The First Annual T3I Awards

We've decided to do some postseason items on the team. And I volunteered to do the Aeros awards for the season just played. So after consulting with the rest of the T3I crew, here are the winners for the T3I Houston Aeros Awards.

TEAM MVP: Max Noreau. There's a reason that Noreau made the second team All-AHL Team. He's that good. He tied for second on the team in points (18 goals-34 assists=52 points). He was named to the AHL All Star team. He was the team's most consistent offensive threat, even from the blue line. And he anchored a defense that was often full of holes due to injuries in Houston and Minnesota.

ROOKIE OF THE YEAR: Chad Rau. Cody Almond was the big name coming into the season, and he showed flashes of brilliance, between injuries, call ups to Minnesota, and inconsistent play. But Rau played in all but one game, was one of the team's leading scorers (19 goals-19 assists=38 points), and never appeared to be out of his element. He didn't make stupid mistakes.

GOALIE OF THE YEAR: Anton Khudobin. It was a tough year for Aeros goalies. There was the inconsistent defense. The almost nightly inability of the offense to score goals. The need to be perfect every night. Khudobin kept the team in contention the first part of the year. His record might only have been 14-19-4, but he was bombarded by shots every night, from nearly every angle. He was able to get four shutouts, and despite it all, allowed only 91 goals in 40 games.

DEFENSEMAN OF THE YEAR: Max Noreau. Brandon Rogers spent way too much time having to play forward. Clayton Stoner went to Minnesota and never came back. That left Noreau as the veteran of the bunch, and he ended up virtually leading the team's offensive attack -- what little there was of it -- from the blue line.

FORWARD OF THE YEAR: Jon DiSalvatore. DiSalvatore was not only the team's captain, but he was one of the team's leading scorer, finishing with 52 points after getting 21 goals, 31 assists, and a team high 11 power play goals. DiSalvatore didn't have a lot to work with as Kevin Constantine constantly shifted lines because of injuries, call-ups, and ineffectiveness. Yet DiSalvatore was always a constant.

THE SURPRISE OF THE YEAR: Jean-Michel Daoust. Neither of us press types knew anything about Daoust when he made the team -- and I admit to enjoying listening to the Toyota PA types change the pronunciation of his name from game-to-game. But damn, this guy played some hockey. He was the team's leading scorer (21 goals-34 assists=55 points), and I don't think anyone played with more effort or determination. I can't help but think that if the whole team would have played with the want of Daoust, this team would have found a way to make the playoffs.

BIGGEST LOST (PLAYER WISE): Andy Hilbert. Hilbert missed most of the season due to concussion issues. And without him, the offense just couldn't click. DiSalvatore was left alone as the team's go-to offensive option. It's hard to play the what-if game, but one can't help but wonder if things would have been different if Hilbert had been available the entire season.

WORST LUCK: Wade Dubielewicz. I can't think of one guy who had worst luck this season than Dubie. Who can forget opening night, against Manitoba, when the puck bounced high off of the glass behind the net, hit Dubie in the back, then bounced into the net for a goal. Then there was the Rockford game on January 10 that the Aeros lost 2-1 after Rockford's Mike Brennan took a shot in OT that was going to be wide of the net, very wide of the net, only it hit the knob of Dubie's stick and went into the net to win the game for Rockford.

WORST LUCK NOT INVOLVING WADE DUBIELEWICZ (TIE): Peter Zingoni and Barry Brust. Zingoni came to the team after an injury-filled 2008-09 season. He came out hot, then got injured. Nobody worked harder to get back, then he got hurt again. And he came back, and got hurt again. Then there's the strange case of Barry Brust. Andrew and Heather know more details, but the brass in Minnesota didn't seem to like him. Then he got injured in camp. He got stuck in purgatory in Florida, and when he got his chance in Houston, he got injured -- first an ugly leg slash, then injuring his foot again.

WACKIEST MOMENTS (TIE): A puck hits Dubie on the back and bounces into the goal. A puck hits the knob of Dubie's stick and bounces into the goal -- a shot that would have gone way wide. But the true wackiest moment was any game in which Dubielewicz was sitting on the bench. If you didn't see Coach Dubie on the bench during a game, then you missed out. He banged the boards. He shouted out instructions at the goalies, and the players. He encouraged his teammates. I think he got a bigger workout on the bench than he did when playing.

(That said, and as an aside, Wade was a very good guy to deal with in the locker room for us. He never shied away from answering questions. He always spoke his mind. He never threw anybody under the bus.)

WACKIEST MOMENT NOT INVOLVING WADE DUBIELEWICZ: It was tough watching Barry Brust suffer that leg slash against Peoria. But without it, there would have never been that moment when Jeff Crawford came skating out to goal as the first intermission came to a close. We didn't know the condition of Brust at the moment, so the entire press row thought that Crawford was going to have to play the rest of the game. What made the moment was watching all of the scouts on press row, and there were still a lot of scouts following the team on February 3rd, and they were scrambling through every sheet of paper on the tables trying to get any scrap of info on Crawford.

MOST INSPIRATIONAL MOMENT: With the scouts scrambling to find out info on Crawford, the Peoria coach agreed to give the Aeros a few extra minutes, and as the clock ticked to zero, Barry Brust, who had suffered a deep slash of his thigh in the first period. He got about 30 stitches during the intermission, did a few butterflies to show he was capable of making the blocks and making the moves, then skated out to the ice and got the win, stopping 25 of the 26 shots he saw that night.

BEST ARENA ADDITION: Let's hear for the brass up in Minnesota for getting replays for every game played at Toyota Center, no matter when the game was played. In the past, we've been stuck with replays just on Friday and Saturday. But this year, we had them every game. So thank you.

WORST NON-TEAM DEVELOPMENT: For some reason, the number of Lady Dynamics dropped, and dropped, throughout the season. And I liked watching the Lady Dynamics. But I want to give my thanks to those young ladies who stuck it out for the whole season. Thank you.

BEST READERS: This is for the readers of T3I. Thanks for sticking with us all season. I apologize for not being around as much as last season, but hopefully the T3I supplied you with all of the information about the team that you needed, and wanted. Thanks for reading. We appreciate it.

BIGGEST T3I LOSS: Fred, we missed you this season. It wasn't the same without you around. I'm sorry I couldn't do more to help out.

3/31/10 -- Aeros v. Wolves -- Everybody Hurts

After being absent recently because of other, somewhat more pressing mothership duties -- I was off covering the NCAA Regional Finals (aka the Sweet 16 and Elite 8) -- I returned to Toyota Center for last night's Aeros game versus the Chicago Wolves. And let's just say that I don't think I've missed too much as the Aeros lost 4-0.

I had three highlights.

Number one: I generally bitch about the audio guys and their music selections a lot. But last night, they had a genius moment. After the third Chicago goal -- one on which Wade Dubielewicz appeared to be screened by his entire team -- the sound guys busted out R.E.M.'s "Everybody Hurts." It was just serendipity. It was perfect. Kismet. Never has a song so matched the moment. And as Heather said, someone is so getting fired.



Number two: during the first intermission, there was a group of kids singing "God Bless America." Right in front of those kids, there was another set of kids signing "God Bless America." Heather, who was in her own world, looked up from whatever she was doing, saw the kids, and wanted to know why they were doing "YMCA" during "God Bless America."

Number three: I talked to Matt Kassian last night about his being team's Humanitarian of the Year, which makes him the nominee for the league's award. I remember talking to Brandon Rogers when he got this last year, so I know how much this stuff means to the players. And Matt, who is one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet, gave me some really great stuff for a story I'm going to write for the mothership.

That Kassian story was going to be for today's mothership story, but the Houston Cougars interfered last night and decided to name a new coach for the men's basketball team, so the Kassian thing will run next week.

Do I have any thoughts on the game? Are you kidding, did you see the game? I don't think there were any highlights. Because the wireless was screwed up yet again, I spent the third period down in the press room, writing my mothership post on the Cougars, so I didn't get to see the young kid, Darcy Kuemper, play. I'm sure Heather will contribute some words on that later. Andrew talked to him after the game, while I was with Kassian, and he says Kuemper looks to be about 13.

