For those of you who are interested -- and who claim we ignore most of the team (I disagree with Andrew on that point) -- I've got a post on Troy Ward up over at the mothership right now. So I strongly encourage you to go read it -- especially since the better the click to read numbers over there, the better the chances of continuing Aeros coverage over there (you should note that the Press is currently devoting way more coverage to the Cougars and Aeros than they are the Texans and the Rockets).
I just want to add a few comments. Troy and Kevin are very aware of all of the things you -- and we here at T3I -- bitch about all of the time. Troy takes the hit for the power play numbers, though the comparison to the 2007-08 Aeros is very valid in that that club had to be one of the worst power play clubs I've ever seen -- Andrew and I would often joke that year that the Aeros should just decline the penalty and send a man of their own off of the ice since the penalty kill was so much better. But Troy's also right in that you can't expect a power play like last year's in that there were some players who could take nights off and still score a goal by the flick of a wrist.
Some other things Troy said reminded me of that 2007-08 club. I remember Erik Reitz telling us early in the season that there were some guys who just couldn't make themselves climb aboard and play Kevin's system -- for some, there was a difficulty with grasping it, for others there was a "I don't like my role" in the system thing. Troy said that there are still some guys who are too willing to go outside of the system and do their own thing.
I also think that injuries -- in Houston and Minnesota have hurt the club. There are some guys, like Peter Zingoni, who got off to a really good start, but have been hurt for most of the season. Other's like Andy Hilbert and Cody Almond have missed time due to injuries.
If you noticed, Brandon Rogers played defense last night. That's not because of inadequacies on the part of Rogers, but it was because for the first time since the start of the season, the Aeros actually had a full squad of healthy forwards available to play. And I like to think that the return of Zingoni might help things further. And here's my thinking.
The line of Hilbert/Jean-Michel Daoust/Chad Rau has been on the ball the past ten games or so. I didn't realize, until I looked at the stats last night, that this line has quietly been on fire. They've had some problems defensively, which both Constantine and Hilbert mentioned last night, but if there's been any line forcing action on the offensive end recently, they've been it. And Constantine went out of his way to mention Hilbert's leadership abilities last night, and how he was trying to set the example on the ice for other players to follow -- I say this because my question had just been to Hilbert's efforts in scoring last night, Kevin took it from there and ran with it.
I would also note that one of the best lines at the start of the season was Zingoni/Almond/Carson McMillan. Almond broke his wrist early, and I think he's just now coming back to full strength. I think if Zingoni can come back, these guys can get reteamed, and they can take off again. That would give the team two decent lines. I could see a teaming of DiSalvatore/Milroy/Smith and Irmen/Kassian/Earl/Gillies.
Then again, there's no real telling as to when DiSalvatore, Earl, Smith, etc. will be recalled to Minnesota.
*****************
One further thing, for those who want to know why last night's non-goal wasn't mentioned, that's easy, I didn't feel like it. There's no replay review in the AHL, so the Toyota Center video's crew constant replaying of an inconclusive replay was useless and childish. And as Forecheck said in the comments, it appeared that the goal judge might have had his line of vision screened and couldn't see it. Unlike Max Noreau's non-goal in game seven against Peoria last season, the Aeros didn't really seem bothered by it after the game, so I saw no need to pursue it.
*****************
Congratulations to Max Noreau for making the Canadian squad for the AHL All-Star Game.
Tuesday, December 29, 2009
Noreau elected to All-Star Team
Defenseman Max Noreau, who leads all AHL blueliners with nine goals, was selected to the Canadian All-Star team.
Here is the link to the press release:
As far as the Planet USA roster is concerned, that will be released later.
Until recently, I thought Khudobin might be a shoe-in.
Now I am not so sure.
He has not won a game in more than a month.
Here is the link to the press release:
As far as the Planet USA roster is concerned, that will be released later.
Until recently, I thought Khudobin might be a shoe-in.
Now I am not so sure.
He has not won a game in more than a month.
12/28 -- Aeros vs. Crunch -- The Get Back Edition
Before I go further, I want to apologize to all of you for being so late with posting this. I’ve had a rather awful day -- I hate temp jobs, especially when they end weeks before they’re supposed to end -- and I got home to discover some new problems with my COBRA, so I’ve been dealing with those issues.
Now that out of the way…
The Houston Aeros won a game tonight that they normally shouldn’t have won. They got the 5-4 OT win while getting help from some unlikely sources -- Ryan Lannon and J.P. Testwuide -- and some expected sources who appear to be beginning to heat up a bit. They had what appeared to be some bad goalie play, until you stop and think about what Barry Brust was dealing with all night. They scored a goal on the power play, but gave up three goals on the penalty kill.
Yeah, this isn’t the type of game that this season’s Houston Aeros normally win. But win they did. And in doing so, they won not only the most exciting game of this season, but also the final home game of this calendar year.
It was a game in which the Syracuse Crunch got the first goal -- a power play goal midway through the first period that Barry Brust didn’t appear to have a chance at stopping. The Aeros tied the game at 15:27 when Ryan Lannon got his first goal since the 2007-08 season when he was with the Wilkes-Barre/Scanton Penguins (paper demands fulfilled by Dunder-Mifflin). Lannon’s high shot from the circle just cleared the top pipe and bounced back out onto the ice almost immediately. But it was a goal nevertheless.
Syracuse took the 2-1 lead in the first, but Andy Hilbert, who had been close to scoring the entire night, got a beauty of a pass from Chad Rau and slipped the puck into the net to tie the score at 2-2 (it’s a shame they didn’t show the replay of this goal inside Toyota Center because it really appeared to be pretty damn nice. The Aeros then took the lead at 15:15 when Jon DiSalvatore got the power play goal when he knocked in the rebound of a Hilbert shot.
