Let's start with some pre-game warm up shots. Here's a face we've not seen for a while, Barry Brust. Due to call-ups and injury, we have the new face (one that has Ms C dreaming) of Rejean Beauchemin. From the comments - On one side of Rejean's mask is guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/Audio Slave/Nightwatchman etc and on the other side there (I don't have a good shot of that side) appears to be a tribute to a fellow hockey player Todd Davison who succumbed to cancer on 12/2/06. YouTube video of the Todd Davison story.
An old face is back, without a cage and just a little bit of bruising still visible, Mitch Love. Unfortunately Barry Brust, coming back from a month long injury without the benefit of even a full team practice, had some rust and timing issues. Here the expression on Paul Alber's face says it all as the Chops score a soft goal 5-hole on their 2nd or 3rd shot of the night. Mitch Love decides to tempt the nasal Gods with a pugilistic exhibition against one of the longest names in the AHL, Charlie Kronschnabel. His name goes from bicep to bicep on his jersey. Barry had trouble all night with bouncing pucks and making clean saves. Clearly his timing was off and that was understandable, even if it was frustrating to watch. A stunned Brandon Rogers has a look of disbelief as Barry had a bouncer "short hop" over the glove in the 2nd period. These things happen from time to time but the timing was awful. Tomas Mojzis got the Aeros on the board in the 2nd period. Jason Ryznar has a great chance in front as the shot gets in on J. P. Lavasseur. Ryz never seems to get the credit he should. He does a great job on the checking line and I think he has good enough hands to move up. In any case he does a great job in things that don't always get mentioned or show up on a stat sheet. For the Tony Hrkac crowd, crank up the circus music as this was one pretty goal to tie the game at 2. Unfortunately Benoit Pouliot takes a high sticking penalty not long after and Marco Rosa clears a puck into the stands taking a DOG penalty and giving Iowa a 5 on 3 chance that pays off as Brust never saw this one coming from Brian Salcido, through the screen. At the end of the 2nd period (still down one man) Barry loses his mind and takes a poke at Iowa's Adrian Veideman. Fortunately Iowa's Brennan Evans drank from the same water and took a double minor for an attempted spear on Danny Irmen. The Aeros were able to tie the game for a second time on this beautiful goal by Marco Rosa. Unfortunately the Chops got the go-ahead goal and followed it with an empty netter to give the Aeros a 5-3 loss. All Photos:Fred Trask
My subject pretty much sums up the game for me. I mean, I knew I was a fan of the guy and I was excited to see him (but still hoping he'd lose, just not in an embarrassing way), but I didn't realize HOW excited I was until the teams hit the ice.
My delight at getting to see him in person pretty much consumed the game for me, even though it was an incredibly important game that I normally would have been all, "Booyah, bitches!" after with the win. It was more like, "Oh, good win. OMFGISTOODTHREEFEETFROMMANNYLEGACE!"
Yeah, I'm a card carrying member of the Dork-Out for Goalies Club. And I'm okay with that. And judging by John's post-gamer, that feeling was shared in the Aeros locker room, so I'm in good company.
But once I get past that, I gotta say, I was impressed with the team tonight and here's why: I felt like when they came out, they were seeing the ice really well. Passes were connecting perfectly and they were gutting their way out of difficult situations with grace, but I didn't feel like the feet were moving in the first period. And watching Legace, I wasn't sure he was even breaking a sweat. His body language was totally, "When are you gonna start taking real shots at me, fellas?"
Here's why I'm impressed though... in spite of that, they dominated play nearly the entire game with their strong puck possession, everybody was shooting at the net (maybe they read my blog and decided to play the odds?) It was clear that the priority was getting lots and lots of rubber at Legace, and they carried out the master plan beautifully. AND they did it after a 6 day layoff. Who are these guys?
