Notes And Observations From A Game Six Loss

Okay, it's been a really long damn day for me -- curse you Continental Airlines -- and I'm really tired, so this won't take long. And it's my understanding that we'll getting some of Chris Jerina's photos up here, so you can look at some good later.

So on with the important stuff. That being that the Aeros lost 5-4 in OT to force a game seven on Tuesday. They were five minutes away from winning the series. Five minutes. Then it all fell apart. Still, seeing the way the Aeros played the first 25 minutes of this game, just getting to OT is a bit of a wonder. But, as Patrick O'Sullivan said after the game: "It sucks for us right now, but we’ll be ready."

1. As much as I would like to believe O'Sullivan, after watching today's game, one can't be blamed for wondering if the team will be ready. If you can't be ready for a game six, then how can you be ready for anything?

2. I think I've figured out the problem with the team's sometimes slow start. I spoiek with Matt Kassian right befor the playoffs, and he said the biggest difference between this team and the Constantine playoff team is that this team expects to win. So, when they come out, they're just really not prepared because they're convinced they can turn it on at anytime.

I think that's what Mike Yeo is getting out here: "Momentum’s a funny thing. We just didn’t have our heads at that point [when he called the timeout]. We weren’t playing our game. If you’re going to lose, that’s one thing. But go down swinging, go down with your game, but we weren’t doing that. That’s just what it was, like we came back last game, we scored in two goals in less than four minutes, so we knew that we still had enough time to crawl back into the game, but the way it was going, the direction it was going, we had no chance. It would have been way uglier, way worse. I give the guys credit because they got their own minds back in the right place."

3. I spoke with Yeo, Jon DiSalvatore, Jed Ortmeyer, and Patrick O'Sullivan after the game, and none of them were happy with the way the game started for the Aeros, or with the team's play up until the time of the timeout.

"I think we were a little geeked up to the start game," DiSalvaore said. "Maybe a little over-anxious, a little over-excited. Obviously they got out to that early lead and emotions kind of took over, and we did lose our heads there for a bit. We took a couple of uncharacteristic penalties, penalties that can hurt you in the playoffs."

"We just needed to focus, to regroup," Ortmeyer said. "We were too excited. To ramped up to get out there and make a difference. Each guy wanted to wear the cape tonight. And that’s not the way we play. We’ve had success by doing the little things right, and we got a way from that and came unglued a little bit."

4. How will this loss affect the team? We'll let Patrick O'Sullivan asnwer: "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."

5. That's it for now. I've got to get some zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.