While going through the Aeros website today, for the first time in a while, I discovered something very exciting. At least to me. The auditions for the Aero Dynamics are next week, and you know how I am when it comes to the Aero Dynamics.
But there's the really exciting thing. This year, along with their standard routines in the stands, the Aero Dynamics will also be acting as Ice Girls. And if you've learned anything else from this site, it's that I've got a thing for Ice Girls. So let's just say that I'm really looking forward to this season getting underway.
************************ Also of note. Andrew noted that Barry Brust had just signed a contract. I thought I would also point out that former Aero goalie Nolan Schaefer will be between the pipes for the Providence Bruins this season.
I enjoyed dealing with both men, and they never treated me like the true idiot that I am. So I wish them all of the best in this upcoming AHL season. (I'm also hoping that Barry can cast aside his injury issues and prove a few people in a certain organization wrong about his skills and abilities.)
And I'd like to echo what Andrew said about Palmer Hestley. You've got no idea of how important guys like Palmer are to making our jobs easier, and Palmer was a great asset last year. Good luck, Palmer.
We knew this was happening, but the question was to where. And today we know.
Nolan Schaefer appears to have signed a contract with CSKA Moscow of the KHL. And here's an article in Swedish on the signing, followed with this Google translation. Here's a quote from his new coach: "I have received very good recommendations on Schaefer from North America and the last two seasons in Houston, he has very good statistics, says new coach Sergei Nemtjinov to Sport-Express."
Sergei, I can also give you a very good recommendation on Schaefer. He's not flashy. But he's solid. He's not going to make stupid mistakes. He's not going to panic. He's going to keep you in games. Hell, if you score a goal, he'll probably be able to win you a game.
With Doobie's signing in Minnesota, and Barry Brust and Anton Khudobin under contract and hoping to play here, it was pretty much a forgone conclusion that Schaefer was leaving the team. Still, I'm going to miss talking to him in the locker room -- the guy was always good with giving us a quote and good explanations for what happened in the game. I wish him luck in Russia.
John Shipley of the St. Paul Pioneer Press muses on his blog today about the fate of Josh Harding and, in relation, where the Wild think their minor league goalies stand in terms of moving up.
His assessment pretty much matches mine. Neither Brusty nor Dimples are technically solid enough to get it on full time in the NHL, even as a back-up. I think Schaefer probably is, though I didn't realize he was making so much coin. That's damn good for the AHL, so good for him.
Also, we learn that it's an MCL injury that sent Dimples out at the end of the third in Game 4.
Looking Ahead
My #1 concern is about goaltending depth next season. This year and last, the Aeros had Dimples down in the ECHL to call up and provide pretty good support in a pinch. The Wild haven't drafted a goalie since drafting Niko Hovinen in 2006, and he's been playing in Finland all this time. (AeroFinn... how about a stats update on the kid. My Finnish is rusty.)
The team has not had him over for Prospects Camp since 2007, so who knows what their intentions are with him.
Without a doubt, the team needs to beef up the goaltending ranks either through draft or trade or both (though draft will be too late to help this season due to age restrictions). I personally am still quite scarred from the 06-07 season when Harding got called up with no help behind him, and then turned around and was immediately spoiled by the amazing Schaefer-Brust tandem last season.
It was more of a mixed bag this year, but imagine if the Aeros hadn't had Khudobin to call upon. Wowza. Anyway, more on this later as we take a look at how next years Aeros stack up. --------------------
Meanwhile, from Russo at the Star Tribune today, reports of Tom Lynn's job security as GM of the Aeros may have been overstated last week, as Chuck Fletcher, the shiny new GM for the Wild, is saying that nobody is necessarily in or out and that those decisions will come in due time:
To clarify one thing that was reported earlier this week, [Fletcher] has decided no staff member is leaving or staying. He’s been in the office for three hours total, and has met a precious few. He said there’s no reason for anybody to be walking on eggshells, but stories that he’s told anybody they’re safe or unsafe were premature. What does that mean? He’ll meet with staff over the next several weeks, ask a ton of questions and then things “will become apparent to me,” and that does include Tom Lynn and Tommy Thompson.
So, maybe the Aeros summer won't be as stable as we might have expected. Won't that be fun?
By now you've heard the big news for today. And as Luke Strand told me, it's that Matt Climie is starting in goal tonight. I spoke to Kevin Constantine during the skate, and the decision had not yet been made -- he and the staff wanted to wait until after Nolan Schaefer and Climie skated to make a decision.
As for Anton Khudobin, Constantine said that he's got a lower body injury. He got the injury during the third period on Wednesday night. During a time out of the third, Khudobin informed the trainers that he was hurt, then he skated back out to the net. The trainers checked him out at the end of the third period, and told Constantine that he could not play. "So we had no choice but to play Schaefer," Constantine said.
I don't really have much else for you. There was some off-the-record talk about players' beards. I did overhear Constantine talking to Manitoba's radio guy for an interview to be played during the game, and Constantine basically said he's not sure of what to expect from Climie.
The obvious scratches for tonight are Dane Crowley, Barry Brust, and Anton Khudobin. Paul Albers, Jesse Schultz, Marco Scandella, Jason Ryznar, and Carson McMillan all skated with the rest of the guys in the skate. Krys Kolanos did not skate, but I've rarely seen him out on the ice at the morning skate, so that doesn't mean anything.
A quick inside the numbers give us some basics. Only two teams in AHL history have ever come from 0-3 to win a series: Rochester in 1960 and Adirondack in 1989. But the Aeros are 3-0 this post-season when facing elimination. All-time, the Aeros are 7-5 in Calder Cup play when facing elimination. And in Game Fives, Houston is 7-10 all-time and 4-5 in Calder Cup action.
Corey Locke leagues the AHL is Calder Cup scoring with 20 points (11-9). Matt Beaudoin is second with 16 points (7-9=16).
The Moose/Cory Schneider have allowed just eight third period goals in 14 games, but the Aeros are responsible for five of the eight. The Aeros have 23 third period goals in the playoffs, compared to just 24 goals combined in all of the first, second, and overtime periods. The Aeros are outscoring their opponents 23-14 in the third period.
The big key again will be the first goal. The Aeros are 8-2 when scoring first, and they are 6-0 when leading after the first.
So what happens tonight? That's a damn good question. I think if the Aeros can get the first goal and if they can give Matt Climie some time to settle in after that first goal, then they might be okay, and they might be able to get back to Winnipeg for a Game Six. But frankly, the odds aren't in the favor of the Aeros. But if there's one thing we've learned this season, it's to never count out the Aeros (still, you have to wonder about just how many goalie injuries this team can take).
