Good-bye Morten Madsen

Morten Madsen has left the Aeros and will play in Sweden. (Sorry the site is not in English, but it says that Morten Madsen will play in Sweden.)

Madsen is likely never going to play in the NHL, although he was with the right organization if those dreams were to be realized. Players pull groins just getting on and off the buses in St. Paul, so he might have just been three or four more road trips away from playing at the X.

But Madsen just appeared to be miserable playing for Constantine's system down here. He never seemed to "get" it. He had a good couple of weeks with the Aeros last year, but (no pun intended) has been wildly inconsistent since making the jump from juniors.

Most people get raises when they do well at work.
Morten got a pay cut this year playing for the Aeros and now stands to make more money in Sweden. So, for someone that was apparently miserable here and making less money, this is a great deal.

I wish Morty nothing but the best overseas, and I know I will miss his great choice in head wear and post-win celebration dancing antics.

Olvecky will not return; Madsen very well may

Now that their respective countries are done in the World's, and Aeros players are dropping left and right with injuries, it was curious to know whether or not Peter Olvecky or Morten Madsen might return to the Aeros this postseason.

The answer is no and yes.

According to Aeros GM Tom Lynn via e-mail this afternoon:

"I have never actually heard of a guy coming back after the World Championships, so the Olvecky thing is not unusual (and he is not signed for next year, he will be a restricted free agent). Madsen’s team was just eliminated and he mentioned he wanted to come back before he left, so I am working on it."

First of all, thank you Tom for the quick reply and getting this information to us.
Secondly, it is very possible that Aeros fans have seen the last of Olvecky in bomber gear.

--Aeroscribe

Madsen out; Kaufman in

Lost in the drama of the Aeros big OT win last night were a couple of roster changes, though, frankly, neither really has much effect right now.

First off is that Morten Madsen and his fierce hat are heading to Switzerland to join the Danish National team. At least I hope the hat is going. I know Morty is. Goodbye, Morty! Badbye, hat!

He's been a healthy scratch quite often lately, so I don't really see this being much of an impact to the team for the rest of the playoffs. Lundbohm and Ryznar have a good handle on that extra forward role.

So, there's your two Aeros who are participating in the World Championships which start tomorrow, and 5 Wild organization players total (Harding-Canada, Zidlicky-Czech Republic, Miettinen-Finland). I think the rest of the Wild had or will have off-season surgery or have concussions...

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Secondly, the Aeros signed Brian Kaufman, a "versatile" forward from Miami (Ohio) aka "Cold Miami" for the 2009-2010 season.

Apparently he had a fantastic junior year at Cold Miami, didn't set anything on fire his senior year, but he did attend Wild development camp this past summer, so he knows the organization and they know him. Here's an article from his time at dev camp.

He was the captain of his Miami team his senior year, much like trade-bait Ryan Jones was the year before that, so at least that indicates a certain quality of character, I would think.

Peoria may feel the Love tonight

Joe O'Donnell blogs that Mitch Love will be in for Morten Madsen tonight. I'm no hockey coach, but I think that's a good call.

And if you read Mitch's blog post this week, this will be his first AHL playoff game and he was really hoping to get in the line-up this time around. Good for him that he is apparently going to get that chance.

Aeros v. Rockford 3/27 - Photos Part 2

Antti Niemi makes a huge save with the right pad on a Jesse Schultz shot, late in the third period.
Both net minders made huge saves in the 13 round shootout. Here you see Anton Khudobin making a pad save on Tim Brent.

Antti Niemi stops Morten Madsen

Khudobin shuts down Pascal Pelletier

Krys Kolanos tries some kind of weird drag move that doesn't work out well.

Benoit Pouliot snaps one in.

Since Pouliot was successful coach put him right back out there. He tried snapping a shot from further out but Niemi was able to get a pad on it.

Anton was able to squeeze this shot between the pad and arm.

Marco Rosa got in too deep and Niemi got his blocker on it.

Krys Kolanos snaps this one past Niemi.

The Aeros needed a goal to stay alive here and Corey Locke tried the same move he used 5 nights before against Peoria. He had Niemi down but he couldn't get the shot up enough to have the same result. Rockford wins 3-2.

I couldn't decide on which one of these Niemi shots I liked better so you get both. This was as he waited ot be announced as the #1 star of the game. You can see he's a fan of Assassin's Creed.

All Photos:Fred Trask

Aeros vs Peoria 3/21 -- OMFGMANNYLEGACE

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?

QCY 03/13 - A stinker ...

Well this one was a bit of a stinker for the Bomber Boys. One good period and them some horendous play. This one is a bit tongue and cheek but here are my picks for the stars of the game.

I give the first star to this Aeros fan, Lucha Libre - no one can disagree with that.

I give the 2nd star to Leland Irving because he only played 2/3 of the game. Still, that's 1/3 more than most of the Aeros did.

I give the nod for the 3rd star to Mitch Love he played hard all game and had a most entertaining bout with J.D. Watt in the first period.

Here is a shot of an excited Morten Madsen as he celebrates his goal.

All Photos: Fred Trask