Couple of Well-Deserved Stick Taps for Brust, DiSalvatore

Overall it was a very good weekend for the Aeros, who earned four points against the best and worst teams in the AHL. After Friday's win at San Antonio, the Aeros got a goal five seconds into OT to beat the Abbotsford Heat. You can read more about that game below.

But a couple of former Aeros, two very popular former players were in the news over the weekend, so we'd be remiss by not mentioning that.

Brust lines up for a save against the Milwaukee Admirals

Barry Brust, who helped man the pipes between 2007 and 2010, set an AHL record this weekend. He set the new mark for the longest shutout streak against the San Antonio Rampage on Saturday night.

Before James Wright ended it later in the game, Brust went 268 minutes and 17 seconds without allowing a goal. That surpassed the previous AHL record of 249:51, established by Hockey Hall of Famer Johnny Bower with the Cleveland Barons in 1957.

I talked to Barry after the game in Houston on Sunday, and asked him how long he knew he was going to get the start against the Rampage. The Heat have three goalies, and Brust has gone several weeks between starts. Brust said he knew for awhile, but things could change. That helped him prepare for all the hoopla that led up to his most recent start.

I also asked him what was going through his mind as the second ticked off leading up to the record. He just told me that he did whatever he could do to keep from looking at the clock. He was excited, happy, thankful and relieved when it finally made it to the 19th minute without allowing a goal.

Here is more about the record from The AHL:

Brust, who finished Saturday’s 3-2 shootout win with 26 saves, is now 5-0-0 on the season with a 0.59 goals-against average and a .978 save percentage, stopping 131 of 134 shots overall. The 29-year-old native of Swan River, Man., is 101-71-9 in 196 career AHL games, and was a member of the Binghamton Senators’ Calder Cup championship team in 2010-11. 

In setting a record that stood for nearly 55 years, Bower – a three-time AHL MVP and three-time Calder Cup champion in his career – helped Cleveland to a 2-2 tie with the Buffalo Bisons on Nov. 27, 1957, before shutting out the Hershey Bears (Nov. 30), Springfield Indians (Dec. 1) and Hershey again (Dec. 5). His streak was ended by Buffalo’s Lou Jankowski on Dec. 7.

(Aside from Ms.C: Wild horses couldn't have kept me from that game, so InGoal Magazine asked me to write a little something up afterward. Since I was the only reporter there, here's the exclusive with Brusty and Coach Ward after the game.)

Also over the weekend, former Aeros captain Jon DiSalvatore recorded his 500th career AHL point on Sunday in the Heshey Bears' win over the Toronto Marlies. DiSalvatore captained the Aeros to the 2011 Calder Cup finals and is now the fourth leading active player in the AHL. More amazingly, he's play for 10 different coaches in each of his 10 AHL seasons, and I think that is a record that will never be broken. That is just mind-boggling for someone who has been in the league for so long.

Jon, as many of you know, was a stand-up guy and always answered the tough questions ... win or lose. He had a rough plus-minus year during his first year in Houston, but he rebounded with back-to-back seasons with a career-high 28 goals. And he was money during the 2011 playoffs and scored one of the biggest goals in franchise history during Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals against Hamilton.

DiSalvatore wins the West Finals vs. Hamilton in 2011

I was really hoping there'd be enough cash to persuade him to stay another year or so, but he got a great deal from the Yankees of the AHL. Here is some more about Jon from The AHL:

DiSalvatore, a 2000 draft pick by the San Jose Sharks, is in his 10th professional season and first with the Bears. 

He has totaled 209 goals and 291 assists in 696 career games with Hershey, Houston, the Lowell Devils, San Antonio, Peoria, the Worcester Sharks and the Cleveland Barons, reaching the 20-goal plateau in each of his first nine campaigns. 

DiSalvatore captained the Houston Aeros to the Calder Cup Finals in 2010-11, and made his first AHL All-Star Classic appearance in 2012. 

DiSalvatore ranks fourth among active AHL players in career scoring, behind Toronto's Keith Aucoin (794 points), Chicago's Darren Haydar(736) and Providence's Trent Whitfield (583).

Zucker Ties AHL record, Aeros win :05 into OT

Johan Larsson and Jason Zucker shocked the Abbotsford Heat and just about everyone else inside Toyota Center with his ninth goal of the season just five seconds into overtime Sunday afternoon.