The Aeros give it another try to tomorrow night. So maybe they'll have some better luck. Hah, who am I kidding? Did you see them play last night?

3/21/10 -- Aeros v. Admirals -- The Carry That Weight Edition

My apologies for taking so long to wrap up this weekend’s games. I cover more than just the Aeros -- thus my absence the past several weeks -- and there’s been breaking news with the Houston Cougars I’ve been having to deal with. Plus, I’m once again unemployed from my primary profession, and I’ve been trying to hunt up some work. So, that aside…

It’s been about a month since I’ve seen the Aeros play in person. The last game I remember seeing was the game where the news leaked out that Tony Hrkac was returning. So yes, it’s been awhile. But besides the Aeros dropping to the bottom of the standings, nothing much has changed. The effort’s still there. The guys still seem to give a damn. But despite the return of Andy Hilbert over the weekend, they still can’t find a way to get the puck in the damn net; the stupid penalties are still prevalent at unnecessary times -- Brandon, really, did you have to pull a Matt Foy on Sunday? And the goalies, no matter the criticism they’re getting from unnamed people, are doing their best to keep the team in games, but the goalies this year just aren’t able to do a repeat of the Nolan Schaefer/Barry Brust season of 2007-2008.

There were two winnable games over the weekend, but nothing the Aeros did seem to work. Well, I do think Kevin Constantine throwing out a starting line on Sunday of Matt Kassian, Robbie Earl, and Carson McMillan brought a different energy to the team. But the team lost 3-1 on Saturday and 2-1 in overtime on Sunday to the Milwaukee Admirals to drop even further back in last place.

Anton Khudobin got the start on Saturday, and he put up a good effort on Saturday, only to find himself, once again, sabotaged by his defense and lack of offense. And Wade Dubielewicz found himself victimized in overtime by a shot that hit the pipe and bounced in.

“It’s tough,” Dubielewicz said after the loss. “We’re a young group, we’re working hard. It’s really discouraging right now. We’ve got to find away -- whether it’s a big game out of a goalie or a big game out of player -- we’ve got to find a way to get out of this little funk we’re in and try to get some wins together. You never know what’s going to happen to other teams. But right now we’re backed into a pretty tough corner. Something special’s got to happen for us. Somebody’s got to do something special for us to get out of it.”

Dubielewicz said it was his hope, before the game, that he would be the one to provide that special game. He wanted to give his teammates the win, but he just couldn’t do it. And if ever a game was the epitome of the Aeros season, perhaps Sunday was that example. The Aeros outshot Milwaukee. They even had some great shot attempts, but there was some good Milwaukee goaltending to stop some of the shots, then there were two third period shots that clanked off the pipes, but instead of bouncing in, as the Milwaukee shot did on OT, they bounced out.

“There’s no quitting here,” Dubielewicz said. “And I’m proud of that. But at the same time, this is professional hockey, and we have to make plays, and we have to make saves, and we have to score goals. If you don’t do that, you’re not going to be around hockey for a long time. It’s really disappointing on that level because there’s a lot of character in this room. I think with a break or two we could be a different story.”

A break or two. That’s the been the team’s story the entire season. A break or two. And that break or two is something that they have yet to get. With just 11 games remaining in the season, the 29-30-7-4 Aeros should probably just forget about getting that break, unless, that is, you count as a break the opportunity to go home and erase this once-promising season from their minds.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Andy Hilbert returned to action this weekend for the first time in months. The Aeros season was probably doomed to failure by Hilbert’s concussion, and the injuries to Peter Zingoni, because they were probably the guys with the best set of offensive skills on a team that desperately needed offensive skills. And while they missed large parts of the season, and guys like Nathan Smith spent time in Minnesota, the Aeros were just never able to put together a sustained offensive effort. But Kevin Constantine doesn’t want to use that as a crunch for what happened this season.

“You try to look at the fact that everybody goes through injuries,” he said Saturday night. “You try not to rely on the injury totals, or call-ups, to dictate -- if you look at guys called up through over the last three years, we haven’t really been a team that’s been completely dependent on certain injuries and call-ups. Other guys have managed to win.”

And Constantine has a point. Then you look at other things. For instance, Krys Kolanos was generally the guy called up to the Wild last season. And Kolanos’s trips up didn’t help the team. Then again, Kolanos wasn’t the team’s only offensive weapon last season. Corey Locke was putting up big numbers. So was Jesse Schultz. Marco Rosa put up good numbers. Things might have been different last season if Kolanos were to have been up with the Wild and Locke and Schultz were injured and unable to play for most of the season, but that didn’t happen.

And the team before that didn’t have much in the way of offensive talent, either. But Schaefer and Brust were both putting together incredible seasons that were beyond special, and which are not the type of numbers generally put up by a tandem because. And the primary guy who spent most of that season in Minnesota was Erik Reitz.

I appreciate what Constantine’s trying to get at. He’s not trying to use an excuse to explain away the season. But Zingoni and Hilbert were supposed to be key members of the offense, and with their extended absences, nobody on the front line has stepped up to take their place on a consistent basis. Max Noreau has tried from the blue line. And no one can discount the effort and hustle of Jean-Michel Daoust.

Well, you get my point by now, I hope.

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Okay, I know I’ve been away for awhile, but what happened to all of the Lady Dynamics? I saw five at each of the games, the same five. What happened to the rest? Did they bail on the team, or something?

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My Beatles selection tonight is dedicated to the goalies, Anton Khudobin, Wade Dubielewicz, and Barry Brust. Too often this season, it seems that they’ve had the weight of the world on their shoulders as they’ve tried to single-handedly carry the Aeros to victory. Thus, I bring you the final melody of side two of Abbey Road (the greatest album ever recorded), which just happens to feature the only drum solo ever performed by Ringo Starr as the drummer of The Beatles. So here’s “Golden Slumbers/Carry That Weight/The End.”

2/27/10 -- Aeros v. Stars -- Comfortably Numb Edition

Kevin Constantine looked defeated after the game tonight. He sounded defeated. Even when he was defending his team and their effort he just looked and sounded defeated. Perhaps that's because he is defeated.

Once again Wade Dubielewicz got the start in goal on a Saturday night. Once again he allowed three goals in the first period. And once again, the team just could not overcome the start. But at least he was perfect. He faced three shots, and three shots went in the goal before Barry Brust was sent in to damn the flow. But the damning of the flow came too late as the Aeros lost 5-2.

I'll let Constantine's words speak for themselves.

"Actually, I loved our first period," he said. "I didn’t like the score, but I loved the way we worked, competed, and got scoring chances. I thought, we as a team, played really, really good. We gave up a few things. And it wasn’t really entirely Wade’s fault, but we gave up a lot. We played really, really hard. I wasn’t disappointed with the effort of the guys at all."

The difference in the game was goal keeping. Primarily, Matt Climie faced an overwhelming number of shots and let in only two -- both of which were mistakes. Jean-Michel Daoust banged a shot off the post that found the puck rebound to Jamie Fraser in just the right spot, and Fraser took advantage to briefly tie the game. And in the third, with the game out of reach at 4-1, Climie went away from the net while the Stars were on the power play in order to play the puck. Jaime Sifers swiped the puck and was past Climie and scored an illogical sounding empty-net, short-handed goal.

As to the play of Dubielewicz, Constantine explained:

"It’s tough....He actually hadn’t played for awhile because of being with the Wild. So he hadn’t played for awhile with the Wild, and then Barry was on a bit of a roll, so that kept him out, and then he didn’t play for a week here. It’s very tough for a goalie to find a rhythm, but we wanted to give him a chance. Barry hasn’t been played bad, but Barry hadn’t won in a couple of games, and the other guy deserves a shot when that happens. We wanted to give him a chance."

