The Flames Are Dead. Long Live The Flames

The Flames are dead. Long live the Flames.

In something that Andrew Ferraro mentioned months ago, it was today announced that the Quad City Flames are departing the Quad Cities after this season for Abbotsford, B.C., Canada. For those of you who have know frigging clue where Abbotsford is, think way, way, way out there, about 75-meters east of Vancouver.

The closest AHL city to Abbotsford is Winnipeg, which is a 24-hour bus ride -- on a good weather day -- from Abbotsford. And since they're going to be so damn far away from everybody else, the new Flames ownership group has agreed to pay travel subsidies to all of the other AHL teams to help alleviate the cost of the cross-country travel.

Now knowing the AHL -- and the guys at the Minnesota Wild that approve the Aeros traveling -- I can easily see the Aeros getting stuck playing a Friday in Peoria, a Saturday in Abbotsford, and a Sunday afternoon in Rockford.

Trying To Understand The Clear Day Roster, And Failing

One of the reasons we set up this site is to try and offer some insight and analysis into the things the Aeros do. Like yesterday's Clear Day Roster and the signing of forward Tony Hrkac. But I'm not really sure how much insight I can give because despite pondering this all day, I'm at a loss for some of the things that happened.

I'll go with the easy thing first. Leaving Bryan Lundbohm off of the Clear Day Roster makes sense. I'm sure the thinking was, when he was signed for this season, that he would provide a steadying, veteran influence who wouldn't do anything special on the ice, but wouldn't make a lot of errors. And his play has been pretty unspectacular when he's played, which hasn't been often because he's been hurt for lots of the season. In short, if you can only have a certain number of players on the roster, then there are 22 others who have played for the team this season that would be better choices.

That said, I don't see what Tony Hrkac can add to this team. The Wild thinks that he adds some kind of presence to this team that will help them in the playoffs. But I'm just not really sure of what a 42-year old who hasn't played hockey since 2005 can add to a team. This is just one move I don't understand.

The other move I don't understand is the leaving of Jason Ryznar off of the Clear Day Roster. Ryznar doesn't provide much of an offensive presence --he's got only four points in 63 games. But there's just something I like about the line of Ryznar, Mitch Love and Matt Kassian. Neither of these guys provides offense. But they constantly hustle. They hit, and they hit hard and they hit big. They don't make mistakes. They're a perfect checking, energy line. And according to Kevin Constantine, they were his most consistent line and the one line that the coaches trusted more than any other line they put out on the ice. And until his illness on Tuesday, Ryznar had played in every game this season. So I don't get his being left off of the roster.

I'm not a hockey expert. I don't know the game like Constantine or Tom Lynn or any of the players. So maybe there's someway to explain these moves. But I just don't see how adding an old man who hasn't played in over three years and benching a young kid makes the team better. True, I was told that Ryznar was ill on Tuesday. But maybe he was injured, as well.

I'm just confused.

And I'm sorry I couldn't offer more analysis and insight to you guys.

File photo of Jason Ryznar courtesy of Fred Trask.

Old Friends and Acting - More Photos QC Flames 3/10/09

Walk Invisible made a comment about enjoying the coverage of the QC Flames game last Tuesday. Well, here are some more photos from that game that for you to "enjoy".

Here's an old pal, DJ Amadio from the Texas Wildcatters, plying his trade on the ice as he attends to QC's Brad Farynuk. Farynuk and Kolanos had a collision behind the net. I was unable to see if Farynuk got caught with a stick or a visor got him or exactly what happened. In any case he started leaking all over the ice and DJ came to the rescue. Poor Farynuk was bleeding from at least one nostril and around the left eye.

All of you Beaumont folks come on over to Houston and say "Howdy" to DJ as we play the Flames again Friday night at 7:35.

DJ continued to patch the leaks on the bench and Farynuk continued to play.

Here you can see Cam Cunning trying to get referee Zac Wiebe to make a call with this beautifully executed dive in the crease. He and Clayton Stoner got in a tangle at the top of the crease with their sticks straight up. Clayton never even came near him with his stick but he snapped his head back like he'd been shot.

Cunning is lucky he didn't get called for goaltender interference during his performance.

