Aeros crush Heat in Abby-land

7-1 final tonight was indeed all Aeros, who tied their team-record with five power play goals.
Max Noreau is the first Aero to record five points (2G, 3A) in a game since Kirby Law did the same ting early in the 2005-06 season.

Wade Dubielewicz was solid and Jon DiSalvatore chipped in with three assists.

Now we'll see how the Heat respond in tomorrow's matinee.

An update from the B.C.

This blog has been known to make people smarter, and this post is no exception. Pay attention.

Tonight, the Aeros will play a game farther away from Houston than they ever have before.
Second place goes to Edmonton, when they played the Roadrunners during the lockout year.
Third, believe it or not, is San Francisco when the IHL featured the San Francisco Spiders in 1995-96.
Fourth is Manchester, N.H., where the Aeros have played only one game during the Rob Daum era.

Now that your IQ has been titillated, let's move on to the important stuff.

By now, everybody knows that Josh Harding got hurt keeping the Wild in their game against the Red Wings last night. (Below, you can see the replay of the save(s) Harding made when he got hurt.) Today it was announced that Harding will miss 1-2 weeks with the injury.

Anton Khudobin has been recalled to Minnesota, and Wade Dubielewicz will start the next two games against the Heat in Abbotsford. Now here is the good part. Due to the fact that Barry Brust is 2,662 miles away from the Aeros, the team chose to make one of those proximity signings that coaches always like to talk about.

In this case, a goalie coach from Calgary will be the Aeros backup tonight. If Dubielewicz gets hurt tonight or tomorrow, 41-year old Andrew Neilson (pictured left) will man the pipes for the Aeros.

Brust, however, will not join the Aeros for this trip, and that has to be very disappointing since Barry hails from nearby.

So not only are the Aeros playing further away from the Bayou City than they've every played, they will also employ the oldest goalie they've ever paid.

Thanks to Tony Hrkac, Neilson is not the oldest player ever to dress for the Aeros. I think it's pretty much safe to assume that record will never be broken, unless, you know, Tony gets a call again this spring.

Strong words from Playfair to his goalies

Now this is the kind of stuff writers dig, because it does not happen very often.

The Aeros opponent this weekend, the Abbotsford Heat, completed a stunning comeback in the last game over the Lake Erie Monsters.

They trailed 3-0 and won the game with four third period goals. Before the win, the Heat were 0-13 when trailing after two periods. (Does that sound familiar?)

Even after the win, Heat coach Jim Playfair had some strong words for his goalies.

Here is a link to the story, but below is the great quote that I was talking about before.

"I'm getting sick of changing goaltenders," Playfair said. "I expect one of these guys to get real serious about their careers and to make a heavy push for wanting the responsibilities of the No. 1 goaltender. Other than Keetley in the Texas series (last weekend), I think both goaltenders have been average, and that's not good enough."

As for Keetley's emotional stick-snapping display, Playfair said it was a case of too little, too late.

"Show me some emotion, but do it in the game when you can do something about it," the Heat head coach said.

Brusty TV

Who knows where Barry Brust is going to end up in the next few days?
Right now he is in the ECHL ... but Josh Harding got hurt in the Wild's loss to Detroit Thursday, and the extent of that injury has yet to be revealed.

There is a good chance that he will just stay in Florida, but if the injury to Harding is going to require a trip to the injured list, then he might be back with Houston by next week.

The Naples newspaper did a "get to know" Q&A with Barry recently, and below is the result for your viewing and listening pleasure.

Inspire the Aeros

Now this is crunch time.
No more talk about "this is just another game."
That time has come and gone and since the Aeros did almost nothing with their favorable schedule in December, they are going to have to play some very good hockey in the next 3-5 weeks to make a move.

Schedule wise, they have Five in a row on the road, and then five of seven at home. That is 12 games, and frankly the Aeros need to win about 7 of them.

What can inspire the Aeros?
Post your encouraging words here after my offering.

Did you hear that Brent Krahn and Matt Climie?

I remember reading a lot of foo-foo stuff earlier this year about the Stars and their plethora of goaltending talent inside the organization.

