Aeros Defeat Rampage 2-1 (IN OVERTIME!!!!!)

The Aeros did the unthinkable tonight.  They got the overtime win.

That's right.  You read that correctly.  The Aeros got the overtime win tonight, defeating the San Antonio Rampage 2-1 for their first OT win since March 15, 2011.  And boy, did it feel good.

"It's not even the New Year yet, so that's a good sign," head coach John Torchetti said shortly after the victory.   A victory powered by a pretty Jeff Taffe goal at 1:03 of the OT that came from the left of goalie Jacob Markstrom and was set up by a beautiful Jon DiSalvatore cross-ice pass from down low.

The Aeros tied the game in a most improbable fashion, scoring on the power play at 13:40 of the third period, Chad Rau taking a rebound and lifting it over the shoulder of Markstrom.

"It was good to see our power play," Torchetti said.  "It did a good job, got a big goal.  Got us back in the game, changed momentum.  I thought we played more of our style in the third."

The lone goal for the Rampage came at 3:31 of of the second period when San Antonio's Michael Caruso at mid-ice, hit the puck off of a stanchion and the puck flew past Hackett.  It was one of the goals that can kill a team, and in weeks past, it probably would have killed the spirits of the Aeros, but the veterans were back from Minnesota, and they were out in full force, as if willing the team to victory.

"Our leadership was fantastic tonight down at the end.  All of our leaders played huge roles.  Ortmeyer, Almond.  Strong penalty kill.  [Hackett] played big, Hack kept us in the game in the first."

The Aeros (17-6-2-7, 43 points) moved back into second place of the AHL's West Division with the win, bypassing the idle Abbotsford Heat, and they're one point behind the first place Oklahoma City Barons.  The Aeros return to action when they travel to San Antonio to face the Rampage on Friday night.  The Aeros return to Houston next year when they host the Barons on Sunday, January 1, 2012 at 5:05.

Some Game Photos

I haven't done much with the photos this season, but I went down and took a few this afternoon and I thought I would share. So...

This first picture is of Tyler Cuma pushing the puck up the ice. Coach John Torchetti wasn't too happy with the D play today. He wants them pushing the puck up the ice. He wasn't happy with what they were doing with the puck, though. He doesn't want them acting as shooters. He wants them to put the puck on the net and let what happens happen. A d-man shooting the puck for a goal goes high, and he doesn't want the puck going high. He wants the rebound.


Here's a shot of Matt Kassian trying to get to some clear space on the ice.


Here is the result of one of the teams's scoring attempts in the second period. Which means there was no goal scored on this play.


This is Joey Martin, one of the new kids who has arrived in the past week or so due to the injuries in both Houston and Minnesota. Torchetti singled him out during our post-game presser and was very, very complimentary.


And here's Carson McMillan, one of the walking wounded who has just returned to play.

Aeros Win Another Thriller, Take 3-2 Series Lead

This is what it looks like in the scrum after a huge win.

When the Milwaukee Admirals took the 2-0 lead on a short-handed goal with just five seconds left in the second period, I turned to Heather and Andrew and made the following statement: it's all over. The Aeros are going to lose tonight. Then they're going to lose Sunday.

While a bit dramatic, one couldn't be blamed for thinking this, seeing as how the Aeros were losing 2-0 in a game they were absolutely dominating. They had out-shot Milwaukee 38-16. They were playing physical hockey, and they were forcing the action in the Milwaukee's zone. There's just no way they should have been trailing, except that Matt Hackett had a brain fart on the first goal and there was a huge defensive breakdown on the shortie.

But Milwaukee goalie Jeremy Smith was just light's out dominating this game, stopping anything and everything the Aeros were throwing his way. There was just no way, NO WAY, the Aeros were going to make a comeback and win this game.

NO FRIGGING WAY!

We know now how the game turned out. Robbie Earl scored on a 5x3 power play with 4:22 remaining in the game. Then Jon DiSalvatore hit Chad Rau with a beautiful pass and Rau buried the puck with 1:22 left to tie the game. Then Robbie Earl again, off a play by Casey Wellman, netted the game-winner at the 8:45 mark of the overtime.

And just like that, the Aeros got the 3-2 OT win for the second night in a row to grab the 3-2 series lead over the Admirals.

What more can be said after that? Well...

1. I think Jeremy Smith could kill his entire team and get off with justifiable homicide. He faced 53 shots in this game as the Admirals defense struggled to keep the Aeros out of the offensive zone. The Aeros weren't successful for most of the night, but the reason they weren't successful was that Smith was getting to everything.

That said, the Aeros knew they could get to him. They knew if they kept attacking he would break because he's only human. Here was the Aeros game plan as the game got late.

"He was great, again," Mike Yeo said. "He’s played – the one thing you keep saying is we can grind him down, too. If he’s going to make 50-something saves then we’re going to get to the net, and we’re going to get to the net. And we’re going to keep throwing pucks there, and eventually he’s going to get tired, too.

"He played back-to-back, and he played two hard games in a row. So hopefully we’re going to get to him as well."

And eventually, the Aeros did get to him. It took nearly the entire game, but they got to him.

2. Fifteen of the 53 shots Smith faced came off of the sticks of Robbie Earl and Chad Rau. Earl, specifically, has been attacking Smith the entire series, but he hadn't been having much success. Until tonight, when the team needed him the most.

3. Of the game-winner, Earl gave the credit for the play's success to Casey Wellman who won a face-off and started the action. Earl claims to have just been in the right place at the right time.

"Off the face-off, Wellman had it," Earl said. "I’m not sure what happened, but I know he cycled it back down to me. And I was able to get the bead on the D and was able to cut back, and then I saw a bunch of legs and I decided to pick one out, and it went in."