The teams traded goals in regulation, and after the Aeros wasted a power play gift late in the third period, Zucker and Larsson teamed up for the stunning finish (video below). The goal tied the AHL record for the fastest overtime goal. Zucker's goal tied the record set by Dave Saatzer of the Nova Scotia Voyageurs in 1980, and tied by Chris Corrinet of the Portland Pirates in 2002.



The AHL schedule gods were on the Aeros side this weekend for sure. The Heat, playing its third game in three days, made just enough mistakes to let the Aeros get an extra point in the standings.

Make no mistake: The Heat is the best team the Aeros have played so far on both sides of the puck. They have points in all but two (16 of 18) of their games thus far. OKC, who is here later this week, surely has more offensive power, but the Heat are smart, well coached, have the league's top PK united and they have three (THREE!) goalies that can steal two points on any given night.

Some high-level themes that stood out for me include the Aeros giving up two goals on turnovers. Everyone we talked to after the game said exactly the same thing: The Heat wait for you to make a bad mistake, and they punish you quickly.

Hackett again solid, letting in just two goals and giving his team a chance to win. When only two go in, you have a chance to win every game. On the first Heat goal, Hack made a great save, then got a little post luck before a Charlie Coyle turnover led to a 1-1 game. Hackett was screened on the second goal after Connelly and Bagnall both turned the puck over ... and then Zucker missed a block. After all that, Estoclet gets in front of Hackett, distracting him just enough. Click below for a good view of how that play developed.

Taylor was good, too, but the Aeros wasted about 3-4 other prime chances that would have kept the Heat from getting the OT point. McIntyre missed a breakaway, and one player (I was reading something and looked up just in time to see the end of it) missed an open net after Taylor was caught out of position in the second period.

UPDATE - Thanks to the Art and Hockey blog, we find out that it was Palmer who missed the empty netter. And she got a splendid picture of the aftermath. But don't look at the hockey players, look at the fans (including one of the Anthem singers in Row 2) ... their faces say it all!

MY, oh MY! (Photo by Art and Hockey)

The goal scored at the end of the second was indeed about a half second too late. The officials got the calls right on both calls (when Mac hit the crossbar on the breakaway and the late goal at the end of the second).

As for the final sloppy power play - look, that is what you are going to get with a ton of rookies and second-year players getting a season-long baptism by fire. The younger players are the more gifted scorers, and they are going to hit one night (see Friday's late PP goal in San Antonio) and they are going to strikeout the next. What I would like to them them improve upon is the desperation to keep the puck in the zone. While I know you don't want to over commit and cause a breakaway, there are a few players that look a little laggard when it comes to keeping a play alive.

I am not going to mention names here, because I have only seen about a third of the games live this year. I think this is an effort issue and not an growing pains issue, so I will wait and see if I see any improvement from these players this weekend.

The Aeros are in the top third of the league in points and points percentage. Given the injury to their top two (arguably) playmakers and (not arguably) one of their top scorers, I think you'll take that.

So what are your thoughts on the game? The Aeros earned four out of four points this weekend and have won three in a row and four of five overall.

Off the post ... and in. (Photos by Morris Molina, Houston Aeros)

Justin Fontaine has 14 points in November. He is en fuego.

View From The Press Box: Aeros Cool Off Heat

How about that? In the space of a two-and-a-half hours the Aeros went from 10th place in the Western Conference playoff standings to sixth place. And they did so in rather impressive fashion, dominating the Abbotsford Heat and getting the 4-1 win in a game that wasn't near as close as that final score indicates.

The damage came, again, from the Aeros power play unit as the team's first two goals came off the power play. Justin Fontaine netted both of the power play goals with Jeff Taffe getting an assist on each and Kris Fredheim and Chay Genoway getting the other assists.

Jeff Taffe struck for his third point of the game early in the second when he took the pass from Genoway and stuck it past Heat goalie Leland Irving. And the Aeros final goal came off of the stick of Jon DiSalvatore who blasted a slap shot from way up above the left circle past Irving -- the assist going to, you guessed it, Taffe.

The game was marred by multiple fights -- Almond was hit with two fighting majors -- and it got really, really ugly at the start of the third period when Abbotsford's Akim Aliu went after Almond just seconds into the period. A semi-brawl ensued, and by the time the bodies were separated and the penalties were handed out, it was clear the Heat were beaten -- Aliu got 2:00 for instigating, 5:00 for fighting, and a 10:00 game misconduct, Hugh Jessiman got 2:00 for roughing and a 10:00 game misconduct while Almond got five for fighting and Carson McMillan got 2:00 for roughing (how Drew Bagnall escaped without a penalty is still surprising).

