Aeros Lose Fifth In Row

Tomorrow's post in the mothership will be on the Aeros's playoff hopes seemingly slip slidin' away, to rip-off Mr. Paul Simon. The Aeros failed to win their fifth straight game, losing 4-3 in the shootout to the Lake Erie Monsters who jumped into seventh place in the playoff standings.

The Aeros gained a point, which moves them up from sixth to fifth place with 78 points. The Heat also lost in the shootout tonight, so they too have 78 points, but they've won more games, so they get the coveted fourth slot.

Frankly, I'm shocked the Aeros were able to get a point tonight. Matt Hackett didn't have much defensive help -- I was down in that corner for the Monsters second goal, and it seemed that he was screened by the entirety of both teams. And the team was inept in the shootout.

The season's not over, and the Aeros control their own destiny -- and bright side, damn it, they're in fifth place. But they have not done themselves any favors over the past two weeks. And it's possible that, come Sunday evening, the Aeros will have had several more teams leapfrog them in the standings.

Torchetti was happy to see the team get a point tonight, because, as he pointed out, they did everything possible to give away points. He made it very clear: if this team wants to make the playoffs, they have to start playing the system.

In other words, it's all in their control, and right now, it's just slip slidin' away.

Do You Believe In Miracles? The Aeros Win In The Shootout

It finally happened.  The unthinkable.  The unbelievable.  The Aeros won a game in the shootout, coming back from a 4-1 second period deficit to defeat the Lake Erie Monsters 5-4.

That's right.  You read me correctly.  The Aeros won a game, at home, in the shootout.

The Aeros took the early lead when David McIntyre made a great play from down low and put the puck in at 6:56 of the first.  But things quickly fell apart as Lake Erie scored three unanswered first period goals, the first coming at 12:39 and the second goal coming at 13:47 on an own-goal when Chay Genoway proceeded to pass the puck to Matt Hackett and Hackett muffed the play and knocked the puck into his own goal.  Luke Walker got the third goal at 18:31 when he went backhand on Hackett.

"Tonight's theme was weather the storm," Torchetti said.  "I told them I don't mind weathering a storm, but not our own. We created our own storm.  That's the thing.  Once we get this thing going right, we'll be heading in the right direction."

The Monsters scored early in the second to make it 4-1, and for most of the second the Aeros resembled the Keystone Kops out on the ice as nothing, nothing, appeared to be going right.  Missed passes.  Overskating the puck.  Not taking shots when they were there and taking shots when they didn't have them. But Chay Genoway struck on the power play with a rocket from the right circle at 18:54 to make it 4-2 going into the second intermission.

The Aeros made it 4-3 at the 11:03 mark when Jon DiSalvatore faked out Lake Erie's goalie Gerald Coleman, passing the puck to Jeff Taffe at the last moment who put the puck into the wide open net.  And Kris Foucautl tied it at 14:29 on a fluke, when down below the red goal line, he attempted to pass the puck up across ice to one of his teammates, only to have the puck bounce off of Coleman and into the net.

"Good things are happening," Torchetti said.  "They came out -- it was kind of a weird first period.  We were outshooting them eight to two and a couple of instances and the pucks in the net.  They did a good job executing on the power play.  Our penalty kill has to get better if we're going to be a contending team in the playoffs.  Has to get better."

The Aeros had some chances to win in overtime, especially early on when Coleman made a great stop on Chad Rau.  But with the crowd roaring, the Aeros came out first in the overtime and saw the impossible happen.  Justin Fontaine made a fantastic move that faked Coleman out of his skates and the Aeros were suddenly up 1-0 on the shootout.  Matt Hackett made some fantastic stops and the game was won when the final shooter, C.J. Stretch, buried the puck in the net for the 2-0 shootout lead and the 5-4 shootout win.

""I just went out there and tried to do it for the team," Stretch said.  "There were a lot of fans here, too, so that just kind of helps you out and gets you going.  I guess I just really wanted to score and it just happened."

The win was not without controversy as once again the Aeros were upset with the goal judges as Kris Foucault claimed his shootout shot went through the netting.  But the goal judge ruled no goal and after the game we were rewarded with another lecture on the need for better nets in the goals -- Andrew should be following up on this later.

