Say hello to Kristen and Kirsten, or is it Kirsten and Kristen. These young ladies, along with being twins, are members of the Aerodynamics. I did a quick interview with them before last Sunday's 6-3 win over Manitoba, and if you click over to the mothership, you can see the story.
Just a couple of quick notes. The Dynamics actually have two sets of twins, I prefer the term twin twins, but I didn't get the chance to talk to them. Also, this isn't in the story, but if you're wondering how they do the dance routines on the ice, well, it's a bit of a cheat. They're not wearing ordinary sneakers, but are instead wearing special sneakers that have a special grip on the soles.
Sure it's a trifle, but hey, I thought it would be nice to break up the tension of the playoff race. See you all tomorrow night.
The Aeros got the 4-2 win over the Texas Stars tonight, improving their record to 4-5-1-0 in the process. There was some good defensive play. Anton Khudobin gave up two goals, but seeing as how he faced nearly 40 shots, that's a pretty good average. So on with the hail of bullets.
1. Did someone at Toyota Center forget to pay the A/C bill? It was ridiculous how hot the arena was. It was uncomfortable in the stands, so I would hate to think of how miserable it was for the players.
2. Was that a nice pass by Warren Peters to Carson McMillan for that third goal, or what? McMillan gave all of the credit for the goal to Peters. But think about it, how many times have we seen an Aero whiff on a supposedly easy, can't miss shot like that? But McMillan buried the shot, so he deserves some credit as well.
3. Andrew called the Nate Prosser goal in the third period, the one that made it 4-2. He made a comment about Matt "Gretzky" Kassian with the assist before Prosser even had the puck off of the pass. I just wish he would give me the damn lottery numbers.
4. Kris Fredheim's goal in the first period was a rocket of a shot -- one of those Max Noreau-type things. It was also Fredheim's first professional goal.
5. Marco Scandella -- I don't really know what all to say. He made numerous good plays on the defensive end, and he even got an assist. I don't remember who we gave the stars to -- but I argued that Scandella deserved one for his defensive play.
6. Guess what, the Aeros are on a winning streak. Sure, it's only a two-game streak, but a streak has to start somewhere, right?
7. Mike Yeo said the team had a good weekend -- there will be quotes in the mothership tomorrow. The team might have lost to San Antonio on Friday night, but he liked the team's play in the first period that night, and he was encouraged by how the team worked through the heat, the third game in three days, and letting Texas tie the score to come on strong and win the game.
8. He was happy to get the home win, especially because he thought you, the fans, deserved the win for sticking with the team.
9. The team's not out of the woods. He's going to spend this week working on focus while continuing to work on their understanding of the offense.
10. I don't know about you, but maybe the Aeros should just start declining power play chances. I don't even think the Aeros were this bad on the power play last season, and they were bad last season. My solution is to just stick four guys down by the net and let Noreau fire away from the blue line. But that's probably why I'm not a coach.
11. Here's a stat that won't surprise you. The Aeros are 4-1-0-0 when they score the first goal. Of course, their primary problem this season has been just scoring a goal at any point.
12. The Dynamics "Where's Waldo" Halloween costumes just didn't work for me, though I kind of liked the glasses thing.
13. I want to apologize for the delay in getting this posted -- I'm working a temp job at the moment (hoping that it goes permanent) and I had to do some work for it when I got home, along with writing a story for the mothership.
14. That said, I won't be around for Friday's game with Toronto. I'll be covering the Houston Cougars/UCF Knights game at Roberstson Stadium for the mothership -- college football gets bigger readership numbers.
15. Things go better with a win, don't they?
16. Do something about the air conditioning. Please.
17. In honor of Halloween, here's a Craig Ferguson clip from Friday night -- I think he's one of the funniest guys on television.
In case you were elsewhere today, you might have missed the big news. The Aeros actually held a lead going into the third period. That's no lie, the Aeros skated out for the third period with a 2-1 lead. They promptly lost that lead :47 into the period, and they eventually lost the game 3-2. But with the Aeros, you take the small victories where you can find them, and for this game, it should be noted, the Aeros actually had a lead after two periods.
Now the hail of bullets.
1. The Aeros second goal was a thing of beauty. Jarod Palmer rushed the net with the puck. He drew a defenseman with him, and as he went past the goal, Lake Erie goalie John Grahame followed. Palmer passed back up the ice, and across the net, where he hit perfectly hit Casey Wellman with the puck, and Wellman buried the puck before Grahame could even think of getting back into position. And for once, the Aeros got the puck in the net.