All photos: Fred Trask

Sorry to say you probably found these pretty embarassing as well Walk Invisible ...

Aeros Clear Day Roster 2009; Aeros sign Hrkac

The AHL Clear Day was yesterday and the Aeros roster is mostly what you'd expect.

Each Clear Day roster consists of a maximum of 22 players. According to AHL by-laws, only those players listed on a team’s Clear Day roster are eligible to compete in the remainder of the 2008-09 AHL regular season and in the 2009 Calder Cup Playoffs, unless emergency conditions arise as a result of recall, injury or suspension.

Teams may also add signed junior players or players on amateur tryout contracts, only after their respective junior or college seasons are complete.

Barry Brust (G)
Nolan Schaefer (G)
Paul Albers
Matt Beaudoin
Robbie Earl
Justin Falk
Tony Hrkac
Danny Irmen
Matt Kassian
Krys Kolanos
Corey Locke
Mitch Love
Morten Madsen
Tomas Mojzis
Maxim Noreau
Peter Olvecky
Benoit Pouliot
Brandon Rogers
Marco Rosa
Jesse Schultz
John Scott
Clayton Stoner

Presumably Khudobin is considered to be here on an emergency basis until Brust is healthy. I've read that the Everblades expect to be without him for another 2 weeks at least, so there's a bit of a hint at the time table.

Of course, the Aeros sent out the press release about signing Hrkac after I saw this list, as I'm thinking, "That's a typo, right?" Nope. So, yeah, in the weirdest move I've seen in quite some time, the Aeros have signed a 42-year-old center who hasn't played professionally in 3 years.

I know what you're thinking and I'm one step ahead of you. I've already called Mayor White and the parade route is being planned as we speak.

Update: Andrew points out that this list is minus one Jason Ryznar, which is kind of surprising given the accolades his line has gotten over the last month or so from Constantine.
And John points out that Lundbohm is also not on the list. No great shakes as he's been a non-factor, but obviously they're trying to put some final touches on that they think will give the team a solid run.

Wild prospects headed for the farm?

As we approach the playoffs, I've got fresh meat on my mind...

This is the time of year in which Wild prospects can come up from their amateur teams either in college (if they're finishing their college careers) or from the Canadian Hockey League (if their team is out of the playoffs and they're planning to turn pro next season) and help out on the farm during the end of the season and playoffs.

If you recall from last season, that's how the Aeros got Ryan Jones and Colton Gillies at the end of regular season and for the short playoff run. And it's always exciting (to me, at least) to finally get a sneak peek at some of these guys. So, I thought I'd run through the guys in the system who either could join the team at the end here and/or will be of age to play with the Aeros next season.

Cody Almond C - Currently with the Kelowna Rockets, who have secured a playoff spot in the Western Hockey League, so unless they lose out early, we likely won't see him. But he is turning 20 this summer and has 4 years of junior under his belt, so he's due to turn pro this Fall.

Carson McMillan RW - Currently with the Calgary Hitmen -- a very good Hitmen team that has clinched the WHL Eastern Conference title, so I would expect them to go pretty far in the playoffs and we won't get a whiff of Carson until the Fall. But, like Almond, he is 20 already and has 4 years in the WHL, so it's pro time for him, too. (He has an action figure!)

Anthony Aiello D - In his senior season with Boston College and hasn't done much to impress this season and has even been an occasional healthy scratch. I'm pretty sure it's supposed to work the other way in college where the upperclassmen are the studs. Regardless, his college playing days are over once BC finishes their playoff run, so it's pro or nothing.

I'd love to see him get his act together and find a spot in Houston because he's seriously foxy.

And then there's... uh... okay, that list ended quicker than I'd hoped, but the rest of the guys are too young or European (and who knows what the hell they're doing) or still in college.

So, it looks like we won't be getting much help from the prospects unless one of the junior boys' teams get knocked out of the playoffs early. Is it wrong to root against Kelowna and Calgary for my own selfish reasons? And if it were wrong, do you really think that would stop me? Pfft.

Jimmy Kilpatrick Released From PTO

Not this is too big a surprise, but Jimmy Kilpatrick was released from his PTO with the Aeros. I believe that he joined the team from the ECHL Cincinnati Cyclones, so I'm assuming that he'll be returning there.