And by the third, they definitely had Manny working hard as they spent an inordinate amount of time in Peoria's zone. (And as a side note, I completely agree that Manny should have been the #2 star... stopping 20 shots and getting the win is great, but Manny was tested pretty hard with the PP activity the Aeros had and 30 saves. He kept the Rivermen in this game, no doubt about it.)
Finally, props to Jason Ryznar for the game winner against a damn good goalie. They come few and far between for that guy, but he makes 'em Count. Ah-ah-ah-ah....
And to avoid being too Sunshine Clubby, I will say there were some colossal defensive lapses. Like, slap-yo'-mama stinkers.
Falker had a bad game, but also made some critical blocks in front of Schaefer, so maybe there's a balance there. Some guys have a nack for having their stick in the right place at the right time (Lord help me get thru this sentence without saying anything dirty) and he strikes me as one of them. (Phew.)
It just goes back to decision-making with the puck in open ice for him. I get the "John Scott Uh-Ohs" in my gut when he's touching the puck in any capacity other than clearing the rebounds from in front of Schaefer or blocking shots. But he's a kid still and works hard, so there's time.
Finally, presumably Madsen was the Hrkac scratch. While Hrkac did appear to be sucking wind pretty hard and was a step behind at times, I hate to say it, but I think he's an improvement to the line-up over Madsen. What say you, Aeros fan? Two blondes, 20 years apart... which one do you hitch your playoff wagon to?
This was a huge game and a huge win for the Aeros. I thought they came out strong for the first 5 minutes with several chances on Manny Legace but couldn't drive them home. Unfortunately Justin Falk had a horrendous game. Almost 4 minutes into the game Maxime Noreau fanned on a pass across the rink in the defensive end, the pass handcuffed Falk and he turned the puck over to Cam Paddock in the high slot. Paddock muscled a shot past Nolan Schaefer who just couldn't squeeze the new pads shut. Here you can see the puck crossing the line.
The Aeros were able to tie it at one with this goal from Matt Beaudoin. The Aeros had put on quite a bit of pressure and finally got Legace moving from left to right getting the puck past him.
The Aeros closed out the scoring with this goal in the 3rd period from Jason Ryznar. There was nothing Legace could do as Ryznar would bang home a Lammers rebound into the empty net from the doorstep. I'll have another post later with more pics from the game as well as some requested Legace.
“We’ve done it before, it seems,” Matt Kassian said tonight.
And that done it before is come back for a thrilling 2-1 victory over the Peoria Rivermen. The done it before is coming back from a first period deficit to win a game. The done it before is coming back against a team that is, in many ways, better than the Aeros. The done it before is just continuing to play their game of outhitting the other guy. The done it before is letting the 5,974 fans inside Toyota Center leave on a happy note.
This wasn’t an easy game for the Aeros, despite the fact that, for the most part, they appeared to out skate Peoria and just seemed, at times, to dominate the action. But it’s not often the Aeros find themselves up against a proven NHL goalie like Manny Legace who by way of some bad play with the St. Louis Blues earlier this season and some disagreements with management, finds himself consigned to the AHL. And if it weren’t for Legace’s play in goal for Peoria tonight, the Aeros might well have won the game 4-1 or 5-1, such were some of the shots that they were getting and Legace was stopping.
Peoria took the early 1-0 at 3:55 of the first period when the Aeros defense turned over the puck to Peoria’s Cam Paddock who then beat Nolan Schaefer for the goal. Matt Beaudoin beat Legace at 4:17 in the second to tie the game, leaving it to the most unlikely of lines to once again lead the Aeros to victory.
The Aeros were pressing the action all night, and at 9:31 of the third, the line of John Lammers, Matt Kassian, and Jason Ryznar crashed Legace and the net. Lammers sent the puck toward Legace and Jason Ryznar was in the perfect position to take advantage.
“Lammers threw it at the net, the rebound kicked out,” Ryznar said. “And Legace gave me pretty much the whole net.” And just like that, the Aeros were up 2-1.