2. I should know this. Those of us on press row should know this. But none of us do, so...is Max Noreau hurt? He's not shooting the puck as often as he did last year, especially on the power play, and when he does, the shot seems to lack the zip it's had in seasons past.
3. If Noreau's not hurt, then why the hell isn't he shooting it more on the power play?
4. I thought Marco Scandella had another good game. He bailed out Khudobin in the second period when Khudobin made a block and the puck bounced around the crease, seemingly forever. As a Lake Erie player came rushing for the puck, Scandella appeared from out of nowhere and swatted the puck away, preventing the goal.
5. Yeah, I'm liking what I see from Scandella.
6. It would have been nice to see Warren Peters swat the puck out of harm's way in the third period on the goal that tied the game. Peters thought he should have got to the puck, but didn't, saying: "Looking back on what happened – I was on the ice for one of them – we ended up going back into our zone, the puck went over my head, I guess close enough for me to grab it with my hand and try to take a swipe at it. The guy’s waiting on the other side, he bangs it into the empty net."
7. Where in the hell were the Ice Girls? Damn it, don't toss them out for just one game to start the season then get rid of them. You don't expect me to have to watch this team, do you?
8. I was the only one of us three there for the entire game. Heather went to something called an opera and didn't show up until the second period. Andrew's son was playing a little league baseball game, and he didn't arrive until the third -- note, the Aeros were winning when Andrew arrived, then promptly gave up the lead. Make of that what you will.
9. I thought the team looked awful in the first period. Whether it was just sluggishness from playing the third game in three days, or whether it was just bad play, I don't know. I thought the team looked better in the second. Heather thought I was nuts for saying this, but after all, she didn't see them in the first period. I thought their third period was the worst of the three.
10. There was no excuse for the way the team started that third period.
11. Mike Yeo agrees about that third period: "That’s a very disappointing way to lose a hockey game. Right there. For three games in three nights I thought, for two periods we’d done a lot of good things. But to come out – there were three mental lapses on the first goal, and there were two on the second. You’ve got to know – to be a winner you’ve got to know what the situation calls for. And we didn’t there in the third period."
12. For the commenter to an earlier post saying the Aeros should sign Krys Kolanos. Know this: Kolanos is unsigned at this point. There's a reason he's unsigned. So get over the mythology of Kolanos already.
13. The defenseman, for the most part, and in my opinion, have been very good. Especially Scandella and Drew Bagnall. And I think I understand why Brandon Rogers is being scratched every night. But it's obvious to all that the power play's not working, and in the past, before the current folks took over in St. Paul, Rogers was a good power play quarterback -- he was especially good at it getting it to Noreau in just the right spot for one of Noreau's shots. So maybe they should sit one of the ineffective forwards -- I think they can find a few to choose from -- and find away to get Rogers some ice time. If even for just the power play.
14. You know that Troy Ward's up in Abbotsford, looking at the power play stats, and laughing at all those who thought he and Kevin Constantine were at fault for the power play woes. Constantine's in Switzerland, and if I were in Switzerland, or anywhere in Europe, I wouldn't be wasting my time checking out AHL stats.
15. I did the math during the first intermission. It was 158:30 between goals for the Aeros. Yeah, that's bad.
16. When asked after the game if he saw anything good in the Aeros, Yeo responded that he liked seeing the team have a lead, and score some goals as opposed to losing with no goals. But that was said with an air of resignation.
17. Jarod Palmer: no more fights please. That was a pretty weak one in the first period. Leave the fighting to Bagnall or Matt Kassian. That's what they're there for.
18. The Aeros lost to the Lake Erie Monsters. How bad do you have to be lose to the Monsters, especially when this is the last game of a seven-game road trip.
19. After seven games: the Aeros are 2-4-1 (five points) and in last place in the West Division.
20. The Aeros have their third three-in-three in three consecutive weekends this week. They play in San Antonio on Friday, Austin on Saturday, and here for Sunday. Sunday is Halloween. If the Aeros play anything next Sunday like they did today, then that's going to be one scary Halloween.
21. On the plus side, next Sunday is Halloween which means the Dynamics will be in costume.
22. That's it for this edition. And I think the Rolling Stones and "Satisfaction" might be in order because this team is on a five game losing streak and nobody who is watching them is getting any satisfaction.
While going through the Aeros website today, for the first time in a while, I discovered something very exciting. At least to me. The auditions for the Aero Dynamics are next week, and you know how I am when it comes to the Aero Dynamics.
But there's the really exciting thing. This year, along with their standard routines in the stands, the Aero Dynamics will also be acting as Ice Girls. And if you've learned anything else from this site, it's that I've got a thing for Ice Girls. So let's just say that I'm really looking forward to this season getting underway.