Last night, on his blog, Russo said the Dallas Stars could be a potential suitor for Josh Harding at some point. Interesting thought ... and obviously this is just one guy talking. But the thing that I really laughed out loud about was the following quote (see especially the part in bold) from Russo:

"Dallas is one team that may be interested in Harding at some point. I'm told the Stars like Harding, and it's becoming more and more apparent that Dallas' future will be without Marty Turco. There's not really a goalie of the future inside the organization right now."

AHL Teams; What's in a name

Random off-day posting for you here.
I can't tell you how many times I have wanted to write a similar column.

Mine might have been done a little differently, but this is a pretty funny read from a columnist in Winnipeg. Enjoy!

Houston Press' Max Noreau Feature

Here is a direct link to John's Max Noreau All-Star feature.
Catchy title, too: "Aeros' Max Noreau: From Nowhere To All-Star"

Good quality stuff as always ...

Good luck to Max and Anton tonight and tomorrow at the AHL All-Star festivities.

Here is my favorite quote from the article about getting to where he is from being an undrafted free agent:

"It was a lot of sweat and tears," Noreau said of his efforts. "It wasn't always easy, not getting drafted and not signing with Minnesota right away. They put me to the test, and I'm grateful for that. They gave me a chance. It's going to be a fun week at the All-Star Game."

You'll have to read the rest ... and be sure to leave a comment (compliment) to let John's editors know how much you apprecaite his work.

AHL All Star Skills Competition: Live Chat

I though it might be fun to host a live chat during the All Star festivities this year. Last year I kinda just talked to myself on my blog, but I think this will either be a lot more fun or a total disaster. So, let's see what happens!

I'll kick 'er off at 7 p.m. Central tonight (Monday) right here on this post for the Skills Competition.

The game will be shown on Fox Sports Houston, though if you get the full sports package, there are some HD options that you might enjoy more. Here's the full broadcast shizzle.

1/16/10 -- Aeros v. Toronto -- The With A Little Help From My Friends Edition

Here’s the deal. I’ve got a bad cold. Bad. Heather and Andrew will attest to the large amount of medication that I had sitting in front of me tonight -- as will one of my lucky readers who saw me at the Walgreens buying said medication. So let’s just say I was rather doped up for this game. And that doping up probably, more than anything, explains what I saw tonight.

Not only did the Aeros, at times, resemble a competent offensive team during tonight’s 5-2 Aeros win over the Toronto Marlies, but there were major offensive contributions from Matt Kassian and J.P. Testwuide. I had to imagine Kassian faking out a goalie and getting a goal on a good shot after a pass from Testwuide, right? That was all just part of my drug-induced imagination, right?

I guess not.

Talking to the players after the game, it was clear that they were not happy with what happened in Rockford. They thought the effort was there, but not the result. And tonight they were out to make sure the result matched their effort.

The first period was rather normal for the Aeros. They scratched a goal when Jean-Michel Daoust does what he does best. Be in the right place. This time in front of the goalie as he was able to get his stick on the puck and direct past Toronto’s starting goalie Joey MacDonald at 17:21 with assists from Nathan Smith and Max Noreau.

Then came the second period when the cold medication took hold of me. Matt Kassian got out on a breakaway, and with a pass from Testwuide he faked out MacDonald and got off a nice shot to put Houston up 2-0 at 2:12. Then Nathan Smith stuffed it in at 5:01 to make it 3-0, which brought about MacDonald’s removal in favor of Andrew Engelage. But just over two minutes later, Smith scored off of a rebound to make it 4-0.

At 17:19 of the third, with the Aeros on the penalty kill, Danny Irmen went flying down the ice with the puck. Testwuide followed, Irmen made a nice pass, and Testwuide got the goal to make the score 5-2.

The Aeros are now off for the All-Star break, and they will return to play on Friday when they play the first of two games in Abbotsford against the Heat.

SOME MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Thanks to the losses in Rockford, the Aeros had a bit of a free-fall in the standings. Milwaukee, at 24-13-1-4 (54 points) is in first. Texas, 23-13-2-4 (52 points) is in second. Rockford, thanks to Houston, is in third at 23-18-2-3 (51 points). Chicago at 23-16-0-2 and Peoria at 22-15-1-3 are tied for fourth with 48 points. Then comes Houston with a record of 20-17-6-1 (47 points).

