After losing and losing and losing to a not very impressive Rockford Icehogs team, the Aeros finally pulled it all together and played a really solid, determined 60 minutes of hockey to win 4-2 tonight.
Falk got the opening goal with a shot from the point that beat Rockford goalie Richards through a ton of traffic. But the see-saw started quickly as Colonel Klinkhammer put one past Hackett just a minute and a half later.
The Aeros went up 2-1 with 3 minutes left in the first on a power play goal by Warren Peters. Earl got the assist and continued a 5 game point streak.
I wish this were football so I could see time of possession because shots on goal don't seem to convey possession very well. The Aeros controlled the puck for long stretches, kept the pressure up, and really didn't give Rockford much time to hammer away at the Aeros end. Not to say Hackett wasn't busy. He came up big several times on difficult saves through traffic and one rather dangerous breakaway in his 27 stops.
The second goal against, in fact, was no fault of his as it was caused by a turnover early in the 3rd by Prosser, who just made a no-look pass up the boards right on to the eager blades of Taffe and Potulny.
Prosser made up for it later though, by setting up the game winning goal on a great feed to Palmer and then Rau, who put the Aeros up 3-2 about 7 minutes into the third. The boys battled through some 5 on 3 time to hold the lead and really kept quality chances low until Ortmeyer was able to set the puck loose from the Aeros zone with an empty net and Peters passed up to Gillies who put it on the target.
That was a 3 point night for Mr. Peters, who I don't think I've ever seen smile, but he sure makes me smile. :)
And with that, the Aeros are in 5th place, in playoff position and.... well, we'll see if the current positive trends continue and they can hold or maybe even improve on that placement. Still a lot of hockey left.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
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3 comments:
Yes, it's good to finally get one vs the Ice Pigs at their place. I'll resist any word play using the word "pork" though Ian Croft is tempting in that regard.
One thing to remember re: playoffs - the other teams in the division have so many games in hand you really need to go by winning pct. By that measure, the guys are sixth just barely behind OKC.
I'd guess the Aeros had the puck 90% of the time in the 2nd Period... the few times the puck got into their defensive zone, Rockford only had one guy in the zone and was quickly thwarted.
Can't say anything else that hasn't been said here or throughout the season, but the Aeros seem to be pretty impressive defensively. Too bad their offense is so anemic that just one mistake can cost them the game it seems.
The Aeros were dominating last night with the exception of a brief time frame at the beginning of the second period. They controlled the pace, the puck, and the game. The two goals against were the result of Aero's mistakes.
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