The Heat scored seconds later, but it was clear that it was way too little, too late, and that the Aeros were going to pull out this game.

Justin Fontaine looked really good for the Aeros, but the true star of the game was Taffe and the power play.

"A good power play, you have to stay with it," head coach John Torchetti said. "As long as your power play doesn't take momentum away, you've got to stay with it. And if they just stick with what we keep teaching them -- and they're doing a great job of that -- and just take what's given to you -- once you learn to just take what's given to you -- and you're going to shoot, you have to be shooting first...it starts with the shot."

Torchetti spoke glowingly about the play of Genoway, calling him a big plus who's really smart and who will be really dangerous once he learns to shoot the puck.

And speaking of dangerous, Taffe had his second four point night in his last three games, once again getting a goal and three assists. Torchetti credits this with Taffe getting more aggressive and competing for more pucks. He's challenged the vets to do more on the ice, and he says that, at times, challenging the vets and drawing more out of them on the ice hasn't been pretty because he can't always be nice, but that they have responded.

"I have a rapport with my veterans, and I trust them," Torchetti said. "We had a talk at Christmas -- now that we're down to three [veterans]...I'm going to be harder on you because I expect you to play at a level. I expect our team to still win....You're going to be pressured."

And in goal again tonight was Joe Fallon who stopped 26 of the Heat's 27 shots, including making several tough stops early in the game when the Heat seemed to be controlling the action.

"He played big," Torchetti said of Fallon. "He's getting comfortable, he's being confident. He's challenging. He's doing a good job for us."

The Aeros are now 29-20-3-9 on the season with 15 games to play. They're tied, pointswise, with four other teams who all have 70 points, but the Aeros winning percentage has them in a tie for sixth place with San Antonio, and they're only a point behind Chicago and Peoria, who both have 71 points.

If the Aeros keep playing hockey like they did tonight, aggressive, attacking the net, shooting the puck, they could still be dangerous. But this weekend could be the key as they take on a rapidly improving Rockford club on Friday, face Abbotsford again on Saturday, and Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Jon DiSalvatore said on Sunday that this is all in their control. And it is. They just have to keep winning and getting points. If the bleeding can stop in Minnesota and the guys here can actually stay here and stay healthy, then the Aeros might still be able to pull this out.

As for tonight, it was sure was a fun game to watch.

Western Conference Power Rankings: Ice Cold Heat

The power rankings are out for this week, and there wasn't a tremendous amount of movement overall.

Charlotte got roughed up, Houston won back to back games at Grand Rapids, so I moved Toronto and the Aeros up and sent Charlotte to the No. 4 spot. Charlotte might be the better team, but Houston has more point and took 7 of 8 points in the season series.

With a full roster in the playoffs, I like the Aeros just a tad more than Charlotte.

Yes, it IS possible. 

The Lake Erie Monsters are rolling right now and are just three points out of a playoff spot after their impressive 3-0 performance last week. They are 8-3-1-1 in about the last month or so, and they are just one bad period (at Houston on 2/4) away from a six-game winning streak.

Chicago just keeps on trucking, and the San Antonio Rampage had an impressive week before they got bombed in Grand Rapids on Sunday.


With 26 wins and 55 points, it might be a little harsh to have the Heat down in the No. 10 spot. They're in the playoffs if that started today, but they are reeling right now. They have not had back-to-back wins in 2012, and they have not had two straight wins over playoff teams since back-to-back road wins over Oklahoma City and Houston on Nov. 19 and 20. That was a long freaking time ago.

Krys Kolanos has been out of the lineup for a bit now, but they started their slide even before he signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Flames.


As for the bottom-feeders, Rockford came back down to earth, and the Texas Stars continue to struggle. The Bulldogs played really well in a couple of losses last week, but they just keep going backwards. It will be tough for Grand Rapids, Rockford, Hamilton or Texas to get back in the race unless they go through a stretch where they win eight of 10 in regulation.

It is hard to believe that most teams have fewer than 30 games left on their schedule. Now things are starting to get real interesting.

Until next week ...