After Wednesday morning’s skate, Tony Hrkac said that the team had to avoid making mistakes, they had to play smart, and that they had to focus on just winning this one game. Most importantly, he said, they needed to at least be tied at the end of the first period.
Things looked good for the Aeros (and for Hrkac’s prediction) when Corey Locke knocked in a rebound past Manitoba’s Cory Schneider at 1:26 of the first to put the Aeros up 1-0. But then the mistakes and dumb play began and the Moose got two goals – including another short-handed goal on the penalty kill – to grab the 2-1 lead after one period.
But the thing about the Aeros is that they just don’t quit. They came out in the second and tied the game at two-all when Corey Locke fired a cross-ice pass to John Lammers who then found Robbie Earl coming up the middle of the ice, and Earl buried the puck in the net at 13:58 of the second. Then the team got stupid again, and allowed Manitoba to score 25 seconds into the third period to take the 3-2 lead.
Enter Matt Beaudoin and Tony Hrkac.
Beaudoin took a pass from Benoit Pouliot at 13:31 of the third and slapped the puck past Schneider to tie the game at three. And seconds later, at 14:29, Beaudoin made a great play under the net to find a streaking Hrkac who tipped the puck past Scheinder to put the Aeros up 4-3.
“I got a good pass from Pouliot right outside their blue line, and I knew I had a winger going,” Hrkac said, “so I wanted to get the shot on the net for the rebound, and [Beaudoin] got the rebound, and from my angle I thought he put it in. But it went behind the net, and I just went straight for the net and he saw me and threw it out to me and I put it in the net.”
But the Aeros don’t do things the easy way. Anton Khudobin found himself badly out of position at 17:21 and Mario Bliznak got the wraparound to tie the game at four and send the game to overtime.
It was during the intermission leading to overtime that word filtered up to the press box that Khudobin had gotten injured in the third period and that Nolan Schaefer would be coming out to take over at goal.
“I just didn’t want to let the team down,” Schaefer said. “I wanted to get in there and give them the chance to win, and I didn’t even have to do that.”
He didn’t have to do that because the Aeros came out on the attack in the overtime and at 2:01, Matt Beaudoin scored his second goal of the night (and got his fourth point) to give Houston the 5-4 lead and to keep them alive in this best of seven series with the Manitoba Moose.
“Tonight we got our bounces,” Beaudoin said after the game.
But to stand a chance at winning this series, the Aeros are going to have to keep getting the bounces. And the next chance to get the bounces will come on Friday night as the Aeros and Moose go at it in Game Five from Toyota Center.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:
It's going to take a bit of a miracle for the Aeros to win this series. In the entire of the AHL, only two teams have ever come back from 0-3 deficits to win a series. Those teams were the 1960 Rochester Americans and the 1989 Adirondack Red Wings.
Tony Hrkac says that in this instance, the cliche has to win out, meaning that the Aeros can't focus on winning three games. They just have to focus on the next game and the next period. "The next game is the biggest game of the year. If we lose we’re done," he says. "But we’ve got to go out there one period at a time and hopefully get the next goal. We need to build off this win. It’s a big win for us. They’re a good team. They’re not going to be rattled."
******************** Corey Locke's first period goal tied the team record for playoff goals in one season with 11, tying Mark Freer who also scored 11 in 1999. Locke's 20 total points (11-9=20) is second all-time for playoff points in one season. He is behind only Freer who had 23 points in the 1999 season. Locke is also the AHL's points leader for this Calder Cup race.
Matt Beaudoin's four points (2-2=4) tied the Aeros' all-time playoff record. This has happened twice before, the last time being in 2001 when Shawn Carter got a goal and three assists.
"I think it was his best game of the year for us," Kevin Constantine said. "He’s been a real nice addition to our power play, but tonight he was also a really good five-on-five player, he did a little of both. It was his best game. It was good to see."
******************* The Anton Khudobin injury was rather surprising news to those of us in the press box. It was also, it appears, rather surprising news to Constantine and the rest of the coaching staff.
"At some point in the third, I don’t know when," Constantine answered when asked when the injury occurred. "It was during the third, he did play the end of the third injured. It was something the coaching staff didn’t even really know about. But it was brought to our attention that he was hurt, so we had no choice but to put Schaefer in at the end of the game."
And while we're on the subject of goalies, it should be noted that this was the first time that Cory Schneider's ever allowed more than four goals in a playoff game for his career.
"The stat was that prior to this game he’d given up six goals in the third and we had three of them," Hrkac said. "So we knew were good in the third period. We knew we could get to them in the third, and we did that and we got them in overtime."
******************** And I've got a note for Booker, or whatever the hell his name is. Hey, moron, when the goalie's in the net and action is about to start back up again, don't go shouting out his frigging name and trying to grab his attention. As hard as it might be for you to believe, Anton Khudobin's got more important things to focus on that your inane activities.
******************** And to play us out tonight, I thought I would do something a little different and play a song for the Moose. So to help you get over the loss of your 10-game post season winning streak, here's John Lennon with "Nobody Told Me."
Sorry for the delay. It's taking us a little extra time to film the video segment -- and Andrew will be posting that in a bit. And I've still got a post for the mothership to write, but...
The Aeros won 5-4 in overtime. Who saw that coming? It was the Matt Beaudoin show tonight, as he was in on four of the five goals with two goals and two assists. Tony Hrkac and Corey Locke also had nice games.
We're not sure what the injury to Anton Khudobin is, though I did see him in the trainer's room after the game. Kevin Constantine told us that Khudobin injured himself sometime in the third, but the coaches weren't even aware of it at the time and didn't know about it until the intermission, at which point, he said, they had no choice but to go with Nolan Schaefer for the overtime.
There'll be more to come later, but I just thought I would go ahead and throw that information out. Make sure to come back in a bit because Andrew will be posting video and all of us will have more informative posts to come.
Excuse the lateness of this posting, but I was busy with some breaking news for the mothership. That said, I’ll just combine the observations from the morning skate with inside the numbers for just one post.
So…
You’ve already seen the big news from the Morning Skate about Anton Khudobin getting the start tonight at goal for Houston. Kevin Constantine said it was nothing that Nolan Schaefer did wrong, but more that Khudobin is the guy who has gotten the wins for the team in the playoffs.