The Aeros weren’t out of danger, though, not after what appeared to be a Peoria cheap shot on Corey Locke with about two minutes left in the game that found John Lammers ultimately winding up in the penalty box at 18:53 for unsportsmanlike conduct when it appeared that he tried to retaliate. Still, with the 6x4 advantage, Peoria didn’t get off any decent shots and the Aeros skated to the 2-1 victory.
“Obviously they were up one-nothing,” Kassian said, “but we felt we outplayed them and had more chances than they did. Once again it was a case of us sticking with it and bearing down.”
And coach Kevin Constantine was please with the win. Not only did it let the Aeros gain some ground on Peoria, but the win came at home. “Our home games are so precious for us now,” he said. “We’re down to only five left. We can’t give away points at home.”
Tonight the Aeros didn’t give away any points. As has become their standard operating procedure, they fell behind early then clawed their way back to get the win. A win over a division opponent with whom they were tied for second in the points standings. These two teams play again at 4:05 on Sunday afternoon for what promises to be a tough rematch.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
After tonight, the Aeros stand alone in second place of the AHL’s West Division with a record of 34-25-1-8 (77 points). With the loss, Peoria dropped to third place with a record of 36-31-2-1 (75 points). Rockford is in fourth place at 34-26-0-6 (74 points) and Chicago sits in fifth at 35-32-2-2 (74 points). Iowa is close behind in sixth place at 30-27-4-8 (72 points), and the soon-to-be-departing Quad City Flames are still hanging around in seventh place at 28-30-6-6 (68 points).
The Aeros play Peoria again on Sunday, which gives them another chance to put some space between them and the rest of the division. Things don’t ease up as they take on the division leading Milwaukee Admirals in Milwaukee on Wednesday, then play Rockford here in Houston on Friday, Peoria in Peoria on Saturday, and Rockford in Rockford on Sunday afternoon.
******************** It’s not often the Aeros face a goalie who is of the caliber as Manny Legace, so the guys cherished beating him.
To Matt Kassian, who assisted on Ryznar’s game winner, the key was shooting the puck. “He’s proved himself at the NHL level,” Kassian said of Legace. “He knows what he’s doing. For us, it’s just lots of shots, shoot the puck, and if you go the net you might get a rebound or two and it all works out.”
For Jason Ryznar, it was one of the moments to tell relive again and again with the gang. “It’s pretty cool,” he said. “He’s an unbelievable goaltender and shouldn’t be in this league. But that’s one to tell the boys about back home.”
And speaking of Ryznar, here’s an interesting stat. He’s got three goals this season. Two of them have been game winners.
********************* During the intermissions (and the game, as well), Andrew, Heather, and myself like to peruse the Aeros and opposition stats to get an idea of what to expect. And while we knew Peoria was a good team, the fact that they were 18-1-1-1 (now 18-2-1-1) on the season when leading after one period looked to be a pretty daunting stat for the Aeros to overcome, which makes their victory even more impressive – then again, it helps to remember that the Aeros were 12-8-0-5 when trailing after one period (now 13-8-0-5).
Both teams also had impressive records for when they were tied after two periods. Peoria was 8-3-1-0 (now 8-4-1-0) and the Aeros were 8-6-1-2 (now 9-6-1-2).
********************* Corey Locke assisted on Matt Beaudoin’s second period goal. That makes for the eighth straight game this season that Locke’s gotten a point (2-7=9), which is a season high for the Aeros and which ties a career best for Locke. And with the assist, Corey Locke is now four points shy of his career-high point total, which he achieved last season with Hamilton.
******************* And for those of you who are interested, the newest Houston Aero, Tony Hrkac, got playing time tonight. While he didn’t score, coach Kevin Constantine was pleased with his play.
“He looked pretty good,” Constantine said. “It’s going to be hard to play any sport at a professional level without having played for four or five years. The best part, when he had the puck, the puck went to the right spot on the ice, so I think he made some really good decisions with the puck.”