Western Conference Power Rankings
Edition 3, February 13, 2012

PR	Team	Record	Streak	Last	+/-	For the record …
1	OKC	32-12-2-3	2-0	2-0-0-0	-	Abused weak Abby last week
2	TOR	27-17-4-2	2-0	2-0-1-0	+1	Mark Owuya wins both in net
3	HOU	25-13-3-9	2-0	2-1-0-0	+1	Foucault and Scandella recalled
4	CLT	29-18-2-2	0-2	1-2-0-0	-2	Three huge road games this week
5	CHI	27-18-1-3	1-0	2-1-0-0	-	6 of next 7 games at home
6	SAT	27-21-2-0	0-1	3-1-0-0	+1	10-3 overall since Jan. 10
7	PEO	26-21-2-1	2-0	2-1-0-0	-1	Stortini should get suspended
8	RCH	22-19-6-3	0-1	1-2-0-0	+1	Too many goals against (151)
9	MKE	24-21-2-1	0-3	1-2-1-0	+1	5-12-2-0 in New Year
10	ABB	26-20-3-0	0-3	0-2-0-0	-2	Slip, slip sliding away
11	LEM	24-22-2-2	5-0	3-0-0-0	+3	Rissmiller is GWG machine
12	GRR	20-20-4-4	1-0	1-2-0-0	-	Net struggles w/ MacDonald up
13	RFD	21-24-1-4	0-1	1-2-0-0	-2	9 of next 14 on the road
14	HAM	21-23-1-4	1-0	1-3-0-0	-1	Bad week at very wrong time
15	TEX	21-24-2-2	0-2	1-2-1-0	-	4-8-1-0 since Jan. 13

Aeros Lose 1-0 To Heat In The Shootout

Both Houston and Abbotsford were playing the third game of a three-in-three weekend tonight. It didn't show early on though late in the game it really looked as if some f the Aeros were really dragging on the ice.

But neither team could score as both goalies, Matt Hackett for Houston and Leland Irving for Abbotsford pitched shutouts through 65 minutes. Hackett was able to stop three of the four shootout shots he saw, but the fourth one, from Dustin Sylvester got past him, and none of the Aeros could get any of their shots -- some of them being really weak attempts -- could get past Irving.

"Shootouts, right now they're affecting us a little bit," head coach John Torchetti said after the game. "We're not productive on it. We'll address and keep working on it. We can't hide it down in the basement because it's costing us points right now. We have to understand that and keep working on it."

They constantly had what appeared to be some excellent scoring chances on Irving throughout the night, but they just couldn't shove the puck past him. Torchetti wasn't as thrilled with that part of their game, saying that though there were some good shots, they didn't do a good enough of job of creating good rebound opportunities.

Torchetti also wasn't pleased with the power play's work tonight, but then again, this is the Aeros, and problems with the power play seem to be part of the Aeros DNA.

The Aeros were able to get four of a possible six points this weekend, getting points in each game. But it seems kind of hollow in that the Aeros could've won all three games, or so it seems.

And is it just me, or is there a bit of deja vu with these shootout/overtime problems. It seems like the Aeros suffer through this every season.

After tonight, the Aeros are tied points-wise with Oklahoma City for second place in the AHL West Division, and they have the third most points of any team in the AHL, with a record of 10-3-1-4 (25 points). They're off until Friday when they host the Texas Stars at Toyota Center at 7:35.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTE:

Krys Kolanos did not play for the Heat tonight, though he was in the building. We're not sure if there's an injury issue, but I do remember hearing earlier this season that the Heat were trying to be careful with how they use him because he's been recovering from an injury that nearly kept him out for two seasons.

So, About That Game With The Heat

The Aeros got the loss tonight, their second in a row, losing 5-3 to the Abbotsford Heat led by head coach Troy Ward, assistant coach Luke Strand, and forward Krys Kolanos -- notice the Aeros connection.

The Aeros actually played a good first period of hockey, and they had some quality shot attempts, but they just couldn't get the puck in the net. But they also suffered the loss of defenseman Elgin Reid on a boarding call early in the first period. And since it was his head that went off the wall, one would expect to see a five minute penalty. And one would expect wrong as the offending Heat player got only two minutes.