“We’re going back to Anton. He’ll start tonight,” Constantine said. “We really, with Anton in the playoffs, didn’t have a lot of choices because the other goalies were hurt. Then you get back to where Nolan and Barry are healthy and you start to have choices and the decisions get harder. We’d gone into our last game having won only one of our last five, so we thought we would try something so we tried Nolan. He didn’t play a bad game. He didn’t make some big saves in some situations where we needed big saves, but at the same time we gave up really, really high quality chances that you wouldn’t look at those as goalie mistakes but as we gave up too big a chances. We don’t think he played bad. At the same time, Anton seems to be the guy who’s gotten wins in the playoffs for us, so we’re going back to him.”
As for this being the ultimate do-or-die game for the Aeros, Tony Hrkac, while apologizing, went with the clichés. “You take it period by period,” he said. “I know it’s all of the old clichés, shift by shift, but our backs are against the wall so we have to take it like that. That’s got to be our mentality. We’ve got to play our game. Play hard. Play smart. We really have to do things right because they’re a good team. Any mistakes and we’re done.”
Constantine isn’t even looking at it as one game at a time or just winning a period. To him, none of that matters. “When you start worrying about wins and losses you’re way ahead of yourself,” he said. “You’ve got to get into the process that turns you into a winner and focus on that.”
And the process is one of learning from game to game and applying the good things from the last game to the next game while cutting back on the bad things. “All we’ve talked about is how have the first three games gone,” he said. “What did we learn from the first three games, how did Game Three go as opposed to Game Two, and what did we learn from Game Three. All of those things trying to prepare us to do our best job in Game Four. That’s all we’ve talked about.”
As for the guys during the skate, they looked loose. They didn’t appear uptight, and they didn’t appear worried about tonight’s game. They worked on their shots. Khudobin and Schaefer worked on blocks and rebounds.
Danny Irmen says he’s trying not to focus on Manitoba: “They’re an experienced team, and a lot of them have been here before. We’ve just got to worry about ourselves and not worry about them. We’ve got to focus on what we’ve got to do right.”
As to the actual game, Hrkac says it all comes down to the first period: ‘We have to have a good first period. Tie it at least.”
I think Mr. Hrkac has been looking at the numbers, because, while kind of bleak, the numbers speak truth. Manitoba is 9-0 when it scores first, and it is 7-0 when it has the lead after the first period. The Aeros are 1-7 when they let the other team score first, and they are a miserable 0-8 when trailing after the first. But if the Aeros can get the lead or a tie at the end of the first, they’re 8-1.
So forget all of the other numbers. The numbers at the end of the first period are all that matters. If Houston can get on the board first and at least hold it to a tie, then they just might be able to pull out at least one game of the series. Otherwise, it’s all over.
“I don’t have any excuses for it,” Nolan Schaefer said of Michael Grabner’s game-winning goal. “He’s a good player. It’s a good shot. I just have to make the save the next time.”
While offering that Grabner fanned on the shot, that the puck just kind of wobbled, and that it bounced off of the post, Schaefer made it clear that he still should have stopped the shot and led the team into overtime. But as has been the case with the Aeros so often this season, overtime was so close, yet still so far away as the team lost 4-3 to the Manitoba Moose before a Toyota Center crowd of 2634.
Now Manitoba holds the three games to zero lead in this best of seven series, and the Aeros are just one game away from the end of the season.
Schaefer, who started for the first time since the end of March, took the blame for the loss. “When it came down to it, we just gave up too many opportunities and I didn’t make the big saves at the right time.”
The game’s first goal came when Manitoba’s Mike Keane got his stick on a shot from Mike Bliznak and tipped the puck past Schaefer for the 1-0 lead at the 13:47 of the first period. Then with the Aeros on the power play, Manitoba got a short handed goal from Alexandre Bolduc at 2:33 of the second period. And in a bit of karma, Matt Beaudoin deflected a Krys Kolanos shot into the goal to make the score 2-1 at the 12:29 mark of the second. But with momentum possibly shifting in Houston’s favor, Michael Grabner scored his first goal of the night to make it 3-1 at 14:08.
The third period found the Aeros playing their most inspired hockey of the series. But it was a case of too little, too late. Marco Rosa fed a great pass to Corey Locke at 1:11 of the third, and Locke put the puck past Manitoba’s Corey Schneider to make the score 3-2. Matt Beaudoin then found himself in excellent position several times over the next several minutes, but he couldn’t convert his scoring chances into actual points. Danny Irmen tied the score at three-all when he got the short-handed goal at 6:30 of the third. For the next ten minutes, the Aeros did everything possible to grab the lead. Except for, that is, actually scoring a goal. And by the time Grabner made his game-winning goal at 16:11, the Aeros just appeared to run out of gas.
“I thought we played pretty hard. I wasn’t displeased with our effort,” head coach Kevin Constantine said following the game. “They were better than us tonight by a goal.”
So close, yet so far away. And isn’t it that, in many ways, the perfect definition of this Aeros’ season. So close. Yet so far. Does the season end on Wednesday night, or do the Aeros find a way to extend this series to a Game Five? Well that’s a question we’re not going to get answered until that time. But the prognosis appears to be negative.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:
It can be argued that Manitoba won the game at the 13:47 mark of the first period when the Moose scored the game’s first goal. In this postseason, the Aeros are now 1-7 when the opponent scores first, and they are 0-8 when trailing after the first period.
“It [first goal]only sets the tone if you let it,” Nolan Schaefer said. “We’ve been getting down after a goal, and it’s how you respond to the goal that matters. We set our own tone out there so we just have to be ready for adversity.”
With the season on the line, it was probably hoped the team would play the entire game like they did the third period, but as has been the case all season, the team kicked into a different gear when the third period started.
“I don’t know if we were at our best the first two periods,” Schaefer said, “but I don’t think we played a bad game either. They didn’t get a lot of shots. It’s just that the opportunities they did get were Grade-A/A-plus chances.”
******************** The goalie switch was not so much about the play of Anton Khudobin as it was Kevin Constantine trying to change the momentum of the series, and of the Aeros, who have now lost five of their last six games.
“We had only won one of our last five games so we decided to give Nolan a shot,” Constantine said.
******************** During the game, for some reason, the game day crew was showing clips from the later sequels to the Rocky movies. But seriously, seeing as how all of those movies suck, and suck really hard, was it really too much to ask that they trot out clips from the original? The original, after all, was actually a good movie. And though Rocky lost in the original, it was a great underdog movie about a man going the distance against a contender who should have knocked Rocky out early in the first round. So if there’s any movie which really fits into the spirit of these Aeros, it’s that first Rocky.