There was a lot of bad hockey in this game by the Aeros, especially in the second period, but for now, it doesn't matter as the Aeros actually hung on to get the win before a crowd of 13,390, the largest ever crowd to see the Aeros play at Toyota Center.

"It was like, god, I hope we don't lose in front of this crowd because they deserved it," Torchetti said.  "They were great, they were loud.  It's what we like playing in front of every night, that's for sure."

The Aeros return to action tomorrow at 12:05 for a game against a well-rested Milwaukee Admiral team that rolled into Toyota Center well before game time tonight.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

This was the first Aeros shootout win at home this season, and only their second shootout win for the season....

David McIntyre got to enjoy scoring a goal on his birthday...

The out-of-left field trivia of the night is that Chris Clackson is an iPhone app developer, having developed while in college an iPhone app called Grocery Time that helps with budgeting, keeping track of food freshness, etc....

How many more times this season will there have to be a controversy regarding the goal judges and the goal netting before something actually gets done?  From what we were hearing after the game the problem apparently is with the nets as pucks keep flying through the nets during the Toyota Center morning skates.  That raises the question: just how hard can it be to get new nets?  Especially nets that do what they're supposed to do and keep the puck in the goal?

View from the TOP and possible roster news

Don't blink or you're gonna miss it, but the Aeros are tied with Milwaukee for first in the West after tonight's 2-1 win over Lake Erie.

First.

But I say don't blink because there's only 3 points separating First place and SEVENTH place. It makes me tired just thinking about it. You pretty much have to win every game for a while just to get some distance, but I don't see anybody doing that, so it's going to be knotted up like this for a while.

But the Aeros' heavy home schedule in March SHOULD help them, unless they're insanely weird and contrary like that Locke/Kolanos team was. I don't think they are though. This team is good in ways that, for lack of a better analogy, can be reproduced. Like, it makes sense when they're good and when they're bad. They're... predictable?

Anyway, predictably, the Aeros played a solid game tonight, apart from a third period that saw them get only 4 shots on goal and the Monsters get their only goal of the night. Not a bad goal though, as far as I could tell. Shot through a bunch of traffic. Still, the "let up" in the third with the 2 goal lead... I'm gonna guess that pissed Yeo off. But they held it together, particularly through a hairy PK where I think every guy out there blocked a shot. It was a heroic effort, IMO. But I'm a sucker for self-sacrificing, every-man's-a-goalie defense. I wonder why. :)

Aeros goals came from Earl and Peters. I missed both of them. Ha. But I'm told Peters was a tip in with credit to DiSalvatore for the originating shot.

Off to Toronto for tomorrow's matinee at 4 p.m. CT. Well, they are, not me. I WISH. I kinda love watching this team.

March. Is. Going. To. Be. Awesome.

To wrap up, here's Hackett's save from Friday night:



I should probably note here that Nick Schultz of the Wild just got hurt and it sounds like maybe a concussion. So get ready for the Aeros to take a hit at defense. Not sure which of our remaining d-men should get the call. Cuma? Prosser? Need a defensive d-man, not necessarily a power play, offensive guy like Noreau.

Wild already broke Scandella, who took a puck to the head and is working his way back from a concussion due to that and isn't on the current road trip.

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.

10/24/10 -- Aeros vs. Lake Erie -- I Think I'm On A Losing Streak Edition

In case you were elsewhere today, you might have missed the big news. The Aeros actually held a lead going into the third period. That's no lie, the Aeros skated out for the third period with a 2-1 lead. They promptly lost that lead :47 into the period, and they eventually lost the game 3-2. But with the Aeros, you take the small victories where you can find them, and for this game, it should be noted, the Aeros actually had a lead after two periods.

Now the hail of bullets.

1. The Aeros second goal was a thing of beauty. Jarod Palmer rushed the net with the puck. He drew a defenseman with him, and as he went past the goal, Lake Erie goalie John Grahame followed. Palmer passed back up the ice, and across the net, where he hit perfectly hit Casey Wellman with the puck, and Wellman buried the puck before Grahame could even think of getting back into position. And for once, the Aeros got the puck in the net.

2. I should know this. Those of us on press row should know this. But none of us do, so...is Max Noreau hurt? He's not shooting the puck as often as he did last year, especially on the power play, and when he does, the shot seems to lack the zip it's had in seasons past.