Syracuse tied the game on a power play goal just 44 seconds into the third when Bates Battaglia went five hole. And two minutes later, the Crunch took the 4-3 lead when Tomas Kana fired the puck past Brust -- once again, on a power play. But the Aeros didn’t quit and Jean-Michel Daoust, after having several shots bounce off various portions of the pipe, finally knocked one into the net at 4:05.
And there it stayed until 52 seconds into the OT when J.P. Testwuide, who had earned his first professional point earlier in the night when he assisted on Daoust’s goal, got a pass from DiSalvatore and launched the puck for the goal. A goal which was also his first goal as a professional.
“It was kind of late in my shift,” Testwuide said. “I just came in off the half-wall. We had a guy drive the middle lane, I think it was Daoust, he was driving down, and I knew if I just got the puck there, I’d probably get a whack at it and he might get a whack at it. And luckily it snuck right under his arm.”
It wasn’t the kind of win that Kevin Constantine wants to see from his team every night, but it’s still a win, and neither he nor his guys are going to turn away two points.
“And I’ll give them credit,” Constantine said of his team. “We kept battling. It’s hard to win when you don’t score first. That was only our third win all year when we don’t score first. So it’s hard to win, anytime in hockey, any team you’re playing, when you don’t score first. And we managed to hang in there long enough to find a way to win the game, so that was good.”
With the win, the Aeros are now 17-14-2-1 (37 points) on the season. They’re just two points away from being part of the huge logjam for second place -- Peoria, Milwaukee, and Rockford -- are all tied with 39 points. And with two straight losses, the Stars are now only seven points up on Houston.
The Aeros will finish the calendar year out on the road. They play in Chicago on Wednesday, Rockford on Thursday, and Milwaukee on Friday -- Happy New Year! They’re back home on Sunday for their first game ever against the Abbotsford Heat.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
It would be easy to say that Barry Brust didn’t have the best of games between the pipes. After all, he surrendered four goals. But three of those goals were on the penalty kill, and at many times, he appeared to get let down by his defense. And think, if not for Brusty’s play, the score might have been much, much worse.
“If you looked at that game though, we still probably gave up nine odd-man attacks, six two-on-ones, add another five-six three-on-twos, those came in bunches,” Kevin Constantine said afterwards. “So if you looked at about a five minute segment of that game, it wasn’t good at all. But if you looked at the other fifty-five minutes, we were better than we were the other night.”
But if not for Brust, those five minutes might have destroyed the team. As it is, while he’s happy with the win, Constantine’s still not happy with his team.
“I had exhausted my intensity in the last two days,” he said. “I really was disappointed in both of our last games. We talked long and serious as a team about our last two performances prior to this. I mean, we got a win against Grand Rapids, but lucky. And didn’t play well the other night. So I think our guys were really determined to be a better team tonight.”
One line that Constantine’s happy with, though, is the line anchored by Andy Hilbert. I’ve been watching this line the past several games, and it’s often seemed to me that they’ve been just inches away from breaking out for a big game from the unit. So tonight we had Rau setting up a Hilbert goal. We had Hilbert setting up Jon DiSalvatore and Jean-Michel Daoust. And Daoust got the game-tying goal.
But leave it to Constantine to set me right by noting that this is something that’s been happening for the past ten games, at least offensively, though he hasn’t exactly been thrilled with their defensive intensity.
“I think, over the last 10 games, his line, and he, have been very good offensively,” he said. “They’ve had a little bit of a struggle, as a line, in their own end, but offensively, they’ve been very, very good. And Andy [Hilbert] was very determined tonight. He’s a really good guy, and he’s a good leader, and he really cares. I think he wanted to do something, to make a contribution, to kind of get our team playing a little better. Obviously we needed his points tonight. So he was a big part of this win.”
I talked to Hilbert after the game, and he agreed with Constantine’s conclusions.
“As a line, I think we played well,” he said. “The last couple of games we’ve had a couple of rough games for our line in particular. Tonight, I thought we played well, but I thought the whole team played well tonight.”
Constantine noted Hilbert’s leadership qualities. And how much he wanted to contribute tonight. Hilbert says that just how he plays.
“That’s how I think I like to lead, by example. I’m not a huge rah-rah guy. I think, if you go out and work hard, and other guys see that you’re out there contributing, working hard, doing the little things, it just filters on down through the entire team.”
****************
How about that game by J.P. Testwuide? The rookie got some nice playing time during the playoffs last season, but he has yet to score any professional points. Until tonight.
“It was just a good pass by [DiSalvatore],” he said of his goal “He gave it to me, kind of, at the beginning. And then he got open, and I gave it back to him. A great play. Luckily it snuck in there.”
Constantine noted that neither Testwuide or Lannon -- who had his first goal in two seasons -- are on the team to score, but he’ll gladly take their contributions on that end.
“We had two [defensemen] score their first goals,” Constantine said. “Nice to get contributions from those guys. We don’t expect them to have to worry about that, but when they can contribute like that, it’s great.”
**************
Here are some miscellaneous stats. Tonight was the first time 12/26/08, in a 5-3 loss in San Antonio, that the Aeros have allowed three power play goals in one game. It was also, according to Constantine, only the third game this season that the Aeros have won after giving up the first goal.
With his goal, DiSalvatore joined Daoust as the team’s only 10-goal scorers this season. Didn’t Kolanos have 10 goals after five games last year? Hilbert now has 12 points for his last 10 games (3-9=12). Daoust has nine points for his last 10 games (6-3=9). Chad Rau has eight points for his last 10 (3-5=8). Max Noreau has nine points for his last 19 (5-4=10). Jon DiSalvatore has eight points (7-1=8) for his last 10.
*******************
Now excuse me while I go off on a rant….
I would like to once again thank Jamie Spencer with the Wild for getting us the weekday game replays. But maybe he needs to have a talk with them and ask them to actually replay the Aeros goals. For some strange reason, the first two Aeros goals weren’t replayed tonight. I would have really liked to have seen Hilbert’s goal again as it looked like a great play by Hilbert and Rau in real time.