“If you can’t get yourself ready for a game like this,” Clayton Stoner said, “then you don’t deserve to be here.”
Here is Milwaukee. The game is Game Seven of a best of seven series with the Milwaukee Admirals.
“I’m excited,” Stoner said. “This is the kind of thing you dream about when you’re younger. Playing these big games. Hopefully the best team wins. It’s just exciting to be part of it.”
The Aeros looked a bit different out on the ice this morning. There wasn’t all of the laughing and joking of Saturday’s Game Five skate. The guys are all smiles and they rib each other a bit. But the focus is a little different. And after the disasters were games five and six, perhaps the focus should be a little different, especially after Monday night’s 7-0 disaster.
“Right after the game, we said it’s over with,” Stoner said. “We weren’t real proud of the way we played. But some games go like that. It’s hockey. We got over it quickly. We went to dinner afterwards and we talked about Game Seven and not Game Six.”
The Aeros have been a maddening team to watch this season. Offensively, this has been one of the most talented teams the Aeros have sent out on the ice in years. And Krys Kolanos, Corey Locke, and Jesse Schultz have brought a scoring mentality to the team. But there have been stretches when the offense has backfired and accomplished nothing. Then the offense has been on fire but the defense has let down. For the first half of the season, the team couldn’t keep a lead, but the team would never quit and could score in the third to steal the game.
So I don’t really know what to tell you to expect tonight. I’ve got no clue.
Anton Khudobin is starting at goal with Nolan Schaefer prepared to come off of the bench to back him up. Barry Brust is also now skating with the team, but he won’t suit up tonight. Khudobin has shown in these playoffs that he can play some really fantastic hockey. He’s also been awful at times, and in six games against Milwaukee, he’s completed only three. And if he starts out poorly again, Schaefer will probably come out to relieve him.
“It’s tough not having played for five weeks,” Schaefer said about his play on Monday night. “My first full practice was the morning skate with the team, but it’s the playoffs, and we have to rise to the occasion. And I didn’t really do that….Anton’s got the start tonight. I know he’ll do well.”
“The bottom line is it’s just down to a winner-take-all situation,” head coach Kevin Constantine said. “We just want to stick with our plan and stick with what’s worked for us all year.”
What do the stats indicate for tonight?
The Aeros are 5-1 all-time in playoff game sevens, including 3-0 in Calder Cup games. So the Aeros have that in their favor. The Aeros are 6-2 in the playoffs when they score first, and they are 5-0 when they lead after the first and 2-1 if they are tied after one period. But if the Aeros are losing after two periods, they’re 1-5.
So it’s pretty much the standard things that I’ve been writing this series: the Aeros need to get the first goal, and they need to have the lead after one period. If they can do that, they should win.
Krys Kolanos will be a game-time decision. He didn’t skate this morning, but it’s my understanding that he doesn’t always make the morning skate. Tomas Mojzis didn’t travel with the team, and he’s in Houston.
So what happens tonight? Hell if I know. The Aeros have been consistent at one thing this year. And that’s being inconsistent. With their play the past two games, it looks like they should lose, but then again, the Aeros have sometimes played their best hockey when it’s thought they’ll be awful.
All that I know is I predicted the Aeros to win in six games. That didn’t happen. But I’ll stick with my prediction that the Aeros win. I’ll probably be wrong. But I don’t back off my predictions.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
I'm listening to the radio up here in Milwaukee, and apparently, according to Milwaukee management who were just on the radio here, Krys Kolanos was a healthy scratch on Monday. So it's nice to see that they don't know what the hell they're talking about. I confirmed during the game on Monday that he was injured, and I reconfirmed at the skate this morning.
Also, according to Milwaukee sports radio, if the Admirals win tonight, they're going to the Calder Cup finals.
*********************
The definitive Aeros scratches for tonight are Tomas Mojzis, Jesse Schultz, John Adams, Barry Brust, and Matt Climie. The Milwaukee exec who was on the radio getting the facts wrong about Kolanos also thought that it was funny the Aeros had to have four goalies on the roster. Yeah, it's a real laugh riot that the team's two top goalies got hurt at the end of the season.
And the new guy might be in town with the team, but he didn't skate with them this morning.
********************
And one further thing. I watched Game Six on AHL Live Monday night, and I was a bit disgusted by some of the chatter on the chat room. So I'd like to make a plea for a little civility during the game. There's no need to be making fun of the way people look or calling them fat and getting into flame wars.
I think we're all adults and we should act like adults. Of course, I won't be watching the game on AHL Live so I've got no clue as to what will happen on there anyway. But I just wanted to make the suggestion.
When last did the wheels fall so completely off this team? Wow. 7-0 Milwaukee, a goalie run (and if there'd been a third goalie dressed, I'm guessing he would have gotten a shot after Nolan's third goal), and elimination avoided.
So, here's my "being nice to the boys" theory: The extra rest Milwaukee got after sweeping the semi-finals is finally coming to bear. And the No Rest that the Aeros got is coming to bear in the opposite direction. Add a little shaky Dimples and a rusty Schaefer in goal and Kolanos out with a cranky lower body and you've got a disaster waiting to happen.
And boy did it ever happen! But it's ridiculous to even try and analyze a game that goes THAT wrong. Just forget about it and move on.
The post-game quotes certainly speak to a locker room that shares that attitude. Locker sounds downright excited to have a game 7 to play. Man, hockey players may like game 7s but they really should come with defibrillators, or at least tequila, for the helpless fans who have to sit and watch.
The highlight of the night for me, apart from some really delicious steak and macaroni & cheese, was hearing the Pride of Swan River, Barry Brust, providing color for O'Donnell's play-by-play. That's Ms. Conduct's play of the game.
And I hope all you folks who went to the Maple Leaf Pub got good and drunk, because you deserved it for not getting to watch this disaster from the comfort of your own couch in your underwear like I did. Well, I wasn't in YOUR underwear or on YOUR couch but ... well, never mind.
So, to wrap up, my favorite transplanted Minnesotan suggested to me today that if Olvecky came back (he's not), this song would be appropriate to welcome him back. But I think that was merely a premonition that the Aeros WOULD be missing a critical piece tonight, so for Kolanos, who is expected to be back Wednesday here's a little Fray:
Here's a little something to start your Monday with a smile, unless you're Matt Climie: There are three Aeros goalies in Milwaukee with the team--Dimples, Schaefer, and Brust.
