Best Of Houston

Hey readers, the good folks over at the mothership are conducting their annual Best of Houston contest, and one of the categories you can vote is on Best Aero. I can't tell you how to vote, but let's just say that, unless something changed and they didn't tell me, I was the one who actually got to make the official Houston Press selection for this year, and he was a short guy with three initials in his name who I chose as the Best Aero.

So do your American/Canadian duty and vote.

Meanwhile, About The Schedule

I've got a post over at the mothership on the AHL scheduling process for anybody who might be interested. I tried to get some comments from the Aeros, but curiously, no one wanted to talk about it on the record. Still, expect a schedule sometime before the end of the month.

Meet Your 2010-11 Aeros: Cody Almond

Photo courtesy of Chris "Hoss" Jerina

Cody Almond
Born: July 24, 1989 (age 21)
Calgary, AB

6 ft 1 in
199 lb
Forward (Center)
Shoots Left

Almond came into his first pro season, after being drafted in the 5th round by the Wild in 2007, with four increasingly successful years with the WHL’s Kelowna Rockets under his belt. I liked his game from the start, but I found myself wondering: What is this guy's role? Is he a checker, a scorer, an agitator? What he's developing into is a hard-nosed power forward with a strong defensive mind-set and, just in general, a fun guy to watch play hockey.

With his excellent attention to his own end of the ice and fearless physical play (in spite of a couple of injuries that threatened to set him back), and his offensive upside and sharp hockey sense, Almond impressed coach Kevin Constantine and the bosses with the Wild enough to earn 7 games in the show last season.

He won’t likely make the Wild out of camp as the Wild have a glut of centers and he needs more time to develop, so for now, he’ll be in Houston.

Last season he racked up 18 points in 48 games, most of those in the second half of the season when he started to settle in to the pro game and was able to take advantage of the offensive talents that led him to nearly a point per game season his last year in Kelowna.

Almond isn’t a fighter, but never hesitated to come to a teammate's (or his own) defense and plays a pretty gritty game for a guy with decent hands like he has. He should be a real asset to the Aeros this season and should continue to make his case to be in Minnesota full time in 2011-12.

Meet your 2010-11 Aeros: Robbie Earl

Robbie Earl
Born: June 2, 1985 (age 25)
Chicago, IL

6 ft 0 in
195 lb
Forward (Left Wing)
Shoots Left

Robbie (pictured here (thanks, Fred!) scoring a goal against Manitoba in the 2009 playoffs) is probably most well known for scoring a goal in the final of the 2006 Frozen Four tournament while playing for the Wisconsin Badgers against Boston College. They won the game, the tournament, and is still a hero in Cheese land.

In 2004, he was Toronto's fourth pick in the NHL Entry draft and was traded to the Wild/Aeros on Jan. 21, 2009 for Ryan Hamilton. Robbie re-upped with the Wild this summer and will get a look when a left winger gets hurt up in Minnesota. He will definitely have more competition this year, so if he wants NHL dough again in 2010-11, he better take his game up a notch.

The guy is unquestionably fast. He's got good hands, but he has not shown the consistency needed to stick in the NHL. He was the Wild's top call-up from Houston last year, and he played well with the time he was given in the show.

Check out his talent analysis from the Hockey's Future Web site:

"Earl is a tremendously gifted offensive player who is exciting watch. He is an excellent skater with explosive speed. He’s a difficult player to contain because of his great ability to move not only through traffic but also around opposing defenders. He plays with intensity and will get involved in the physical aspects of the game. His play around the net is quite good. He will drive to the net as well as create chaos around it. He also possesses great playmaking skills. He sees the ice well and has good anticipation. He possesses a quick release and has no trouble finding the net. He has also shown a knack for scoring timely goals as well. One area of improvement for Earl is his size. At 185 lbs. he could stand to bulk up more."

Media-wise, Robbie is a a pleasure to work with. He is always available, polite, and gives concise explanations. Robbie is also a bit shy on the surface, but can be extremely funny. Check out this You Tube clip from his days in Toronto (his roommate was Justin Pogge, a former Leafs netminder.)

I hope Robbie's time is short in Houston. I think this is his last chance to prove himself after all, and if he does that, fans in Houston will be treated with quite the offensive show. His best season was 2007-08, his second full AHL season, with Toronto when he scored 14 goals and added 33 assists. Since then, he has not come close. He needs to this season.

Meet your 2010-11 Aeros: Drew Bagnall

DREW BAGNALL
Born: October 26, 1983 (age 26)
Oakbank, MAN

6 ft 03
215 lb
Defense
Shoots Left

Transactions (from AHL.com): Selected by the Dallas Stars in the sixth-round (195 overall) in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft…Traded to the Florida Panthers along with a draft pick (Enver Lisin) for Valeri Bure on March 8, 2004…Signed with the Los Angeles Kings as an unrestricted free agent on August 23, 2007…Inked a one-year deal with the Kings on July 20, 2009 ... Signed a two-way deal with the Minnesota Wild in July 2010.