But then again, I don’t want to detract from the Kiss Cam, I guess.
******************
And The Beatles video is really easy tonight. This game was kind of like one we saw last season. Lots of scoring, some lousy defense, and lots of dramatics. So I say tonight’s game calls for “Get Back.”
Happy New Year everbody. Thanks for reading. And please, may 2010 be a better year than 2009 has been.
Now that out of the way…
The Houston Aeros won a game tonight that they normally shouldn’t have won. They got the 5-4 OT win while getting help from some unlikely sources -- Ryan Lannon and J.P. Testwuide -- and some expected sources who appear to be beginning to heat up a bit. They had what appeared to be some bad goalie play, until you stop and think about what Barry Brust was dealing with all night. They scored a goal on the power play, but gave up three goals on the penalty kill.
Yeah, this isn’t the type of game that this season’s Houston Aeros normally win. But win they did. And in doing so, they won not only the most exciting game of this season, but also the final home game of this calendar year.
It was a game in which the Syracuse Crunch got the first goal -- a power play goal midway through the first period that Barry Brust didn’t appear to have a chance at stopping. The Aeros tied the game at 15:27 when Ryan Lannon got his first goal since the 2007-08 season when he was with the Wilkes-Barre/Scanton Penguins (paper demands fulfilled by Dunder-Mifflin). Lannon’s high shot from the circle just cleared the top pipe and bounced back out onto the ice almost immediately. But it was a goal nevertheless.
Syracuse took the 2-1 lead in the first, but Andy Hilbert, who had been close to scoring the entire night, got a beauty of a pass from Chad Rau and slipped the puck into the net to tie the score at 2-2 (it’s a shame they didn’t show the replay of this goal inside Toyota Center because it really appeared to be pretty damn nice. The Aeros then took the lead at 15:15 when Jon DiSalvatore got the power play goal when he knocked in the rebound of a Hilbert shot.
Syracuse tied the game on a power play goal just 44 seconds into the third when Bates Battaglia went five hole. And two minutes later, the Crunch took the 4-3 lead when Tomas Kana fired the puck past Brust -- once again, on a power play. But the Aeros didn’t quit and Jean-Michel Daoust, after having several shots bounce off various portions of the pipe, finally knocked one into the net at 4:05.
And there it stayed until 52 seconds into the OT when J.P. Testwuide, who had earned his first professional point earlier in the night when he assisted on Daoust’s goal, got a pass from DiSalvatore and launched the puck for the goal. A goal which was also his first goal as a professional.
“It was kind of late in my shift,” Testwuide said. “I just came in off the half-wall. We had a guy drive the middle lane, I think it was Daoust, he was driving down, and I knew if I just got the puck there, I’d probably get a whack at it and he might get a whack at it. And luckily it snuck right under his arm.”
It wasn’t the kind of win that Kevin Constantine wants to see from his team every night, but it’s still a win, and neither he nor his guys are going to turn away two points.
“And I’ll give them credit,” Constantine said of his team. “We kept battling. It’s hard to win when you don’t score first. That was only our third win all year when we don’t score first. So it’s hard to win, anytime in hockey, any team you’re playing, when you don’t score first. And we managed to hang in there long enough to find a way to win the game, so that was good.”
With the win, the Aeros are now 17-14-2-1 (37 points) on the season. They’re just two points away from being part of the huge logjam for second place -- Peoria, Milwaukee, and Rockford -- are all tied with 39 points. And with two straight losses, the Stars are now only seven points up on Houston.
The Aeros will finish the calendar year out on the road. They play in Chicago on Wednesday, Rockford on Thursday, and Milwaukee on Friday -- Happy New Year! They’re back home on Sunday for their first game ever against the Abbotsford Heat.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
It would be easy to say that Barry Brust didn’t have the best of games between the pipes. After all, he surrendered four goals. But three of those goals were on the penalty kill, and at many times, he appeared to get let down by his defense. And think, if not for Brusty’s play, the score might have been much, much worse.
“If you looked at that game though, we still probably gave up nine odd-man attacks, six two-on-ones, add another five-six three-on-twos, those came in bunches,” Kevin Constantine said afterwards. “So if you looked at about a five minute segment of that game, it wasn’t good at all. But if you looked at the other fifty-five minutes, we were better than we were the other night.”
But if not for Brust, those five minutes might have destroyed the team. As it is, while he’s happy with the win, Constantine’s still not happy with his team.
“I had exhausted my intensity in the last two days,” he said. “I really was disappointed in both of our last games. We talked long and serious as a team about our last two performances prior to this. I mean, we got a win against Grand Rapids, but lucky. And didn’t play well the other night. So I think our guys were really determined to be a better team tonight.”
One line that Constantine’s happy with, though, is the line anchored by Andy Hilbert. I’ve been watching this line the past several games, and it’s often seemed to me that they’ve been just inches away from breaking out for a big game from the unit. So tonight we had Rau setting up a Hilbert goal. We had Hilbert setting up Jon DiSalvatore and Jean-Michel Daoust. And Daoust got the game-tying goal.
But leave it to Constantine to set me right by noting that this is something that’s been happening for the past ten games, at least offensively, though he hasn’t exactly been thrilled with their defensive intensity.
“I think, over the last 10 games, his line, and he, have been very good offensively,” he said. “They’ve had a little bit of a struggle, as a line, in their own end, but offensively, they’ve been very, very good. And Andy [Hilbert] was very determined tonight. He’s a really good guy, and he’s a good leader, and he really cares. I think he wanted to do something, to make a contribution, to kind of get our team playing a little better. Obviously we needed his points tonight. So he was a big part of this win.”
I talked to Hilbert after the game, and he agreed with Constantine’s conclusions.
“As a line, I think we played well,” he said. “The last couple of games we’ve had a couple of rough games for our line in particular. Tonight, I thought we played well, but I thought the whole team played well tonight.”
Constantine noted Hilbert’s leadership qualities. And how much he wanted to contribute tonight. Hilbert says that just how he plays.
