Well, apparently Manitoba WAS rusty last night, but they're so good it just didn't matter. Because tonight, they simply dominated in their 5-2 victory over an Aeros team that played like the fatigue is getting to them physically and mentally.
The Aeros may have been hitting harder and more often, and that works great on teams full of young guys are who easily rattled or have shaky confidence, but all it's going to do against Manitoba is put them on the power play.
And it did. Most irksome is that Pouliot and Kolanos each had 4 minutes of penalties and Locke had 2. It's one thing for grinders to be in the box; it's another for those guys. Granted, Manitoba's probably taking more liberties with them as they're the scoring threats, but you gotta use your playoff brain here and not put your team in such difficult straights.
I'm gonna go out on a limb and guess that what we saw tonight wasn't Constantine's game plan. And that if they don't get on board with the game plan, this team is going to be saluting the fans from center ice Wednesday night instead of Friday as I predicted.
This just isn't fun hockey, folks. I hate to see the plane go down this way. Here's hoping the tailspin gets under control at least a little bit when the boys come home.
And unless he's injured (checking with the Aeros on this), I still think Love should be playing. I mean, it's not like everybody and their dog isn't already taking dumb penalties. I'm not on the team, so I can really say this is anything other than an observer's hunch, but I think he's important to the chemistry of this team. With that in mind and maybe a little pain in my own heart, I'll play John for the night and send us out with a little music:
Saturday, May 16, 2009
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11 comments:
This was Moose hockey at it's best. They took advantage of a tired hockey team and as much skill guys as the Aeros have, I think the fatigue factor is the biggest thing. The Moose are well conditioned and the 9 day break is paying dividends. GO MOOSE!
Third game in four nights following a full month of every-other-day, grinding playoff hockey. Think it may have played a part in tonight's game?
who leads the league in come from behind Ws Aeros so there for I don't expect the daum quit to come in to place here. I am still expecting game 7 Wich is OT in this scenario
Tired and out of adrenalin? Yes, it was a gruelling schedule for younger team like Aeros stacked up against a 'seasoned team', however I heard a lot about activity by Grabner, a player as young as most Aeros.
I still cannot understand the reasoning behind a back to back game schedule, so very much to the Moose's advantage-home ice to boot.
Who makes these decisions? Did they want to give the Moose 2 'sell out days'? And to h... with the opponents' physical condition?
Somebody enlighten me on that harebrained scheduling!
Damn it. I go across the Atlantic for a weekend and these guys just fall apart. I guess it's a good thing I will be there on Monday, though somebody is going to have to keep awake.
BTB, I wager they try to get games on Fri and Sat nights in the playoffs to get bigger crowds. The League gets a firm cut of playoff ticket sales. 1+1...
John, I've got a sharp elbow. You've got ribs. 1+1...
Anon #2, yes, of course. I think I said pretty much that.
Anon #1, to say this is Moose hockey at it's best is ... well... it's like saying a guy is super-slick because he managed to take the drunkest girl at the bar home. Manitoba SHOULD be winning with the quality of roster you have and the rested, healthy bodies. I don't think it's anything extraordinary that they are doing so.
I have to agree with Ms. C that they schedule it as Fri/Sat games to get bigger crowds. Friday night 1/4 of the upper bowl was opened up for fans and tonight 1/2 of it was (and was packed).
I never saw the penalties that got KK in the box, although he got away with a VERY nasty high stick on (believe) Grabner, and as Grabner was getting up from the hit, Locke came by and nailed him again from behind (drawing his 2 minutes)
All 3 of the goals scored on Anton could directly be attributed to not being able to clear rebounds away from the crease. Im still in shock how poor Schaefer was in relief, what happened to Climie? He seemed more solid at this point in time.
From a non-partial point of view, the game was MUCH more entertaining than Game 1. I sat in the 2nd row of stands next to the Houston bench, and the atmosphere was both electric and as annoying as heck! They gave away card-stock paper fans, which when banged on anything solid was 100x worse than any cowbells I've ever experienced in Milwaukee... and they never stopped. Combined with 4 drunk fans in the front row down the aisle (who tried to join in to "O Canada", very off key and with a 2 second delay), made for an interresting night. Thankfully the ushers kept a strict leash on the obnoxiousness of said fans. (Remember my suggestion of a d-bag free section at the game? Yeah... we proposed it to the security guard near our seats, he liked the idea!)
Highlight of the night? 2nd intermission the drunk fans on the front row left, leaving their paper fans. We paid off some guy next to us $1 USD to steal the fan for us.
Also props to (I believe) the Aeros Equipment Manager, who after getting the puck that landed in the bench, sought out the youngest kid near by and gave to me to give to him. (And sorry for being too slow to realize where the kid was right away, I blame the paper fans)
Aside from the 4 drunkys (all wearing different Canadian NHL jersys), the fans there were quite friendly. Given a choice to do this again, I would do it in a heartbeat, Winnipeg is nice city with an interesting mix of old architecture and modern.
Just finished uploading the pics from Saturday, Ms. C should have a new entry up in a bit. Once I get to the airport, Ill try to get a write-up finished of the entire weekend.
Sure, just not in Houston!
We play Monday, Tuesdays in regular season, Wednesday - traditionally NOT crowd drawing schedules....we do have Fridays, with historically biggest crowds, followed by Sunday afternoons and Saturdays-unless....some other sports goes down.
So why not have a Friday and Sunday afternoon game in Winnipeg...at least the boyz would have had Saturday to regroup a bit!
Is there ANY other team out there that plays/ed back to back IN ANY PLAYOFFS? Anyone knows? If so let's have the scoop.
Better Half is set to research just that factum... but it will take a while, looking for 'a needle in the hay stack' maybe.
I'm with Ms. C on Moose ref. by Anonymous #1.
Chris, sorry about the obnoxious behaviour of some 'fans', there some of those at any game anywhere, alas! They do NOT help the team, the just annoy their row mates and may even turn some people OFF.
Thanks for putting up with that and looking forward to your pictures.
I don't know if you're asking if teams outside the AHL play back to back in the playoffs, but inside the AHL, Hershey and Providence just had Saturday/Sunday games back to back this weekend too. Looks like they split the pair. Providence played their game 6 from round 2 on Wednesday, so they wouldn't have had much rest between game 7 and the next round either if that series had gone longer than 6 games.
Anon #1 again -- in response to beware the bear(ds) comment "I still cannot understand the reasoning behind a back to back game schedule, so very much to the Moose's advantage-home ice to boot."
The MTS Centre had a fundraising concert on the Wednesday and a concert scheduled for tonight (Sunday). They didn't schedule the first game on Thursday because they wanted to use the extra day to make sure the ice was in good condition. With the number of non-hockey events the MTSC usually has, the ice can get pretty torn up (it would have been even worse had we actually had decent weather)
But also of note, we didn't completely sell out either games mostly due to the fact that this is our May long weekend and most people had plans to head to the cottages/lake long before the schedule was released. Otherwise, we would have been close to full capacity.
To Chris Jerina -- sorry you had to deal with some drunken louts but glad to hear you had a good time in our city. Your photos are really great.
Anon #1, thanks for clarifying some stuff on the schedule. Same also to killerwhaletank....it is good of you both to come forward and explain.
'Dyed in the wool' Aeros fan I am, but yet a fairly newcomer to this game so all advice/explanation is always appreciated!
Let's see if the 'warmer' climate here in Houston will help OUR home team a bit more :)!
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