Neither Schaefer nor Brust have been traveling with the team until now, so that's kind of a big deal and great news. Though Climie has been a terrific back-up and definitely gets cookies from Ms. Conduct.
(Note to Matt: If you've got some spare time in the next couple of days, I could use some lessons on recovering from my ass without wallowing on the ice like an upside-down turtle...)
Anyway, I won't presume to guess who will be out on the ice Monday night, though from what Schaefer said about being ready to go and Constantine's penchant for riding the most recently hot goalie, I would guess he'll back Dimples up. But there's a little intrigue between the pipes for y'all to chew on today.
The early news from John, who checked out morning skate is that, essentially, Khudobin is the Aeros goalie for the long haul. Brust's return from his fractured foot for the playoffs is doubtful, but he'd be more likely to see action than Schaefer, as he's still out with a lower body injury.
Tom Lynn announced today that the club has been assigned goalie Matt Climie by the Dallas Stars. Ryan Munce, who has been backing up Anton Khudobin has been released from his PTO.
Climie played three games for the Dallas Stars this season where he went 2-1 with a 2.92 goals against average and a .894 save percentage. He played 42 regular season games for the ECHL Idaho Steelheads were he was 27-12-1 with a 2.30 GAA and a .915 save percentage. He was 0-4 for the Steelheads in the ECHL playoffs, allowing a 2.41 GAA with a .924 save percentage.
Reading between the lines, I think this means that we've seen the last of Barry Brust and Nolan Schaefer for the season, or at the minimum, for the rest of this round and the next round of the playoffs. Schaefer was supposed to have been ready to return to the team in time for the San Antonio series that ended the season, but the injury is taking time to heal. And Kevin Constantine had said that Brust's current injury was similar to the one he had earlier in the year that took him over a month to recover from.
In news I'm taking to mean that Nolan Schaefer will not be able to play tonight, the Aeros have signed goalie Ryan Munce to a PTO. Munce played 54 games for the Mississippi Sea Wolves of the ECHL this season. He went 24-24-5 with a 3.22 GAA and a .915 save percentage. He also played three games with the Syracuse Crunch where he had a 2.99 GAA and a .911 save percentage. He will be with the Aeros in Peoria tonight.
Peter Olvecky appears to have cleared waivers, and he, too, will join the Aeros in Peoria tonight.
There is still, however, no word on what the Aeros home dates will be in the series with Peoria. They're still waiting on the Rockets to finally settle into a playoff spot.
“For our psyche, it was definitely important to get a win,” Brandon Rogers said after the game. “It’s kind of nice to have a positive.”
The Aeros have been in a downward spiral this past month, and they were only 2-6-1-1 for their past 10 games. So while maybe their were some of you out there who were hoping the Aeros would lose this game so they would end up facing the Milwaukee Admirals in the first round of the playoffs instead of the Peoria Rivermen. The Aeros felt differently. They wanted this win.
And while it wasn’t easy, needing a Krys Kolanos empty-netter to guarantee the 6-4 win over the San Antonio Rampage, the Aeros still got the much needed win that their psyche so sorely needed.
The Aeros offense, especially in the first period, was turning over the puck left and right while not converting on scoring opportunities. And while they ended up not really having many opportunities for the rest of the game, they did get much better at converting. Especially one Krys Kolanos.
The scoring started fourteen seconds into the second period when Bryan Lundbohm virtually stole the puck from San Antonio goalie Josh Tordjman and buried it in the net. Now this being the Aeros, the Rampage were able to tie the game about a minute later as they got a power play goal on Anton Khudobin at 1:16.
Then the Krys Kolanos show got started.
At 7:49 of the second, just seconds into a power play, Kolanos fired a laser of a shot from up high to make the score 2-1. The goal came so fast that the Toyota Center video screen was still showing the Aeros logo as the game was coming back from a break. Then at 14:11, Jesse Schultz broke toward the Rampage goal with Kolanos coming up the other side. Schultz kept the puck as long as possible, and just as Tordjman committed, slipped the puck over to Kolanos who made the shot and got the score to 3-1.
Within seconds of the second Kolanos goal, Wyatt Smith made the score 3-2 on a play where it looked like Khudobin just lost track of the puck which was hanging in the air in front of him. At 18:34, Brandon Rogers fired a pass to Matt Beaudoin who tipped in the puck, and as the second period ended, the score was 4-2.
Jesse Schultz made the score 5-2 Houston on a breakaway at 9:22 of the third, but the Rampage, with some help from the Houston defense, got back into the game, and with a minute left in the game, the score was 5-4. But with the San Antonio net empty, Benoit Pouliot got the puck and started skating toward it with just a defender coming with him. Pouliot probably could have buried the puck at any point, but he waited for Kolanos to get in on the play then passed it across, allowing Kolanos to get the goal, and the hat trick, with only 15 seconds remaining in the game.
The next stop for Houston is Peoria, a team they’ve seen a lot in the past month. But now they’ve got some momentum and a much-need lift of the psyche. “We’ve been in a bit of a losing skid,” Clayton Stoner said. “Going into the playoffs on winning note was a huge lift for the team.”
As to how large a lift is something we’ll have to wait until Wednesday to find out.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:
The win moved the Aeros past Rockford and into the third seed for the playoffs. As such, they get to face the Peoria Rivermen, one of the hottest teams in the league for the past month or so. These teams played each other eight times, with each team winning four games, and with three of the games going into the shootout. The teams have played each four times in the past month, and Peoria holds the edge in those games with a 2-1-0-1 record.
“We’ve got a pretty good read on this team,” Clayton Stoner said. ‘We’ve played them a lot the past month, so we know their tendencies. They’re a hard working team, and they play very physical. So we better show up physically.”
“Ever since they got Legace they’ve been a great team,” Kevin Constantine noted. ‘They were a good team before that, but he’s made them a better team. They’re probably the hottest team in our division down the stretch. So it should be hopefully a good series.”
Game one of the series is Wednesday night at 7:00 in Peoria. Game two is Friday night at 7:00, also in Peoria. Games three through five are supposed to be in Houston, but until the Houston Rockets get their playoff status settled, the dates and times for those games will be up in the air. Games six and seven are scheduled for Peoria on Saturday April 25 and game seven is scheduled for Monday April 27.
***************** The goalie situation is still up in the air. Constantine says that Barry Brust is definitely out for the first round, and Nolan Schaefer has not yet been cleared to play. As for Wednesday night’s game one, it’s possible that Schaefer could play. “We hope that,” Constantine said. “We just don’t know. It’s still a day-by-day thing….we really, really don’t know.”
