10/22/10: Peoria 1, Houston 0

Yeah, yeah, so it wasn't a win, but that was a fun game to watch. I've long contended that it's not goals that make hockey fun to watch, it's quality chances. And there were lots of those at both ends tonight.

The Aeros dominated the first period, but I gotta give props to Peoria tendy Ben Bishop: He is vastly improved over the last two seasons. To be honest, I kinda thought he was going to be a bust. Just too big to be fast enough to play at a super high level, but he's proving me quite wrong. I'd heard he'd improved, but I finally got to see for myself tonight and it's unbelievable. He should be very proud.

I really only know of a couple of stops where I felt like he wasn't all the way there but mostly got lucky. And for as many shots as he was credited with stopping, that's pretty impressive. Usually a shutout has a helluva lot of luck involved, but this was just as solid a performance in goal as I've seen in a long time.

I feel for Anton though. Earlier this week, I also got my first "career" shutout, but we lost in the shootout. It's heartbreaking to play your can off like that (and he was VERY good, just saw a lot less action than Bishop for most of the game), and not take home the win. You wanna feel great about it but dangit if that W isn't what you really wanted.

Yeo confirmed that while there is still work to be done and this game "isn't fully ingrained" in the players, this is how he wants this team to play in most ways. Just... you know... score. They're still passing too much and not putting the puck on net enough but you (well, at least *I*) can see them honing in on the right balance. Saturday, they didn't shoot enough. Sunday, they shot too much and didn't create real chances. Tonight, they shot a lot and had MANY good chances. A bounce here or there... Welcome to hockey.

Now, Graham Mink, Peoria's biggest ace, was a scratch, so no telling how his presence might have changed the tone of this game. This team is just scary and even in a loss, I loved seeing the Aeros not only hang with them but tie them up big time for most of the first period and parts of others.

The boys face San Antonio in the Alamo city tomorrow and then back home Sunday vs. Lake Erie. I was planning to catch them in SA but we're hitting the Stars/Peoria game in Cedar Park instead. It's a fun barn to watch some hockey in, so get up there if you get a chance this season.

See you Sunday.

PS-Brusty with a shutout for Binghamton tonight. In fact, he's got an 88+ minute streak of shutout play right now. Neenerrrrr.