Here’s the deal. I’ve got a bad cold. Bad. Heather and Andrew will attest to the large amount of medication that I had sitting in front of me tonight -- as will one of my lucky readers who saw me at the Walgreens buying said medication. So let’s just say I was rather doped up for this game. And that doping up probably, more than anything, explains what I saw tonight.
Not only did the Aeros, at times, resemble a competent offensive team during tonight’s 5-2 Aeros win over the Toronto Marlies, but there were major offensive contributions from Matt Kassian and J.P. Testwuide. I had to imagine Kassian faking out a goalie and getting a goal on a good shot after a pass from Testwuide, right? That was all just part of my drug-induced imagination, right?
I guess not.
Talking to the players after the game, it was clear that they were not happy with what happened in Rockford. They thought the effort was there, but not the result. And tonight they were out to make sure the result matched their effort.
The first period was rather normal for the Aeros. They scratched a goal when Jean-Michel Daoust does what he does best. Be in the right place. This time in front of the goalie as he was able to get his stick on the puck and direct past Toronto’s starting goalie Joey MacDonald at 17:21 with assists from Nathan Smith and Max Noreau.
Then came the second period when the cold medication took hold of me. Matt Kassian got out on a breakaway, and with a pass from Testwuide he faked out MacDonald and got off a nice shot to put Houston up 2-0 at 2:12. Then Nathan Smith stuffed it in at 5:01 to make it 3-0, which brought about MacDonald’s removal in favor of Andrew Engelage. But just over two minutes later, Smith scored off of a rebound to make it 4-0.
At 17:19 of the third, with the Aeros on the penalty kill, Danny Irmen went flying down the ice with the puck. Testwuide followed, Irmen made a nice pass, and Testwuide got the goal to make the score 5-2.
The Aeros are now off for the All-Star break, and they will return to play on Friday when they play the first of two games in Abbotsford against the Heat.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
Thanks to the losses in Rockford, the Aeros had a bit of a free-fall in the standings. Milwaukee, at 24-13-1-4 (54 points) is in first. Texas, 23-13-2-4 (52 points) is in second. Rockford, thanks to Houston, is in third at 23-18-2-3 (51 points). Chicago at 23-16-0-2 and Peoria at 22-15-1-3 are tied for fourth with 48 points. Then comes Houston with a record of 20-17-6-1 (47 points).
The Aeros aren’t out of the playoff chase. But they know that the Rockford games hurt them, and they knew the importance of getting a win tonight.
“Obviously a big win for us,” Nathan Smith said. “We thought our effort deserved better than what it got on the road trip…take a look at our division and we need the points. Obviously a big win for us heading into the All-Star break.”
J.P. Testwuide agreed: “We went into Rockford, and we were doing a lot of things right. We realized that, but it was frustrating. We couldn’t get the goals. Their goalie stood on his head. There were all of these excuses that we had to kind of battle through. Tonight, it kind of paid off. It was a good win.”
But the win tonight is useless if the team doesn’t find a way to carry it over after the break.
“You always talk about points in November are important,” Kevin Constantine said. “But the reality is, as the season wears on you have less and less games to play, you’ve got less and less of a chance to catch up. We have to play catch up. That’s just the way it’s going to be here.”
****************
One thing this team needs, what with all of the injuries and call-ups, is for every player on the team to be making a contribution. Nathan Smith had two goals and an assist tonight, Jean-Michel Daoust had a power play goal, and Max Noreau threw in two assists. But it’s guys like Matt Kassian, with a goal, and J.P. Testwuide, with a goal and two assists, that the Aeros are going to need continuing contributions from if the team is to succeed.
“[Matt Kassian] has had his best month by far of his pro career in the last month,” Constantine said. “Two goals [this season]…he’s played the best hockey I’ve seen him play over the last month of his entire pro career….We’ve got so many banged up bodies and bodies gone to the Wild, that everybody has to contribute. Because we’re a not a team that’s going to depend on one or two guys to carry us.”
Constantine is hopeful of having Peter Zingoni, Andy Hilbert, and Jaime Sifers back from injuries when the team returns to play in Abbotsford on Friday, though it sounds as if Zingoni is the closest to returning. It will be big for the Aeros if they can start getting some of these guys back from injury. I can't remember when Zingoni last played, but I do remember that at the start of the season he was really meshing with rookies Cody Almond and Carson McMillan. He wasn't, however, sure of the extent of Jon DiSalvatore's injury.