Aeros 3, Quad City Flames 1

Andrew and John covered the game well with their words. I would only add that the Aeros had many good chances to score, some on open nets, that they failed to capitalize on. If you want to take the "half-full" viewpoint that means they are doing good things and the goals will come.

I'll add a few photos to illustrate some points already made.

Here is the QC goal by Brandon Roach. It appeared that Schaefer may have been screened on the shot and it beat him glove side. I think it might have squirted between his arm and body or gone in off the outside of his arm.. You can see the puck as it is about to cross the goal line.

Here are a few shots of the Benoit Pouliot goal that tied the game at 1. This was a rocket from Pouliot that beat Irving stick side and came right back out of the net on the glove side. Great pass from Schultz. What you don't see is the Aeros had great spacing on this one. Schultz was coming up the middle with Pouliot on his left and Locke was coming hard on the right. Irving had to respect all 3 and I think the spacing on this play really helped to open the spot for Benoit who nailed it.

Add a little head rub from Jesse Schultz and you have a pretty nice goal to tie the game.

Kolanos had another goal that was in and out in a hurry. Here you see a dejected Irving with the puck already out of the net and Kolanos doing his fist pump.

Matt Beaudoin celebrates with Kolanos

Nolan Schaefer had some big saves on the night.

Here are a few shots of one example of the kind of "near misses" the Aeros had. In this one Kris Kolanos had a fantastic wrap around chance in the third period. Corey Locke is tied up out front and Leland Irving has no chance on the play. Unfortunately Kolanos was not able to get it to go in and is sailed through the crease.

Here is your first star - Krys Kolanos

And your second star - Benoit Pouliot

I'll throw in a Paul Albers celebration too. Lost in the 6-1 debacle vs Rockford was an awesome goal from Paul Albers. Here is the celebration of the goal with Matt Kassian and Mitch Love swooping in for a group hug.


All photos : Fred Trask

Aeros 3, Quad City Flames 1: Aeros Douse The Flames To Defeat Bad Ice and Quad City

I’m not sure who is responsible for handling the ice and arena conditions at Toyota Center, but whoever it is should have their ass fired. The Aeros got the 3-1 win over the Quad City Flames tonight, but not only did they have to battle the Flames, they had to battle hot, humid temperatures on the ice that made smooth skating on the ice impossible.

This affected the Aeros on many occasions tonight as the team had several odd-man rushes toward the goal that resulted in no shots or bad shots on goal because the puck wasn’t sliding on a smooth surface and the players couldn’t get where they should be. The Aeros first goal, which came at 56 seconds into the second period came on one of those rare instances tonight where the players were able to adjust to the ice properly. Jesse Schultz fed a breaking Benoit Pouliot who was able to fire the puck past Quad City goalie Leland Irving for the goal.

“It was a perfect pass,” Pouliot said. “That’s his game. Schultzie can pass the puck like no one else.” As to the ice conditions, Pouliot felt that “we could have maybe just slowed down the game a bit. I tried to go too fast at times and I would just go by [the puck] for no reason.”

“The heat in the building affected our wind a little and the movement of the puck,” coach Kevin Constantine said. “It was not as good of ice and our guys were dragging.”

Krys Kolanos got the game winning goal when he tipped the puck past Irving at 14:15 of the second period. And Paul Albers sealed the win with a slap shot from up by the blue line at the 18:50 mark of the third period.

Unlike many of their past games, where the Aeros have relied on their power play to overcome poor five-on-five play, tonight saw the Aeros five-on-five play working better than the power play.

“We scored three goals [on the five-on-five],” Pouliot said after the game. “Usually we rely on the power play too much and not try too hard on the five-on-five, but tonight was a different story….We’ve just got to that bring every night.”

The 3-1 win came on a night when most of the West Division was silent. The Aeros record is now 32-23-1-8 (73 points) and they’re now three points up on the third place Rockford IceHogs (70 points), four points up on the fourth place Chicago Wolves (69 points), and five points up on the fifth place Peoria Rivermen (68 points).