************************ Also of note. Andrew noted that Barry Brust had just signed a contract. I thought I would also point out that former Aero goalie Nolan Schaefer will be between the pipes for the Providence Bruins this season.
I enjoyed dealing with both men, and they never treated me like the true idiot that I am. So I wish them all of the best in this upcoming AHL season. (I'm also hoping that Barry can cast aside his injury issues and prove a few people in a certain organization wrong about his skills and abilities.)
And I'd like to echo what Andrew said about Palmer Hestley. You've got no idea of how important guys like Palmer are to making our jobs easier, and Palmer was a great asset last year. Good luck, Palmer.
We've decided to do some postseason items on the team. And I volunteered to do the Aeros awards for the season just played. So after consulting with the rest of the T3I crew, here are the winners for the T3I Houston Aeros Awards.
TEAM MVP: Max Noreau. There's a reason that Noreau made the second team All-AHL Team. He's that good. He tied for second on the team in points (18 goals-34 assists=52 points). He was named to the AHL All Star team. He was the team's most consistent offensive threat, even from the blue line. And he anchored a defense that was often full of holes due to injuries in Houston and Minnesota.
ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chad Rau. Cody Almond was the big name coming into the season, and he showed flashes of brilliance, between injuries, call ups to Minnesota, and inconsistent play. But Rau played in all but one game, was one of the team's leading scorers (19 goals-19 assists=38 points), and never appeared to be out of his element. He didn't make stupid mistakes.
GOALIE OF THE YEAR: Anton Khudobin. It was a tough year for Aeros goalies. There was the inconsistent defense. The almost nightly inability of the offense to score goals. The need to be perfect every night. Khudobin kept the team in contention the first part of the year. His record might only have been 14-19-4, but he was bombarded by shots every night, from nearly every angle. He was able to get four shutouts, and despite it all, allowed only 91 goals in 40 games.
DEFENSEMAN OF THE YEAR: Max Noreau. Brandon Rogers spent way too much time having to play forward. Clayton Stoner went to Minnesota and never came back. That left Noreau as the veteran of the bunch, and he ended up virtually leading the team's offensive attack -- what little there was of it -- from the blue line.
FORWARD OF THE YEAR: Jon DiSalvatore. DiSalvatore was not only the team's captain, but he was one of the team's leading scorer, finishing with 52 points after getting 21 goals, 31 assists, and a team high 11 power play goals. DiSalvatore didn't have a lot to work with as Kevin Constantine constantly shifted lines because of injuries, call-ups, and ineffectiveness. Yet DiSalvatore was always a constant.
THE SURPRISE OF THE YEAR: Jean-Michel Daoust. Neither of us press types knew anything about Daoust when he made the team -- and I admit to enjoying listening to the Toyota PA types change the pronunciation of his name from game-to-game. But damn, this guy played some hockey. He was the team's leading scorer (21 goals-34 assists=55 points), and I don't think anyone played with more effort or determination. I can't help but think that if the whole team would have played with the want of Daoust, this team would have found a way to make the playoffs.
BIGGEST LOST (PLAYER WISE): Andy Hilbert. Hilbert missed most of the season due to concussion issues. And without him, the offense just couldn't click. DiSalvatore was left alone as the team's go-to offensive option. It's hard to play the what-if game, but one can't help but wonder if things would have been different if Hilbert had been available the entire season.
WORST LUCK: Wade Dubielewicz. I can't think of one guy who had worst luck this season than Dubie. Who can forget opening night, against Manitoba, when the puck bounced high off of the glass behind the net, hit Dubie in the back, then bounced into the net for a goal. Then there was the Rockford game on January 10 that the Aeros lost 2-1 after Rockford's Mike Brennan took a shot in OT that was going to be wide of the net, very wide of the net, only it hit the knob of Dubie's stick and went into the net to win the game for Rockford.
WORST LUCK NOT INVOLVING WADE DUBIELEWICZ (TIE): Peter Zingoni and Barry Brust. Zingoni came to the team after an injury-filled 2008-09 season. He came out hot, then got injured. Nobody worked harder to get back, then he got hurt again. And he came back, and got hurt again. Then there's the strange case of Barry Brust. Andrew and Heather know more details, but the brass in Minnesota didn't seem to like him. Then he got injured in camp. He got stuck in purgatory in Florida, and when he got his chance in Houston, he got injured -- first an ugly leg slash, then injuring his foot again.