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The Aeros just missed out on several hat tricks tonight. Nathan Smith was a goal short of the regular hat trick. And with his assist, he was a fight short of the Gordie Howe hat trick. Matt Kassian had a fight early in the first to go with his goal in the second, leaving him an assist short of the Gordie Howe. And Testwuide, with a goal and two assists was just a fight short of the Gordie Howe.
And it was the near Smith hat trick that got a joke out of Constantine which came about after Smith got 10 minutes on a misconduct call in the third.
“I don’t know what Smitty was doing, removing himself from that game for ten minutes at the end,” Constantine said. “I thought he was going to go for the hat trick, but I think he wanted the Gordie Howe hat trick instead.”
****************
Chad Rau got hit with a five minute major for boarding when he delivered a hit on Toronto’s Joe Ryan in the second period. Ryan was down on the ice for a long time, but the hit didn’t look to be intentional on Rau’s part.
“Take a look at Chad Rau’s stats,” Nathan Smith said. “And he’s not a guy who’s going to try and injure anybody.”
But after Carson McMillan’s four-game suspension earlier this month, it’s probably wise to wonder about what might become of Rau.
And this hit leads to my Douche Of The Game, which is the Toyota Center sound crew.
Seriously, when there’s a player down on the ice, and the medical staff is out on the ice working on said player, and his teammates are surrounding him and everybody is wondering about just how serious the injury is, you really SHOULDN’T be playing “The Chicken Dance.” You shouldn’t be playing any music, but especially not “The Chicken Dance.”
Try having some class for once.
And now that think about it, I'm kind of shocked that some of the people who roam the Toyota Center shouting into microphones during games didn't decide to start making some of their own contributions during that time.
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Since the Aeros were talking about everyone having to pitch in and help out, I thought it was only appropriate that I play The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends."
Showing posts with label J.P. Testwuide. Show all posts
Showing posts with label J.P. Testwuide. Show all posts
Sunday, January 17, 2010
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
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.
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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.
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.
Sunday, May 17, 2009
Photos and media roundup from Game 2
Chris dishes up the goods again with some great photos from last night, starting with a perfect shot of Testwuide's goal.
And then Rosa's goal:
And finally, General Constantine, his chops, and his charges:
All photos: Chris Jerina
And then Rosa's goal:
And finally, General Constantine, his chops, and his charges:
All photos: Chris Jerina- Here's the Chronicle write-up, with some quotes from KC and the boys. They sound really ready to come home, understandably.
- And here's the Winnipeg Freep's write-up. Tell me you don't cringe at him calling Schaefer "trivia fodder." Ouch.
- And here's the Winnipeg Sun
Thursday, May 7, 2009
Observations From The Morning Skate -- The Sultry Edition
Went over to the Aeros morning skate at Toyota Center again today and watched a bit and took some notes. I also talked to Kevin Constantine and J.P. Testwuide, but I'll get to that in a moment. First, some notes.
Your definite scratches for this game are Jesse Schultz -- who Constantine says isn't close to returning -- Barry Brust, Nolan Schaefer, Dane Crowley, and John Adams. Paul Albers was once again skating with the guys in practice, and once again he looked to be fine with me. Constantine said they were going to make a decision regarding his availability for tonight sometime after the skate was finished.
Towards the end of practice, Max Noreau lined up from the point and sent slap shot after slap shot toward Khudobin. It looked like they were working on getting Khudobin to make more glove saves on those shots as Noreau appeared to be aiming directly at Anton and less at the net. And early on, it looked like the skaters were trying some different approaches with shooting the puck, it especially looked like they were working on elevating the puck.
And for as much criticism as we give him, Benoit Pouliot appeared to really be working hard. He was the first one out on the ice. He spent about five minutes alone practicing his shooting -- and if he would just shoot the puck during the game like he does in practice he would be fine -- and he was one of the last ones off, along with Justin Falk and Marco Scandella.
And seeing as how Milwaukee was bitching about the officiating Tuesday night, I'm guessing they're going to be in a lousy mood tonight as Francois St. Laurent, who worked as the ref on Tuesday night, is back for tonight. It can be argued that this will work in Milwaukee's favor as maybe St. Laurent will turn around and put the Admirals on a five-on-three power play late in the game.
*****************
Kevin Constantine got around to reviewing the game tape of Game Three, and despite the win, he wasn't entirely happy.
"For us,"he said. "We had an okay first, and a really bad second – for most of the second the bad was our shifts were too long and we didn’t play very simple and we played a lot of one-on-one hockey instead of a team game. Then a really good recovery and we played a simpler third and only gave up three chances."