4. Earl's goal comes off of the rype of play that Yeo wants to see. Attacking the net. Again, and again, and again, forcing Smith to make plays. And he thought they were better at it tonight than they were in game four.

"That’s where you give the guys a lot of credit," Yeo said. "I thought last game we started to try to get a little too precise with our shots. Tonight we were just focusing on getting them to the net and creating those battles in front of the net. Those are hard plays for the goalie, and physically draining when you’re scrambling around and there’s traffic in front and guys are poking at pucks. I thought we did a nice job with that."

5. The Aeros had doubts when they went to the locker room for the second intermission. They had been following the game plan, putting the puck on net and trying to create havoc, and they were losing. But Chad Rau said they talked about this and knew what they had to do.

"Just to stick with it," he said. "We knew for the most part, besides a couple of plays, a couple of turnovers, that we were playing a good game. That’s the kind of feeling we all felt. So we knew we just had to stick with what we were doing and come out of strong."

6. And Mike Yeo noticed this, saying that a mindset that Jeremy Smith was just too perfect began to get to the team in the second period, leading to the two goals.

"That is exactly what happened," he said. "One way we can get better is, once that happened, we started to force things a little bit and we put ourselves in some tough positions. You start to force a play into the middle. And now we’re all kind of caught on the offensive side of the puck, and we’re back-checking. There was some frustration in our game where we started to take some penalties. It’s a good lesson for us. One way, certainly, we can improve. And then when they scored that second goal, we were stretching a shift and we were forcing a play. You want to do the right thing. You just have to make sure you keep your focus and go and do it the right way."

7. As you read below, Admirals coach Lane Lambert attempted to have a heated discussion with the officials in their locker room after the game. And in some ways, that was understandable as the officiating in this game, hell, this whole series, was horrendous.

For instance, I'm still trying to figure out how, where two players drop their gloves, throw numerous punches to the face that land, don't get called for fighting but instead each get four minutes for roughing. And it appeared to me, numerous times, that both goalies were mauled and mugged by guys jumping all over them and jabbing them with sticks while they were covering the puck. So while I'm sure Lambert will be getting a hefty fine from the league office, I hope that somebody with the league will do something about Ghislain Hebert and Mark Lemelin.

For what it's worth, I think Lambert might have been right regarding the interference penalty on Grant Lewis as I felt it was a fantastic acting job on the part of Casey Wellman. Still, that shouldn't have caused the Admirals squad to melt down, get called for a delay of game penalty seconds later, and have to kill a 5x3 power play.

Also, for what it's worth, I've been going down that corridor for four years, and this is the first time any coach, either the Aeros or the opposing coach, has attempted to get to the refs after a game.

8. Once Earl made that first goal, you could feel the momentum shift. Still, I was really worried and I was mentally cursing Mike Yeo as Matt Hackett stayed in the net and stayed in the net and stayed in the net as the clocked ticked down. I was down in that corner, and I saw him keep looking at the bench, waiting for the sign to rush off so the Aeros could get that extra skater out there. The irony being, of course, that they didn't need the extra skater as Hackett wasn't even halfway to the bench when Jon DiSalvatore hit Chad Rau with that perfect pass which Rau then buried in the net to tie the game.

9. The Aeros were lucky tonight. As much as they dominated the action, they needed luck to swing their way, and swing it did when they got that 5x3 power play. And when they got that chance, they capitalized.

"We needed that," Earl told us. "It’s one of those moments where you’re like, okay this is do-or-die, and we were able to capitalize. That second goal, it was an unbelievable play, and a timely goal. It was a valiant effort by everybody, and now we’re up 3-2."

10. Yes, the Aeros are now up 3-2 and they're heading back to Milwaukee. You've got to wonder if all of the action he's been facing is going to get to Smith. But the Aeros can't worry about that. They've just got to concentrate on their game.

"They’re a strong home team," Rau said. "We know that. We’re going to have our work cut out for us when we get back to Milwaukee. We’re going to have to come with an even stronger game."

11. Games six and seven will be in Milwaukee. The Aeros will fly to Chicago on Saturday morning, then bus to Milwaukee. They've got the momentum on their side. But while it looks like the Admirals might be going into meltdown mode, that can't be counted on.

I hate to keep going back to this, but I have to go back to what Jed Ortmeyer said after the last regular season game. The key to winning a series is what happens on those days between games. You can't get too high; you can't get too low. You can enjoy it, but you've also got to put it behind you and focus on what's ahead. The Aeros can't worry about Jeremy Smith or how Milwaukee responds in an elimination game. The Aeros have to concentrate on their game, on their process. They've got to control those things they can control, and they've got to work hard.

It's worked so far. Let's see if it keeps working.

(And just a reminder, T3I will be in the building for game six, and for game seven, if needed. I'll be there for both, and Andrew hopes to be there for game seven.)

Some Game 80 Photos

I took some photos, of course, but instead of game action, I've got some other items. For instance, here's one of the team fans with her sign, at the glass after the game.


This photo below is one of my favorites. I just wish it wasn't through the glass. But I think the whole arena could see Jed Ortmeyer's smile after this goal. We asked after the game, and he noted that this was part of a joke that he had with Patrick O'Sullivan. Primarily, whenever's he on a line with O'Sullivan, he gets a goal.


And here is Robbie Earl. I think we've written nice things about Robbie this season, but I don't think we've said enough about just how good he's been this year, and how much he's elevated his game. I can't believe some of the defensive plays -- when he stole a puck off another guy's puck -- I saw him make in the third period.