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The team just seemed to lose composure in the third period, which resulted in a fight-filled mini-brawl fest featuring cheap shots and lots of stupidity on the parts of many. This made a seemingly endless game seem infinitely longer than it already was.

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I'm jettisoning my year long Beatles music theme. There's only one song that I can think of which describes the horror that was this game. So here's Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb."

2/12/10: Aeros vs. Griffins: Well, That Sucked Edition

Sorry, I've got no comforting words after this one. The final score might have been 7-2, but trust me, it wasn't that close. Barry Brust didn't appear to have his best game tonight, but then again, his defense didn't appear to have its best game either as both he and Wade Dubielewicz, who played the last part of the third period, were both hit repeatedly by odd-man rushes and breakaways.

Kevin Constantine wasn't in the best of moods afterwards. He was disappointed by his team's non-thinking on the ice. He was very displeased about how the team played a chance at a potential 5-3 power play into being on the penalty kill. The defense wasn't good. The offense didn't take advantage of their chances. There's just nothing good to say.

Peter Zingoni left the game in the first with a lower body injury. Constantine played only three centers in the second period, then he moved Brandon Rogers up front in the third.

The Aeros needed this win tonight -- they just about need a win every time they play. And they looked awful. Not sure of what else there is to say. So I'm out going to wrap it up. Let's hope tomorrow night leaves us with a better result.

Apologies, again, for the short post. I've got to get up at 5:00 a.m. for the temp job -- I'm should get about 65 hours this week and I have decided that sleep is overrated. Hopefully Heather or Andrew can add some more words of wisdom than I'm capable of at the moment.

UPDATED And You Need A Scorecard Because...

UDPATE: Barry Brust hurt his right foot -- yes, that foot -- midway through the first. He's not moving too good, but he made it through the first period. For second period warmups, Constantine sent Crawford out to goal, which sent all of the scouts in the press box scrambling for info on Crawford. Right before they were going to drop the puck, Constantine sent Brust back out to goal, but Brust still moving slowly and doesn't appear to have much lateral movement.

UPDATE: Further info. We've been told that Crawford is an assistant equipment guy for the Aeros who plays goal in practice when Dubielewicz and Khudobin are sick or injured.

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Barry Brust is in town and is starting tonight. Jeff Crawford -- who signed a PTO today -- is backing him up. Anton Khudobin joined Wade Dubielewicz with the Wild today and they are expected to suit up for the Wild on Friday night due to Niklas Backstrom's illness and Josh Harding's hip.

How the Aeros won last night, with an assist from Continental Airlines

Over at the Houston Press, John Royal has the story on how the Aeros won last night, with an assist from Continental Airlines.

Aeros Wade Dubielewicz is a Travellin' Man

2/1/10 -- Aeros v. Heat

Sorry, I've got almost zero time -- these 11 hour work days on the temp job are wiping me out.

Anyway, just a few notes. Wade Dubielewicz is probably on his way up to Dallas tomorrow to back up Josh Harding because of illness to Niklas Backstrom. At least that seemed to be the gist that came from Andrew's discussions with the Minnesota goalie coach, who was in attendance.

The star of the night, for the Aeros, was probably Continental Airlines. Dubielewicz flew from San Jose to Houston on Sunday in first class because that was the only seat available on the plane, and that allowed him to get some sleep.

The Aeros got the 3-1 win over Abbotsford in a game that Kevin Constantine said wasn't close to perfect, but which saw them play good hockey for 40 minutes and then be bailed out by Dubielewicz as they were outshot 14-1 in the third. But a win is a win for this team, especially since, with only 30 games left, they don't have many chances left.

Both Dubielewicz and Constantine stressed afterwards that the team needs to have a 10-game segment soon where they go 7-3 or 8-2. Constantine said the team is generally 5-4-1 or 6-4 or 5-5 on their 10 game segments, and that this would be good enough for the playoffs in most divisions. But in the West, it's barely good enough for fifth place.

I'll have more in the mothership tomorrow -- hopefully Andrew or Heather will link the story to the blog as the temp job people kind of frown on the whole blogging on company time thing. And I'm sure Andrew will follow this with some more notes of his own. I'm sorry if I let you down, I know I usually give out lot more detailed stories, but I really need to get some sleep.

Hopefully, I'll see you on Wednesday as the Aeros take on Peoria at Toyota Center.

Pics from the Miracle and (grumble) roster moves

Updates first: Dubielewicz has been sent down to Houston, which means Brusty has also been sent back to ECHL Florida. And the Aeros have recalled Brandon Buck from Florida. Guess I'm a Blades fan again. Awesome. *sigh*

Here's kind of a funny account of the game last night from a blogger in Peoria.

And here's the photos, all courtesy of Chris "Leadfoot" Jerina:

Disco Dobby

Here's a cool series of shots showing the 5th goal that was inches from happening, which Chris and Andrew both mentioned, and rookie Carson McMillan saved.

You can see the puck start on top of Anton's leg...

Then it falls off. Uh oh. Reach back Anton. REACH!


Never mind, Anton. Mac Attack's got this...

Clear it, Falker. Clear it!

Phew!

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The uprising begins...


Photos like this are why people think goalies are crazy. Noreau winds up a bomb.


I hate when some asshole skater sprays me in the face with snow, but man, it makes an awfully cool picture.

Anyway, thanks again to Chris for these fantastic shots. Here's the rest of them for your perusal.

Dubie up, Brusty up, and photos from Chicago

Busy day in Aeros land, particularly for the Goalie Express, which is filling the skies with rainbows of puck-stopping delight in a couple different directions today.

It starts at the top with the Wild's Niklas Backstrom having a stiff back. He's been shut down to rest it up for a few days, which means Harding needs a back-up for the Wild games tonight and Saturday.

Dubielewicz got the call over Khudobin this time. Russo seems to have been told by the Wild that this was because Khudobin is the starter for the Aeros in Milwaukee tonight. Problem with that is that the Aeros don't play in Milwuakee until tomorrow night. But maybe that's what they meant. Sure.

Anyway, now Anton needs a backup, and according to sources, this time Brusty gets the call instead of a proximity call-up like they did in Abbotsford. And as one person suggested to me, Barry did completely kick butt in Milwaukee last time he was with the team. Maybe he gets the start?

But eventually Khudobin's going to have to get a chance to sort himself out, so my prediction is that he gets the start. These are some biiiiig games this weekend though, so who know what KC's thinking will be. Personally, I'd play Brusty, but I think that goes without saying, nevermind the multiple interpretations. ;)

The other part of this, on the Wild end, is that Harding's also playing through a hip injury, and was in visible discomfort at times last night against the Red Wings. I've found that my physical world revolves around my hips and knees as a goalie, so continuing to play on hurting hips is not going to help them heal.

So it wouldn't surprise me if somehow Dubie gets some playing time before Backstrom has recovered. And I'm sure it would be pretty special for him if it came tonight, since he played for the University of Denver during his college career.

Ahhh, I do love me some goalie activity, especially when it's the upward-bound kind!

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Okay, enough of that and moving on to the fabulous, witty, and talented Chris Jerina's photos from last night's whoopin' in Chicago. Here's the full photo set, but I picked a few out below that I particularly liked.

Aeros lost 5-2 and it sounded like they just couldn't get it together. I only listened to the game (as opposed to watching it) after they went down 2-0. This team just doesn't come back from that.

First up, it's Red Anton and Green Anton

Okay, not really. Dubie is still wearing Anton's old mask (green). I think we need to start a friendly wagering pool as to when he'll finally wear a mask of his own.

Look who's back! Peter Zingoni! He's been out forevah!

Cody Almond interrupting the passing lane

JM Daoust tries to put Chris Chelios into retirement for good. Great facial expressions here.

Brandon Rogers launches the puck with his teammates on their feet behind him.

And just as a little goaliephile extra, this was Atlanta Thrasher Kari Lehtonen's second game back after being out all season and, I believe a good chunk of last season, with a couple of back surgeries. His first game during this rehab stint with the Wolves was shaky but it sounds like he's finding his rhythm now. Lucky Aeros!

