12/15: Aeros 5, Stars 2

I know it's not an official statistic but would you believe the Aeros are on a 2-game Entertaining Hockey streak?

The parts of the game I saw tonight (at either end of my attempt to go play hockey, which was thwarted by my dead vehicle) were good stuff.

Texas had the only first period tally from former Aero Max Fortunus.

In the second, Duncan Milroy found his way back onto the scoresheet with the first Aeros goal from Max Noreau and Clayton Stoner on a power play opportunity. Then Francis Wathier put the Stars ahead 2-1 with his 8th goal of the season.

Chad Rau knotted it up just 3 minutes later with help from JM Daoust and Stoner (again).

The teams went into the third with a 2-2 tie and plenty of anticipation as to which team would get the upper hand in the final frame.

Jon DiSalvatore put that question to bed with an unassisted goal midway through the third that I hear was really pretty, but I was on the phone with my car-knowledgeable friend trying to see when he can come take a look at my girl.

So, let's just say, "OMG, it was a BEAUTY" and maybe someone who saw it can say what really happened in the comments. (Andrew has a better accouting here in his Chronicle article.)

And then Wathier went off for a cross-checking call, leaving Daoust to work his magic and get his second point of the night when he put an easy shot off a quick cross-ice feed from Andy Hilbert past our old friend Matt Climie.

With 2 minutes left, Milroy got a call for hooking and the Stars pulled Climie to get a 6 on 4 power play and try to get traction on the 2 goal deficit.

But Rau thwarted the comeback attempt, launching the puck up the ice and right into the Stars twine for an empty net, short handed goal.

The boys head home with a whopping 5-2 victory, and hopefully they do it without another blown tire like the one that saw them get into Cedar Park an hour late, according to Joe O'Donnell.

Lots of home ice hockey this week with games Wednesday, Friday, and Sunday. And have I mentioned that Brusty is back? Yeah, Brusty is back, the Aeros have scored 9 goals in their last two games, and it's cold outside. If that doesn't scream "COME WATCH HOCKEY!" I dunno what does. See you tomorrow, even if I have to walk to get there.

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Just a side note. No disrespect to our media colleagues in Austin, but I think they need a little lesson on what the three stars means.

The stars tonight were:

1. Max Fortunus (Stars - 1 goal)
2. Francis Wathier (Stars - 1 goal)
3. Clayton Stoner (Aeros - 2 assists)

Now, the spirit of the three stars, which is an ultimately-meaningless but deeply entrenched hockey tradition, is that the stars go to the best players in the game. Not the best players for the home team, and then fill in with a random player from the visiting team.

Here's a great Wiki page on the Three Stars. It's worth a read even if you know a lot about hockey, but definitely if you don't.

What's extra super silly about this particular game is that the right answer was SO obvious. Even I, who gets carried away with goalies and shiny things and nice hair and always has a hard time figuring out the three stars, think it's obvious.

1. Rau with two goals
2. Daoust with a goal and an assist
3. Stoner with two assists

Neither goalie was spectacular; Climie only saw 18 shots and Dubie only saw 14, so clearly, the above should have been the three stars. That's not even being a homer. That's just Three Star Selection 101, Day 1, Page 1 right there. The mind boggles, my friends.