Here's number two star Chad Rau bumping fists with Chilly.


And here's the game's number one star, Warren Peters, getting his moment in the spotlight after the game.

3/4/11 -- Aeros Crunch Syracuse

That was a nice 3-1 win by the Aeros over Syracuse tonight. The team didn't play there best hockey -- Mike Yeo had to call a timeout four minutes into the second period because of the team's play -- but needing a win over a last place team while playing the first of a three-in-three, the Aeros came through big time.

So, let's get on with it.

1. Injury news first. Matt Kassian is suffering from a lower body injury and will be out several weeks according to Yeo. They're still hoping to get Drew Bagnall back next week.

"He’s a warrior, though," Yeo said of Bagnall. "As soon as he’s ready, I know he’ll be in there."

2. One of the more impressive things about the win was that because of the annual Wild injury carousel, coupled with injuries here, the Aeros had a lot of guys playing tonight who haven't put in a lot of time with the big team this year. This is something to be expected, and they're having to come in and play without a lot of practice time. So though the ice time was really limited Joel Broda and Pascal Morency tonight -- probably because Morency couldn't stay out of the penalty box whenever he stepped on the ice -- guys like Jamie Fritsch did get some ice time.

Yeo attributes the play of these guys tonight, and that they were able to fit in without looking like sore thumbs, to the system the team's playing. The regulars on the team have bought in to what Yeo is selling, and they're making sure everybody else goes with it as well. And this, according to Yeo, is what successful teams do. They get a system and everybody works with everybody to make sure the plan is implemented.

3. That leads us to Jarod Palmer, the star of the night on the line of the night. Palmer finished with two goals -- and came "just this close" to the hat trick -- playing on a line with Robbie Earl and Chad Rau. And Palmer put all of the credit for everything he did on those two guys.

"What can I say?" he said. "Pucks just seemed to bounce my way for me tonight. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t, and when they go your way, you’ve got to take advantage of it and try to put one in the back of the net. I had some help by line mates. A couple of pucks ended up right on my tape right in front of the net. That wasn’t all my work. That was a lot of team effort there. It wasn’t too hard to put into the net."

4. Earl and Rau have really been clicking as a line this year, but it's always seemed to be just missing one piece. But they've been working their asses off and Palmer just seemed to make all of the difference. But Palmer said Earl and Rau did everything within their power to make his game tonight possible.

"Those guys, they help me out a lot by just talking to me," Palmer said. "Coming off the ice every shift, around the bench, they’re telling me where they wanted me, where I could have been to be in a better spot, where I could have passed the puck to get it to them in a better spot. Just small details that they mentioned to you that you’ve got to listen to and pay attention to. If your teammates are talking to, it makes everything a lot easier."

5. Yeo was excited by the play of Earl/Rau/Palmer. He thought they played an excellent defensive game to go along with what they did on the offensive end -- the other goal came from Chad Rau on the power play. He liked how Palmer was willing to get in position around the net and he thinks Earl and Rau did good work with creating open ice that made Palmer's work possible.

6. Palmer also gives a lot of credit to Yeo's system, and to the veteran leadership on the club.

"I think we have a lot of structure as far as where we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to do," he said. "It’s well known. It’s preached constantly by the leaders on the team. A lot of the guys walk the talk, and that helps a lot. A lot of leadership on this team. You’ve got Ortmeyer, DiSalvatore, O’Sullivan – just some guys, some of our leadership left – Peters up in the bigs right now – still, there’s enough here right now that we can take in some new guys and keep rolling. It’s a tough challenge."

7. Just a note of clarification: we didn't let Heather talk to Palmer because the last time she did, he went into a huge scoring funk. So being a superstitious lot, we just let her hold a tape recorder and listen.

8. Nice game by Josh Tordjman in goal tonight. He let in a first period power play goal that briefly gave Syracuse the lead, but that came off a deflection which kind of left him helpless. But I don't know if we can continue letting Heather sit with us in the press box when he plays because she's screaming and squirming and hitting and punching with worry that something's going to go wrong.

9. After tonight the Aeros record is 37-23-1-4 (79 points), and they're still in second place. Go down and look at Andrew's post for the latest on the standings and the things that still need to happen.

10. Nice stat of the night: the Aeros are now 18-1-1-0 when holding opponents to zero or one goal.

11. I noticed tonight that the Aeros are celebrating the "Roudiest" Fan Of The Game in their Hilton Hotel giveaway thing. Has this been the case all season and I've just missed the typo? My question: how did the video people at Toyota Center -- not Aeros employees -- miss a typo like this? That used to be one of my functions with the Astros and Texans, making sure no typos like that went up on the video boards. So was this a one-time only thing, or not? I know I just noticed it, but that doesn't mean it's new.

The Aeros Are Having Fun

My latest post on the team is up over at the Houston Press, so I hope you'll give it a read, though, I've got to admit, there's nothing over there that remotely touches on anything that could be seen as saying the Wild organization is racist or biased against Anton Khudobin. There are some comments from Mike Yeo on dealing with the break, and a statement from Chad Rau about why the team has been playing so good -- they're having fun.

Also, I know most of you probably don't care about college basketball, but I've also got a post over there today dealing with Rice basketball and the challenge that freshman center Omar Oraby is currently dealing with -- a challenge that has nothing to do with basketball as he's a native of Cairo and his family is still over there.

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.

Give Me The Puck, Damn It

Okay, Matt Hackett didn't really say that to Mike Yeo on Sunday afternoon. We don't know really know what the two said. We just know what they told us they said. But what we know is this: Yeo was going to start Josh Tordjman today. He told Hackett a couple of hours before the game, when they were at Toyota Center. And Hackett asked to play instead. And Yeo said fine, go for it.