Jeff Taffe and John Torchetti were quick to remind the officials #42 Danny Burchell and #42 Jarrod Ragusin of that in the second period when some calls were missed, but the result was back-to-back unsportsmanlike penalties. Penalties which surprised Torchetti because he's never seen unsportsmanlike penalties given out for asking questions, especially when there is no profanity involved. But this is the AHL, and the AHL isn't exactly known for good officiating.

The penalties led to two goals for the Heat which put the game out of reach, despite a furious comeback in the final minutes which found the Aeros get to 4-3 with :57 remaining the in game. But sometimes deficits are just too hard to make up, and Abbotsford got the empty netter just before the horn to make it 5-3.

Torchetti took the blame for this loss, noting that he was the one who got the second unsportsmanlike penalty.

There was no word, after the game, on the status of Reid, but he did not return to the game after being knocked out of the game early in the first period.

The Aeros are off until Sunday afternoon when they host the Charlotte Checkers at 5:05 (and I the only one getting tired of the constant Sunday home games).

Weary Aeros feel the heat, lose 5-4

Abbotsford played 5 of the last 6 nights.

Houston played 4 of the last 5 nights.

And tonight, the last game for both teams for several days (thankfully, for them and for those who have to watch them), displayed every bit of the fatigue you'd expect from teams at this point in their schedules.

Physically, they looked a tired and mentally, they looked downright exhausted.

The injury list is as long as I've seen it, not only this year but in recent years. The Wild are banged up, so Wellman and Peters are there and not coming back any time soon (#reversejinx). Add that to the Aeros injury woes (Cuma, Kassian, Almond, Fraser, Penner, Gillies, Bagnall) and basically you've got essentially only 3 lines of forwards to roll.

"I'm not gonna say that we couldn't have done something better. I'm not going to just completely make an excuse here," said Yeo. "But the biggest thing that I've seen this year is that these games, these third games in three nights, these fourth game in five nights, it's not even the energy level as much as it is the brain."

He acknowledged that essentially some of the mistakes that led to goals aren't "something we do" and attributed those instances to fatigue.

I kind of appreciate that he's not throwing the "we don't make excuses" line at us. Sometimes you have to acknowledge that clearly the effort was there but humans do succumb to the physical and mental rigors at some point.

You could argue Abbotsford isn't as good a team as Houston, and you'd be right, but as I mentioned, missing 1/3rd of the regular team means this Houston team just isn't as good as we're used to. It's like cutting a guy's arm off and telling him to do all the stuff he used to just as capably.

You're also missing a lot of toughness with Kassian and Bagnall out, but I have to commend 5'10" call-up Pascal Morency for his temerity in fighting 6'7" defenseman Chris Breen, who had 30 pounds on the scrappy winger. Breen's not a fighter and Morency was crafty and kept it even just through experience and determination.

That said, Morency, Lawrence (who was called up yesterday from Stockton), and Joel Broda had a whopping 11:31 of ice time combined. And missing that 4th line that can play 6 or 7 minutes is wearing out the regulars.

So this will be an important week of rest and recuperation. Yeo said he hopes to have Bagnall, Almond, and Gillies (upper body) back by Friday. Anyone of them would be a significant add. All three would be heaven sent.

Yeo said that he expects, after getting some rest and getting some practice time, "these games that are 50-50 right now or 60/40, we'll flip it more to 75/25 in our favor and that's when you more."

"It's how you respond. You can win a game like this and feel really good about yourself, and then have a crappy week of practice and stink it up next weekend. So hopefully we use this as motivation to make sure we bounce back."

The boys are off until Friday when they have a weekend series against Manitoba, who are tied for first in the North Division.

Couple of other notes:

• That nice buffer between Houston and Texas is gone now. A win tomorrow against Syracuse puts them in a tie for second with Houston. We're all up against each other again, but not in a fun way.
• With his two goals tonight, Jon DiSalvatore became only the third active player in the AHL to have 8 seasons of 20+ goals. Other two are Denis Hamel (who has 9 seasons at 20+) and Alexandre Giroux. 

Brief update on Meyers

John checked in with Joe O'Donnell for an update on Abbotsford's Josh Meyers, who collided with a teammate and had to leave the ice on a stretcher last night.

According to Abbotsford and Meyers' family he is OK and responsive. We don't know if he's still in hospital, but best guess is yes.


Hopefully he can get home soon.

Thanks to our Anonymous commenter for notifying us that, per the Abby Facebook page, Meyers is with the team in Cedar Park and doing well.