WACKIEST MOMENTS (TIE): A puck hits Dubie on the back and bounces into the goal. A puck hits the knob of Dubie's stick and bounces into the goal -- a shot that would have gone way wide. But the true wackiest moment was any game in which Dubielewicz was sitting on the bench. If you didn't see Coach Dubie on the bench during a game, then you missed out. He banged the boards. He shouted out instructions at the goalies, and the players. He encouraged his teammates. I think he got a bigger workout on the bench than he did when playing.
(That said, and as an aside, Wade was a very good guy to deal with in the locker room for us. He never shied away from answering questions. He always spoke his mind. He never threw anybody under the bus.)
WACKIEST MOMENT NOT INVOLVING WADE DUBIELEWICZ: It was tough watching Barry Brust suffer that leg slash against Peoria. But without it, there would have never been that moment when Jeff Crawford came skating out to goal as the first intermission came to a close. We didn't know the condition of Brust at the moment, so the entire press row thought that Crawford was going to have to play the rest of the game. What made the moment was watching all of the scouts on press row, and there were still a lot of scouts following the team on February 3rd, and they were scrambling through every sheet of paper on the tables trying to get any scrap of info on Crawford.
MOST INSPIRATIONAL MOMENT: With the scouts scrambling to find out info on Crawford, the Peoria coach agreed to give the Aeros a few extra minutes, and as the clock ticked to zero, Barry Brust, who had suffered a deep slash of his thigh in the first period. He got about 30 stitches during the intermission, did a few butterflies to show he was capable of making the blocks and making the moves, then skated out to the ice and got the win, stopping 25 of the 26 shots he saw that night.
BEST ARENA ADDITION: Let's hear for the brass up in Minnesota for getting replays for every game played at Toyota Center, no matter when the game was played. In the past, we've been stuck with replays just on Friday and Saturday. But this year, we had them every game. So thank you.
WORST NON-TEAM DEVELOPMENT: For some reason, the number of Lady Dynamics dropped, and dropped, throughout the season. And I liked watching the Lady Dynamics. But I want to give my thanks to those young ladies who stuck it out for the whole season. Thank you.
BEST READERS: This is for the readers of T3I. Thanks for sticking with us all season. I apologize for not being around as much as last season, but hopefully the T3I supplied you with all of the information about the team that you needed, and wanted. Thanks for reading. We appreciate it.
BIGGEST T3I LOSS: Fred, we missed you this season. It wasn't the same without you around. I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help out.
There's a new Aeros post up over at the mothership if you're interested. It's nothing really new except for some stuff about the Aero Dynamics and a quote from the new captain of the Aero Dynamics. But not everybody reads T3I -- and why not -- so the Press is the place for them to get some info. (Well that, and I get my press pass through the Press.)
Along with the big coaching news from yesterday, there's more big news coming from the Aeros. The Aeros have announced that they will be holding the auditions for the Aero Dynamics on August 1, 2009, at the Park Shops Mall in downtown. You can find all of the registration info right here.
I've got a suggestion for the Aeros to use during the auditions. You know how the Texans and Rockets always have media people on the judging panels for their cheerleader teams? And then those media members give the teams some huge coverage? Well I'm volunteering to be that media member for the Aero Dynamic auditions. I think I have a good eye. I'm sure Fred will loan me a good camera. I'll be glad to write it up for T3I and post lots of photos.
And I know I'll be a good and fair judge.
So, Aeros, how about it? This sounds like a great deal to me.
Sorry for the delay with these, and I'm sure Andrew and Heather and Fred will be around with their stuff later, as will I with my usual nonsense, but...
Tonight's game was Peter Olvecky's last game with the Aeros this season. Kevin Constantine confirmed after the game that Olvecky will be joining his national team for the World Cup, and that he will be leaving on Monday.
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Anton Khudobin will be the main man in the goal for the rest of this playoff series as Constantine still doesn't have a timetable on the return of either Nolan Schaefer or Barry Brust.
And while we're at it. Could someone get Ryan Munce a nameplate for his sweater. If he's going to suit up, and possibly play, then he at least deserves to have his name on his sweater like the rest of the team. Update: Okay, I've been informed that Munce did get a sweater with his name plate on it during the game.
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Also, most of you didn't get notice of the game time change until you checked with us. But don't worry, the Aeros also didn't inform the Lady Dynamics. They found out that information from me in the press dining room. They were happy that somebody took the time to fill them in.
Say hello to Kristen and Kirsten, or is it Kirsten and Kristen. These young ladies, along with being twins, are members of the Aerodynamics. I did a quick interview with them before last Sunday's 6-3 win over Manitoba, and if you click over to the mothership, you can see the story.
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