Random Thoughts from Last Night

Is anybody else like me where at this point in the season, it's all sorta running together?

Never the less, that was one of the most exciting games I've seen in a while and I'd been wondering when this "rivalry" was actually going to start looking like a rivalry. With 3 fights and more boarding than an airport, I'd say we're getting darn close to this one getting as nasty as San Antonio, especially as they get more desperate.

Like I always say, "If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up."

I know you guys might think I don't like Anton because I'm hard on him, but it's not true. I'm hard on him because I know he's a good goalie. But I'm gonna say something good about him, in spite of that abysmal first goal against: When he lands on his butt and rolls through the splits to get back on his knees/feet... well, that's just fantastic bendy goalie porn and I (and others, trust me) appreciate the show. The kid is cuh-razy flexible.

So, don't say I never said anything nice about Anton.

How sick is that DiSalvatore, O'Sullivan, Wellman line? Good gravy. I kinda would have thought that line would be too much "soft and handsy" without Almond's grit, but honestly, they battled through bodies and protected the puck just fine. Being small, quick, and slippery like Wellman is can work pretty well if you've got solid hockey sense.

And while his OT game winner was a thing of beauty (how's that for a "Honey, I'm home!"), his back handed pass to DiSalvatore on that gorgeous tic-tac-toe goal impressed me even more. Awareness and finesse. Man. Welcome back. Stay healthy!

Since the game was at home Tuesday, I dunno how many of you heard Joe's 2nd intermission interview with Kalus, but I had to leave early and heard it on my way down to Space City to stop some pucks.

Anyway, if you haven't noticed, Kalus has been a healthy scratch a lot this season, so I was glad to hear the interview. Sometimes we only want to talk to guys who have a happy story to tell, but Kalus really doesn't right now. I thought he had matured a lot last season, but maybe wasn't finding his niche on this team, though he said in the interview that Yeo's system suits his game well.

The interview made me sad for the guy, because he clearly just wants to play and said they haven't really told him why he's not playing nor what he can do to get in the lineup (other than wait for guys to get hurt or called up, which is how he got in last night).

One really honest bit that stood out to me was when Joe asked him how this coaching staff is working for him, Kalus said that's hard to answer. On one hand, their style suits him and the team is doing well, but on the other hand they don't play him. I don't wanna put words in his mouth but I felt the gist was, "Well, no, they're not really doing it for me, to be honest."

I would think it's tough to see everybody else buying in and having success while basically looking in from the outside.

Anyway, kudos to Joe for doing an interview that was bound to get a little awkward. He was in the Terry Gross zone there.

I just checked out my magnet schedule while I was making my decaf (ugh--I miss caffeine) this morning and, man, is there ever a LOT of home ice hockey coming up. Wee! Gonna be a fun month if the guys play like we know they can (and now EXPECT them to).

11/17/10 -- Aeros v. Chicago -- Howl At The Moon Edition

So it's about midway through the third period tonight, and I remember that there's a NFL game tomorrow night, which means that I have to get my lineup submitted for one of my fantasy leagues that demands the roster be submitted the night before the game. So I start grab my iPhone and I start working on that. Heather hits me in the arm and tells me I'm missing a good game.

Cut to post game, and we're down there waiting for Coach Yeo, and Heather is still going on about how she couldn't understand how I could work on my fantasy football lineup while I was missing a good game. And out comes Yeo and guess what he starts with: "It might have been our worst game of the year, to be honest with you. Right from the start you could tell. I think the energy level wasn’t where it needed to be."

Now if you didn't see the game, and you were going only by Yeo, you would think the Aeros got blown out. But then you think on Heather's comment and realize that, with 14 minutes left in the game, the Aeros were up 3-0, and the Wolves were doing their best impersonation of the Aeros from last season. The Aeros went on to get to the 3-2 win, and were never really challenged. So I tend to think both Heather and Yeo were exaggerating just a bit.

Truth was the Aeros didn't play that exceptional of a game, but it definitely didn't look like they were playing the worst game of the season. So, the hail of bullets:

1. There seems to be a pattern to the Aeros this season. They come out aggressively and take a lead, then they just start half-assing it and do everything they can to lose the game.