Brandon Rogers isn’t concerned about who plays in goal. And he feels that the problems the goalies, especially Anton Khudobin have been having lately, are more the part of poor defensive play in front of them than it is the fault of the goalies.
“In fairness to those guys,” Rogers said. “I think they’ve done a pretty good job all year. Anton’s come in and played great for us, he’s had some defensive breakdowns in front of him that have cost him some goals and even wins.”
As to whether Schaefer or Khudobin plays, Rogers says it doesn’t matter: “We have complete faith in him or Schaefer, whoever’s going to be in there.”
********************* The one thing the Aeros have this time around for the playoffs that they didn’t have the last time is Krys Kolanos. And the team appears to play markedly better hockey when he is with the team. He finished the season with 51 points (31-20=51) in just 45 games. It’s fascinating to think what his numbers, and the team’s record, would like if he had been here for all 80 games.
“It’s definitely nice to have a scoring punch you count on,” Rogers said of Kolanos. “Obviously last year we didn’t have that. We struggled to score in the playoffs. This year we don’t have that problem so it’s all going to come down playing team defense and everybody committing to keeping the puck out of our net because we know if we have the chance we’ll score.”
Kolanos finished the regular season by getting five goals in his final two games, including getting a hat trick tonight, the team’s only hat trick at Toyota Center this year, and the team’s second hat trick of the season (Matt Beaudoin accomplished the feat in Iowa on February 14).
Corey Locke finished the season as the team’s leading scorer, getting two more assists tonight to finish 79 points (25-54=79). Locke finished the season in a tie for seventh place in scoring in the AHL.
********************* Zooperstars? Seriously? Zooperstars? That’s really the best you could for between period entertainment? Well, I guess it could’ve been worse in that the Aeros could have gone with the 20 choirs singing “God Bless America.” But still.
Here’s an idea. You’ve got the Lady Dynamics, so use them. Let them do dance routines on the ice between periods. You do on the occasional weeknight game when nobody’s there to watch, so why not let them strut their stuff when there’s a big crowd? I know that I would definitely get more enjoyment out of that.
One point was all that the Aeros needed coming into tonight’s game with San Antonio. One point and the Aeros would be in the playoffs. Of course, the Aeros have needed a point for a bit now, and they’ve had no luck with getting that point. So it’s safe to say that nerves of the players, coaches, and 11,391 in attendance at Toyota Center were a bit on edge as the game started.
With one minute left in the game, the Aeros were losing to San Antonio 2-1, and it looked as if, once again, the Aeros would fail to clinch a playoff spot. Then Krys Kolanos, freshly returned from a stay with the Minnesota Wild did what Krys Kolanos does. He got behind the San Antonio net with the puck, saw that goalie Karl Goerhing was out of position, and stuck the puck into the net to tie the game with 51 seconds left.
Corey “Locke made just a key pass to me,” Kolanos said. “Goehring, he was down, and I just saw that he wasn’t able to recover so it was kind of like a wide backhand wraparound. But it all started with a good forecheck, and turning the puck over and applying pressure.”
Fifty-one seconds later, the game was headed to overtime, and just like that, the Aeros were finally in the playoffs. Sure, they lost the game 3-2 in overtime, but the Aeros made it to the postseason, and ultimately, that’s the important thing.
“We’ve got high expectations,” Kolanos said. “We wanted to win that game. It’s a big rivalry for us. But nonetheless, we did get a key point, and we accomplished what we set out to do.”
The Aeros, as has been their wont lately, struggled early in the game, but got to the end of the first period with the score tied at zero. The Aeros pressed the issue much of the first period, but at times they seemed to be more concerned with pressing the puck, and less concerned with getting good shots. San Antonio came out and scored at 2:43 of the second, and that’s where it stood until the third period.
At 1:02 of the third, Benoit Pouliot got the puck and started streaking toward the San Antonio goal. Skating in stride with him was Krys Kolanos, and as the two reached the net, Pouliot tipped the puck to Kolanos who snuck the puck into the net past Goehring to tie the score.
Benoit Pouliot “made a very nice move to the outside and just drove the net and took it to the net hard,” Kolanos said. “I just knew I had to get that far post, and I was able to find the puck.”
San Antonio went up 2-1 at 17:04 when they got the puck past Antonin Khudobin, who had been in the game for about three minutes after coming in to replace an injured Barry Brust. Then Kolanos sent the game to OT where the Aeros eventually lost. But in the end, the loss didn’t matter because the team had that one point for which they’ve been searching.
“It was really, really good to get the point,” Kevin Constantine said. And get that point they did.
MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:
“It’s bizarre, bizarre,” Kevin Constantine said about his goalie situation. A situation that has the Aeros heading to the playoffs with just one purely healthy goalie.
Barry Brust was injured back in February, and Nolan Schaefer took over a lot of that slack with Anton Khudobin backing him up. Then Schaefer got hurt, and Khudobin was playing. But then Khudobin was called up to Minnesota and Schaefer attempted to play while injured, and just made himself worse. Khudobin has been up to Minnesota and back down. The Aeros have signed college kids and ECHL guys to play goal. But finally, it looked as if the team was about ready for the playoffs. Brust was healthy and returning to action and Schaefer was aiming for a return in time for the playoffs.
Then came a San Antonio power play in the third at 11:49. Sometime in the next two minutes, Brust went in to the splits to make a save, then rising up slowly and painfully from the ice. Play came to a halt at 13:50 when Brandon Rogers was whistled for a penalty, and Brust skated over to the bench and Khudobin skated out to the net.
“Barry, we played him last week, and he was declared healthy. And then we could have played him two more games, important games last week, and we’re like no let’s just give him some practice, and let him get back normal,” Constantine said. “I don’t even know the nature of his injury.”
The current goaltending situation for the Aeros is up in the air, and Constantine’s not quite sure what will happen come the start of the playoffs next week. Khudobin will definitely get the start in San Antonio on Saturday. And Schaefer definitely will not play on Saturday. Constantine said the team will call a goalie up from somewhere to back up Khudobin in San Antonio. Schaefer is close to returning, but they’re still not sure on whether he will play on Sunday.
“He’s been rehabbing aggressively,” Constantine said about Schaefer. “There’s progress. I’d say it’s impossible to know for sure. I think there’s a lot of hope on his part, and the trainer and the medical staff, that he can play. The real temptation will be do we just give him the extra rest or do we try to play him [Sunday] to get that rhythm back.”