Still, helluva way to spend his all star break...

A NOTE FROM JOHN: My apologies for not following a damn Facebook page instead of going through channels and trying to do things properly.

1/28/11 -- Aeros v. Abbotsford -- Aeros Ice the Heat

Cody Almond brings the pain in the first period.

The night was a struggle for the Aeros. They probably should have won this game easily, but instead found themselves having to get into the shootout to pull out the win and get the two points with the 4-3 win.

The Aeros took the early lead, had to hold on through an end of first period that was rather bizarre and disjointed due to a very serious injury to an Abbotsford player. They gave up leads in the second and third periods. They had some excellent play from those guys they've been getting excellent play from, and they had some disappointing and sloppy play from some others.

In the end, all that matters is the Aeros got the win and they're going into the All Star break on a very high note.

1. As of right now, the Aeros are tied, points wise, with the San Antonio Rampage for first place in the AHL West. The Aeros are 28-19-1-3 with 60 points. They're one point ahead of Peoria, two points ahead of Milwaukee, three points ahead of Texas and Oklahoma City and five points up on Chicago.

2. The Aeros do not play again this weekend. So they best they can come out of the weekend with is a tie for first place. However, Peoria plays Grand Rapids tomorrow, so with a win, the Rivermen jump into first place, or can move into a tie for first if they should get into overtime. Milwaukee, meanwhile, plays in Rockford on Saturday, so a win moves the Admirals into a tie with Houston and San Antonio.

3. Another fantastic night from Max Noreau -- two assists to give him 30 points for the season (7-23=30). And he has been ratcheting up the physical play.

4. Robbie Earl didn't score tonight, but he seemed to be around the action often, and he did great work drawing a penalty in overtime and putting the Aeros on the power play.

5. The officiating was awful. Beyond awful, if that's possible. I'm still trying to understand how it was that Tyler Cuma was sent to the box of interference on what was, instead, a fantastic and legal hip check. As it was, the game was rough and chippy from the start, and the guys in the stripes made little effort to get under control.

6. Mike Yeo sensed that Abbotsford might try to go physical and force the Aeros out of their game. And he and the staff warned the team beforehand, and throughout the game, to not let Abbotsford get them out of their game.

I didn't recognize this at the time, but Carson McMillan was pummeled at one point in the first period, and instead of getting into a big fight, backed down. He was following the game plan. And Warren Peters was mugged in the first period, yet it was Peters who wound up with all of the penalty minutes.

"I believe that we were really controlling the play," Yeo said. "That was part of their focus, the stuff after the whistles. We tried to talk about that, not getting involved in that, making sure our play, we were playing between the whistles. I felt that that kind of slowed the game down a little bit. Give them credit, it did take us off our game a little bit. But that’s something we have to make sure – it’s always about whatever the situation calls for. If the situation calls for you to get in there and stick up for your teammate at that time or maybe it calls for a momentum shift and you need to bring some energy and some life, then you do it. But there’s also a time to skate away and get out of that stuff and keep the flow of the game going our way."

7. And I think that's a bit of what Drew Bagnall was doing later in the game -- going in and sticking up for teammates. Bagnall was iffy for the game, but he surely made his presence felt throughout the game.

8. Bizarre end to the first period. With about 3.5 seconds left, the Aeros were off on what appeared to be a breakaway. Then two guys from the Heat collided around mid-ice and collapsed to the ice. The whistle blew to stop play and nothing much happened for about 15 minutes. The teams were eventually sent to the locker rooms while the medical staff handled things during what turned out to be the first part of intermission.

Play resumed after intermission with 3.5 seconds on the ice in which the first period was ended. Then the horn sounded to end the period, and then the second period was started. Bizarre.

"I’ve seen it affect both teams," Yeo said. "It’s tough, but it just depends on your group. It’s just our job as coaches to make sure that we’re saying the right things, to make sure that you don’t lose your focus. Quite often, when a player does get hurt like that, I’ve seen many times where the game changes one way or the other. It’s got to be about the next play, the next shift mentality."

9. You might not have noticed, but Nathan Smith was in uniform for the Aeros tonight. Well, not really, but for two minutes there in the second period, the scoreboard showed that it was "8," Smith's number last season, sitting in the penalty box and not "18," Colton Gillies. That wasn't as bad, however, as the PA guy who had trouble spitting out Abbotsford and Heat on numerous occasions.

