Some Thoughts From Mike Yeo...

I promised yesterday to provide you with some of the quotes and info we got from Mike Yeo on Saturday night. So...

One of the things we asked him about was the recent play of Cody Almond. I thought Almond showed some promise last year, but the level of his play has really been upped recently. So here's what Yeo had to say.

"We need him to be [everywhere]. He plays every situation for us. He’s a young player who I think has made great strides this year. I think he has a pretty good idea of what his game needs to be.

"For a young player, it’s not easy to bring that every night. Especially the role that he’s going to play. He’s got to play a hard game. He’s got to play physical. He’s got to be an in-your-face guy. While that’s going on, he’s also playing against top lines. So he’s got to make sure he’s playing within the system and playing with details.

"I’m happy with the development that he’s had this year, and I think the things that he’s doing without the puck have contributed to the success that he’s having now on the offensive side."

The past month was a tough one for the Aeros, mentally and physically as they played virtually every other night while traveling about the continent. And while it's true that the team is still towards the bottom of the standings, the fact is that things could still be much, much worse for the team. Still, with all of that, Yeo has mixed feelings.

"Through that tough stretch, I would have liked to finish better than we did. I’m not going to pretend to that I don’t wish we were a little bit better right now. At the same time, I do see some light at the end of that tunnel. I believe that we do get an easier part of our schedule…but at least we have practice time, at least the travel’s not as bad. And I think we are at least in a position now to make the push that we have to make.

[SNIP]

"I’m actually pretty happy with our team. I think our team has improved a lot. We still have areas where we have to improve. We still have to find ways to score more goals. But the guys have bought in real well, and I think for the most part every night we give ourselves a chance to win, which is what really what you want."

And as mentioned, the Aeros are kind of wiped. They've had a lot of injuries. They've had guys up and down from Minnesota. And they've played a lot of hockey. For the first time in a while, they're getting some time off to rest and recuperate between games. Yeo's hoping to get some practice time in, but he wants to treat the thing like it's camp and having them going over the special teams and offense, etc.

"This break is huge….It’s going to be carefully planned this week because, how do you get rest and conditioning in the same week? How do you get practice time and on-ice conditioning but at the same time make sure we’re recovering from our injuries?

[SNIP]

"With the lack of practice time that we’ve had, I think it’s going to be treated almost like a mini-training camp this week. We have to go everything from special teams to every aspect of our system because we’re just not as sharp as we were earlier. We have to make sure that we cover everything."

And as to the guys needing a bit of a mental break along with a physical break...

"We need, mentally, it’s important to make sure your motivation factor is high and you’re hungry to come to the rink."

The Aeros return to action on Friday night for the first of, guess what, a three-in-three. They host Lake Erie on Friday, travel to San Antonio on Saturday, then host the Rampage on Sunday afternoon.