2. "I think we weren’t that bad to start, then we got the lead and then we started to get too cute," Yeo said.

3. Good game by Petr Kalus. He got the game's second goal, and it was his work on the boards digging for the puck that set-up the team's third and final goal. That's why he was the number one star.

4. In a change of pace, I was the one arguing for Matt Hackett to get one of the three stars. Normally Heather argues for the goalies, but she was falling all over herself praising Kalus and making sure he wasn't ignored.

5. Here's some more Yeo comments: "That was ugly [the game]," he said. "It was difficult to snap ourselves out of. To be honest with you, it was game that I was worried about yesterday. I tried to address it…We had an average practice yesterday, I felt, and kind of carried it in today. It’s okay – there’s going to be times when you’re energy level’s not there, it’s not 100-percent, but you have to upgrade in other departments, and I felt our execution within our system was not very good. It led to too many odd-man rushes. I thought our puck management was poor.'

6. Yeah, hard to believe the Aeros won the game.

7. I kept wondering why the breaks were so long, then I remembered the Aeros were playing Chicago, which meant that the game was on TV.

8. Can anybody remember when the Wolves were so bad?

9. Was I the only one who heard it announced in the arena that the starting center tonight was Colton McMillan?

10. Andrew had to head out to Chicago at the last minute, so Heather was handling his Chronicle story. And she basically had the thing written and just needed a celebratory quote from Yeo to wrap it up. You should have seen the expression on her face when Yeo started talking about this being the team's worst game of the season. I wonder if she's done with the re-write, yet?

To play us out, in honor of the Wolves, and in honor of their playing the exact opposite of this song's title, here's Duran Duran -- the band so nice they named it twice -- with "Hungry Like The Wolf."

Meet your 2010-11 Aeros: Petr Kalus

Petr Kalus

Born: June 29, 1987 (23)
Ostrava, TCH
6'1" - 212

Right Wing
Shoots: Left

Kalus used to be a source of much frustration, both for Aeros fans and Wild fans who hoped to see him move up and help in Minnesota. His first season with Houston in 07-08, while high energy and gritty, was unfocused and ineffective. He was a ball of chaos.

Then, after not making the Wild in 08-09, he bailed for Russia where he played a mere 17 games and maybe gained some perspective and maturity. He definitely came back last season with a more mature attitude and with the same energy but more ... tame?

Either way, he turned his energy and grit into an asset and was fun to watch. I even missed him when he was up with Minnesota, and that surprised me. I'm eager to see continued growth this season, hopefully some more pucks in the net (23 points last season), but even if he's destined for a energy/checking role, he's got the temperament for it and that's okay.

He's only 23 and I think we've seen distinct growth in the last 3 years. Plenty of time for Petr to find his stride. Looking forward to continued progress from him this season.

11/22 -- Aeros v. Admirals -- The Hey Bulldog Edition

It was bring your dog day at the Toyota Center today, and for the first period, the Aeros themselves played like dogs on the ice as the Milwaukee Admirals took the 1-0 lead at 4:19 after former Wild prospect Ryan Jones continued extracting his revenge on the Aeros. But the Aeros were lucky. They were out-hustled, out-played, and just about out- everything in the first period. Thankfully, Anton Khudobin didn’t play like a dog and he was able to keep the Aeros in the game.

The Aeros showed up for the second period, and at 19:57, Petr Kalus tipped a laser of a shot from Max Noreau, who was way up high, into the net to tie the game at 1-1. And the Aeros, just like many games past, had many, many good opportunities to win the game in the third period. But the Aeros, as has been their wont, just couldn’t finish which meant they just couldn’t get the puck into the net.

“We could have won it four, five, six times in regulation,” Kevin Constantine said afterwards, but they didn’t.

The game went into overtime where the Aeros and the fans were put out their misery by Cal O’Reilly at 2:39 as O’Reilly just refused to let Khudobin keep blocking his shot, finally shoving it past him after Khudobin stopped several attempts to make the final score 2-1.

“We had, I thought, our worst first period of the year,” Constantine said. “We were just asleep. Whatever the reasons would be I don’t know. I thought Khudobin kept us in the game in the first period. Otherwise it might have been two, three-nothing and we would’ve never come back.”

As it was, the Aeros did come back. They just couldn’t do anything else once they got there.