****************** Mitch Love did practice with the team today, but sat out the game tonight due to the surgery earlier this week to repair the nose he broke in a fight during the Rockford game last Sunday. Barry Brust was the only other injured player. Morten Madsen, Dean Crowley, and Bryan Lundbohm were healthy scratches.
****************** Because every game this time of year is important, I thought I would play a little video to indicate the pressure the Aeros are under. So here’s Queen and David Bowie with “Under Pressure.”
As you might recall from my post the other day, I was a bit puzzled by some of the Clear Day Roster decisions made by the Aeros. Specifically the addition of Tony Hrkac to the team and the failure to add Jason Ryznar to that roster. So I took a little time after the loss to Quad City last night to ask Kevin Constantine about some of the thinking that went into the creation of the roster.
The primary thinking behind the roster involved which players were contracted to which team. Constantine said that looking “at the 22-man list, the first thing that you’ll recognize is that every single Minnesota Wild contract is on it. That’s probably the first basis.”
John Lammers, Mitch Love, Matt Beaudoin, Jason Ryznar, and Bryan Lundbohm are not under a contract with the Wild, so decisions had to be made on this basis. “A player that is under contract to the Wild is going, in general, to carry a slight priority over other guys. After that, there was room to put a couple of guys on.”
And anybody who has spoken to Constantine knows that, just as Mitch Love has become a favorite of the fans, he has also become a favorite of the coaching staff. The coaches like having Love on the ice because he doesn’t make mistakes, he hits, he doesn’t mind the dirty work, and he brings energy to the team and the fans. So in many ways, the decision for Constantine and the staff was an easy one.
“The number one guy that we felt deserved to go on there was Mitch Love because of the sacrifices that he makes,” Constantine said. “It’s not easy to be a guy who defends a team…Mitch has done that all year. He earned the right to be on the permanent list.”
Tony Hrkac is on the list because he has to be on the list. That was the only way the Aeros could sign him, “So,” according to Constantine, “that was a necessity.”
That left one spot, and the staff went Matt Beaudoin over Lammers and Ryznar because of the role he’s played on the team’s power play, and Constantine didn’t want to screw around with what has been one of the team’s high spots.
“At the end of the day,” he said. “You run out of numbers.”
But Constantine made it clear that Ryznar and Lammers will continue to see lots of ice time with the team, especially with Peter Olvecky and John Scott up in Minnesota. “The list means less in reality than it does on paper,” he said. And with the expectation of more players being called up to help Minnesota to help them as the season comes to an end. Lammers has been playing, and Ryznar has been out due to an illness, but Constantine felt that he should be healthy enough to return to play tonight against San Antonio.
As for Hrkac, Constantine isn’t sure about what they’re going to get.
“I don’t know,” he says. “I hope we get a bit of the player he was for twenty years when he played the game. Because he was a pretty talented guy….we hope that there’s still a little of that magic left.”
Constantine expects before the season that the Wild will call up Benoit Pouliot or Corey Locke or Krys Kolanos. When this happens, Constantine is hoping that Hrkac, “a very gifted guy,” can provide the team with depth at the skill position and on the power play.
And he was a risk worth taking because he’s not costing the team anything. They don’t lose a draft pick, nor did they have to trade a player.
Hrkac isn’t expected to join the team until Sunday, and he won’t play until next weekend against Peoria at the earliest.
One of the reasons we set up this site is to try and offer some insight and analysis into the things the Aeros do. Like yesterday's Clear Day Roster and the signing of forward Tony Hrkac. But I'm not really sure how much insight I can give because despite pondering this all day, I'm at a loss for some of the things that happened.
I'll go with the easy thing first. Leaving Bryan Lundbohm off of the Clear Day Roster makes sense. I'm sure the thinking was, when he was signed for this season, that he would provide a steadying, veteran influence who wouldn't do anything special on the ice, but wouldn't make a lot of errors. And his play has been pretty unspectacular when he's played, which hasn't been often because he's been hurt for lots of the season. In short, if you can only have a certain number of players on the roster, then there are 22 others who have played for the team this season that would be better choices.