Chris got some great pictures of him, but I'll just post a couple since he's not ours. They're just pretty to look at.



I don't know much about Lehtonen, but he must have the most, um, colorful pads in the league. They're so loud, it doesn't even matter that his Wolves gear clashes pretty badly. All you see is pads. My theory is that the Aeros were mesmerized by them.

ALL PHOTOS by Chris Jerina

Thanks again to Chris for getting these great shots of the boys on the road. And our apologies for sticking you with another crappy game.

1/10/10 -- Aeros v. Rockford -- The No Song Edition

Here’s the deal. I’m tired. I’m temporarily working, and it’s a schedule that involves me waking up at five everyday. I’ve got a cold. I’m cranky. So I’m not much up for writing one of my long rambling fill in every single blank that happened during the game post.

So you’ll get this.

The Aeros lost to the Rockford IceHogs 2-1 in overtime. Yes, the Aeros losing in overtime. Shocking. I know. The Aeros one goal came at 4:28 when Jean-Michel Daoust knocked in the rebound of a Chad Rau shot to make it 1-0.

“All I remember was that it was a shot on net,” Daoust said. “And then there was a rebound on my blade and I just put it in.”

The Aeros kept that lead until 3:57 of the second when Rockford’s Kyle Greentree took the cross-ice pass from Akim Aliu and buried the puck past Wade Dubielewicz. And the score stayed tie at one until 2:12 of the overtime when Mike Brennan fired a shot that was going wide of the net, but was deflected in for the goal when it hit Dubielewicz’s stick to give Rockford the win.

“It’s unbelievable,” Dubielewicz said. ‘I thought I was going to be able to break the overtime bug. I don’t think I’ve lost one yet to now, but that’s unbelievable.”

Following the loss, the Aeros record dropped to 19-15-6-1 (45 points). The good news is that they’re now in fourth place in the West Division. The shocking news is that Milwaukee is now in first at 22-12-1-5 (50 points). Texas has dropped into second with a record of 21-13-2-4 (48 points), and Rockford is now in third place at 21-18-2-2 (46 points).

The Aeros return to action on Wednesday night when they play the first of two in Rockford. They’ll play in Rockford on Friday night, then host Toronto on Saturday night.

A MISCELLANEOUS NOTE:

The Aeros are a really banged up squad right now. Kevin Constantine says it the low point for the team this year. They’re not yet sure of how badly injured Jaime Sifers is. Ryan Lannon is also out from an injury in Friday’s game. Brandon Rogers suffered back spasms after Friday’s game. Constantine believes that Rogers might be able to return on Wednesday. It’s slightly possible that Andy Hilbert will be able to return, but Constantine didn’t seem confident regarding that prognosis. There’s no timetable on Peter Zingoni’s return. Carson McMillan has two games remaining on his suspension.

But today’s roster listed Barry Brust with the defensemen and forwards, and not the goalies. So maybe Constantine can use him to help out. Of course, Brust is in Florida with the Everblades at the moment, so that might be kind of hard to pull off.

To help handle the injuries, the Aeros brought up left win Trent Campbell from South Carolina of the ECHL. He earlier played for the AHL Worcester Sharks this season. And they also brought up defenseman Ross Rouleau from Texas of the CHL.

Aeros v. Rockford: The Ballsy Prediction Edition

I didn't so much feel like Matt was going to score tonight as I felt like Corey Crawford was going to have a shitty night. But I figured, I'll throw the prediction out because we might not see a goalie struggle like this for some time to come and what more likely time for Kassian to finally bend the twine?

Not sure why I knew Crawford was vulnerable, but boy did I nail that precognition. But I just had a feeling, watching him in warm-ups, that he wasn't all there, wasn't sharp. And whaddaya know, it was Toskala-esque the way every bad bounce went in on the guy. You could see it in his body language in the third period. He looked frustrated and I think he would have stopped the Kalus breakaway if the prior unlucky bounces hadn't gotten in his head a little bit.

Meanwhile, the exact opposite was happening to Dubielewicz at the other end. That was one of the luckiest goaltending performances I've ever seen. And I appreciated reading his comments after the game wherein he basically said as much, and acknowledged that the shot count was high like that because he was a rebound machine.

But I understand, that's just how it goes sometimes. Some nights every bounce goes against you and some nights, it's all posts and whiffs and good defense. I thought only the third goal, basically in garbage time, was a bad one for Dubie.

What else could the stick figure be tonight than big Matt Kassian finally getting his goal. I did not cry, however, but I did whack John in the arm. He gets that a lot. Sorry John.


Anyway, another fun game by the boys. Really nice to see these chances going in and it must be really gratifying for the work to be paying off on the scoresheet.

See you Sunday!

1//8/10 -- Aeros v. Rockford -- The Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds Edition

The Houston Aeros defeated the Rockford IceHogs 5-3 tonight before 4504 people inside of Toyota Center. This wasn’t just a normal hockey game. It wasn’t even a normal hockey game for the Houston Aeros. Any game that sees Matt Kassian score a goal can’t be called a normal game. But perhaps the most surreal thing about this game was just how dominating Rockford was through the first two periods.

The Aeros got the early lead at 10:57 of the first when Jamie Fraser scored a goal (his first of the season) on a shot that appeared to bounce off of two Rockford players before getting past IceHog goalie Corey Crawford. Rockford’s Jack Skille tied the game at 9:20 of the second when he got his stick on Brian Connelly’s shot at deflected the puck past Wade Dubielewicz for the score.

Rockford dominated the second period. They got off 21 shots, but were only able to get one goal. Yet it appeared that the Aeros were going to be lucky to leave the ice for the second intermission with the score tied 1-1. But at 17:34, Jean-Michel Daoust fired the puck toward the Rockford goal. The puck hit off of somebody -- there was a dispute as to who it hit - and was deflected past Crawford once again to make it 2-1 as the period ended.

And surviving that second period seemed to power the Aeros the rest of the way as they took control in the third.

“I think, as a group, it was a big step for us, that third period,” Dubielewicz said. “We came out and really took it to the next level.”

That next level included out-shooting Rockford and seeing Jon DiSalvatore knock in the rebound of a Cody Almond shot at 9:58 to make it 3-2, then saw Petr Kalus on a breakaway that brought back memories of Krys Kolanos to make it 4-2 at 12:00, then the moment that Aeros fans had been waiting for all year with Matt Kassian getting a goal on one of those strange shots that bounced over the back of Crawford then rolled into the net at 15:16 to make it 5-2.

Rockford got a goal with 37 seconds left to make it 5-3, but by then, there was just nothing they could do as the Aeros were just solidly in command.

The win moved the Aeros into a three-team tie for third place in the West Division. Texas (21-11-2-4) is on top with 48 points. Milwaukee (20-12-1-5) is in second with 46 points. Peoria (20-13-1-3), Houston (19-15-5-1) and Rockford (20-17-2-2) are all tied with 44 points. And when the Aeros next play, on Sunday afternoon, they will be facing the IceHogs again.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

This was a night of firsts. Jamie Fraser got his first goal of the season with his first period goal. But the talk of the night, in the stands, the bench, and the locker room, was Matt Kassian getting his first goal of the season -- and his first since February 8, 2008 when he scored the final goal in a 6-3 win at Chicago.

“Guys were pretty jacked on the bench about that goal,” Kevin Constantine told us after the game. And Kassian was still jacked after the game.

“It was probably the prettiest goal of my life…or not,” Kassian said. “It helps the team out, and anytime you can chip in it’s good, and it’s a great feeling to kind of get that in there. And finally to have one go in when you have so many chances and so many bounces that just haven’t gone your way to kind of get a lucky one to get the first one -- it’s a pretty good feeling. I’m definitely happy about that.”

Constantine told us that this goal has been coming because he thinks that Kassian is on the best stretch of offensive-oriented hockey since he’s been with the team.

“I think over the last 10 games, if you looked at maybe eight games, he’s actually had a quite a few scoring chances over the last eight games,” Constantine said. “If you looked at any segment of eight games since he’s been here, I’d bet the last eight, he’s had the most, been part of the offense more than he ever has since he’s been here.”

