Note and Observations For Game Seven Prep

Okay, before you do anything else, go read my story on last night's game that is currently in the Press. There's a few quotes I didn't get in last night, and I think the quotes from O'Sullivan and Ortmeyer best represent the mood of the team.

Now the important stuff, game seven.

The Aeros will skate at about 1:30 at Bradley Center today. And part of that skate will involve putting their mind in the right place. They've got to shake off Sunday's game, they've got shake off the disappointment of blowing the lead with 5:00 left. That game is over.

"Game sevens are exciting," Jon DiSalvatore said last night. "Obviously it would be great to close it out right now, but playoffs are an exciting time, and game sevens are an exciting time. We’ve got to shrug it off. Obviously it’s a tough loss to take, but we’ve got to get our heads right, wrapped around what we can do better. And just get excited for a game seven. It’s a good time."

Then he continued with how he wants the youngsters thinking.

"We can’t waste any time feeling sorry for ourselves right now. Let’s enjoy it. Let’s be upbeat and positive. Embrace the day, get better tomorrow, and get ready."

Jed Ortmeyer wants the guys thinking this: the pressure is on Milwaukee, not Houston. Milwaukee's the number one seed. Milwaukee's the home team.

"We came up a little bit short, but we’ve tried to take our game to them the last three games or so," he said. "The hits and the grinding and the shots on their goalie are going to take its toll. Like I said, the pressure’s on them."

And then this from Patrick O'Sullivan: "It’s tough, leading with five or six minutes left. It’s not a fun feeling right now, but take tonight to clear our minds, get back to practice tomorrow and refocus, and like I said, it’s a game seven, and those are fun to play."

Frankly, I think Mike Yeo saved yesterday's game. Sure, the Aeros lost, but they were losing their cool and making stupid play after stupid play, stupid penalty after stupid penalty, and he called a timeout and said something that got them back on track. There were some guys sitting next to me who I think might have been scouts -- they were sitting in spots reserved for the Aeros, but they weren't Aeros guys -- and they were talking about how impressed they were with Yeo and how he got a team quickly spiraling out-of-control back under control.

What are the keys for Game Seven?

Well, Matt Hackett has to play an entire game. Not all of the goals that happened yesterday were his fault. There were the continued defensive breakdowns and pucks deflecting off of players -- like the OT winner. But he's got to play an entire game like he did for the last 15 minutes of the second period and the first half of the third period yesterday. He doesn't need to be Jeremy Smith out there, but he's got to be more consistent.

More importantly, the guys have to play their roles. Ortmeyer and DiSalvatore noted that the problem at the start was that everybody wanted to play the hero and they got out of their roles and they started playing really stupid hockey.

On the plus side, Patrick O'Sullivan finally figured out how to get past Jeremy Smith last night. He and DiSalvatore have been taking their shots all series, good shots, but they broke through last night. And that pass O'Sullivan made to DiSalvatore for the second goal was just a thing of beauty.

And in that fashion, the Aeros can't worry about Smith.

"He’s standing on his head," O'Sullivan said last night. "100 saves in two games in Houston. That’s why they were in those games in our rink for sure. We dominated those games, and he kept them in it. We’ve got to continue to try and get traffic. He’s a good goalie. Goalies get hot in playoffs, and teams do well because of that. And I certainly think that’s the case with them. But we’re not concerned with what they’re doing or guys on that team as much as what we have to do. And what we can control is how hard we play, and we’re going to have a better start next game and we’re going to be okay."

I'll close with this statement from Mike Yeo:

"Playoffs aren’t any fun unless you get a chance to play a game seven. It’s difficult, there’s no question, to sit and say we had a chance to wrap it up. We’ve won a lot of hockey games this year, and we feel a lot of confidence in that room. We have a chance to go out here and play a great game and put all our chips in and give ourselves a chance to win a game seven. I think, if you look at the first series and how things went, and we don’t want to look past Milwaukee here, but if you do want to accomplish moving on and having success further, past this series, then you have to play against these hard games and against these hard teams. Milwaukee’s been a great opponent so far, and I expect [Tuesday] to be the same."