“That’s how I think I like to lead, by example. I’m not a huge rah-rah guy. I think, if you go out and work hard, and other guys see that you’re out there contributing, working hard, doing the little things, it just filters on down through the entire team.”
****************
How about that game by J.P. Testwuide? The rookie got some nice playing time during the playoffs last season, but he has yet to score any professional points. Until tonight.
“It was just a good pass by [DiSalvatore],” he said of his goal “He gave it to me, kind of, at the beginning. And then he got open, and I gave it back to him. A great play. Luckily it snuck in there.”
Constantine noted that neither Testwuide or Lannon -- who had his first goal in two seasons -- are on the team to score, but he’ll gladly take their contributions on that end.
“We had two [defensemen] score their first goals,” Constantine said. “Nice to get contributions from those guys. We don’t expect them to have to worry about that, but when they can contribute like that, it’s great.”
**************
Here are some miscellaneous stats. Tonight was the first time 12/26/08, in a 5-3 loss in San Antonio, that the Aeros have allowed three power play goals in one game. It was also, according to Constantine, only the third game this season that the Aeros have won after giving up the first goal.
With his goal, DiSalvatore joined Daoust as the team’s only 10-goal scorers this season. Didn’t Kolanos have 10 goals after five games last year? Hilbert now has 12 points for his last 10 games (3-9=12). Daoust has nine points for his last 10 games (6-3=9). Chad Rau has eight points for his last 10 (3-5=8). Max Noreau has nine points for his last 19 (5-4=10). Jon DiSalvatore has eight points (7-1=8) for his last 10.
*******************
Now excuse me while I go off on a rant….
I would like to once again thank Jamie Spencer with the Wild for getting us the weekday game replays. But maybe he needs to have a talk with them and ask them to actually replay the Aeros goals. For some strange reason, the first two Aeros goals weren’t replayed tonight. I would have really liked to have seen Hilbert’s goal again as it looked like a great play by Hilbert and Rau in real time.
But then again, I don’t want to detract from the Kiss Cam, I guess.
******************
And The Beatles video is really easy tonight. This game was kind of like one we saw last season. Lots of scoring, some lousy defense, and lots of dramatics. So I say tonight’s game calls for “Get Back.”
Happy New Year everbody. Thanks for reading. And please, may 2010 be a better year than 2009 has been.
Monday, December 28, 2009
Right, so... about that 5-4 OT win over Syracuse
Barry either needs to be UP for good or ... well, he just needs to be up for good, because I'm working WAY too hard during these games to get my goalie a win.
Every goal that goes against the Aeros, I'm WILLING with every fiber of my being, the boys to even up the score. And while they did it every time, I'm not sure that's really a sustainable expectation. Who am I kidding? It's absolutely not a sustainable expectation with this low-scoring team. It took two rather unlikely scorers in Testwuide and Lannon to make it happen.
That love from the hockey gods that I promised? There it is. Say thank you.
And hey, betcha nobody went home complaining about a boring game, did ya? It was maybe ... too exciting? Okay, I'm just never happy, am I? :)
One thing I realized, and got Stat Boy (Andrew) to confirm, was that this was the highest number of goals allowed this season while still getting the win. Not sure the value of that stat but I so DON'T have a brain for stats, so I was happy to come up with that.
But here's one that didn't go in. End of the second, lots of pressure in the Aeros end, have that feeling in the pit of my stomach like, "Uh oh, here comes the back-breaker" and then BOOM. Brusty.
I'm not even going to tell you the noises that came out of me on that one, but well... anyway... OMG. If I could marry a save and have its babies, that's the one I'm locking up.
I know, you'd think I'd marry a poke check, but you can't take a poke check home to your parents. The unapologetic bad boy of saves, you don't really want to give the poke access to your savings account, am I right? Would totally party with the poke check though, and maybe get a little tempted by it down the road in a weak moment.
But the glove save... THAT glove save especially... you can feel good about saying 'Yes' to. It's not gonna let you down, but it's still pretty nasty, so you know you won't get bored with it either. ;)
Anyway, big roadie coming up in the mid-west. Hopefully the Aeros penalty kill is hitchhiking around Illinois somewhere and they'll pick it up and use it. That was BRUUUUTAL tonight.
We should have a fun road trip bonus of photos from our Milwaukee-area pal, Chris Jerina. Always fun to see the boys in their road darks and it's nice of Chris to cruise around and catch the games. See ya in a couple of days.
Every goal that goes against the Aeros, I'm WILLING with every fiber of my being, the boys to even up the score. And while they did it every time, I'm not sure that's really a sustainable expectation. Who am I kidding? It's absolutely not a sustainable expectation with this low-scoring team. It took two rather unlikely scorers in Testwuide and Lannon to make it happen.
That love from the hockey gods that I promised? There it is. Say thank you.
And hey, betcha nobody went home complaining about a boring game, did ya? It was maybe ... too exciting? Okay, I'm just never happy, am I? :)
One thing I realized, and got Stat Boy (Andrew) to confirm, was that this was the highest number of goals allowed this season while still getting the win. Not sure the value of that stat but I so DON'T have a brain for stats, so I was happy to come up with that.
But here's one that didn't go in. End of the second, lots of pressure in the Aeros end, have that feeling in the pit of my stomach like, "Uh oh, here comes the back-breaker" and then BOOM. Brusty.
I'm not even going to tell you the noises that came out of me on that one, but well... anyway... OMG. If I could marry a save and have its babies, that's the one I'm locking up.I know, you'd think I'd marry a poke check, but you can't take a poke check home to your parents. The unapologetic bad boy of saves, you don't really want to give the poke access to your savings account, am I right? Would totally party with the poke check though, and maybe get a little tempted by it down the road in a weak moment.