3. If Noreau's not hurt, then why the hell isn't he shooting it more on the power play?

4. I thought Marco Scandella had another good game. He bailed out Khudobin in the second period when Khudobin made a block and the puck bounced around the crease, seemingly forever. As a Lake Erie player came rushing for the puck, Scandella appeared from out of nowhere and swatted the puck away, preventing the goal.

5. Yeah, I'm liking what I see from Scandella.

6. It would have been nice to see Warren Peters swat the puck out of harm's way in the third period on the goal that tied the game. Peters thought he should have got to the puck, but didn't, saying: "Looking back on what happened – I was on the ice for one of them – we ended up going back into our zone, the puck went over my head, I guess close enough for me to grab it with my hand and try to take a swipe at it. The guy’s waiting on the other side, he bangs it into the empty net."

7. Where in the hell were the Ice Girls? Damn it, don't toss them out for just one game to start the season then get rid of them. You don't expect me to have to watch this team, do you?

8. I was the only one of us three there for the entire game. Heather went to something called an opera and didn't show up until the second period. Andrew's son was playing a little league baseball game, and he didn't arrive until the third -- note, the Aeros were winning when Andrew arrived, then promptly gave up the lead. Make of that what you will.

9. I thought the team looked awful in the first period. Whether it was just sluggishness from playing the third game in three days, or whether it was just bad play, I don't know. I thought the team looked better in the second. Heather thought I was nuts for saying this, but after all, she didn't see them in the first period. I thought their third period was the worst of the three.

10. There was no excuse for the way the team started that third period.

11. Mike Yeo agrees about that third period: "That’s a very disappointing way to lose a hockey game. Right there. For three games in three nights I thought, for two periods we’d done a lot of good things. But to come out – there were three mental lapses on the first goal, and there were two on the second. You’ve got to know – to be a winner you’ve got to know what the situation calls for. And we didn’t there in the third period."

12. For the commenter to an earlier post saying the Aeros should sign Krys Kolanos. Know this: Kolanos is unsigned at this point. There's a reason he's unsigned. So get over the mythology of Kolanos already.

13. The defenseman, for the most part, and in my opinion, have been very good. Especially Scandella and Drew Bagnall. And I think I understand why Brandon Rogers is being scratched every night. But it's obvious to all that the power play's not working, and in the past, before the current folks took over in St. Paul, Rogers was a good power play quarterback -- he was especially good at it getting it to Noreau in just the right spot for one of Noreau's shots. So maybe they should sit one of the ineffective forwards -- I think they can find a few to choose from -- and find away to get Rogers some ice time. If even for just the power play.

14. You know that Troy Ward's up in Abbotsford, looking at the power play stats, and laughing at all those who thought he and Kevin Constantine were at fault for the power play woes. Constantine's in Switzerland, and if I were in Switzerland, or anywhere in Europe, I wouldn't be wasting my time checking out AHL stats.

15. I did the math during the first intermission. It was 158:30 between goals for the Aeros. Yeah, that's bad.

16. When asked after the game if he saw anything good in the Aeros, Yeo responded that he liked seeing the team have a lead, and score some goals as opposed to losing with no goals. But that was said with an air of resignation.

17. Jarod Palmer: no more fights please. That was a pretty weak one in the first period. Leave the fighting to Bagnall or Matt Kassian. That's what they're there for.

18. The Aeros lost to the Lake Erie Monsters. How bad do you have to be lose to the Monsters, especially when this is the last game of a seven-game road trip.

19. After seven games: the Aeros are 2-4-1 (five points) and in last place in the West Division.

20. The Aeros have their third three-in-three in three consecutive weekends this week. They play in San Antonio on Friday, Austin on Saturday, and here for Sunday. Sunday is Halloween. If the Aeros play anything next Sunday like they did today, then that's going to be one scary Halloween.

21. On the plus side, next Sunday is Halloween which means the Dynamics will be in costume.

22. That's it for this edition. And I think the Rolling Stones and "Satisfaction" might be in order because this team is on a five game losing streak and nobody who is watching them is getting any satisfaction.

Aeros v. Lake Erie: Today at NOON (CT)

I'm finally fully saturated in Brustydom and ready to move on to cover the team I actually cover. *sheepish*

So, I'm watching the archive of last night's 6-0 plastering of the Lake Erie Monsters, and I hear Joe say "these two teams meet up at noon tomorrow." Huh?