10. Strange night for Anton Khudobin. He had a very poor second period in which he gave up two very soft goals. He appeared to get his act together in the third -- that third goal from Matt Keith appeared to be more the result of poor defensive play on part of Justin Falk than anything Khudobin did, and he was very solid in the OT. The one goal that Abbotsford got in the shootout was the result of a spectacular Corey Locke-esque shot than anything that Khudobin did wrong.

11. In some ways it's a shame that the All Star break is coming because the Aeros have been one of the hottest teams in the league. They were 10-2-0-1 in January and they're 12-4-0-1 since Christmas. When you're on a streak like this, you kind of want to keep going, especially when one thinks of where the team was when they headed into the Christmas break.

12. For those of you who are wondering, the Aeros will have an optional skate on Tuesday then return to practice on Wednesday before hosting Texas on Friday night. And despite the team's hot streak, the Aeros can use the break to rest up, mentally and physically.

13. The Aeros are in a tight playoff race with seven teams within five points of each other in the standings. Yeo compares the Aeros current situation to the one the Penguins were in the year they won the Stanley Cup.

"I think that our schedule is going to be better for us," he said. "Where before we were dealing with that stuff, we felt like we were always chasing everybody, at the same time we were physically getting tired. Where I think we have a little more rest now coming out of this break. But the flip side of it is, and it happened to us in Pittsburgh, we had to make a run that year. We were phenomenal after the coaching change. And every game was so important. And we were in full stride when playoffs began. I think that, usually, if you look at teams that do something in the playoffs, they found a way to elevate their game and bring their game up to a new level, and once the playoffs begin, you don’t have to try to find that next gear. "

14. Just a few quick notes. Jon DiSalvatore has a point in eight of his last nine games (4-5=9). Anton Khudobin has won four of his last five starts. Jean-Micheal Daoust's first period goal was his 300th career goal.

15. The Aeros are now 23-7-0-2 when they score the first goal.

16. Chad Rau, who hit the game-winning shot in the shootout, was not entirely happy with his shot, and after the game, he was talking about how he would have liked to take it back and try it again. He thinks he got lucky because he didn't exactly do what he wanted to do and as such, the goalie was able to get his glove on the puck.

17. On a personal note, it was nice to see Abbotsford assistant coach Troy Ward tonight. I dealt with Troy a lot in his three years as Kevin Constantine's assistant here with the Aeros, and he was always easy to deal with.

Aeros v. Abbotsford Game Photos

The Aeros got the big 4-3 win over Abbotsford in the shootout tonight. The game probably shouldn't have gone to the shootout, but there were a few guys who didn't have a very good game when it came to stopping the puck, or helping to stop the puck, for Houston.

More important than the win is that the Aeros are tied for first place with San Antonio as they head into the All-Star break, and the team went 10-2-0-1 in January. And one other note, when we last checked, Abbotsford's Josh Meyers was at Memorial Hermann getting a CT Scan after being carted off of the ice at the end of the first period.

I'll throw up some quotes and some analysis and thoughts later tonight but I thought I would get some photos up first. And first things first, if you notice some slight smudges, it's not my camera, it's because I was shooting through the plastic tonight. I did some quick playing around with the editing tools to make the photos clearer and sharper, but I'm still nowhere near being close to Mr. Fred.

I don't have a photo of Jean-Michel Daoust's first period goal. I have a shot of the puck going in the net, but not of the actual shot. What I do have is this shot of Max Noreau making the pass that triggered the shot.

And for no reason except I like the shot, here's another shot of Noreau trying to get the puck into the offensive zone in the first period.

Robbie Earl had another strong, physical game. And here he is in the first period trying to pull off a wraparound.

I'm posting this shot to give an indication of the type of night it was. Abbotsford went the physical intimidation route tonight because they weren't skilled enough to stick with the Aeros. So you saw a lot of the Aeros on the ice with Abbotsford guys towering over them. Yet strangely, it was the Aeros who kept getting penalty time.

And this last shot is included because Heather liked it and indicated that she might want to use it as wallpaper for the blog someday. It's Rau and Cuma preparing for a faceoff.

We'll all have much much later, I think. I know that I will.

Win streak ends but point streak lives

Flying high on a 4 game win streak, the Aeros went into Abbotsford last night and almost kept it alive. If not for a scrambly goal in the final 30 seconds with Heat goalie Leland Irving on the bench for the extra attacker, it would likely have stretched to 5 games.