But the glove save... THAT glove save especially... you can feel good about saying 'Yes' to. It's not gonna let you down, but it's still pretty nasty, so you know you won't get bored with it either. ;)
Anyway, big roadie coming up in the mid-west. Hopefully the Aeros penalty kill is hitchhiking around Illinois somewhere and they'll pick it up and use it. That was BRUUUUTAL tonight.
We should have a fun road trip bonus of photos from our Milwaukee-area pal, Chris Jerina. Always fun to see the boys in their road darks and it's nice of Chris to cruise around and catch the games. See ya in a couple of days.
Aeros on Channel 2
The boys don't get on TV too often, so when it does happen, you have to savor it.
You also have to take it with a grain of salt. This interview included a question about why the guys room stinks so bad and a promise (by the interviewer) that Kassian was going to beat the whole of Syracuse up Monday night. Lovely.
Anyway, I apologize for the extreme low-techness of this (recording it off the tv) but that's the best I've got. Maybe the team will provide better footage, but if you're like me, you want it Right.F**king.Now.
And RFN you shall have it.
Here's the intro that showed Brusty's poke check that made me swoon Saturday night:
And here's the interview in all its glory (but here's a much better version of it on CH 2's web site):
You also have to take it with a grain of salt. This interview included a question about why the guys room stinks so bad and a promise (by the interviewer) that Kassian was going to beat the whole of Syracuse up Monday night. Lovely.
Anyway, I apologize for the extreme low-techness of this (recording it off the tv) but that's the best I've got. Maybe the team will provide better footage, but if you're like me, you want it Right.F**king.Now.
And RFN you shall have it.
Here's the intro that showed Brusty's poke check that made me swoon Saturday night:
And here's the interview in all its glory (but here's a much better version of it on CH 2's web site):
Sunday, December 27, 2009
A Reader Request: Comfortably Numb
Forecheck, you requested it, so here it is. Pink Floyd's "Comfortably Numb."
Good choice by the way. Some of the guys did appear to be a bit numb for the first part of the game -- if they played the first 10 minutes of the first like they played the rest of the game, then the result would have probably been a bit different.
And as Andrew and I noted below, Constantine's aware of the issue, and he's trying to figure out what to do about it.
Good choice by the way. Some of the guys did appear to be a bit numb for the first part of the game -- if they played the first 10 minutes of the first like they played the rest of the game, then the result would have probably been a bit different.
And as Andrew and I noted below, Constantine's aware of the issue, and he's trying to figure out what to do about it.
Special Occasion
Wow, what a night! What a fun game!
What? They lost? Oh.
But... Barry played! Wasn't that awesome?
I literally had to turn the T3I twitter responsibilities over to John because my mind ceased to function once that second goal went in and I saw Brusty gathering his gear to go relieve Khudobin. F**king FINALLY!
It was 100% "get off press row before you cheer inappropriately" the rest of the game. So, even though I was tottering around on 3" stilettos with a jacked up knee, I spent the rest of the game standing (pacing) in the corner down by the net.
And boy was I treated to a show. The Aeros frankly stunk in the first and still kinda stunk defensively in the second, letting several breakaways get down into the Aeros zone. He stopped all of them, one with a big, ballsy poke check that required me to hold on to the railing. :)
And in the third, when San Antonio's Lessard jammed himself into the protective scrum of Aeros in front of Brusty after a whistle, and he took offense and jammed his blocker in Lessard's face, and Lessard took offense to that and started jawing at Brusty as he skated around the back of the net and toward the bench, and Brusty started jawing back... that was great. Man, I've missed that edge in the net.
What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the glass there, but here's my stab at how it went, in classic stick figure form:
Anyway, in spite of the fluky bounce off the boards that set up the game winner, Brusty shook that off and played superbly and kept the team in it breakaway after stupid, fumbling breakaway.
I know why they played Khudobin tonight (or tried to, anyway). He hasn't played in a long while and he's still the #1 goalie in Houston, so it was his start. But knowing how San Antonio games tend to be... crazy, nasty, chippy... I think Brusty was the right goalie to be playing that game. Unlike most goalies, he always seems to be more in his element when things get a little out of control.
-------------------------
I can't wrap up without mentioning the Miss Aeros bikini contest. I won't say that whole affair doesn't gets my feminist hackles up a little bit, but frankly, I'm sure there's plenty I do and say that real feminists would like to thump me on the head for.
So, I get it. You're hot and like attention for being hot. I write pretty well and I like attention for that, so I really do get it. Flaunt your ass-ets.
However, if I could suggest classing up the spectacle a bit by telling the girls what their question will be before they go out so they can have a good answer lined up? I mean, I know they weren't tough questions, but most of the answers were empty-headed enough to get me cringing on top of cringing.
"What do you like about hockey?"
"I personally believe, that U.S. Americans,
are unable to do so,
because uh,
some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps."
(Don't get it? Click here)
But since they were stick figures themselves, I couldn't resist giving y'all a two-fer tonight, because surely we'd have posted some glorious pics from Fred of the lovely ladies. I even gave them boobs. You're welcome.
Anywayyyyy, I know that was a tough game to watch, but I'm going to bed happy. See you on Monday where hopefully the boys have gotten the turkey and rust/rest out of their systems.
What? They lost? Oh.
But... Barry played! Wasn't that awesome?
I literally had to turn the T3I twitter responsibilities over to John because my mind ceased to function once that second goal went in and I saw Brusty gathering his gear to go relieve Khudobin. F**king FINALLY!
It was 100% "get off press row before you cheer inappropriately" the rest of the game. So, even though I was tottering around on 3" stilettos with a jacked up knee, I spent the rest of the game standing (pacing) in the corner down by the net.
And boy was I treated to a show. The Aeros frankly stunk in the first and still kinda stunk defensively in the second, letting several breakaways get down into the Aeros zone. He stopped all of them, one with a big, ballsy poke check that required me to hold on to the railing. :)
And in the third, when San Antonio's Lessard jammed himself into the protective scrum of Aeros in front of Brusty after a whistle, and he took offense and jammed his blocker in Lessard's face, and Lessard took offense to that and started jawing at Brusty as he skated around the back of the net and toward the bench, and Brusty started jawing back... that was great. Man, I've missed that edge in the net.