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The second period was a tough one for the Aeros, and it was surviving the second that helped power the Aeros through the third. Wade Dubielewicz had his problems through the night -- he wasn’t exactly what one would call steady -- but he was able to hold Rockford to just one goal during that second period barrage.

“I had 20 shots, but I don’t know…at least eight or 10 of them were because I was kicking them straight back out,” he said. “As a goalie, it was just one of those nights where everything that hit me hit me really solid, and nothing stuck to me. But as a group, we were doing a good job of winning those battles 15 feet in front of the net. I made the first save and they were doing a good job of clearing that second puck out.”

One thing that Dubielewicz had to face in the second was a penalty kill shot by Jack Skille after a penalty by Nathan Smith.

“That guy made a good move, and he made a good play. I forced him to put it up high, and he put it up too high…” Dubielewicz said. “I didn’t get a piece of it. I forced him to go high at least, and he missed the spot. I got a little lucky there. I got a few breaks tonight, and you need some breaks to be good sometimes.”

Kassian said it was a matter of the Aeros holding together and not breaking during the barrage.

“They obviously came out in the second period with a lot more fire than we did. They definitely outplayed us in the second period. So really for us it was about a bend and don’t break….“ he said. “But we didn’t break. We did bend a little bit, but that’s okay, and we were able to kind of reset and refocus, and we know our second period wasn’t the best, and we knew that in the second intermission and we just all kind of came together and pulled it out like we needed to in the third.”

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Robbie Earl and Clayton Stoner are in Minnesota. The team brought Brandon Buck back up from Florida. Still, the one thing couldn’t afford was injuries. Which is probably why the team got hit by injuries to Jaime Sifers and Ryan Lannon during the game -- injuries which kept them from returning. Constantine had moved Brandon Rogers up to forward for the game, so he was luckily able to shift him back to the defenseman position.

We talked to Constantine about the injuries afterward, but he said he still didn’t know what their injuries were other than upper body injuries. He thought that Sifers had injured his shoulder -- ala Colt McCoy -- but he was told after that the game that it wasn’t the shoulder.

J.P. Testwuide was a healthy scratch, and Rogers can be moved back to defense, so the team can play with a full compliment of defensemen. But with the injuries to Andy Hilbert and Peter Zingoni and the suspension of Carson McMillan, the Aeros are not only short on forwards -- something they have been all season it seems -- but they’re actually short of a full squad of healthy players. So it should be interesting to see what happens on Saturday.

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I don’t know if it was discussed on the radio, but Barry Brust was not on tonight’s roster, so I can only assume that means that he’s on his way back to Florida. I’m sure that that’s something Heather and/or Andrew can discuss with a little more authority later.

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I thought tonight’s game was kind of surreal, what with a penalty shot and first goals by Fraser and Kassian. So continuing with my Beatles theme, I went looking for a kind of surreal song. Thus I give you “Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds.”

I’ll see you on Sunday.

12/20 -- Aeros vs. Griffins -- The Magical Mystery Tour Edition

Well how about that? The Houston Aeros looked like a professional hockey team on the ice tonight -- on the offensive end -- and they showed that good things can happen when you score goals as they got the 5-3 win over the Grand Rapids Griffins this afternoon.

Grand Rapids got the scoring started when Patrick Rissmiller scored on Wade Dubielewicz at 4:40 of the first period, and it kind of looked like that this was going to be another one of those games where the Aeros get blown out before going on break. But at 14:46 of the first Max Noreau got a nice pass from Duncan Milroy, proceeded to fake a Grand Rapids defenseman of out of his gear, then snapped the shot by Daniel Larsson to tie the score.

The second period was all the Aeros as Andy Hilbert got a nice cross-ice pass from Jean-Michel Daoust and put the puck in the net to make it 2-1 at 2:56. Duncan Milroy punched in a Brandon Rogers rebound at 6:49 to make it 3-1, then Jon DiSalvatore made it 4-1 on an unassisted goal as he skated around the Grand Rapids defense and made use of a screen to get the puck past Larsson.

Grand Rapids changed goalies to start the third, and the change seemed to suit the Griffins as they got the puck past Dubielewicz twice to make the score 4-3 with nearly 15 minutes remaining in the game. But Grand Rapids would get no closer and Noreau would get the empty-netter at 19:37 to make the final 5-3.

“It’s fun. I’m not going to lie,” Dubielewicz said about playing a game with a big lead. “When we put up four, it’s not that you can relax by any means, but you can get in the game, you can get in the flow of things, and if you make a mistake it’s not going to cost you two points. That’s what it was tonight. It was nice. It was a lot of fun.”

The Aeros now head into the Christmas break with a record of 16-13-2-1 (35 points) and are percentage points ahead of Rockford for fourth place in the jam-packed West Division. The Aeros return to play on Saturday night when they host the San Antonio Rampage at 7:35.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Andrew did the checking on this, and it’s rather amazing when you think of the team this year. But every year since Constantine’s been here, the team has headed into the Christmas break at or just above five hundred. The 2007-08 team was 15-12-1-1 (32 points) at this point. Last year’s team was 15-10-1-6 (37 points), and this year’s squad is 16-13-2-1 (35 points).

“That’ll be all right if the second half goes like the way the second half went both years,” Constantine said. “I mean, a chance to climb up in standings. At least we’ve put ourselves in a position to be competitive in the division. We’ve got to figure out a way now to have an even better second half because it’s a good division and we’ve got to climb our way into making sure we’re in the playoffs.”

As for what’s in store for the second half, Constantine would like to see the team improve it’s play at home, put some more points on the board, and go off on a long winning streak.

“So somewhere we need to put at least one stretch, this year we have to put some type of string together at some point just to kind of insure we make the playoffs.” he said.

He is pleased that the team won four of the last five games of this stretch, but he and the players are upset that they couldn’t go into the break with a five game win streak.

Brandon Rogers thinks the team is what it is, which is a team that’s going to win 90-percent of its games by a 2-1 score.

“Obviously we always want to get better offensively,” he said. “That’s one of the things we work on all of the time in practice is making sure we’re scoring goals and trying to get better offensively because our base is always going to be strong defense, and if we can get better offensively, and keep building on that all year, then we’ll be a better team over all.”

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Some of the young guys like Chad Rau were looking kind of tired coming into these past several games, primarily because they’ve never played this many games before. But Constantine hasn’t had many resources at his disposable because of injuries in Houston and in Minnesota. However, he expects Petr Kalus and Colton Gillies to be able to return to play next Saturday when the team returns to action, and he expects Peter Zingoni to be able to start getting back on the ice and testing his injury when the team returns for practice, those his return to game action is further off.

Also, as Heather mentioned in a post below, Wade Dubielewicz is off to Switzerland to join Team Canada in some international hockey action. He departs on the Tuesday, and he should return to the Aeros on the January 1st. Until then, the goalies will be Anton Khudobin and Barry Brust, which should make Heather happy.

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I’ve just about had it with the cheerleading from the PA, the PA speaking during game action, PA spots extending after for a long time after game action has resumed, the sound effects that pop up from nowhere during game action, and certain various people who don’t know how to turn off their microphones. There’s not much I can do about it as we reporters have a reputation about bitching about everything. But I know that there are many of you out there who are getting a bit pissed about this, as well. So, might I suggest, that, if you’re bugged, too, you go here and start firing off some emails to some of the people who might be in a position to do something about this. It’s making the team look unprofessional. But don't bother the people in Hockey Ops, Corporate Partnerships, Ticket Sales, Joe O'Donnell, or the receptionist.

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And to end things tonight, I’m going to go with The Beatles “Magical Mystery Tour.” Primarily because, on several of the goals, especially Noreau’s first period goal, I had flashbacks to last year’s squad which seemed to be able to score at will. So until next Saturday, may you all have a Merry Christmas and may you all enjoy a Magical Mystery Tour of your own.

