Weekend wrap-up and Photos

The boys in the bomber sweaters survived (barely) another rough patch in the schedule and head home for a few days of recovery before getting hit with 2 weeks in a row of weekend 3-in-3s. Luckily the first one is at home. The next one, however, is another swing through the midwest.

Frankly, I'm getting a little tired of the midwestern teams. Can we get Abbotsford back? :)

After Wednesday's game, many of the guys were pretty well beat up. A few were missing, such as Colton Gillies, who got a 2 game suspension from the league for his hit on Peoria's Lampman Wednesday, and Max Noreau, who's home resting up that banged up arm.

Against a tough Milwaukee team Friday, it was just too heavy a burden. Sliced and Diced Brusty was on the bench in favor of Ryan Nie, the call-up from ECHL Kalamazoo, who was out of his league, allowing 5 goals on 19 shots. I'd say more about the game but honestly, I didn't watch most of it. But the ASS guys were there, obviously, so you can read their report.

And of course, being in Milwaukee, Chris "Tell It Like It Is" Jerina has some fantastic photos for us. If you pretend real hard, you can't tell how bad the game was.

Let's just get the ugly out of the way: Here's Nie getting scored on. Also, honestly, it's time to get the red paint out, Milwaukee. Save the dinged up nets for rec leaguers and practices. Have some nice ones for game time. Ya look like a slob.


Petr Kalus scheming on some mischief


Mmmmm, garlic bread sticks! And Ryan "Son of a" Gunderson!



Kassian puts a hurting on Guite
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Now, on to last night's game in Grand Rapids... GR is, quite simply, beatable. Sometimes you can have a less than stellar goalie, but make up for it to some degree with great defensive play. But really, GR has neither and the even-more-tired Aeros were able to take advantage of that and come back from a 2 goal deficit for the win.

Brusty was back in net and still looking a little gingerly with that sliced leg in the first. He seemed to settle in as the game went on, and the guys in front of him battled despite the fatigue and kept the load fairly light at 22 shots.

It was just a good solid team win last night, and a great chance to get a feel for GR, as they are in Houston Friday and Saturday for the rematch.

I'd love to go into the whole "what does the outcome of this latest batch of games mean for the playoffs" but to be honest, that's just not my bailiwick. I'll give it a shot, but don't expect it to be Ferraro or Royal quality.

I can tell you the Aeros are a measly 6 points out of first place and a sweep of Grand Rapids could be a real boon, but more important are the 2 games against Chicago, and then one each with Peoria and Milwaukee coming right after that.

I don't see Texas falling much from the top of the division, especially when they get Brent Krahn back later this month (he was out with a sports hernia, had surgery, and is back skating now).

Rockford is good and sitting at #2, but they've played 55 games meaning Texas has 4 games in hand on them at the moment. But below them is where the battle for the last two playoff spots will happen. Milwaukee, Chicago, Houston, Peoria.

San Antonio could surge, and they do have only 50 games played so far, which means games in hand with which to surge.

But clearly we're down the the final 25-30 games where all that first half of the season spent building chemistry, finding an identity, learning The Constantine Way, etc. have to start coming together consistently. They've won 7 of their last 10, so that bodes pretty well.

Hey, you know who's an amazing "crunch time/back against the wall" goalie? Some guy named Barry Brust. How about it, Jim? What else does he have to do?

Okay, just saying my peace there...




Oh and before I close this out, Khudobin had his first NHL start last night and was spectacular, stopping 38 of 39 shots in the win over the Philly Flyers. He was #1 star of the game and landed in some pretty elite company in the 3 stars of the night for the whole NHL. The spunky little Russian is hot hot hot!

Nie to start for Aeros in Milwaukee tonight

Well, Josh Harding's injury finally opened a door for Barry Brust to stick with the Aeros for a spell, but it looks like his homecoming will entail riding the pine, at least for tonight (though I'd guess tomorrow night, too).

The laceration on his leg from Wednesday, which required 30-some stitches, is just too sore for him play. As such, the team has signed a PTO with Ryan Nie, who has played 21 games this season for the ECHL Kalamazoo Wings, earning a 2.80 GAA and .91 save percentage in that time.

He's even faced Brust in the ECHL this season and ended up winning the game off a 9-round shootout in which only 1 goal was allowed of the 18 shots. Awwww. Git out. That's a tough one.

T3I has confirmed that Nie will get the start tonight, and Andrew will be on a little later with more info, so stay tuned.

As an added note, Max Noreau's x-rays came up negative, so while he won't be with the team this weekend, he also won't be out for 6-8 weeks healing a broken arm. That would have been a devastating blow to this team, so drink your milk, kids, and keep those bones strong.

First-hand account of Khudobin's first NHL game/win

If you follow the Wild, you may already know this but to catch everyone up:

Josh Harding's been having hip problems, Nik Backstrom's been barfing his guts out and has a bad back, and so Dubie and Anton have been up with the Wild.

Tonight against the Edmonton Oilers, Harding says he's okay to go and feels good (and I'm thinking, Yeah right.... even small hip strains take forever to heal and if a hockey player is complaining about pain, it ain't because it's a small one... know what I'm sayin'?) Coach Todd Richards has Khudobin backing him up instead of Dubie.