Assistant coach Luke Strand, who’s in charge of the goalies was in the room with us while we talked to Constantine. And Constantine joked that he might have Strand get his pads and have him suit up if need be.
**************** Tonight’s game marked two milestones for coach Kevin Constantine. It was 700th professional game as a head coach. And it kept alive his streak of never missing the playoffs in a year in which he’s completed the season as a head coach.
*************** Krys Kolanos scored two more goals tonight, giving him a team leading 28 goals in just 44 games. Kolanos is also third on the team in scoring with 48 points (28-20=48).
The team’s leading scorer is Corey Locke. Locke, who assisted on Kolanos’ second goal, now has 76 points (25-51=76) in 75 games. So he’s averaging a little more than a point a game.
But while I’m on numbers and stats, here are some bad ones: the Aeros are now 7-20-1-5 when trailing after two periods. And they are 9-14-2-0 when tied after the first period.
*************** The AHL West Division playoff teams are now set. Milwaukee gets the number one seed with a record of 49-22-3-6 (107 points). The Admirals now have until Thursday to rest up, which is when they will open the playoffs against either Houston or Rockford.
The second seed is Peoria, who gets the seed despite losing in the shootout to Rockford tonight. Peoria is currently 42-31-2-4 (90 points) with one game to play, and there is no way that Rockford and Houston can catch the Rivermen. Peoria will start the playoffs in Peoria on Wednesday.
Rockford is currently the third seed with a record of 40-33-0-6 (86 points), and Houston is the fourth seed with 37-30-2-9 (85 points).
**************** There was only one fight tonight. And Matt Kassian easily took out San Antonio’s Chris Frank in the first period. But if anybody’s worried about some of the Aeros key players being injured in the remaining games, you might not have to worry. Constantine said after the game that many of the guys who played tonight will not play over the rest of the weekend so that they can rest up for the first round of the playoffs.
**************** Because of all of the goalie injury issues facing the Aeros, I thought it only appropriate tonight to play us out with the theme music to M.A.S.H.
Okay, Andrew will have his game story up here once he finishes his duties for the Chron. And I will have my big story up later, as will Heather. But I thought I would dash off this quick note to fill you on some of the important matters arising from tonight's 3-2 OT loss to San Antonio.
First, the good news. The Aeros are officially in the playoffs, as they needed just one point to clinch. The bad news, Peoria got a point, though it lost in OT to Rockford, so that guaranteed Peoria the number two seed. So on either Wednesday or Thursday of next week, the Aeros will start the playoffs, playing either Milwaukee or Peoria.
More bad news. Barry Brust was injured at about 14:00 of the third period. He was in the trainer's room when we were down there after the game, so we weren't able to speak him, and Kevin Constantine had yet to hear from the trainer. But Khudobin will be the goalie tomorrow night in San Antonio and the Aeros will be bringing someone in to back him up tomorrow night. They're hopeful that Schaefer will be available for Sunday afternoon, but they don't want to rush Schaefer.
Maxim Noreau also injured his foot blocking a shot in the first period, and he had a big bag of ice wrapped around his right foot as he limped out of the trainer's room.
Please don't come to Houston and bring all your brass friends when we're in a critical stretch. The boys lose their ever loving minds when they know you're in the barn and now's just not the time. Or be a little more ninja-stealth next time.
Also, your big club is done. D.O.N.E. Stop taking our players. They weren't good enough for you when we could afford to be without them. Don't make like they're good enough to save you now, or that you haven't gotten a sufficient look at them. Malarkey. Let one team in this organization have a fighting chance.
Sincerely, Ms.C
Dear KC & staff,
What was up with those line combinations? The boys looked half the time like they'd never met each other; they didn't have a clue what their linemates were doing; there was no chemistry whatsoever. I imagine you were trying to spark something there, but yeesh. No mas.
To wit, Madsen on the fourth line with Jay and Mitch is just ... it's just... just awful. Please stop it.
Respectfully, Ms.C
Dear Brusty,
Oh sweet mercy, how nice it was to have your puck playing, poke checking, player whacking self back on the ice. I've missed you so much.
Now look, we're both goalies here so we can be honest with each other, right? Dude, you were Mr. Delayed Reaction last night. Gotta chug those Red Bulls or whatever and get moving out there. We'll chalk it up to rust. But please don't think that was good enough.
The glove hand got going, though (show off). And the insane poke check attempt... ahhh... I know it didn't work exactly like you planned, but it's one of my favorite guilty pleasures when you pull crazy ass moves like that. It's like eating one of those Monte Cristo sandwiches. It's messy and you shouldn't do it and it may cause a heart attack but it's just slap-yer-mama delicious.
The brass is in the house and that's what you give 'em? Ya just gotta protect that puck better. And where was the hitting and toughness and ferocity you've shown over the last couple of months?
Lookit -- I know it sucks that KK got called up and you didn't, but this team needs you to hunker down and focus and bring the noise. Be a pro, Ben. Play like the NHLer you think you should be. Use your teammates. Don't be a cowboy. You're better than this.
Cheering you on but ready to throw you under the bus if you keep playing like last night, Ms.C
Dear Equipment Fellas,
Thanks for putting the boys in the darks. That was really nice.
Take care, Ms.C
Dear Tony,
Sorry I doubted you. That goal last night was sick sick sick. I can only imagine the cred you have with your team back home as they watch you take this challenge on and succeed.
Keep it up, Ms.C
Dear Brennan Evans,
Spearing (attempt)? Ha ha! Next time you cost your team 4 minutes in the box, you might actually want to connect with your victim, tough guy.
FU, Ms.C
Dear Nolan,
Yours in puck stoppage, Ms.C
Oh damn, I just remembered I was given license to drop all the f-bombs I wanted in my post-game and I dropped nary a one.
But if last night's "level of compete," as KC says, continues through the weekend, I'll make up for it. Hockey scouts and sailors will blush. Chuck Norris will cry. Don Cherry will wear a t-shirt and jeans. You don't want that on your doorstep, boys.
The Aeros have played some bad hockey this year. Way more than a team with their record and position in the standings should have played. And unfortunately, some of the really bad hockey is coming at the very end of the season, when they can least afford to play bad hockey.
Like tonight.