Fire and Goalie Update

I'm not sure how much of this got mentioned last night, but I thought it'd give a little run down of breaking news in the Wild/Aeros organization.

As most of you are aware, the Ottawa Senators visiting team equipment truck with much of the Wild player and coach equipment in it caught fire yesterday on the way to the arena from the practice facility.

Both goalies saw all their gear destroyed, as did many players. Russo has a great article on all of it here today and here's an even more thorough accounting of the losses on his blog. The dramatic photos are here on Puck Daddy. The burned goalie mask makes my stomach turn!

The game goes on tonight in Ottawa, but Anton Khudobin has been summoned in case the goalies can't get comfortable enough in whatever gear they scrape together and they need him to start. I'd agree with Russo that it's unlikely he starts but wouldn't that be something? Wow.

------------------------

And continuing on the goalie news, as you also know, Barry Brust was up earlier in the week due to Josh Harding having the flu and Khudobin recalled to the Wild.

He backed up Dubielewicz on Tuesday in Cedar Park, and was scratched when Khudobin returned at home on Wednesday. He was sent back down to Florida on Thursday to help the Blades out Friday and Saturday night, though he did not play in the 5-3 loss to Wheeling (worst team in the ECHL) Friday night. Great call, Blades! /sarcasm

Aaanyway, Brusty will fly back on Sunday as the Blades go on their Christmas break and the Aeros start theirs after Sunday's game.

In case you missed it in Andrew's Chron article last night, the team confirmed that Dubielewicz is going to Switzerland in place of injured Texas Star goalie Brent Krahn on Team Canada for the Spengler Cup through the first of the year (which is why he's been getting so many starts lately).

So, we get our dear Brusty back and in a few games hopefully while Dubie is gone.

Tomorrow's game, I would expect to see Dubie starting again as he's the only goalie who won't be traveling half the day, assuming Khudobin is sent down from Minny. But what the hell do I know. Don't answer that.

12/18 -- Aeros vs. Stars -- The I'm A Loser Edition

I’m pretty sure we all know the script by now because we’ve heard it so many damn times this season. So repeat after me in three…two…one…

The Aeros lost 5-2 to the [fill in the blank]. The game was closer than the score indicates. The Aeros out shot [fill in the blank]. The Aeros were full of effort and didn’t quit. A mistake here, a mistake there, the Aeros are defeated.

For instance, on [fill in the blank]’s second goal, Ryan Gunderson got beat badly which resulted in Wade Dubielewicz getting beat and which resulted in [fill in the blank] getting the 2-1 lead at 18:50 of the first period, not long after the Aeros had tied the game.

It’s a disturbing pattern seen throughout this season. The Aeros get back in a game. The Aeros get back out of the game.

“It always so disappointing,” Gunderson said. “Every time we tied it, we made mistakes and they capitalized.”

The key mistake this time around was Gunderson letting Texas’s Warren Peters go wide, wide, wide around and past him for an easy shot he should not have been able to have. Kevin Constantine wouldn’t put the blame on Gunderson. Gunderson was not so kind.

“I got beat wide,” he said. “That’s one of the things obviously I need to work on. It happens quite a bit. It’s discouraging.”

Yes it’s discouraging because it happens way too much. But Constantine took a different view of that play, and the responsibility for the goal.

“Before the puck got to Gunderson…” Constantine said, “before it got to the goalie, there were a lot of other issues related to that. At the end of the day, it’d be nice -- as you move from forwards to D to goaltending you’re escapability from mistakes gets less and less. Lots of mistakes leading to their forwards attacking our D. The D get to make some mistakes and goalies get to make none or the light’s on.”

And the lights were on.

The loss dropped the Aeros to 2-4 against Texas this season, and it dropped their record to 15-13-2-1 (33 points) and into fifth place. Rockford, 16-14-2-1 (35 points), Peoria, 16-10-1-2 (35 points), and Milwaukee, 15-8-1-4 (35 points) are all tied for second. Texas is in first at 20-8-2-2 (44 points). The Aeros next play on Sunday afternoon against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Okay, stop it right now. I know that a bunch of you are probably still bitching about Max Noreau’s third period shot at 5:59 not being called a goal. There’s a reason for that. IT WASN’T A GOAL.

Things weren’t helped by the Game Ops people showing the replay time, after time, after time, after time, after time. If you watch closely, you see the puck bounce off of the post. That black thing that you think is the puck crossing the line is actually the end of Texas goalie Matt Climie’s stick. It also didn’t help that certain people with arena microphones seemed to be egging on certain situations throughout the night.

The game ops people are getting out of control. They’re playing music during game action. They’re speaking constantly -- not goal/penalty info -- but utter nonsense. The Aeros might be a minor league team, and they can do all of the minor league crap they want during timeouts and intermissions, but they should really stop doing it during the game.

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I figured out something tonight. This team bores me. I can see that they’re trying. And the defense is generally good, and there probably is more talent on this team than the one from two years ago, but this team bores me. The team two years ago needed Nolan Schaefer and Barry Brust to be perfect every night or the team was going to lose.

It’s a bit like that this season -- hell, it’s a lot like that this season. But the team two years ago wasn’t boring. Not to me. But this year’s team….I’m finding myself bored while I’m at the game. And I don’t like being bored.

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Tonight’s song from The Beatles is “I’m A Loser.” That’s just not because the team lost, but because of a line in the song that goes “and I’m not what I appear to be.” This team isn’t what it appears to be. You see the goals scored and you think that the team’s just not trying. But they’re getting the shots. They’re usually in good position. But they’re always just a step slow, or a second off. They’re not the bad team they appear to be.

So until Sunday, here’s The Beatles.

12/16 -- Aeros v. Rampage -- The Anytime At All Edition

The Aeros were a tired team on Wednesday night. And it showed, especially in the first period when they allowed the San Antonio Rampage to take 11 shots. But Wade Dubielewicz, making the start instead of the freshly returned from Minnesota Anton Khudobin, kept the Rampage off the board and allowed the Aeros to regroup during the first intermission.

The two teams skated about even until a string of fantastic passes from Jon DiSalvatore to Justin Falk to Nathan Smith found Colton Gillies at 9:34 of the second period. Gillies was in a great spot and Josh Tordjman, who played a fantastic game in goal despite the defeat, was in no position to stop the puck as the Aeros went up 1-0.

The score stayed at 1-0 for 20 more minutes until, at 10:01 of the third, Matt Watkins stole the puck behind the Aeros net and found Mikkel Boedker in front of the net. Boedker then buried the puck to knot the score at 1-1, where it stayed for the rest of the game.

Both goalies were on the top of their games, thus the game went into overtime. It appeared that it would go into OT, but with only 36 seconds left, Chad Rau made a great play on the puck and found Max Noreau. Noreau skated in toward the net -- a bit unusual as he’s usually firing away from the blue line -- and went top shelf to give the Aeros the 2-1 win.

“Rau made a good play and came out of the corner,” Noreau said. “I think I’d just stepped on the ice, so I was just trying to find some open ice and help him out and maybe make it an easy pass for him…the goalie went down pretty early. I’m just glad we got the two points.”

Indeed, two points the Aeros did get. The Aeros also got their third straight win, giving them six points in four days, and the win moved them back into fourth place, percentage points ahead of Rockford.

“I thought we were real fortunate to survive [the first period],” Constantine said after the game. “We looked like a team that had played four games in six nights. We looked tired. But the good part about the team is they regrouped and we had a good second, which has been trouble for us against San Antonio….that set the stage to win.”

And win they did before a “crowd” of 2538. They have two games left before the Christmas break, with the next one on Friday night here at Toyota Center against the Texas Stars.

SOME MISCELLEANOUS NOTES:

The Aeros are a tired team that is on a roll, having just won their third straight game. But they’ve been on three game rolls before, only to fall apart and lose just as many. Thus a record which has them hanging around the breakeven part. This is something the team recognizes, and they want to get into the break on a five game winning streak.