What I wouldn't give to be a fly on the glass there, but here's my stab at how it went, in classic stick figure form:
Anyway, in spite of the fluky bounce off the boards that set up the game winner, Brusty shook that off and played superbly and kept the team in it breakaway after stupid, fumbling breakaway.
I know why they played Khudobin tonight (or tried to, anyway). He hasn't played in a long while and he's still the #1 goalie in Houston, so it was his start. But knowing how San Antonio games tend to be... crazy, nasty, chippy... I think Brusty was the right goalie to be playing that game. Unlike most goalies, he always seems to be more in his element when things get a little out of control.
-------------------------
I can't wrap up without mentioning the Miss Aeros bikini contest. I won't say that whole affair doesn't gets my feminist hackles up a little bit, but frankly, I'm sure there's plenty I do and say that real feminists would like to thump me on the head for.
So, I get it. You're hot and like attention for being hot. I write pretty well and I like attention for that, so I really do get it. Flaunt your ass-ets.
However, if I could suggest classing up the spectacle a bit by telling the girls what their question will be before they go out so they can have a good answer lined up? I mean, I know they weren't tough questions, but most of the answers were empty-headed enough to get me cringing on top of cringing.
"What do you like about hockey?"
"I personally believe, that U.S. Americans,
are unable to do so,
because uh,
some, people out there, in our nation don’t have maps."
(Don't get it? Click here)
But since they were stick figures themselves, I couldn't resist giving y'all a two-fer tonight, because surely we'd have posted some glorious pics from Fred of the lovely ladies. I even gave them boobs. You're welcome.
Anywayyyyy, I know that was a tough game to watch, but I'm going to bed happy. See you on Monday where hopefully the boys have gotten the turkey and rust/rest out of their systems.
12/26 -- Aeros v. Rampage -- The I've Just Seen A Face Edition
Kevin Constantine has told us over the past several years that one of the games he can never predict is the game after the Christmas break. It’s just one of those wild card games in which he has no idea which of the teams is going to show up, or how the game is going to go. And tonight’s game was a perfect example.
The San Antonio Rampage showed up for the entire game -- they especially showed up for the first period as they were up 2-0 just a little over six minutes into the game, and before many of the 6323 fans in attendance had even found their seats. Then Barry Brust came into the game for the ineffective Anton Khudobin and could only watch helplessly as one of those fluke shots that have haunted Wade Dubielewicz all season went into the net to make the score 3-0 at the 9:05 mark of the first period.
That third goal came about when Brust went behind the net to field the puck and send it out to one of his players. But a weird hop there, and strange bounce there, and the puck was on the stick of the Rampage’s Matt Watkins who easily found the empty net.
“It was kind of riding on the dasher,” Brust said of puck. “And it hit a partition and just popped out front. It’s tough luck. We got a couple of those last year, and didn’t have any against us until tonight.”
Luckily, the first period ended before San Antonio could do any further damage. But the damage they’d done would prove to be more than enough.
A different Aeros team came out for the second period, and it was a team that leveled some hits and found a way to get on the board, the first coming when Jon DiSalvatore took a pass from Nathan Smith then snaked his way through the Rampage defense to score a short-handed goal at 1:44. Then Max Noreau fired a shot from way up high, which with the advantage of what appeared to be a nice screen from Duncan Milroy, got past San Antonio’s Justin Pogge at 16:00 to make the score 3-2.
“We came in the room -- we scored two goals in that period which was huge for us,” Noreau said. “Jon had made a great move on that short-handed goal and that was huge for us getting that first goal, and we were only down by one. One more shot on the net, and it’s a goal and it’s a 3-3 game and we come out with the win.”
But that one more goal was not to be. Houston out-shot San Antonio in the second and third periods, and many of those shots were of a high-percentage variety, but Pogge proved to be just too good as San Antonio got the 4-2 win (the final goal came on a San Antonio empty-netter at 19:00 of the third).
The loss dropped the Aeros record to 16-14-2-1 (35 points) and a disturbing 9-9-1-0 at home. They’re now in fifth place in the West Division, two points behind Rockford, Peoria, and Milwaukee -- who are all tied for second -- but only three points up on sixth place Chicago. They’ll next play on Monday night when they host the Syracuse Crunch at 7:05.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
As Andrew mentioned below, Constantine is displeased with the effort of some of his forwards, though he didn’t name names. And it’s a trend that he’s noticed over the past several games. He specifically mentioned the Grand Rapids game.
“We finished the break with a win, but gave up a lot chances against Grand Rapids,” he said. “So it was nice to get the win. But there were little signs of stuff, and I don’t know, if we had checked out a little in the Grand Rapids game. If you remember we had a really poor start -- a bad start to the third period. I don’t know if we had checked out a little bit there, and I don’t know if we’d checked back in yet either. I know that there are circumstances around those, but the trend of the two games, is concerning.”
There are several things bothering him -- a lack of physical play, and a tendency to give up the first goal on the first shot of the game.
“You can take the obvious, which is pucks, lot of first shots or first scoring chances have gone in on us in the last five games,” he told us. “There’s a goalie readiness issue in that. Our physical play is down significantly over the last couple of games. So there is a compete factor for the forwards. There’s some guys whose game has flattened out a little bit or dipped a little bit, so there’s some individual guys whose performance is down right now. There’s a combination of a lot of stuff, and you don’t know exactly how to look at it when you have the circumstances of the break. So you have to grind our way back into the playing the we know we can play.”
I also talked to assistant coach/assistant GM Troy Ward a bit after the game for a piece I’m doing for the mothership next week. And he noted that there’s still a problem with some of the guys who are new to the team still trying to do things their own way a bit too much. He said that last year, guys like Krys Kolanos and Corey Locke had the ability -- especially on the power play -- to do things their own way and still get the points whereas some of these guys -- once again, not naming names -- just don’t have that ability. His hope, and belief, is that guys like Brandon Rogers, Max Noreau, and Danny Irmen -- guys who know Constantine’s system -- will be able to get the newcomers to trust in the Constantine system because they know it works.