That said, I don't see what Tony Hrkac can add to this team. The Wild thinks that he adds some kind of presence to this team that will help them in the playoffs. But I'm just not really sure of what a 42-year old who hasn't played hockey since 2005 can add to a team. This is just one move I don't understand.
The other move I don't understand is the leaving of Jason Ryznar off of the Clear Day Roster. Ryznar doesn't provide much of an offensive presence --he's got only four points in 63 games. But there's just something I like about the line of Ryznar, Mitch Love and Matt Kassian. Neither of these guys provides offense. But they constantly hustle. They hit, and they hit hard and they hit big. They don't make mistakes. They're a perfect checking, energy line. And according to Kevin Constantine, they were his most consistent line and the one line that the coaches trusted more than any other line they put out on the ice. And until his illness on Tuesday, Ryznar had played in every game this season. So I don't get his being left off of the roster.
I'm not a hockey expert. I don't know the game like Constantine or Tom Lynn or any of the players. So maybe there's someway to explain these moves. But I just don't see how adding an old man who hasn't played in over three years and benching a young kid makes the team better. True, I was told that Ryznar was ill on Tuesday. But maybe he was injured, as well.
I'm just confused.
And I'm sorry I couldn't offer more analysis and insight to you guys.
File photo of Jason Ryznar courtesy of Fred Trask.
Due to call-ups and injury, we have the new face (one that has Ms C dreaming) of Rejean Beauchemin.
From the comments - On one side of Rejean's mask is guitarist Tom Morello of Rage Against the Machine/Audio Slave/Nightwatchman etc and on the other side there (I don't have a good shot of that side) appears to be a tribute to a fellow hockey player Todd Davison who succumbed to cancer on 12/2/06. YouTube video of the Todd Davison story.
Unfortunately Barry Brust, coming back from a month long injury without the benefit of even a full team practice, had some rust and timing issues. Here the expression on Paul Alber's face says it all as the Chops score a soft goal 5-hole on their 2nd or 3rd shot of the night.
Mitch Love decides to tempt the nasal Gods with a pugilistic exhibition against one of the longest names in the AHL, Charlie Kronschnabel. His name goes from bicep to bicep on his jersey.
Barry had trouble all night with bouncing pucks and making clean saves. Clearly his timing was off and that was understandable, even if it was frustrating to watch.
A stunned Brandon Rogers has a look of disbelief as Barry had a bouncer "short hop" over the glove in the 2nd period. These things happen from time to time but the timing was awful.
Tomas Mojzis got the Aeros on the board in the 2nd period.
Jason Ryznar has a great chance in front as the shot gets in on J. P. Lavasseur. Ryz never seems to get the credit he should. He does a great job on the checking line and I think he has good enough hands to move up. In any case he does a great job in things that don't always get mentioned or show up on a stat sheet.
For the Tony Hrkac crowd, crank up the circus music as this was one pretty goal to tie the game at 2.
Unfortunately Benoit Pouliot takes a high sticking penalty not long after and Marco Rosa clears a puck into the stands taking a DOG penalty and giving Iowa a 5 on 3 chance that pays off as Brust never saw this one coming from Brian Salcido, through the screen.
At the end of the 2nd period (still down one man) Barry loses his mind and takes a poke at Iowa's Adrian Veideman. Fortunately Iowa's Brennan Evans drank from the same water and took a double minor for an attempted spear on Danny Irmen.
The Aeros were able to tie the game for a second time on this beautiful goal by Marco Rosa.
Unfortunately the Chops got the go-ahead goal and followed it with an empty netter to give the Aeros a 5-3 loss.
As you might recall 
One of the reasons we set up this site is to try and offer some insight and analysis into the things the Aeros do. Like yesterday's 
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