“At this point in the season, especially with Christmas break coming up, that’s a huge motivation for the guys,” Noreau said about keeping the winning streak going. “We’ve only got two games left, so just get it everything we got and make it five in a row, and then once we get back, guys are going to be fresh from coming home for the holidays, and we just take it from there.”

The Aeros will have played 33 games as they hit the break, and will be nearly halfway through the season. They will have also played nearly half of their home games, and by the time New Year’s Day hits, the team will have played half of its home schedule. So let’s hope Noreau is correct and that the team uses this upcoming break as motivation for a winning streak.

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Colton Gillies got the game’s first goal, which was notable for being -- besides the first goal of the game -- his first goal since Opening Night on October 2. It’s been frustrating for Gillies, but he says that he’s been working on his game, and trying not to worry because he’s been getting encouragement from Constantine.

“It’s definitely nice to get the monkey off the back a little bit,” Gillies said about his first goal since Opening Night. “The coach said, just stick with it, I’m doing everything right. I’ve been working hard in practice and doing all of those extra things with the hope that I might get one, which I did, so it was good.”

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And for those of you who are curious, the Aeros now officially have a captain as Jon DiSalvatore was awarded the “C” before last Friday’s game with Peoria. He’s the first “lone” captain on the Aeros since Erik Reitz was captain back in 2007-08. The Aeros rotated the “C” last season, and it was worn, at various times, by Clayton Stoner, Brandon Rogers, Krys Kolanos, Corey Locke, and somebody who I’m probably forgetting.

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Tonight’s song from The Beatles is “Anytime At All.” It’s dedicated to the team for finally naming a captain. And for Gillies finally getting a goal. And for the team’s winning streak. And for the team waiting until overtime was nearly over to get the win. So, until Friday, here’s The Beatles.

The Aeros have mo, mo, momentum.

Schedule-wise, December is going to be very kind to the Aeros. Eight of their next 10 will be at home, and the two road games will be played inside Texas (one at San Antonio and one at Texas).

The Aeros team that I thought would be lucky to win one of their three road games last week, just took two of three and has points in four straight overall. They are all alone in second place in the West division and have pulled within eight points of the Texas Stars.

Back to the OT win in Toronto. The win was filled with character and all sorts of fun warm fuzzies that should make you feel good about being an Aeros fan this morning.

Chad Rau scored an incredible goal to give the team a 1-0 lead in the second, but the Marlies tied things up with a goal in the third, a period they pretty much dominated.

Wade Dubielewicz was sharp when he had to be, and he was the topic of conversation after the game. Seems the Aeros felt bad for the guy, and not being able to, as Kevin Constantine said after the game, "give him much run support."

Dubielewicz won his first game since that amazing comeback shootout win over Hamilton on Oct. 27 at Toyota Center. Since then, a span of six games, the Aeros' backup has done nothing but allow two goals or fewer. And his goals against average has fallen from 2.77 to a very solid 2.18.

His November numbers are impressive. Sure, he had just the one victory. But his GAA for the month was 1.60 with a .932 saves percentage. Those are in line with what Anton Khudobin has put up all year.

"He played great in the third," said Constantine. "He gave up a goal, but he was really solid. That is what we needed. He has played really well this year, but we just have not been able to get a win for him. So I am sure just getting a win feels great for him personally."

I, and each of my colleagues that cover the Aeros, have been critical of Dubielewicz' play this season. There always seems to be an in-game let down. A lack of concentration that leads to the dreaded softie. As anyone who follows this team knows, one softie spells death with this offensively devoid hockey club.

But, despite the lazy play at times, and despite the ego hit of going to potential backup in Minnesota to rarely-used backup in the AHL, he attitude has been incredible. He cheers them on from the bench, pays attention to the game, and has been very solid when he's had to jump in and take over for the rare Anton bomb.

Constantine said it better.

"I did not know him as a goaltender and a person prior to this year. But now, from a leadership and character standpoint, he has been absolutely flawless," added Constantine. "He has had such a positive attitude, and he is very vocal. He is actually very astute on the game when he is on the bench.

"As a backup goalie, he is talking to the guys on the bench about what is going on on the ice. He sees the game like coach. He has been fantastic that way, and he has been a good goalie too. We just have not been able to get any wins for him. He has been great the whole year."

Miscellaney ...

The Aeros were able to save a crap load of money by flying to Detroit and then busing to Hamilton, and then to Syracuse and then to Toronto in the middle of the night for the Saturday game against the Marlies.

Constantine said the Aeros will bus back to Detroit Sunday (today) and then fly home Monday. The team will get the rest of that day off before getting back to work Tuesday in advance of the team's home and home series against San Antonio.

The Aeros should get a little more information this week on a few key players out with injuries.

"Right now, we don’t know exactly where guys like Testwuide, Hilbert and Almond are," said Constantine. "I would guess that Hilbert is the closest at this point. Hopefully Andy is back this week, but it might be a couple of weeks before we get the other guys back."

I then joking asked Kevin if he and the coaching staff prays before every Wild game because of the big club's horrendous luck with injuries this year.

"That is right because we really need them healthy too. It really does affect us," said Constantine. "Hopefully no one else gets hurt up there."

11/20 -- Aeros v. Admirals -- A Hard Day's Night Edition

The Houston Aeros are a team premised on smart play, execution, and energy. When one of those elements doesn’t fall into place, the Aeros lose. When two of those elements don’t fall into place, it’s a recipe for disaster. Yet despite some very stupid play by some who should know better, and some poor execution, the Aeros found some much needed energy to get back into the game.

Yet in the end, as 5672 people who witnessed the game at Toyota Center will tell you, the Houston Aeros still lost to the Milwaukee Admirals 3-2 to fall to 10-10-0-0 on the season.

The Aeros were shorthanded to start the night as just before game time Clayton Stoner discovered that he couldn’t play because of an upper back injury. Nathan Smith had been called up to Minnesota earlier in the day, and the Aeros made the call to the Florida Everblades to get Brandon Buck. And Buck arrived at Toyota Center at 6:30, just in time to suit up and hit the pregame skate.

For the first fifty-five minutes of the game the Aeros played stupid hockey and didn’t execute. About the only thing the Aeros were good at was fighting -- I didn’t think Colton Gillies had that in him when he took out Nolan Yonkman in the first period. Matt Kassian also came out with kind of a draw against Yonkman in the first. But the fighting hurt the team, more than it helped. Especially Peter Zingoni who ended up serving 17 minutes of penalty time in the second and third period after a fight with Ryan Jones.

Anton Khudobin was pulled early in the first after giving up two goals (one on a power play) on only four shots, and Wade Dubielewicz did what he could to keep the team in the game. But he gave up a goal in the third which made the Aeros up hill battle that much harder.

“We worked hard,” Kevin Constantine said. “We’re a four-line probably, more than anybody in hockey. We just roll people because we like to keep fresh and play with lots of energy. That’s why we play 12 forwards. So in a game like this, guys playing every third shift -- on some teams, that might be fairly normal, but on this team, it isn’t. So that’s probably the first time guys ever had to log that much ice time with that little rest in between. They kept going. We kept working. That was good.”

That was good. But not good enough. Especially with the early stupid play and the poor execution that found the Aeros, like usual, having several excellent opportunities at the end to knot the game yet not being able to pull it off.

These two teams battle again on Sunday afternoon. Who knows, maybe they’ll have a full roster. Maybe they won’t. That’s just how the puck bounces.


SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

The Aeros didn’t know until close until game time whether Brandon Buck would be able to make it to Toyota Center in time. Constantine told us after the game that Nathan Smith didn’t get the call until 10:30 Friday morning to report to Minnesota. The Aeros were then left trying to find a player that was in position to pack a bag and get to an airport where he could then catch a flight that could get him to Houston in time for tonight’s game. And Buck didn’t get to the arena until 6:30.

No Buck would have left Houston with 17 players able to suit up. Until Clayton Stoner got injured which would have left the Aeros with 16 players. Luckily, Buck did arrive, and he played a decent game for a guy playing under those circumstances. And Zingoni’s penalty time didn’t help as it left the Aeros with only 16 skaters for most of the second period and the first part of the third period.