Midway thru the third period, Harding surrenders the tying goal to put the game 2-2 and is shoved awkwardly into his net. Gets up very slowly but continues. Then with about 8 minutes left, he makes a HUGE diving save and from there... doesn't get up again without assistance and can't put any weight on his left leg.

Hey, guess what, Dimples! You're UP!

He was fantastic. Made 9 saves and looked perfectly cool and collected. But a friend of the blog wrote me an email and gave me the story as he saw it from his seat at the Xcel Center tonight and it's just too great not to share with you guys.

You have to promise not to take away his Man Card for getting "sappy" as he said, but I think if you don't get sappy about seeing a kid we've all watched grow up in the Wild organization finally make his NHL debut, there's something wrong with you.

Just getting home from the game. I did not wear my Aeros jersey, but I should have...

You heard it on TV, but the crowd was absolutely going nuts for Harding when he went down and down hard the first time. When he didn't get back up from that massive, spectacular save, he was getting a standing ovation. I know that sounds weird, but the save he made was amazing, and the crowd knew he was down and not getting back up and showed the respect.

When Khudobin made his first big save, the crowd gave him a standing ovation and that place was LOUD. I mean, I've been there when it's been loud, but the only other time I can remember it being louder was last seasons four minute 5v3 kill against the Canes. Everyone was just *screaming*.

Props to John Scott for helping his good friend off the ice. The look of total concern on the big boys face as he was propping up Harding reminded me of why I absolutely love this sport. You just don't see a collective "we care" holding of the breath as you saw in the team tonight when Harding wasn't getting up. I say props to John Scott, but every single member of the team would have been there to help Josh off.

Anton looked VERY shaky nervous when he took the ice. He didn't face much in the way of a decent shot until that first big save which had the crowd on their feet. We were in Row 17, right at the goal line. My wife and I could see him shaking on every face off near him. He was NERVOUS like you wouldn't believe.

Yet, when push came to shove, he was there. Yeah, you could tell he was nervous, but he was *focused*. I mean, the type of focus where you can tell he is thinking over and over in his head; "I will not let my team down. I will not let my team down." He always had his eye on the puck, he tried to play it but got caught a bit on one and was bailed out by Johnsson (i think).

Needless to say...

Very fine moment to witness.

It's moments like that which remind me why I love this sport.

I thought you would like to know our first hand account.

Oh, and my wife is going to buy a Khudobin Aeros jersey to commemorate it.

*grins*

You can't show more respect than that, in my opinion.

--tim

Honestly? *tears* This is why I LOVE the AHL, to watch these guys go up and live the dreams they've been nurturing here with us is such a gift.

The game moved me but your account moved me even more, Tim, so I really appreciate you sharing it with us. Might want to get the wife a Khudobin WILD jersey.... :)

Here's video of his two bigger saves:





Oh, and here's the cutest interview ever. Come on. Anybody who gives me shit for calling him Dimples... LOOK AT HIM! Adorable.



And here's some links:

Russo's post-game blog
Star-Tribune's game article

About Last Night

Real quick, before I get in trouble...

Here's the mothership post on last night's game, with lots of quotes from Brusty, Jeff Crawford, and Kevin Constantine.

As to Peoria's Bryce Lampman. Sources tell me that he suffered a mild concussion, ten stitches in his eyebrow, and some stitches in his lip.

Later.

The first cut is the deepest

Well, gang, that was a pretty wild game, but I'm sure I'll forget half of it because, well, Brusty was in net and that kinda gives me amnesia about everything else that happened.

I'm just gonna go random-style hitting the high/lowlights for me. I watched the whole game from the corners, by Brusty's net (because as usual, who knows how long we've got him? Must soak it all in. And also, press row was one seat short... or possibly had one scout too many and I figured I'd "sacrifice" and let John and Andrew have the seats... haha).

But that means I didn't see any of the goals for except on replay and had a pretty distorted perspective of most of the offensive play.

I do know that Falk getting a goal was kind of a big deal, right? And in fact, I thought he had quite a good game defensively as well, as did most of the rest of the team. It seemed like most of the failed efforts were happening in the neutral zone, but the boys were great around their own net, as Brusty's near-shutout can attest.

Not to say Brusty didn't play an incredible game, particularly through such challenging circumstances as, well, a giant gash in his leg from a skate.

He got cut with about 5 minutes left in the first period, and was clearly injured. I could tell it was something around the knee, but he kept looking at the outside of his knee and normally if you do something internally to your knee, you don't need to keep making visual inspections. So I wondered if he might have gotten sliced.

Now, think about the mental focus required to play knowing your leg has a big, bleeding gash in it. Not that he had a choice, considering his back-up (no offense, Mr. Crawford) and frankly, Brusty has something to prove with every game he plays in the AHL. I think he proved it tonight.



Though I gotta tell ya, I've never quite been quite as "OMG" as when I walked out of the visitor's tunnel tonight at the start of the second to see back-up goalie Jeff Crawford skating around the net... or quite so relieved to see Brusty finally skating toward the net (amid quite a buzz in the crowd).