The Aeros easily handled Iowa on Tuesday night, getting the 6-2 win despite losing goalie Nolan Schaefer to injury early in the game. But tonight, while it’s easy to pin most of the blame on goalie Barry Brust, playing his first game in more than a month, the truth is that the entire team just stunk up Toyota Center, which is saying a lot considering that dogs were running about the place. And in the end, the 4407 people who attended the game left disappointed as the Aeros lost 5-3.
“We felt tonight was a critical game,” coach Kevin Constantine said after the game. But while they might have felt it, they sure didn’t show this on the ice.
Iowa took the early 1-0 lead when T.J. Trevelyan beat Barry Brust at 3:46 of the first. And the Aeros were lucky to get out of the first down just 1-0 as Iowa appeared to dominate that first period. The only time the Aeros showed any life was when Mitch Love went after Iowa’s Charlie Kronschnabel, but even the fight was a disappointment.
Then Iowa went up 2-0 at 8:41 of the second when Brennan Evans skipped the puck over Brust’s glove for the one goal that Brust said afterwards he wished he could really take back because he saw it all of the way, but got hit with the short-hop just before it got to him.
At 12:59 of the second, Corey Locke led a rush down the ice. He stopped just past the blue line and passed the puck to an onrushing Tomas Mojzis who buried the slap shot to make the score 2-1. Then at 17:37, Tony Hrkac scored his second goal since coming out of retirement to make it 2-2. And it looked like the Aeros might actually stand a chance.
Until the stupid took over.
Benoit Pouliot was hit with a high-sticking penalty at 18:36, and just 10 seconds later, Marco Rosa knocked the puck into the stands and got the delay of game penalty. Twenty seconds into the resulting 5x3 power play, Brian Salcido took advantage of Barry Brust being screened to put Iowa up 3-2.
Then things got really weird as, with time expired in the second period, and the team’s exiting the ice, Barry Brust decided to go at it with Iowa’s Brennan Evans, the result being that Brust got a two minute roughing penalty and Evans was nailed for four minutes for attempting to spear Danny Irmen.
The stupid continued as, at about the 5:00 mark of the third, Brust came way, way out to try and field the puck and nearly got burned for a goal. Still, Marco Rosa knotted the score at 6:25, and the Aeros appeared to be on their way to at least one point. Until the 13:28 mark when Ryan Dingle beat Brust to put Iowa up 4-3. And at 19:45, Iowa got the empty netter to make the final score 5-3.
“I didn’t feel too bad. I got some terrible bounces,” Brust said. “Too bad we couldn’t come out with the win, but we were close.”
But at this point of the season, with the playoffs still hanging in the balance, close isn’t good enough. Though truth be told, the Aeros didn’t deserve to win this game.
They play in Peoria tomorrow night, then play Lake Erie in Cleveland on Saturday night, before taking almost all of next week off before a final three game weekend series against the San Antonio Rampage.
More importantly, the loss dropped the Aeros from second place to third as, though the Aeros and Peoria both have 84 points, Peoria has a better win percentage. Rockford sits in fourth with 82 points, waiting for either the Aeros or Peoria to falter, and with the win, Iowa moved into fifth place with 79 points.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:
The Aeros are hurting for goalies. Nolan Schaefer is probably out for the rest of the regular season. Anton Khudobin is up with Minnesota for who knows how long. Barry Brust is recovering from an injury that has kept him out since the end of February, and today, the Aeros brought in an ECHL goalie, Rejean Beauchemin, who Constantine appears to be reluctant to play.
Playing Brust tonight wasn’t something Constantine would have done under normal circumstances, but tonight wasn’t normal. Brust “only got cleared to start practicing with the team on Sunday,” Constantine said. “In a perfect situation we probably would have liked to have gotten three or four or five good practices in. Khudobin’s gone, and Schaefer’s hurt. It was either play the kid we brought up or play Barry. He definitely looked a little bit rusty at the first, but that was to be expected based on being out for a month.”
As for the rest of this weekend’s games, Constantine’s not yet quite sure of what he’s going to do, though Brust will play at least once: “I’m not sure yet. We’ve got a guy up here. My guess is we wouldn’t play Barry all three games, but I don’t know yet. But I think it would be hard to come back and then all of sudden have to play three in three nights.”
Part of Constantine’s problem is that he doesn’t know what the Wild are planning to do with Anton Khudobin. Khudobin isn’t suiting up with the Wild. He’s just there in case Niklas Backstrom can’t suit up. But it was noted after the game that the Wild don’t play on Saturday night, so it’s possible they could loan Khudobin back to the Aeros for the game with Lake Erie.
It shouldn't be too hard for Constantine to get some answers to the question regarding Khudobin, however. Especially seeing as how the entire Minnesota Wild braintrust were in Houston tonight, including Wild/Aeros owner Craig Leipold, Wild general manager Doug Risebrough, and Wild assisistant GM/Aeros GM Tom Lynn.
As for Nolan Schaefer, he just aggravated his already existing injury on Tuesday night. “I would say there’s no way he can play this weekend,” Constantine said. “There’s an outside shot he can play next weekend. There’s a really, really good chance that he’ll be available for the playoffs. It’s kind of a seven to 10 day injury.”
Of course, if the Aeros keep playing this weekend like they did tonight, there might not be a playoffs for Schaefer to be available for.
********************* There were some strange line combinations in the game. Matt Kassian was scratched tonight, and the Love/Ryznar line was joined by Morten Madsen for most of the game, but in the third period, desperate for some kind of offense, Love and Ryznar were broken up, resulting in a line of Love, Jesse Schultz, and Madsen and a line consisting of Ryznar, Robbie Earl, and Danny Irmen.
But nothing seemed to work.
********************* The Aeros are still four points short of guaranteeing a playoff spot. Eighty-eight points is the magic number because the most points that Chicago, Iowa, and Quad City can amass are 87. But as I said above, if the Aeros keep playing like they did tonight, 88 points might be a difficult quest.
********************* The three stars of the game were 3) Iowa’s Francis Wathier, 2) Marco Rosa, and 1) Iowa’s Ryan Dingle.
And this lead’s to our video of the night. Andrew was muttering words about losing his mind, so I originally thought of going with a video to reflect that. Then the Lady Dynamics danced to Britney Spears’s “Toxic,” so I thought I might try that. But then Ryan Dingle got the number one star, and the name Dingle just makes me think of Lieutenant Jim Dangle of the Reno Sheriff’s Department, so I thought I would go with some video of him instead.
While going through the Aeros website today, for the first time in a while, I discovered something very exciting. At least to me. The auditions for the Aero Dynamics are next week, and you know how I am when it comes to the Aero Dynamics.
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