The primary thing he didn't like about Tuesday night was the sloppiness of the play, to which he primarily attributed the ice conditions. "I think the game was maybe a little sloppy," he said. "I think that the heat in the building...[was] a little sweatier with hotter sultry feeling to the rink here [as opposed to Milwaukee], I think both teams created some fatigue. It created a little less swiftness of play. So the game was a little bit sloppier than maybe the games in Milwaukee were."
And as some of you are aware, Milwaukee was rather upset about the officiating in Game Three. And I asked Constantine about those complaints, and about whether the Aeros took it as a slight that the Admirals seem to feel that the Aeros wouldn't have won the game without the assistance of the referees.
"I think Milwaukee was upset mostly in the fact that we scored a five-on-three goal to win the game, the winning goal," he said. "Then teams want to question whether the referee should have put them down two guys. It’s not very relative to us. We always have a focus that’s way more on how we’re playing.
"All I know is Milwaukee won our division. They’re very good. They’ve outplayed us the last two games in a row, even though on the scoreboard each team’s earned a win. The territory and the scoring chances have slightly favored them. We’ve got a lot of respect for how good they are. And we have to play really well to beat them."
********************
I also took a little time after practice to chat briefly with J.P. Testwuide, a rookie who joined the Aeros in time to get in some playing time in the season-ending series with San Antonio. Testwuide was signed to the team as a defenseman, but since he played some forward in college, he was asked to work there, as well, and he's now getting significant playing time as a forward in the playoffs.
"I didn’t really know what to expect," he said. "The coaches just told me to come out here and work hard. They didn’t know if they were going to be playing me at forward or dee, so I’ve just had to make adjustments to get into the lineup."
But since he's played them both, the adjustments haven't been that difficult, and he finds that his experience as a defenseman is helping him to play forward in Constantine's system. "It’s definitely tough," he said about the switch. "You have to pay attention to your details. You have to be really defensive minded. That kind of plays into my game because playing dee so much, I like to come back to the net and make simple plays and get the puck out. So I hope I’m just contributing in a good way."
And it seems, like with so many other people, he's become attached to Houston, or at least the organization. "It’s a great group of guys," he says. "Everybody’s so nice. Everybody down here in Houston is unbelievable. I’ve got nothing but nice things to say about people in this organization."
So that it's for now. I'll be back with my look inside the numbers as game time draws closer.
Your definite scratches for this game are Jesse Schultz -- who Constantine says isn't close to returning -- Barry Brust, Nolan Schaefer, Dane Crowley, and John Adams. Paul Albers was once again skating with the guys in practice, and once again he looked to be fine with me. Constantine said they were going to make a decision regarding his availability for tonight sometime after the skate was finished.
Towards the end of practice, Max Noreau lined up from the point and sent slap shot after slap shot toward Khudobin. It looked like they were working on getting Khudobin to make more glove saves on those shots as Noreau appeared to be aiming directly at Anton and less at the net. And early on, it looked like the skaters were trying some different approaches with shooting the puck, it especially looked like they were working on elevating the puck.
And for as much criticism as we give him, Benoit Pouliot appeared to really be working hard. He was the first one out on the ice. He spent about five minutes alone practicing his shooting -- and if he would just shoot the puck during the game like he does in practice he would be fine -- and he was one of the last ones off, along with Justin Falk and Marco Scandella.
And seeing as how Milwaukee was bitching about the officiating Tuesday night, I'm guessing they're going to be in a lousy mood tonight as Francois St. Laurent, who worked as the ref on Tuesday night, is back for tonight. It can be argued that this will work in Milwaukee's favor as maybe St. Laurent will turn around and put the Admirals on a five-on-three power play late in the game.
*****************
Kevin Constantine got around to reviewing the game tape of Game Three, and despite the win, he wasn't entirely happy.
"For us,"he said. "We had an okay first, and a really bad second – for most of the second the bad was our shifts were too long and we didn’t play very simple and we played a lot of one-on-one hockey instead of a team game. Then a really good recovery and we played a simpler third and only gave up three chances."
The primary thing he didn't like about Tuesday night was the sloppiness of the play, to which he primarily attributed the ice conditions. "I think the game was maybe a little sloppy," he said. "I think that the heat in the building...[was] a little sweatier with hotter sultry feeling to the rink here [as opposed to Milwaukee], I think both teams created some fatigue. It created a little less swiftness of play. So the game was a little bit sloppier than maybe the games in Milwaukee were."
And as some of you are aware, Milwaukee was rather upset about the officiating in Game Three. And I asked Constantine about those complaints, and about whether the Aeros took it as a slight that the Admirals seem to feel that the Aeros wouldn't have won the game without the assistance of the referees.