It could be argued that Yeo, no matter what, should have gone with Tordjman in this game with the San Antonio Rampage. There's some validity to that argument since Tordjman has a lot of AHL experience, so he probably offered up the better chance for the win. But Yeo was after something else. He wanted to see what his young goalie was capable of. Whether he had that fire.
I think we saw the answer, a 3-1 win that saw Hackett play an excellent game.

I didn't see Saturday's 4-0 disaster at San Antonio -- I was watching the NFL Playoffs, and from what I understand, is you tried AHL Live you couldn't see it either -- so I don't really know how bad the kid, or the team as a whole, looked. But they held their own against San Antonio today, and Hackett did a hell of a job against one of the best teams in the league.

So, here are the bullet points.

1. Yeo says it is not his practice to let a player dictate his lineup, and he's not going to make it a practice. But there are circumstances when you let Hackett do what he did. Today was one of them.

"It’s quite the story," Yeo said. "We’re a development league, right? But we’re also here to win hockey games. I was going to play Josh today, and after talking with Matt, he wanted it. Badly. He said, I’m ready for this. I want the game. This is something that I’ve talked to him about, and we’ve talked to him about. The next step for him is, he’s got to show that he wants that. That’s he the guy. That he’s the man, take the wheel. I want to see some fight."

[SNIP]

"If he wants it that bad, I’m going to see what you’ve got then. I’m going to give you that opportunity, and he responded the right way. I was pretty impressed."

2. For those wondering, things like this happened with Kevin Constantine, as well. I can remember talking to Constantine in his office after Nolan Schaefer or Barry Brust had had a bad game, or several bad games, and asking who would go at goal the next day, and he would say one guy, then come game time, out would skate the other guy. And KC would say after the game that they talked and he saw that they wanted to get back out there and set things right.

3. I know that there will be injuries, and people moving up and down from Minnesota. I know that different guys will join the team and depart, etc., but...

I really like the way the lines shape up right now. I think that Peters/Ortmeyer/Gillies line is doing a great job of getting things started with just the right sense of energy and urgency. And I'm also liking the Rau/Earl/Daoust line. Earl's been playing some really good hockey for several weeks, but Daoust has suddenly started to come life.

4. We talked to Daoust after the game, and he attributed part of his early season slump to bad luck: "I’ve been working hard, and all of that," he said. "The puck didn’t bounce for me since the beginning of the year."

But Daoust attributed his turnaround to something besides the puck finally bouncing the right way. Yeo's got him paired up with Rau, and Daoust likes the pairing. He said they were paired a lot last season and they work well together.

5. Was that really Max Noreau almost getting into a fight at the end of the first period? Seriously, I can't remember the last time I saw Noreau close to a fight. That's not a knock against Max, it's just not his game. The framing's a bit off, or I would post a photo of it, but the best part of the near fight was Max jawing it out with Nolan Yonkman who as just towering over him.

6. The Lake Erie goalie didn't hang out in his corner when I was down there on Friday. But Matt Climie was sitting in his corner on Sunday. He was supposed to be taking notes, as he had a clipboard and paper and pin, but the guy was having fun, talking to the guards and arena personnel. People were handing pucks for him to sign, and he was doing that. And there were these kids behind us shouting about how they wanted to see blood and kill them -- the standard hockey stuff -- and he was just laughing away.

Once again, while the results do matter, it's all just a game, and it's all about having fun.

7. One of the guards asked him when he was going to play in Houston again, and Climie reminded him that his last time out, he got raked over the coals by the Aeros, so he wasn't eager to repeat the experience.

8. I'm kind of sick of the Rampage. So I guess it's kind of nice that these two teams won't face each other again until mid-March.

9. I'll have a story in the Press sometime on Monday with a focus on Hackett. So please look for it. I'll try and post it, but I'm facing a possible root canal on Monday morning, so I might have other things to worry about.

1/7/11 -- Aeros v. Lake Erie -- Rookie Shutout Edition

Well, was this a fun night of hockey, or what? The Aeros got the 3-0 win over the Lake Erie Monsters in what, to me, was their best game of this season. The Aeros dominated in every phase of this game, whether it was on offense -- they outshot Lake Erie 41-25, defense, goaltending, hitting, penalty kill, you name it.

So let's just take this in list form.

1. The game's number one star was rookie goalie Matt Hackett, who got the first shutout of his AHL career. He had really good vision tonight, and he seemed to see the puck no matter where it was at.

2. "It’s unbelievable," Hackett said of the game. "I didn’t know it was going to come, and the boys played great and kept the shots to the outside, and I saw everything. It’s exciting, and I had a couple of buddies in the stands, so it’s special."

Here's Hackett making a save in the first period.

3. Hackett attributed his play to the guys making great plays in front of him, but also for working with him in practice. He also noted that Bob Mason, the Wild goalie has been in town this week, and he's been giving Hackett some attention.

4. Mike Yeo thought this was the best game played by Hackett this season, and he agreed that Mason played an important role in that.

"It’s probably not a coincidence," Yeo said. "We’ve had a week off. He’s a young guy. The details of his game probably weren’t as big, and he’s been able to work on some things this week. We’ve had [Bob Mason] our goalie coach from Minnesota, has been here this week and been able to work with him. So I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s able to play like that."

5. The third star of the game was Jean-Michel Daoust who scored on a penalty shot in the first period. I've missed some games this year, but this was one of the few times this season that I've seen Daoust was that pest he specialized in playing last season.

For instance, Daoust was able to get his penalty shot because he was on a breakaway. He was on a breakaway because he was in the penalty box for boarding. He leaped out of the box as the penalty time expired and was in great position for the breakaway.