“We’ve got to score more,” Constantine said.

But somehow, that might be easier said than done.

The Aeros now stand at 10-10-1-0 (21 points) on the season. The good news is, that despite their inability to score, they’re in a four-way tie for second place. The bad news is that they’re in four-way tie for fifth place. They next hit the ice on Wednesday when they take on the Hamilton Bulldogs in Hamilton. They’re play the Syracuse Crunch in Syracuse on Friday and the Toronto Marlies in Toronto on Saturday.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Brandon Rogers and Jamie Fraser were healthy scratches tonight. The primary reason was that Constantine actually had enough forwards on the roster to actually send 12 of them out on the ice for the same game. He also wanted to get a good look at Brandon Buck who joined the club on Friday night.

Constantine was pleased with what he saw from Buck, and the sense from our conversation was that Constantine would like to see him stick around on the club. However, he did make it clear that roster moves were above his pay grade.

And speaking of roster moves…there’s a possibility that there will be more of them tomorrow, depending, of course, on how the Wild’s practice goes tomorrow, and depending on who is actually healthy enough to play. So it’s possible that Danny Irmen, Nathan Smith, or someone else could be on their way to Minnesota tomorrow.

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Constantine is, of course, pleased with this goaltending and defense. And the play of both of those units, especially of Anton Khudobin, has been fantastic. Constantine’s not happy with his lack of goals, but he’s not displeased by the effort of his offense.

This isn’t like the offense that the team had two seasons ago. These guys are able to create on the offensive end, and you can see it happening. What isn’t happening, however, is the team putting the puck in the net. But what’s the solution? Well, if you have a solution, I’m sure Constantine would like to hear from you.

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And no matter how bad the Aeros might look right now, you should probably be grateful for one thing. You’re not a fan of the San Antonio Rampage. It seems like just last week that we were talking about San Antonio being, along with Texas, the class of the division.

But in the past several weeks, the Rampage have gone 0-8-1-1 to drop like an anchor to last place in the division. Meanwhile, in a complete turnaround, the Chicago Wolves, who were so bad to start the season that the head coach was fired, has gone 7-3-0-0 for its last 10 game to climb into the tie for second place.

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Now excuse me while I go off on a rant….

But someone needs to pay a bit more attention to the sound crew. On multiple occasions tonight the music was playing during game action -- it even started up once or twice during game play. It was bad enough that someone let Steve Vidal start shouting one of the quizzes during game action, but there’s no real excuse for the music. The Aeros might be a minor league team, but there’s no reason the arena atmosphere should be minor league.

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Now I’m going to play us out tonight with a song that is appropriate for two reasons. Tonight, after all, was Bring Your Dog Day -- we could hear Heather’s dog all of the way in the press box -- so I would think The Beatles’ “Hey Bulldog” would be a great song anyway. But then there’s the fact that the Aeros next game is against the Bulldogs, which makes it just that much better. So here’s The Beatles with “Hey Bulldog.”



Oh, and I just want to wish everyone reading us here in the States a Happy Thanksgiving holiday.

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.
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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.

Wild Draft Action Day 1; Kalus is back

The NHL entry draft started tonight with Round 1. Minnesota had the 12th overall pick but traded down with the Islanders for the 16th and a 3rd and 7th rounder.

Great move to trade down and get a third as the previous regime had traded away both the second and third round picks in this draft. We'll see tomorrow what they do with those (starting at 9 a.m. on the NHL Network).

With the 16th pick, the Wild picked puck-moving defenseman and Minnesota native Nick Leddy. Apparently head scout Tom Thompson loves the kid. Better be for good cause, because the Wild system needs to be developing scorers like nobody's business. But there's always free agency.

Leddy will be attending the University of Minnesota, so he'll be close at hand for the team as he develops through his college years.

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In other news, Russo is reporting that Petr Kalus is returning to play for the Wild next season and will be at development camp in July. Presumably the new system the Wild is promising appeals to his hockey sensibilities better than Lemaire's system, but nothing is changing in Houston, so if he doesn't make the big club, does he bail for Europe again? We'll see!

Back on tomorrow with the remainder of the Wild's picks, who are more likely to spend more time developing in Houston than the first rounder.