"I think Milwaukee was upset mostly in the fact that we scored a five-on-three goal to win the game, the winning goal," he said. "Then teams want to question whether the referee should have put them down two guys. It’s not very relative to us. We always have a focus that’s way more on how we’re playing.
"All I know is Milwaukee won our division. They’re very good. They’ve outplayed us the last two games in a row, even though on the scoreboard each team’s earned a win. The territory and the scoring chances have slightly favored them. We’ve got a lot of respect for how good they are. And we have to play really well to beat them."
********************
I also took a little time after practice to chat briefly with J.P. Testwuide, a rookie who joined the Aeros in time to get in some playing time in the season-ending series with San Antonio. Testwuide was signed to the team as a defenseman, but since he played some forward in college, he was asked to work there, as well, and he's now getting significant playing time as a forward in the playoffs.
"I didn’t really know what to expect," he said. "The coaches just told me to come out here and work hard. They didn’t know if they were going to be playing me at forward or dee, so I’ve just had to make adjustments to get into the lineup."
But since he's played them both, the adjustments haven't been that difficult, and he finds that his experience as a defenseman is helping him to play forward in Constantine's system. "It’s definitely tough," he said about the switch. "You have to pay attention to your details. You have to be really defensive minded. That kind of plays into my game because playing dee so much, I like to come back to the net and make simple plays and get the puck out. So I hope I’m just contributing in a good way."
And it seems, like with so many other people, he's become attached to Houston, or at least the organization. "It’s a great group of guys," he says. "Everybody’s so nice. Everybody down here in Houston is unbelievable. I’ve got nothing but nice things to say about people in this organization."
So that it's for now. I'll be back with my look inside the numbers as game time draws closer.
Monday, April 6, 2009
Kolanos comes home; Scandella, Testwuide joining the Aeros
Ahhh, folks, I was having an awful day. And then Russo saves it like Lundqvist in the shootout with the following:
What's that I hear? Oh yeah, that's the K-Train rolling into town, baby! Choochoo!
And y'all know I get excited about new kids joining the team. Kinda fun to get to kick the tires on these guys before training camp when everyone else gets to see them. So, welcome Marco. What are the odds we'd have two Canadian Italian dudes named Marco? Is that some kind of record for an AHL team? Li'l Marco will be wearing #18.
UPDATE: Here's an interview with him by my hero Kevin Falness up in Minnesota.
And according to the Aeros, there's more fresh meat on the way in the form of defenseman JP Testwuide (test-weed), former captain of the University of Denver squad. Looks like he's a scrappy, high PIM guy, so that's always good for some fun, right? And none of those silly cages to get in the way in the pros, baby. (Thanks to the Denver Post for the photo)
Now, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but it appears our new boy, Testy, has a partially torn ligament in his knee. Not sure how much help that will be, but I guess we'll see. Like my Daddy says, "Shoot 'em up and send 'em out." But he is, apparently, the complete package. *clearing throat* JP will be wearing lucky #13 and, presumably, a knee brace.
Anyway, good stuff. I'm a little excited again. Just a little. Shhhh.
The only other real bit of news from today is that Krys Kolanos was sent back to AHL Houston.
UPDATE: Wild just announced it has signed its second round pick (55th overall) from the 2008 draft, 6-foot-3, 206-pound defenseman Marco Scandella, to an entry level contract beginning with the 2009-10 season. He will head to the Aeros on an amateur tryout for the remainder of this season. Scandella, 19, recorded 37 points and 67 penalty minutes in 58 games in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League this season.
What's that I hear? Oh yeah, that's the K-Train rolling into town, baby! Choochoo!
And y'all know I get excited about new kids joining the team. Kinda fun to get to kick the tires on these guys before training camp when everyone else gets to see them. So, welcome Marco. What are the odds we'd have two Canadian Italian dudes named Marco? Is that some kind of record for an AHL team? Li'l Marco will be wearing #18.UPDATE: Here's an interview with him by my hero Kevin Falness up in Minnesota.
And according to the Aeros, there's more fresh meat on the way in the form of defenseman JP Testwuide (test-weed), former captain of the University of Denver squad. Looks like he's a scrappy, high PIM guy, so that's always good for some fun, right? And none of those silly cages to get in the way in the pros, baby. (Thanks to the Denver Post for the photo)
Now, I don't want to be Debbie Downer, but it appears our new boy, Testy, has a partially torn ligament in his knee. Not sure how much help that will be, but I guess we'll see. Like my Daddy says, "Shoot 'em up and send 'em out." But he is, apparently, the complete package. *clearing throat* JP will be wearing lucky #13 and, presumably, a knee brace.Anyway, good stuff. I'm a little excited again. Just a little. Shhhh.
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