's only goal. For the record, I think it was bad goal by Schaefer, but then again, there is no way I make that save either :)

Legace had no chance to stop Beaudoin's tying score, and Lammers made a good feed to the net and Rynzar finished the game-winner. After that, Legace was brilliant as the Aeros dominated with chance after chance after chance.

With less than two minutes to go, a Rivermen player ran Corey Locke by the Aeros bench and John Lammers retaliated and got sent to the box with 1:07 to go for unsportsmanlike conduct. Luckily, the Rivermen did not convert the 6-on-4, and the Aeros (who CANNOT hit the empty net to save their collective asses) held on for the victory.

They now lead Peoria by two for second and Chicago, who lost in a shootout tonight, by three.

The Aeros did not get help from Manitoba and Quad City tonight, so the division race just got a whole lot tighter making Sunday's game even bigger for both the Aeros and Rivermen.

The three stars tonight were Ryznar, Schaefer and Legace.
I have no problem with that, except I would have flip-flopped Legace and Schaefer.

The Aeros have 12 games left, so just for the sake of arguing, let's say they go 6-6 down the stretch.(Completely possible given this team's lack of being able to play well on the road.) If they do that, they end up with 89 points.

To catch them, Peoria would need 14 points in their last 10 games (7-3)
To catch them, Rockford would need 15 points in their last 11 games (7-3-1-0)
To catch them, Chicago would need to get 15 points in their last nine games (7-1-0-1)

It is clear that the Aeros would have to really tank the last few weeks for them not to end up with the No. 2 seed and home ice advantage in the first round.

--Aeroscribe