Yeah, way to keep up. Apparently, the boys meet up at the unusual time of noon (CT) today. So, if you planned to listen and are as oblivious as me, here's your heads up.

I'll go ahead and post this and then come back and add some comments about last night's game. Check in just before game time and hopefully I'll be done. Some interesting stuff from the game that sets up some intrigue for today.
---------------

Okay, the Aeros scored more goals in the last 3 games then they did in the previous 8 games. Have the Aeros just run into cold goalies or did the Goalie Angel's magic goal scoring fairy dust actually work?

It helps to have that whole power play nonsense behind them, as they score on two of four power play opportunities last night. They're still in the basement for that particular stat but last time I checked, the W stat is the one that matters. And they've still only allowed an incredibly stingy 2 power play goals in 16 games. Think about that. That's a pretty sparkly feather in the cap of this Aeros defense and penalty kill.

And last night was no different, as the Aeros were rock solid defensively. Khudobin had some good saves in his 17 stops for the shutout, but the defensive play in front of him that not only kept a ton of shots away from him, but also cleared his rebounds to safety, was the real first star IMO. Watching that game with goalie eyes, I think Anton owes some steak dinners to a few guys.

Nathan Smith got the first goal on the power play in the first period. Then, in the second period, Danny Irmen got goal number 2 when he collected a pass from DiSalvatore (three assists on the night), who was behind the net, and just kinda tossed a shot almost behind himself and Tyler Weiman was just a little off angle for it.

Third goal came from Stoner off a rocket from the point that must have gone through about 5 guys. That one had eyes for sure. And less than 2.5 minutes later, Noreau got a great feed from Milroy and just sniped a beauty past Weiman, who then got the hook in favor of Trevor Cann.

Apparently, Weiman, who is actually a very good goalie, having shut out the Aeros for over 122 minutes until last night, was coming off a bit of a flu bug so maybe that accounts for some of his struggles. Then again, sometimes it's just not your night.

The Aeros 5th goal came just prior to the buzzer at the end of the second period when Brandon Rogers potted the second power play goal of the night and his second goal of the season.

The biggie though, was the Aeros 6th goal, scored by Petr Kalus off the breakaway. He didn't get the shot off but he kind of kicked Cann's leg back as he was being harassed by a Monsters defenseman, and the momentum of the puck just carried it right into a gap between the goalie's leg and the post.

The goal was kind of a greasy one but even greasier was when Kalus skated to the Aeros bench with his hand behind his ear and one leg up, basically saying, "I can't hear you" to the silenced Lake Erie bench and crowd.

A real douchebag move and he got a 10 minute misconduct for it, which I think was a gift from the refs to keep him from getting murdered on his next shift. In the video, you can even see Noreau shaking his head and telling him to knock if off as he gets to the Aeros bench.

The team was embarrassed by the move and made no bones about it later with the local reporter in the room. This is one of the best game stories I've read all season. It goes into Kalus' idiocy, the embarrassing score, and Weiman's tantrum after he got the hook. It's like a friggin' soap opera, so go read it. Great stuff.

We'll see if Kalus plays today, though you can be sure the players on the Monsters bench won't soon forget what he did, so even if Constantine keeps him out to minimize the distraction, that move is gonna come back to bite him eventually.

This Monsters team is mad and embarrassed and will be loaded for bear today. So either the refs will call it tight in order to keep the peace resulting in a boring, penalty-laden affair, or the Monsters will turn the Aeros physicality around on them and it will be a hootenanny. 15 minutes until we find out.

10/21 -- Aeros v. Monsters -- The Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da Edition

“We’re supposed to be an energy team…” center Peter Zingoni said after tonight’s 1-0 Houston Aeros loss to the Lake Erie Monsters before a friends and family special at Toyota Center. “And I don’t think we’re doing that.”

The Monsters were the team playing the back-to-back tonight, but they appeared to be the fresher team as the Aeros often seemed to be a step behind the Monsters. Head coach Kevin Constantine was happy with his team’s effort, just feeling that they’ve got to execute. Zingoni wasn’t as happy.

“I think as a whole, as a team, I think we’re trying to get a little too cute,” he said. “We’re turning the puck over too much on line rushes as well. Myself included.”