The Aeros will next play on Friday night, at Toyota Center, against Quad City once again. They’ll travel to San Antonio for a game against the Rampage on Saturday night, then they’ll take on Rockford in Toyota Center on Sunday afternoon.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS GAME NOTES:

For a change of pace, we decided to hit up a couple of non-star of the game players for their wisdom into the game. Barry Brust, who didn’t play because of injury gave the best, most precise bit of wisdom into the victory when he said the key to the game was “to score more points than the other team.”

And Matt Kassian, who played because of an illness to Jason Ryznar, said that the key was that, even though Quad City once again scored the first goal of the game, “we rebounded really well and we stuck with it and were able to take over the game.”

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Some notable notes from tonight’s game included Corey Locke setting a career-high when he assisted on Benoit Pouliot’s second period goal. The assist was Locke’s 43rd for the season, eclipsing his previous mark of 42. He now has a four-game point streak (0-4=4). Jesse Schultz, meanwhile, has a point in 10 of his last 12 games. And John Lammers played in the 100th AHL game of his career.

Also, this was the first game of the season to be missed by Jason Ryznar, who couldn’t play because of a flu-like illness. Ryznar was the last Aero of the season to miss a game. Thus the Aeros will have no players play in every game this season.

The Aeros are now 10-3-0-0 at home since the first of January. And they are now 17-4-0-2 when leading after two periods. But even more impressive, the team is now 11-8-0-5 when trailing after one period.

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The three stars of the game, as named by the Aeros, were 1) Krys Kolanos, 2) Benoit Pouliot, and 3) Quad City’s David Van der Gulik. But those of us up on press row – tonight that would be me and the Chron’s Andrew Ferraro – have decided to start naming our own three stars.

So, our three stars of the night were 1) Krys Kolanos, 2) Benoit Pouliot, and 3) Paul Albers – it was his goal that iced the victory.

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And to play us out tonight, I thought I would take a live performance from Foreigner playing “Cold as Ice.” Maybe the Toyota Center arena crew will see this and get the right idea for how arena conditions should be on ice during the game.



Cross posted over at The ClownVision Chronicles.

Aeros 3, Quad City Flames 1

Tuesday night the Aeros allowed the first goal of the game (like the so often do) and then powered their way to a big 3-1 win over the Quad City Flames.

What made this game especially nice to watch was the grace they used to score three five on five goals, something the team has not done since last February. While that last stat was made up, the three five-on-five goals were not. Yeah, and the grace part was pure fiction. Basically, save for the first Aeros goal,it looked like two teams trying to play racquetball on ice.

On an night were both teams were huffing and puffing off the ice due to the unusually warm temperature at ice level, the Aeros took advantage of their tired opponents and put the game away with three unanswered goals.

Benoit Pouliot's goal was a beaut, and the assists from Jesse Schultz and Corey Locke were equally impressive. Kolanos did his thing in the second period for the game-winner and Paul Albers beat a screened Leland Irving in the closing minutes to ice the game.

I did not have a good feeling about the Aeros tonight due to the Aeros history this season in games against the Flames. But then I forgot about Quad City having to play their fourth game in five days. Post game, Kevin Constantine acknowledged the team's shortcomings against the Flames, but said it might have something to do with the number of times the Aeros had to play in Quad City on a travel day.

For those that don't know, to get to Quad City, you have to get on a bus to get to an airport. Then you fly from that airport to the Great Airport of the Northern Hemisphere (otherwise known as O'Hare) and then you have to wait for another bus. When you get on that bus, you have to ride on it for three hours or so into Moline. Then you get to play a hockey game.

Tonight, not surprisingly, the Aeros had no sympathy. They took advantage of their tired foes and got a much needed win.

First Star - Krys Kolanos. His game winning goal took the proverbial wind out of the Flames' sails.

Second Star - Benoit Pouliot. What a great, great goal. Lots of hitting. This guy is playing really good hockey right now.

Third Star - David Van der Gulik. Not sure I agree with this selection, but he did give the Flames a chance to win tonight. Personally, I would have gone with Paul Albers who was a team-high tying plus two and scored on his only shot of the game.

-- Aeroscribe

John Adams Back On The Aeros Roster

I missed this Aeros move the other day as it happened at the same time as John Scott being called up to the Wild, but...to replace Scott on the roster, and to probably take Dane Crowley's spot in the stands, the Aeros called defenseman John Adams up from Corpus Christi.