Or, if the referee hadn't waived off a goal by Jamie Fraser early in the third period, it would likely have stretched to 5 games.

I'm never one to blame the refs. Shit happens to both teams all the time and I figure in the grand scheme of things, it ends up a wash. Every team gets screwed and every team gets lucky, so there's no sense in being a ref hater.

But it does suck when it comes down to a call that, by every account I heard, was incorrect and left the door open for a comeback. Here's how I understood it to happen:

Irving came out almost to the faceoff dot to play the puck up the boards. He shot the puck but it didn't clear the zone. Matt Kassian was coming in to try and intercept Irving's shot, he missed, but then changed direction to get in position by the net when the puck was obviously staying in the zone.

Somehow in the process of Irving heading back to his net and Kass heading for the net, he and Irving, who was still well out of his crease, collided. Meanwhile, Jamie Fraser got the pass off the boards and one-timed it into the empty net.

The refs said it was goalie intereference, waived off the goal, AND threw an angry Kassian in the box for 2 minutes.

Now... I have a soft spot for refs because they carry a lot of power in terms of protecting goalies. But in this case, if the goalie is coming out to play the puck and screws it up... well... too bad.

So, I dunno. I was driving home from my drop-in (which I rocked, TYVM) and only heard Joe's description and then asked about it in the AHL Live chat when I got home. The consensus was definitely that it was a lousy call and incredible luck for Abby.

Maybe it earns the Aeros a make-up call tonight, but it's hard to make up for a goal waived off erroneously.

Anyway, the Heat went on to win it in the shootout. The Aeros didn't put one single shootout shot on the net last night. No joke. Daoust came closest, hitting a post, but he faked Irving out so well that he had half the net open, so that sorta double sucked.

Hackett stopped 2 of 4 in the shootout and played well in regulation, to which the 2-2 game somewhat attests.

BTW, all 4 goals came during a man advantage. Three power play goals and one pulled goalie goal. And DiSalvatore and Scandella had the helpers on both Aeros goals, the first from Almond and the second from Daoust.

And with the loser point, the Aeros moved up another spot in the division to 5th place. Get your "We're Number 5!" chant on...

In other news, Jared Spurgeon was injured in practice yesterday morning when McMillan accidentally got a stick up on him, according to Joe. So he was out of the game last night.

Russo also reported yesterday that Chad Rau is out with a broken jaw and is expected to return in early December. Cuma is out with a stress fracture in his foot. Having suffered through the nightmare of Brusty's foot troubles, I don't feel very good about that, but hopefully he'll be back on the ice sooner than later. 

Also, the Aeros assigned Rylan Kaip back to Bakersfield yesterday.

2/1/10 -- Aeros v. Heat

Sorry, I've got almost zero time -- these 11 hour work days on the temp job are wiping me out.

Anyway, just a few notes. Wade Dubielewicz is probably on his way up to Dallas tomorrow to back up Josh Harding because of illness to Niklas Backstrom. At least that seemed to be the gist that came from Andrew's discussions with the Minnesota goalie coach, who was in attendance.

The star of the night, for the Aeros, was probably Continental Airlines. Dubielewicz flew from San Jose to Houston on Sunday in first class because that was the only seat available on the plane, and that allowed him to get some sleep.

The Aeros got the 3-1 win over Abbotsford in a game that Kevin Constantine said wasn't close to perfect, but which saw them play good hockey for 40 minutes and then be bailed out by Dubielewicz as they were outshot 14-1 in the third. But a win is a win for this team, especially since, with only 30 games left, they don't have many chances left.

Both Dubielewicz and Constantine stressed afterwards that the team needs to have a 10-game segment soon where they go 7-3 or 8-2. Constantine said the team is generally 5-4-1 or 6-4 or 5-5 on their 10 game segments, and that this would be good enough for the playoffs in most divisions. But in the West, it's barely good enough for fifth place.

I'll have more in the mothership tomorrow -- hopefully Andrew or Heather will link the story to the blog as the temp job people kind of frown on the whole blogging on company time thing. And I'm sure Andrew will follow this with some more notes of his own. I'm sorry if I let you down, I know I usually give out lot more detailed stories, but I really need to get some sleep.

Hopefully, I'll see you on Wednesday as the Aeros take on Peoria at Toyota Center.