(If you'll click on this picture, you'll see that Daoust has this little, playful smile on his face, as he prepares to head to the box, almost as if this is all part of a grand plan.)

And here is Mr. Daoust on his approach for the penalty shot.

6. A big key to the game for Yeo, and as I discovered when checking my camera, for myself down low, was the play of Warren Peters and his line, featuring Peters, Jed Ortmeyer, and Colton Gillies. If there was hit being made, or if the goalie's view was being blocked, then it seemed to always be the doing of these guys.

Peters on a first period face-off.

And here is Mr. Peters getting in the way of Lake Erie's Jason Bacashihua.

7. I'm sorry that I don't have a photo of Chad Rau's goal in the second period. It was a thing of beauty. He got a great pass from Robbie Earl -- who seemed to be everywhere tonight (he was the number two star for his goal and assist) -- and then Rau just made a few moves with his stick and the puck and the goalie didn't stand a chance.

8. As Andrew mentioned below, and I noted on twitter, Anton Khudobin was not available for tonight's game as he was called up to Minnesota late in the day. Because of the timing, there was no way to get Josh Tordjman to Houston in time to back up Hackett. That's when the panic and the phone calls started. And by panic and phone calls, I mean panic and phone calls.

9. The Aeros eventually found a former college and pro goalie in town, David Weninger. Of course, Weninger hadn't played pro hockey since 2000.

10. Here's the story as told by Mike Yeo:

"Believe it or not, the call-up happened so quickly that we didn’t have a chance, and exhausted all other opportunities. I actually called my son’s coach, who, he played Division One hockey, and I knew that he played pretty decent men’s league hockey here in town, and I asked him, listen if all else fails I may need a goalie.

"He said, I know a guy who played college, and I believe he was drafted. He calls back and says it turns out you actually coached this guy. So I actually played with him briefly, and coached him [at Wilkes-Barre Scranton]. Needless to say, probably neither of us look the same as we did back then. He was great. He was cheering the guys on."

11. Tordjman will be available in San Antonio for Saturday's game, as well as the game in Houston on Sunday. After the game, Yeo was leaning toward starting Hackett on Saturday, and he noted that the thought had briefly crossed his mind of letting Hackett start on Sunday as well. But I have a feeling that that is all based on how things go tomorrow night.

12. With the win, the Aeros are 20-17-1-2 on the season (43 points). They're in sixth place in the West, two points behind fifth place Chicago and three points behind fourth place Texas.

13. And then there's this from the Aeros' crackerjack media staff. Daoust's penalty shot was 26th penalty shot in the AHL this season. But it was only the eighth one that was successful. It was also the second successful penalty shot of the night, as Michael Swift of Albany was successful on his penalty shot against Charlotte's Justin Pogge.

Meet Your 2010-11 Aeros: Chad Rau

CHAD RAU

Born: January 18, 1987 (age 23)
Eden Prairie, Minnesota

5 ft 11
178 lbs
Center
Shoots: Left

Career Transactions:
Signed a 2-year, 2-way deal in May with the Wild…signed a PTO with Houston…Selected by Toronto in the seventh round (228th overall0 in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.

Chad Rau played, in his rookie professional season, the way most veteran players can only hope to play. Playing in 79 games, Rau was fourth on the Aeros in scoring with 38 points (19+19=38). He didn’t look lost on the ice, and he appeared to handle the adjustment from college hockey to the AHL with aplomb. His 79 games played also led the team, and that was a key to a team that found itself torn apart with injuries and call-ups. He also found a way to fit in with every line on which he skated.

Rau is a familiar name to Wild fans, having starred at Eden Prairie high school before going to college hockey where he was a standout with Colorado College, earning their Rookie of the Year honor in 2005-06 and putting up at least 30 points in each of his four seasons. But more important than standing out at Eden Prairie or Colorado College, Rau stood out with the Aeros in a year when many of the names who were expected to stand out didn’t. And that earned Rau not only the praises of Wild execs, it earned him a NHL contract.

“Chad had a successful rookie season in Houston, making the adjustment from college hockey,” Aeros GM Jim Mill said when Rau signed his two-year contract. "He is a skilled offensive player, but also plays a strong two-way game. He adds valuable depth to our organization.”

Not much was expected from Rau last season. The youth spotlight was instead focused on Colton Gilies and Cody Almond. But Rau was one of the few Aeros to excel last season, and with a year of professional play under his belt, and with a new coach coming in to take command, Rau should excel once again.

Rau signs 2-year, 2-way NHL deal with Wild

I don't think we ever posted about this, so if you haven't heard, the Wild finally put ink to paper on a deal with Chad Rau, who will be entering his second pro season.

It's a 2-year deal, two ways both years and, like Daoust, it's his first NHL deal. And he's buying dinner this summer because it includes a nice little signing bonus. I'll have the filet, thanks, Chad!


For my money, he's the last of the "must-haves" from last year's free agents, but I think he's a kid with some decent upside, so a 2 year deal is great as we see if he can turn those 38 points into 50 as his consistency as a pro improves.

Here's a nice little article about his signing from the Wild web site.

The First Annual T3I Awards

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.

12/28 -- Aeros vs. Crunch -- The Get Back Edition

Before I go further, I want to apologize to all of you for being so late with posting this. I’ve had a rather awful day -- I hate temp jobs, especially when they end weeks before they’re supposed to end -- and I got home to discover some new problems with my COBRA, so I’ve been dealing with those issues.