That the Aeros stayed in the game was a credit to, once again, Anton Khudobin who stopped 33 of 34 shots on the night. The game’s lone goal came at the 12:59 mark of the first period as Chris Durno stuffed the puck past Khudobin. In years past, Khudobin might have floundered after the goal, but he seems to have gained confidence during the playoffs, and he appeared to get stronger as the game went on and as more and more pressure was put on his shoulders to keep the team in the game.

“I thought he was real good,” Constantine said of Khudobin. “As we started pressing, as the game wore on and we started pressing, we started to give up a little bit going the other way…Anton did everything he could to keep giving us an opportunity in the game.”

But despite Khudobin giving the team the opportunity, the players couldn’t execute, couldn’t capitalize. And that’s becoming a disturbing trend early in this season as the team loses out on points in home games, getting just four out of possible ten points in this home stand.

“These points are going to come back to haunt us at the end of the year,” Zingoni said after it was all over. And while it’s still too early to hit any kind of panic button, perhaps it is time the team started showing a little urgency out on the ice.

The loss dropped the team’s record on the season to 3-4-0-0 (6 points). It also dropped to them to fifth place in the division. The Aeros return to action this weekend as they take on the San Antonio Rampage this weekend in San Antonio before returning home to face Hamilton next Tuesday night.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

We spoke to Peter Zingoni a bit after the game, and he’s frustrated. He thinks this is a veteran team and that he and his fellow veterans have to start taking some responsibility and start producing.

“It’s time for us to really execute on the ice,” he said.

Part of the problem is that maybe the guys are thinking too much.

“I think we’re trying to do too much -- I don’t know really,” he said about the lack of execution on the ice. “It’s a lot of things. I’ve been watching a lot of video, a lot of personal video, a lot of team video. It looks like a lot of times we’re getting sometimes a little -- maybe sometimes -- a little too cute through the middle and trying to make that last past. Our first goal is to get a shot on net and just crash the rebounds.”

“This is kind of the time when hockey sense is going to have to take over,” he said. “Our coaches do enough for us preparation wise, and we practice these drills in practice everyday. It comes to a point where we’re really going to have to respond.”

Kevin Constantine didn’t necessarily agree with the “too cute” portion. But he does think the team needs to execute.

“I couldn’t say that we’re too cute with the puck,” he said. “I would say that we had some pretty golden scoring opportunities that just didn’t go in. We’ve got to get results there. Guys have to finish the job.”

****************
Defenseman Jaime Sifers made his debut in an Aeros uniform tonight, but left at about midway through the third period after taking a stick to his mouth. Constantine wasn’t sure about just how serious injury was, but stated that it was bad enough that he couldn’t return to the game.

****************
Lake Erie’s lone goal was the first power play goal allowed by the Aeros this season. Before tonight, the team’s penalty kill had killed 25 power plays.

Speaking of penalties, the Monsters were called for six on the night. Three of the penalties were to Phil Dupuis who pulled it off by getting the first penalty in each of the three periods.

****************
Knowing Kevin Constantine, he’s going to read this paragraph and deliberately set out to prove me wrong this weekend, but it appears that he has decided on Khudobin as his number one goalie. Khudobin is now 2-2-0-0 3-2-0-0 for the season, but except for last Saturday’s loss to Texas, Khudobin has been solid in goal and has done everything possible to keep his team in game.

And as Kevin has proven in the past with Nolan Schaefer and Barry Brust, when a goalie gets hot, he’ll stick with that goalie. Of course, like I said, I can just see him doing something different this weekend just to mess with my head.

****************
For tonight's video, how about The Beatles with "Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da" because, after all, life does goes on.

Now that IS pink

Greetings from Press Row at Toyota Center. The Aeros and Rivermen are tied 1-1 after two. While looking through the AHL scores during the intermission we noticed the Rampage game in Cleveland, with San Antonio leading 1-0, was suspended due to unsafe ice conditions.

Normally it would take a lot longer to figure out why, but tonight Mr. Dave Andrews -- the AHL Commissioner himself -- is seated here with us ... So we asked.

As it turns out, they had a breast cancer awareness night in Cleveland, and they painted the rink pink to raise said awareness. Well, you know the old saying ... "Be careful what you wish for ..." The pink paint started coming up through the playing surface forcing the game's suspension.

The league will announce later when the game will resume...they will start the second period with the Rampage leading 1-0.