The Aeros aren’t out of the playoff chase. But they know that the Rockford games hurt them, and they knew the importance of getting a win tonight.

“Obviously a big win for us,” Nathan Smith said. “We thought our effort deserved better than what it got on the road trip…take a look at our division and we need the points. Obviously a big win for us heading into the All-Star break.”

J.P. Testwuide agreed: “We went into Rockford, and we were doing a lot of things right. We realized that, but it was frustrating. We couldn’t get the goals. Their goalie stood on his head. There were all of these excuses that we had to kind of battle through. Tonight, it kind of paid off. It was a good win.”

But the win tonight is useless if the team doesn’t find a way to carry it over after the break.

“You always talk about points in November are important,” Kevin Constantine said. “But the reality is, as the season wears on you have less and less games to play, you’ve got less and less of a chance to catch up. We have to play catch up. That’s just the way it’s going to be here.”

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One thing this team needs, what with all of the injuries and call-ups, is for every player on the team to be making a contribution. Nathan Smith had two goals and an assist tonight, Jean-Michel Daoust had a power play goal, and Max Noreau threw in two assists. But it’s guys like Matt Kassian, with a goal, and J.P. Testwuide, with a goal and two assists, that the Aeros are going to need continuing contributions from if the team is to succeed.

“[Matt Kassian] has had his best month by far of his pro career in the last month,” Constantine said. “Two goals [this season]…he’s played the best hockey I’ve seen him play over the last month of his entire pro career….We’ve got so many banged up bodies and bodies gone to the Wild, that everybody has to contribute. Because we’re a not a team that’s going to depend on one or two guys to carry us.”

Constantine is hopeful of having Peter Zingoni, Andy Hilbert, and Jaime Sifers back from injuries when the team returns to play in Abbotsford on Friday, though it sounds as if Zingoni is the closest to returning. It will be big for the Aeros if they can start getting some of these guys back from injury. I can't remember when Zingoni last played, but I do remember that at the start of the season he was really meshing with rookies Cody Almond and Carson McMillan. He wasn't, however, sure of the extent of Jon DiSalvatore's injury.

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The Aeros just missed out on several hat tricks tonight. Nathan Smith was a goal short of the regular hat trick. And with his assist, he was a fight short of the Gordie Howe hat trick. Matt Kassian had a fight early in the first to go with his goal in the second, leaving him an assist short of the Gordie Howe. And Testwuide, with a goal and two assists was just a fight short of the Gordie Howe.

And it was the near Smith hat trick that got a joke out of Constantine which came about after Smith got 10 minutes on a misconduct call in the third.

“I don’t know what Smitty was doing, removing himself from that game for ten minutes at the end,” Constantine said. “I thought he was going to go for the hat trick, but I think he wanted the Gordie Howe hat trick instead.”

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Chad Rau got hit with a five minute major for boarding when he delivered a hit on Toronto’s Joe Ryan in the second period. Ryan was down on the ice for a long time, but the hit didn’t look to be intentional on Rau’s part.

“Take a look at Chad Rau’s stats,” Nathan Smith said. “And he’s not a guy who’s going to try and injure anybody.”

But after Carson McMillan’s four-game suspension earlier this month, it’s probably wise to wonder about what might become of Rau.

And this hit leads to my Douche Of The Game, which is the Toyota Center sound crew.

Seriously, when there’s a player down on the ice, and the medical staff is out on the ice working on said player, and his teammates are surrounding him and everybody is wondering about just how serious the injury is, you really SHOULDN’T be playing “The Chicken Dance.” You shouldn’t be playing any music, but especially not “The Chicken Dance.”

Try having some class for once.

And now that think about it, I'm kind of shocked that some of the people who roam the Toyota Center shouting into microphones during games didn't decide to start making some of their own contributions during that time.

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Since the Aeros were talking about everyone having to pitch in and help out, I thought it was only appropriate that I play The Beatles "With A Little Help From My Friends."