Now that out of the way…

The Houston Aeros won a game tonight that they normally shouldn’t have won. They got the 5-4 OT win while getting help from some unlikely sources -- Ryan Lannon and J.P. Testwuide -- and some expected sources who appear to be beginning to heat up a bit. They had what appeared to be some bad goalie play, until you stop and think about what Barry Brust was dealing with all night. They scored a goal on the power play, but gave up three goals on the penalty kill.

Yeah, this isn’t the type of game that this season’s Houston Aeros normally win. But win they did. And in doing so, they won not only the most exciting game of this season, but also the final home game of this calendar year.

It was a game in which the Syracuse Crunch got the first goal -- a power play goal midway through the first period that Barry Brust didn’t appear to have a chance at stopping. The Aeros tied the game at 15:27 when Ryan Lannon got his first goal since the 2007-08 season when he was with the Wilkes-Barre/Scanton Penguins (paper demands fulfilled by Dunder-Mifflin). Lannon’s high shot from the circle just cleared the top pipe and bounced back out onto the ice almost immediately. But it was a goal nevertheless.

Syracuse took the 2-1 lead in the first, but Andy Hilbert, who had been close to scoring the entire night, got a beauty of a pass from Chad Rau and slipped the puck into the net to tie the score at 2-2 (it’s a shame they didn’t show the replay of this goal inside Toyota Center because it really appeared to be pretty damn nice. The Aeros then took the lead at 15:15 when Jon DiSalvatore got the power play goal when he knocked in the rebound of a Hilbert shot.

Syracuse tied the game on a power play goal just 44 seconds into the third when Bates Battaglia went five hole. And two minutes later, the Crunch took the 4-3 lead when Tomas Kana fired the puck past Brust -- once again, on a power play. But the Aeros didn’t quit and Jean-Michel Daoust, after having several shots bounce off various portions of the pipe, finally knocked one into the net at 4:05.

And there it stayed until 52 seconds into the OT when J.P. Testwuide, who had earned his first professional point earlier in the night when he assisted on Daoust’s goal, got a pass from DiSalvatore and launched the puck for the goal. A goal which was also his first goal as a professional.

“It was kind of late in my shift,” Testwuide said. “I just came in off the half-wall. We had a guy drive the middle lane, I think it was Daoust, he was driving down, and I knew if I just got the puck there, I’d probably get a whack at it and he might get a whack at it. And luckily it snuck right under his arm.”

It wasn’t the kind of win that Kevin Constantine wants to see from his team every night, but it’s still a win, and neither he nor his guys are going to turn away two points.

“And I’ll give them credit,” Constantine said of his team. “We kept battling. It’s hard to win when you don’t score first. That was only our third win all year when we don’t score first. So it’s hard to win, anytime in hockey, any team you’re playing, when you don’t score first. And we managed to hang in there long enough to find a way to win the game, so that was good.”

With the win, the Aeros are now 17-14-2-1 (37 points) on the season. They’re just two points away from being part of the huge logjam for second place -- Peoria, Milwaukee, and Rockford -- are all tied with 39 points. And with two straight losses, the Stars are now only seven points up on Houston.

The Aeros will finish the calendar year out on the road. They play in Chicago on Wednesday, Rockford on Thursday, and Milwaukee on Friday -- Happy New Year! They’re back home on Sunday for their first game ever against the Abbotsford Heat.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

It would be easy to say that Barry Brust didn’t have the best of games between the pipes. After all, he surrendered four goals. But three of those goals were on the penalty kill, and at many times, he appeared to get let down by his defense. And think, if not for Brusty’s play, the score might have been much, much worse.

“If you looked at that game though, we still probably gave up nine odd-man attacks, six two-on-ones, add another five-six three-on-twos, those came in bunches,” Kevin Constantine said afterwards. “So if you looked at about a five minute segment of that game, it wasn’t good at all. But if you looked at the other fifty-five minutes, we were better than we were the other night.”

But if not for Brust, those five minutes might have destroyed the team. As it is, while he’s happy with the win, Constantine’s still not happy with his team.

“I had exhausted my intensity in the last two days,” he said. “I really was disappointed in both of our last games. We talked long and serious as a team about our last two performances prior to this. I mean, we got a win against Grand Rapids, but lucky. And didn’t play well the other night. So I think our guys were really determined to be a better team tonight.”

One line that Constantine’s happy with, though, is the line anchored by Andy Hilbert. I’ve been watching this line the past several games, and it’s often seemed to me that they’ve been just inches away from breaking out for a big game from the unit. So tonight we had Rau setting up a Hilbert goal. We had Hilbert setting up Jon DiSalvatore and Jean-Michel Daoust. And Daoust got the game-tying goal.

But leave it to Constantine to set me right by noting that this is something that’s been happening for the past ten games, at least offensively, though he hasn’t exactly been thrilled with their defensive intensity.

“I think, over the last 10 games, his line, and he, have been very good offensively,” he said. “They’ve had a little bit of a struggle, as a line, in their own end, but offensively, they’ve been very, very good. And Andy [Hilbert] was very determined tonight. He’s a really good guy, and he’s a good leader, and he really cares. I think he wanted to do something, to make a contribution, to kind of get our team playing a little better. Obviously we needed his points tonight. So he was a big part of this win.”

I talked to Hilbert after the game, and he agreed with Constantine’s conclusions.

“As a line, I think we played well,” he said. “The last couple of games we’ve had a couple of rough games for our line in particular. Tonight, I thought we played well, but I thought the whole team played well tonight.”

Constantine noted Hilbert’s leadership qualities. And how much he wanted to contribute tonight. Hilbert says that just how he plays.