****************
As you might have noticed, Barry Brust made his return to action for the Aeros, playing his first game in a Aeros sweater since last March. And except for that fluke goal in the first, he was perfect, keeping the team in the game and giving them a chance to win.
“He was great,” Constantine said. “He had the weird goal against, but -- we gave up two breakaways at the start of the second period and it’s over because then it’s four-nothing [unless Brust makes the save], so we didn’t even have a prayer unless he made five or six big saves to give us at least a chance to come back.”
And as Max Noreau stated, it was a great game for goalies: “[Justin Pogge] made some great saves out there and kept them in the game. Brusty did the same thing for us in the third period and the second when we gave up a couple of breakaways. The goalies played a huge part in the game tonight. Hopefully we’ll get better bounces next game.”
As for Brust, let’s just say that Heather wasn’t the only one happy to see him back in action. For one thing, he’s always a good guy to talk to in the locker room after the game, win or lose, but he’s also fun to watch out on the ice.
And while I’m sure Brust was happy to be back, I’m pretty sure that this is not the way he wanted to make his return. However, playing for Kevin Constantine, a goalie has to follow the Boy Scout motto and always be prepared.
“Here the coaches aren’t afraid to pull the goalie,” Brust said. “So you pretty much have to be ready, no matter what. You’re always into [the game], trying to talk on the bench and stuff like that, and try to stay into it mentally.”
As for the loss, Brust was philosophical: “We battled hard, but the hockey gods didn’t want to give us this one tonight.”
****************
From reading the comments, I can tell that some of you are a bit upset about tonight’s Bikini Contest. Especially with it coming right after Christmas. My response: GET OVER IT. First, the team generally has a great attendance on the night of this contest, so that means there are plenty of people who like it. And I wouldn’t expect them to do anything about a promotion that increases attendance. Second, this isn’t the first time they’ve had this contest on the first game back from the Christmas break. They did it at the same time last season, and they’ve had it on this same night in other seasons.
I’m generally not one to defend the team when it comes to promotions, etc., but anything that helps the attendance and doesn’t detract from the game -- like a lot of the promotions do -- isn’t a bad thing. You didn’t have to walk around a bunch of dogs, you didn’t have to miss work to attend an 11:00 game so school kids could attend, they didn’t have to stop play for many, many minutes to clear teddy bears off of the ice, and you didn’t have to deal with several annoying choirs singing the same damn song during intermissions.
*****************
Forecheck, I noted your request for Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” That’s nice, so nice, that I’m going to give that it’s own post, primarily because, several months ago, I set myself a goal of trying to find a suitable Beatles song to play after every game, without repeating a song.
That brings us to tonight’s game. So in honor of several women I know swooning over the appearance of Mr. Brust in goal, and in honor of the guys who were swooning over the young ladies in the Miss Aeros contest, here’s The Beatles with "I've Just Seen A Face.”
The San Antonio Rampage showed up for the entire game -- they especially showed up for the first period as they were up 2-0 just a little over six minutes into the game, and before many of the 6323 fans in attendance had even found their seats. Then Barry Brust came into the game for the ineffective Anton Khudobin and could only watch helplessly as one of those fluke shots that have haunted Wade Dubielewicz all season went into the net to make the score 3-0 at the 9:05 mark of the first period.
That third goal came about when Brust went behind the net to field the puck and send it out to one of his players. But a weird hop there, and strange bounce there, and the puck was on the stick of the Rampage’s Matt Watkins who easily found the empty net.
“It was kind of riding on the dasher,” Brust said of puck. “And it hit a partition and just popped out front. It’s tough luck. We got a couple of those last year, and didn’t have any against us until tonight.”
Luckily, the first period ended before San Antonio could do any further damage. But the damage they’d done would prove to be more than enough.
A different Aeros team came out for the second period, and it was a team that leveled some hits and found a way to get on the board, the first coming when Jon DiSalvatore took a pass from Nathan Smith then snaked his way through the Rampage defense to score a short-handed goal at 1:44. Then Max Noreau fired a shot from way up high, which with the advantage of what appeared to be a nice screen from Duncan Milroy, got past San Antonio’s Justin Pogge at 16:00 to make the score 3-2.
“We came in the room -- we scored two goals in that period which was huge for us,” Noreau said. “Jon had made a great move on that short-handed goal and that was huge for us getting that first goal, and we were only down by one. One more shot on the net, and it’s a goal and it’s a 3-3 game and we come out with the win.”
But that one more goal was not to be. Houston out-shot San Antonio in the second and third periods, and many of those shots were of a high-percentage variety, but Pogge proved to be just too good as San Antonio got the 4-2 win (the final goal came on a San Antonio empty-netter at 19:00 of the third).
The loss dropped the Aeros record to 16-14-2-1 (35 points) and a disturbing 9-9-1-0 at home. They’re now in fifth place in the West Division, two points behind Rockford, Peoria, and Milwaukee -- who are all tied for second -- but only three points up on sixth place Chicago. They’ll next play on Monday night when they host the Syracuse Crunch at 7:05.
SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:
As Andrew mentioned below, Constantine is displeased with the effort of some of his forwards, though he didn’t name names. And it’s a trend that he’s noticed over the past several games. He specifically mentioned the Grand Rapids game.
“We finished the break with a win, but gave up a lot chances against Grand Rapids,” he said. “So it was nice to get the win. But there were little signs of stuff, and I don’t know, if we had checked out a little in the Grand Rapids game. If you remember we had a really poor start -- a bad start to the third period. I don’t know if we had checked out a little bit there, and I don’t know if we’d checked back in yet either. I know that there are circumstances around those, but the trend of the two games, is concerning.”