“There’s a couple of things you’ve got to think about,” Constantine said. “We were down one with Clayton not being able to go. And then we had a couple of fights, and then we had a guy [Zingoni] who got 17 minutes in penalties. So not only was it a game we started without a body, we had lots of penalties that kept guys in the penalty box instead of on our bench.”

So the fact the Aeros were actually able to make a game of it says a little something about the character of the team.

“Guys were tired,” Constantine said. Yet they found a way to perform.

“It’s been one of the things we’ve been focusing on all year,” Chad Rau said. “A hard working team. Especially when things aren’t going your way you have to make sure you are working hard and going as hard as you can.”

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Constantine said afterwards that he thought that Clayton Stoner should be able to play on Sunday. But when asked if the team was going to try and bring someone else in just in case, his response was that we would have to talk to the bosses.

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Once again the Aeros had to play defensemen up front. It’s not the best of circumstances, but Brandon Rogers seemed to make it work. I thought it was Jamie Fraser playing up front, too, but Andrew says it was Jaime Sifers. Whoever it was, the defenseman up front did their jobs.

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According to the AHL stat sheet, the actual three stars of the game, as opposed to what Steve Vidal announced, were 3) Petr Kalus, 2) Ryan Jones, and 1) Mike Santorelli.

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In case you didn't notice, Peoria demolished San Antonio night. As part of the demolition, former Aeros fan favorite Mitch Love got his first goal of the gameseason.

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And seeing the day that Brandon Buck, and the team endured, getting to Houston, I can think of nothing better than The Beatles with "A Hard Day's Night."

10/27 -- Aeros v. Bulldogs -- Helter Skelter Edition

Midway through the second period tonight, I’m not sure that many of the 3134 people inside of Toyota Center were giving the Aeros much of a chance of pulling off the win against the Hamilton Bulldogs. The Aeros were, of course, playing their standard style of second period hockey. In other words, they were being dominated.

Then at 4:50 of the second Petr Kalus went to the box for elbowing. Penalty killed. Then at 7:53 J.P. Testwuide went to the box for tripping, and he was followed 32 seconds later by Clayton Stoner who got nailed for a high-stick. And that’s when Hamilton went all Biblical on goalie Wade Dubielewicz. But Dubielewicz, with some help from the team’s excellent penalty kill, killed the five-on-three. Then at 12:21 Duncan Milroy got nailed for roughing and Hamilton was back on the power play.

Yet the score at the end of the second period was the same as the score at the end of the first. Houston and Hamilton were tied at 1-1.

The third period was a bit different as Dubielewicz let in a goal at 10:54 when he appeared to be shielded. Robbie Earl tied the score at 11:41 when he banked in a shot off of Hamilton goalie Cedrick Desjardins. But Dubielewicz failed to cover a rebound at 14:21 and the Bulldogs were right back in front at 3-2.

But two minutes later, Colton Gillies went into the corner after the puck where he fed Chad Rau. Rau missed the shot, but Jon DiSalvatore got the puck at just the right spot in the slot and slipped it past Desjardins to knot the score at 3-3.

“We had a good solid chip in to the corner,” Gillies said. “And I was first on the puck. The defense came down and tried to hit me. I just tried to protect the puck and turned off them. Rau was actually going to the net and I gave it to him in front. He had a good scoring opportunity, but the goalie made a great save. We had a rebound right in the slot where DiSalvatore got to put it up high and the goalie was down and out.”

The team’s made it through overtime and into the shootout, and as they did during the game, the Aeros fell behind as Hamilton scored on their first two chances. But Dubielewicz shut them down the rest of the way as first Jean-Michel Daoust, then Chad Rau, and finally Colton Gillies scored to get the 4-3 victory.

“We had to come from behind the whole game,” head coach Kevin Constantine said. “And then we had to come from behind in the shootout, and the shootout paralleled the whole game kind of. That was kind of interesting to me.”

But listening to the guys talk about their desultory second period, and listening to Constantine go on about the continued disappointment of the team’s play in the second period throughout the year, I think he and the players would rather just skip the interesting part for a good, solid three period performance that results in a win.

And they next get a chance for that kind of victory on Thursday night when they take on Grand Rapids in Grand Rapids.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

The win was the team's third straight, and it improved their record to 6-4-0-0 (12 points) on the season. That puts the Aeros in a tie, points wise, with the Texas Stars for second place in the division.

While the team is not happy with their play so far, or with their record, there is one thing to be considered. Except for the Lake Erie Monsters, every team that the Aeros have played so far are at the top of their respective division -- and Lake Erie is only one game below five hundred. Hamilton, the team Houston defeated tonight, has yet to lose a game in regulation this season, and are now 4-0-0-2 on the road.

They've split a two-game with Manitoba. They've lost two of three to Texas, and they've won all three games against San Antonio. And those are the three teams that are supposed to be among the best in the Western Conference. So it's possible, just possible, that some of the team's problems can be linked to their early schedule so far. For instance, the Aeros are yet to face Chicago, and the Wolves, despite the money spent, are having a season so bad that they've already fired their coach.

And while Constantine would like to see the team get rid of this second period funk, he noted that it might be part of the personality of this club. Last year's club, he reminded us, was known for coming from behind only to give up leads in the third period, and it took awhile for the club to learn how to handle that issue.

So perhaps it's not quite the time for panic mode.

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Man, Hamilton is a quick team. It appeared throughout the night that every single player on that team was as fast as Carl Lewis.

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The key to the game, to Constantine and several of the players, was the team's play on penalty kill after penalty kill in the second period.

Dubielewicz "played awesome [on those penalty kills]," Colton Gillies said. "We had a great penalty kill tonight. We couldn’t have asked anything more from our goalie and our penalty kill. They did what they came here to do. We came in here in between the second and third and we just had to settle down. There were a lot of guys who got a lost rest in the second because of all of the penalty killing, and those guys had to step it up and do their thing."

And Constantine thought it was the momentum that the team gained off of killing the penalties that propelled them to victory.

"I thought the biggest moment of the game was when we killed -- not just the three on five, certainly the three on five, but the momentum that we saved for ourselves with those penalty kills..." Constantine said. "Obviously it wasn’t very disciplined on our part, but the guys that went out and killed it were fantastic. I thought the biggest momentum change in the game as far as the way the game could have gone was right there."

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Brandon Rogers played center for the third game in a row tonight. The primary reason for this is that the team is short of healthy centers. When he first moved Rogers from defense to center, the only available natural centers were rookies Chad Rau and Cody Almond. Then Nathan Smith came back from Minnesota, only to have Almond break his wrist and be out for at least a month.

"I’ve always found that D -- at least in your own end -- can play center really good," Constantine said. "Maybe they’re not brilliant through the neutral zone making plays. But when you have a guy like [Rogers] at center, it really, it’s a settling shift. You know he can come back in his own end and get the job done."

And this is something that I think the team will continue doing, primarily because the Aeros have nine defensemen on the team, and Constantine doesn't like having to sit three of his best players every night.

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One of the comments to a previous post stated that Dubieleiwcz was injured during the game. If this was so, I didn't see any sign of it. He played the entire game, and the shootout, and he appeared to be in good shape in the locker room after the game. However, I wouldn't put it past me to have missed something.

And Dubielewicz had one of those games last night. I agree with Andrew below that it appeared to me in the press box that he should have easily stopped two of the three shots that went in for goals. Then again, he was spectacular in the second period when he was under pressure due to the constant penalties. And when he got burned on the first two shots of the shootout, I thought the team was history, only to see him stop the next three while the Aeros made their shots.

Now I've been listening to The Beatles' White Album a lot lately. It's not my favorite, but it's been matching my mood. And the first thing that popped into my head during the second period, and throughout the rest of the game was The Beatles song off of that album, "Helter Skelter." So, to play us out tonight, here's The Beatles with "Helter Skelter."