“That’s how I think I like to lead, by example. I’m not a huge rah-rah guy. I think, if you go out and work hard, and other guys see that you’re out there contributing, working hard, doing the little things, it just filters on down through the entire team.”

****************
How about that game by J.P. Testwuide? The rookie got some nice playing time during the playoffs last season, but he has yet to score any professional points. Until tonight.

“It was just a good pass by [DiSalvatore],” he said of his goal “He gave it to me, kind of, at the beginning. And then he got open, and I gave it back to him. A great play. Luckily it snuck in there.”

Constantine noted that neither Testwuide or Lannon -- who had his first goal in two seasons -- are on the team to score, but he’ll gladly take their contributions on that end.

“We had two [defensemen] score their first goals,” Constantine said. “Nice to get contributions from those guys. We don’t expect them to have to worry about that, but when they can contribute like that, it’s great.”

**************
Here are some miscellaneous stats. Tonight was the first time 12/26/08, in a 5-3 loss in San Antonio, that the Aeros have allowed three power play goals in one game. It was also, according to Constantine, only the third game this season that the Aeros have won after giving up the first goal.

With his goal, DiSalvatore joined Daoust as the team’s only 10-goal scorers this season. Didn’t Kolanos have 10 goals after five games last year? Hilbert now has 12 points for his last 10 games (3-9=12). Daoust has nine points for his last 10 games (6-3=9). Chad Rau has eight points for his last 10 (3-5=8). Max Noreau has nine points for his last 19 (5-4=10). Jon DiSalvatore has eight points (7-1=8) for his last 10.

*******************
Now excuse me while I go off on a rant….

I would like to once again thank Jamie Spencer with the Wild for getting us the weekday game replays. But maybe he needs to have a talk with them and ask them to actually replay the Aeros goals. For some strange reason, the first two Aeros goals weren’t replayed tonight. I would have really liked to have seen Hilbert’s goal again as it looked like a great play by Hilbert and Rau in real time.

But then again, I don’t want to detract from the Kiss Cam, I guess.

******************
And The Beatles video is really easy tonight. This game was kind of like one we saw last season. Lots of scoring, some lousy defense, and lots of dramatics. So I say tonight’s game calls for “Get Back.”



Happy New Year everbody. Thanks for reading. And please, may 2010 be a better year than 2009 has been.

11/7 -- Aeros v. Rampage -- The All You Need Is Love Edition

The Aeros played, without a doubt, their best game of the season tonight. As a result 8443 people got to see not only a 5-2 Aeros win, but also got to see an entertaining game that at times resembled not so much hockey as we have come to know it, but hockey as played in Slap Shot.

The Aeros dominated play in the first period, out-shooting the San Antonio Rampage 13-4, but also out hitting them. But they left the period with only a 1-0 lead because, as has become the norm, they just couldn’t hit the back of the net. The one goal was outstanding however as, at 11:31, Peter Zingoni got his stick on a Max Noreau slap shot from the point and thus deflected the puck just a touch to let it slip past Rampage goalie Josh Tordjman for the 1-0 lead.

But wait, it gets better. Not only did the Aeros take the lead on the shot -- a lead they never surrendered -- but the goal came on a power play. Yes, you read that right. The Aeros, are their 45th power play chance since last getting one, also against San Antonio, found a way to get the power play goal.

Things were just getting good, though.

The Rampage were on the power play early in the second period when Mr. Penalty Kill, Danny Irmen, got the puck and went into Krys Kolanos mode. Dragging Chad Rau with him, Irmen split for the San Antonio net and drew Tordjman toward him. As he did that, he sent a nice backhand pass to the trailing Rau who had buried the puck in the wide open net to put Houston up 2-0. And at 4:25, just seconds after the end of an Aeros power play, Clayton Stoner fed Robbie Earl and Earl, taking advantage of the angle he was at in terms of the goalie, went top shelf to put Houston up 3-2.

All of this scoring action was mixed with some hits that jarred even those of us sitting up high in the press box. Matt Kassian engaged in three fights, defeating Francis Lessard in the first, Troy Bodie in the third, and Ryan Hollweg after the game ended. Nathan Smith went after Kevin Porter after Porter attempted to decapitate Colton Gillies toward the end of the first period. Clayton Stoner took out Bodie in the second, and Petr Kalus and Sean Zimmerman went at it late in the third.

The Rampage got two goals late in the second, and came near to tying the game when a shot went off the post at about 19:10 of the second, but Jon DiSalvatore scored at 12:56 of the third to make it 4-2, then at 14:45, Petr Kalus came down on a breakaway attempt. He missed the initial shot but knocked the defenseman into Tordjman. Before Tordjman could recover, Kalus got the puck, went behind the net and got the wraparound into a wide open net to make it 5-2.

“It’s a rivalry game,” Kevin Constantine said afterwards. “It’s the team we’ve played the most since I’ve been down here. I think the rivalry goes way past me coming here as a coach. It’s a good rivalry game, and rivalry games always have a little more emotion and a little more passion in it. It’s pretty entertaining when a game gets that way. It was nice to get a win. It’s a nice heated rivalry, and that’s all good for the game.”

And it’s even better for the game when the Aeros get the win. And get the win they did.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

With the win, the Aeros record improved to 8-7-0-0 (16 points). But even better than that, the win moved the Aeros past San Antonio and Peoria and into a tie for second place with Rockford. The Aeros are behind only Texas, and they are now a point up on the Rampage and Rivermen. And for any of you who care, the Aeros are still in second place of the so-called Lone Star Faceoff.

The Aeros next play on Friday the 13th when they take on the Lake Erie Monsters -- how appropriate, I guess -- in Cleveland. They also play the Monsters on Saturday, then return home to take on the Chicago Wolves next Sunday.