There are several things bothering him -- a lack of physical play, and a tendency to give up the first goal on the first shot of the game.
“You can take the obvious, which is pucks, lot of first shots or first scoring chances have gone in on us in the last five games,” he told us. “There’s a goalie readiness issue in that. Our physical play is down significantly over the last couple of games. So there is a compete factor for the forwards. There’s some guys whose game has flattened out a little bit or dipped a little bit, so there’s some individual guys whose performance is down right now. There’s a combination of a lot of stuff, and you don’t know exactly how to look at it when you have the circumstances of the break. So you have to grind our way back into the playing the we know we can play.”
I also talked to assistant coach/assistant GM Troy Ward a bit after the game for a piece I’m doing for the mothership next week. And he noted that there’s still a problem with some of the guys who are new to the team still trying to do things their own way a bit too much. He said that last year, guys like Krys Kolanos and Corey Locke had the ability -- especially on the power play -- to do things their own way and still get the points whereas some of these guys -- once again, not naming names -- just don’t have that ability. His hope, and belief, is that guys like Brandon Rogers, Max Noreau, and Danny Irmen -- guys who know Constantine’s system -- will be able to get the newcomers to trust in the Constantine system because they know it works.
****************
As you might have noticed, Barry Brust made his return to action for the Aeros, playing his first game in a Aeros sweater since last March. And except for that fluke goal in the first, he was perfect, keeping the team in the game and giving them a chance to win.
“He was great,” Constantine said. “He had the weird goal against, but -- we gave up two breakaways at the start of the second period and it’s over because then it’s four-nothing [unless Brust makes the save], so we didn’t even have a prayer unless he made five or six big saves to give us at least a chance to come back.”
And as Max Noreau stated, it was a great game for goalies: “[Justin Pogge] made some great saves out there and kept them in the game. Brusty did the same thing for us in the third period and the second when we gave up a couple of breakaways. The goalies played a huge part in the game tonight. Hopefully we’ll get better bounces next game.”
As for Brust, let’s just say that Heather wasn’t the only one happy to see him back in action. For one thing, he’s always a good guy to talk to in the locker room after the game, win or lose, but he’s also fun to watch out on the ice.
And while I’m sure Brust was happy to be back, I’m pretty sure that this is not the way he wanted to make his return. However, playing for Kevin Constantine, a goalie has to follow the Boy Scout motto and always be prepared.
“Here the coaches aren’t afraid to pull the goalie,” Brust said. “So you pretty much have to be ready, no matter what. You’re always into [the game], trying to talk on the bench and stuff like that, and try to stay into it mentally.”
As for the loss, Brust was philosophical: “We battled hard, but the hockey gods didn’t want to give us this one tonight.”
****************
From reading the comments, I can tell that some of you are a bit upset about tonight’s Bikini Contest. Especially with it coming right after Christmas. My response: GET OVER IT. First, the team generally has a great attendance on the night of this contest, so that means there are plenty of people who like it. And I wouldn’t expect them to do anything about a promotion that increases attendance. Second, this isn’t the first time they’ve had this contest on the first game back from the Christmas break. They did it at the same time last season, and they’ve had it on this same night in other seasons.
I’m generally not one to defend the team when it comes to promotions, etc., but anything that helps the attendance and doesn’t detract from the game -- like a lot of the promotions do -- isn’t a bad thing. You didn’t have to walk around a bunch of dogs, you didn’t have to miss work to attend an 11:00 game so school kids could attend, they didn’t have to stop play for many, many minutes to clear teddy bears off of the ice, and you didn’t have to deal with several annoying choirs singing the same damn song during intermissions.
*****************
Forecheck, I noted your request for Pink Floyd’s “Comfortably Numb.” That’s nice, so nice, that I’m going to give that it’s own post, primarily because, several months ago, I set myself a goal of trying to find a suitable Beatles song to play after every game, without repeating a song.
That brings us to tonight’s game. So in honor of several women I know swooning over the appearance of Mr. Brust in goal, and in honor of the guys who were swooning over the young ladies in the Miss Aeros contest, here’s The Beatles with "I've Just Seen A Face.”
Saturday, December 26, 2009
View from the Press Box; Aeros 2, San Antonio 4
No matter how good the Aeros looked in the second period, Saturday's game was over after 10 minutes.
A three-goal deficit for a goal-challenged team is just too much. And that is exactly what happened en route to another half-hearted effort at home.
Maybe the Aeros out to model their jerseys after the t-shirt pictured left.
Right now, there is concern over how several players on the team have let off the gas in recent games. Constantine would not out anyone to the press, but he specifically mentioned a lack of physicality and how there were signs that certain forwards are not competing.
"Our physical play is down significantly the last couple of games," said Constantine. "That is a compete factor for the forwards ... there are some guys that I think whose game is flattened out or has dipped a little bit. There are some individual guys whose games are down right now."
Perhaps MORE concerning is the Aeros recent problem of giving up a goal when the other team gets their first scoring chance of the game. Before the game tonight, I told Heather that she was going to see Barry play tonight if the Aeros came out flat.
The first games after the Christmas break are always tough for goalies, and I knew KC would go to Brust if Anton could not save the team's bacon early on.
The defense was bad, the goalie was bad ... everyone was bad. Consider this quote from Duncan Milroy:
"Tonight, I just think we shot ourselves in the foot. We were awful in the first period, and teams in this league will bury you if you are not prepared to play 60 minutes."
I know the team is tired of this up-down, up-down garbage at home. If the Aeros don't so something to fix that immediately, they are going to be the last place team no one wants to lose to.
Obviously the coaches are not going to out any individuals to the media. I think that is the way to go. I have my idea of who they are talking about. Who do you think needs to pick up their game?
It's Bikini Night
As if you needed more of a reason to attend tonight's game, it's the annual Bikini Contest tonight. And no, Heidi Klum won't be here, damn it, but she really knows how to wear a bikini.
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