I was really just like, "What now?" And actually even started thinking about what other goalies I knew were in the building for the Houston Hockey Series game and whoever else might be there. Weird.

I saw Crawford outside the locker room after the game and really wanted to stop him and say, "Man, you lived so many beer league goalie dreams tonight." I think he knows it though. Just to even open the gate for an AHL team, much less get out there in front of the net for the start of a period and almost get to play? Amazing.

KC made it sound like the plan is to get a local guy to back up again when they head to Milwaukee this weekend, rather than calling up someone the team knows, like Brett Jaeger in CHL Texas. Not sure I agree with that call given the extent of Brusty's cut (30 stitches! OMG!). I know Brusty's in a situation where he really would have to probably have his leg cut off completely before he'd leave a game, but still. Having someone who COULD play a reasonably good pro game sounds better than beer league goalies.

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Also, I wanna give props to Danny Irmen for being in on 3 of the prettiest goals of the season. He had another one tonight. His role in them isn't always super pretty, but he's right there with them on the pretty plays, setting up, going hard to the net. Great stuff!

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It was tough to watch that Gillies hit and ensuing human damage up close tonight. Apparently Gillies was hurt on the play, too, but he'll have plenty of time to heal up while he serves whatever suspension the league hands down.

It looked like the guy he hit is going to be okay, but it's always terrifying to see a player in a motionless heap on the ice like he was. Poor EMT was eating his dinner, too. Somewhere some french fries go wasted.

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Okay, I've gotten about 6 hours of sleep in the last 48 hours. I'm gonna go play dead for a few hours.

2/3/10 -- Aeros v. Rivermen -- A Few Quick Notes

Some quick notes from tonight's game because...I lost my quotes when I sent my story to the mothership and I don't feel like re-transcribing and I really need to get to bed.

The Aeros got the 4-1 win in a must-win game, but it could prove to be very costly. Max Noreau blocked a shot with his left forearm in the second period, and he did not return. He'll be getting X-rays on Thursday. He will not be traveling with the team to Milwaukee on Thursday morning, but he hopes to be able to join the team if the X-rays come out okay. However, if he got a break, he'll probably be out 4-6 weeks.

Jon DiSalvatore missed the game because he was sick. He might travel to Milwaukee. Or might not. Kevin Constantine told us after the game that he has no idea of who'll be on the plane. Colton Gillies is probably facing a suspension. And I saw him come out of the trainer's room, but I don't know the extent of his injury.

Speaking of injuries, the Aeros got lucky with Barry Brust. It looked from the press box like he hurt his right foot, but he got slashed on his thigh right above his right knee. It was really deep and nasty, and he took about 25-30 stitches before he could get back out on the ice. As it was, he needed more work on it after the game. Constantine said that the ref and the Peoria coach gave him an extra two minutes when they didn't have to so that Brust could get back out on the ice.

Jeff Crawford got the call from Troy Ward at about 1:30 asking if he could suit and back up Barry Brust. Crawford said this was a once in a lifetime thing, and that he didn't know that Brust was going to come back out for the second period. His goalie experience has come during Aeros practice where he has filled in at goal when Dubielewicz and Khudobin have been sick or injured. Brust said that, after the season's he had, there was no way he was coming out of the game. And Constantine gave Brust the credit for the win, saying that this was one of those games that was dependent on the goalie to win.

Constantine does not yet know what the team is going to do about a backup goalie in Milwaukee. There's a chance that either Dubielewicz or Khudobin will rejoin the team. If not, Constantine said they would make some calls and check around on who is available in the Milwaukee area. I would suggest they give Tony Hrkac a call and see if he has any recommendations. He also does not yet know what will happen with the forwards, and whether he'll need to find someone along the way.

I have not heard anything further on the condition of Bryce Lampman.

(And please check the mothership tomorrow for quotes from Crawford, Brust, and Constantine).

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.

Brusty back to Houston

This is no big shock.

With Backstrom sick and Harding playing hurt, it looks like Dubielewicz is going to stay with the Wild for the time being.

Anton will probably get the start tonight, and the Naples Daily News reports here that Barry Brust is coming back to Houston to be the backup.

Anticipate Brust staying with the team through Saturday and getting at least one start. The Aeros play three games in four nights, starting tonight against the Rivermen.

Probably two options here:

If Anton starts and plays well (win or lose) tonight, expect him to go Friday at Milwaukee. If he gets lit up and reverts to December Anton, then Barry could get the call Friday.

Or, go with Barry tonight and tell Anton that he is going back-to-back on the road this weekend.

That is the route I would go with the Aeros in the middle of a lot of games. Peoria will be out for destruction, as they lost all three games last weekend, including Saturday's 5-4 SO loss to the eros (a game in which they led 4-0.)

I don't think it would be a good idea to start Anton with the way the Aeros have played when extremely tired this year. They fight fatigue well (try, try and give-a-damn), but they don't play/execute very well ... and they CLEARLY ran out of gas in the third period in Monday's 3-1 win over Abbotsford.

Your thoughts?

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.