*****************
What can one say about that Aeros penalty kill? They killed off another three San Antonio power plays. The Aeros have now killed 53 of 55 power plays this season. That is the number one penalty kill in the AHL.

"It starts with pride," Kevin Constantine says of his team's penalty kill. "And then it starts with trying to be fairly aggressive and put a lot of pressure when we can. It certainly has to be great goaltending -- that’s a big part of your penalty kill. And then maybe the occasional shot blocking if you get in trouble. We didn’t anticipate having the percentage that we have now. We’ve been in the top five the past two years, so the idea of being in the top five was something we were shooting for. This is a little above what are expectations were. It’s been nice to have that….The guys have done a great job killing."

The most spectacular of tonight's penalty kills had to be in the second period when the Aeros got the short-handed goal to go up 2-0. The play saw Danny Irmen breaking free with the puck and hitting Chad Rau with a fantastic pass and a wide open net. And just like Danny Irmen said his first goal on Thursday night would not have been possible without the play of Clayton Stoner, Rau said that this goal would not have been possible without Irmen's passing.

"It was a gift from Danny," he said. "I just tapped it in. He made a heck of a play. He made a nice backhand pass, and draw the guy to him and it was an empty net. It was a super nice play."

As for getting the short-handed goal, Rau said that a thing like that is a blast.

"It’s pretty nice," he said. "Your main concern out there is playing defense and making sure they don’t get one. So anytime you can kind of get an opportunity where they’re thinking more offense and they break down…it’s great….It doesn’t happen too often."

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Speaking of not happening too often...did I happen to mention that the Aeros scored a power play goal? And their third goal came just about two seconds after another power play expired. Could it be possible that with the proverbial monkey off of their backs the Aeros are going to break lose for the rest of the season on the power play?

"It would be nice if that happened," Constantine said. "If one turned into a nice 15-20 percent power play based on maybe getting some confidence from scoring. I don’t know if that’s going to happen. We need to keep working on it. We need to get that power play a little more consistent. You can see tonight it kind of changed the game because we scored on a power play and we haven’t been doing that. I’m just really happy those guys got some goals with it tonight."

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And let's not forget the stellar play, once again, of Anton Khudobin. I've got to confess, I didnt' always have confidence in Anton's abilities when he was up with the team last season. But the playoffs seemed to bring out the best of him last year, and it sure looks as if that confidence has stayed with him this year.

Anton didn't face a lot of action for the first half of the game. And as I've been told by numerous goalies, it's hard for a goalie to mentally stay in a game when he's not under the gun.

"It’s actually pretty hard when I don’t have lots of shots…," Khudobin said. "I try to stay focused on every puck. Sometimes, it’s just happening, like they score a couple of goals….Third period I just focused on their puck and I stopped all of them."

Which, he said, is difficult when it comes to San Antonio.

"They love to shoot from everywhere," he said. "So I have to beware of shots from everywhere. And actually they’re a really tough team to play against. They try to hit everybody. They’re running around. It’s just tough…."

It may be tough, but he handled it.

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As Constantine said, this was a rivalry game between two teams that have already faced each other a bunch this season. And they looked like they were really sick of seeing the other guy opposite of them. I haven't seen this many fights in one game in a long time. Chad Rau attributed the fighting to the fact that both teams play pretty aggressive hockey and that this draw clashes.

That might be, but maybe it's just like John Lennon once sang, "All You Need Is Love." Yep, maybe all the Aeros need is Mitch Love to bring the fighting down a notch though I have to say that Kassian was quite impressive. And I don't think I've ever seen Stoner that angry before.

So let's go out tonight with The Beatles and "All You Need Is Love."

10/9 - Aeros v. Stars

In a very uneven game that started with the Aeros looking like they might never even allow a Stars shot on goal, but ended with the Aeros scrambling to make up a 2 goal deficit, the Texas Stars took home the 3-2 win tonight in the first ever regular season meeting between the teams.

Clayton Stoner opened up the scoring when he ripped a shot from the point past Stars goalie Brent Krahn, during a first period in which it took over half the period for the Stars to finally get a shot on goal. The Aeros dominated; the Stars must have given up 15 turnovers in the neutral zone. It was the kind of period where you're glad you're gonna see this team 11 more times this season.

But two different teams came out of the locker rooms at the second. The Aeros were flat and lacked the energy of the first. The Stars looked like they'd gotten a talking to in the room and were ready to make amends for a sorry first.

And make amends they did. Shots were almost exactly the reverse of the first period with the Stars gettin 11 to the Aeros 4, but they capitalized one extra time with goals from Rallo and McCulloch.

The McColloch goal was off a nasty rebound into traffic and the bouncing puck hopped past the pad of Dubielewicz.

The Aeros started the third on the power play, but it was Texas who scored first when Korostin popped the puck 5-hole on Dubie midway through the period on what looked like a bad play defensively for the Aeros.

With about 4 minutes left in the period, Constantine pulled Dubie from the net and the Aeros went to work with 6 men. Amazingly the Stars were unable to get the puck in the empty net, but had several good chances as the Aeros organized their man-advantage.

Though it was too little too late, rookie Chad Rau scored his first professional goal after the Aeros had been storming Krahn's crease for nearly 3 straight minutes. But the boys in the bomber sweaters were unable to get another puck past Krahn, who was truly outstanding in the final minute of play, stopping a whopping 18 of 19 shots.

Which leads us to the stick figure of the night:

Folks, Stars goaltending is out of this world. Climie is just as good as Krahn. The mere 4 penalties in this game indicate that it's not a rivalry yet, but give it time.