In 2009-10, it can be argued that the Aeros had too many guys in leadership roles; conversely, that left too few other guys doing all the dirty work, etc. I feel this might be one of the contributing factors as to why the Aeros just did not hate losing bad enough and kept them from putting together anything more than just a three-game winning streak. I think the Aeros needed a "speak-with-your actions" kind of leader, and it looks like Jim Mill found just that with the signing of Drew Bagnall. Bagnall is a stay-at-home-guy that I think Aeros fans will be glad was not re-signed by the Los Angeles Kings Organization.

In 58 games for Manchester last year, Bagnall scored two goals and added 10 assists for 12 points. He added 113 PIMs and was the captain of a team that rode the back of goalie Jonathan Bernier through a respectable playoff run.

According to a well-respect hockey prospects site on the Internet: "Bagnall has good size and likes to play the body. He has solid instincts in all zones and usually can be counted on to make a key clear or keep the crease clear. He loves to shoot and join the rush. Bagnall also has very good stamina and can log a lot of minutes, including special teams play."

Bagnall is not known as a fighter, but he will stand up for anyone on his team. For more information on his fights from the past, click here.

Even though he has been mostly durable throughout his career, he did miss quite a few games (starting in December) with a lower body injury. He scored two goals last year, none of which came after he returned from injury.

An early look at the 2010-11 Aeros

This list is not intended to be taken as gospel. As we all know, injuries happen, players decide to go play in Russia and Wild players get concussions like Houstonians eat burritos. In fact, the signing of (Boom!) John Madden last week by the Wild makes it just about certain at this point that Casey Wellman will start the year in Houston. And that, again barring the unforeseen, is a good thing.

I think most of the following players will be here on opening night, and a few others (like Brandon Buck and J.P. Testwuide) could spend most of the season in Houston. So please read and peruse with a grain of salt, sand or those crumbs in your sofa. You know THOSE are good for you.

Goaltenders (2):
Anton Khudobin and Matt Hackett

Defensemen (7):
Marco Scandella, Justin Falk, Tyler Cuma, Drew Bagnall, Jamie Fraser, J.P. Testwuide and Max Noreau

Forwards (14):
Casey Wellman, Cody Almond, Colton Gillies, Warren Peters, Chad Rau, Joel Broda, Petr Kalus, Jon DiSalvatore, Carson McMillan, JM Daoust, Robbie Earl, Matt Kassian, Jarod Palmer and Brandon Buck.

Random notes:
As you can see, there are a ton of guys that have played on the Aeros before. If I did my math correctly, 16 of the 23 players above either spent all of last year with the Aeros or most of their year with the Aeros and some time with the Wild ... 15 of the players are Canadian, and six are American. Anton and Kalus are the only guys that don't hail from North America ... the top four scorers from last years team -- Daoust, Rau, DiSalvatore and Noreau -- are all returning ... With the likely and permanent departure of Danny Irmen, Max Noreau, Petr Kalus and Anton Khudobin (all here since 2007) are now the longest tenured Houston Aeros.

The Countdown Begins

Hockey season is getting closer. You can always tell when things are about to heat up when the AHL releases their story on how the AHL schedule is put together.

I hope they know I am kidding around when I write this, but they always forget to add a graph or two about why it comes out later and later every year.

Right now, the NBA schedule is finished and will be released, it its entirety, next week. Then the AHL teams will get their copies and will review and submit dates they would like to change. After that, the AHL tries to accommodate as many of those changes as they can. Then they get the team to sign off ... and finally, the schedule is sent to the league's board of governors.

At that point, it is released to the masses.

Today is August 6, and the earliest fans will get a glimpse of the schedule is Friday, Aug. 20. If I had any money to wager, I would say it's released on Tuesday, Aug. 24.

WEB SITE UPDATE

Heather, John and I met Thursday night to talk about some things related to the Web site. We agreed not to change much, at least from a visual stand point, but what we will try to do is make the blog "less busy" (especially when it comes to the info in the right hand column.)

Leading up to the season last year, we had a photo contest, but as we all know, there are no photos from last year. So this year, we are going to have a "getting to know the team" countdown.

One of the things we talked about last night was the fact that going into the season last year, we did not know a whole lot about the guys as individuals. This year, we have a list of who we think will be on the Aeros opening night roster, and we will preview what we think those players will bring to the table.

We have 22 guys already slated for Houston, and last night, we had a draft to see who would cover whom. Heather, naturally, picked the goalies, and after about five minutes, we had our "teams."

This weekend, we are going to start with defenseman Drew Bagnall and we are going to update the blog every few days with a new player.

ALWAYS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT

What we didn't talk about at the meeting is what we can do better. We just ran out of time because the steak and potato were just too big, and John, being the polite one, did not want to talk with his mouth full.

So, having said that, what can we do better? ... or what can we do that we are currently not doing to keep you coming back to our blog.

Updated - Guaranteed Home Dates

EDIT - I wanted to make one update to John's post here. The Aeros did confirm that their home opener is on Oct. 16. I read through the release a few times and that was not specified.

This means, for the second year in a row, the Aeros will open their weekend on the road. I think the team benefits from opening away from home ... and I know they'd love to start the year with a pair of games at Manitoba, Abbotsford or Oklahoma City.

The Aeros released a list of six dates on which they will be playing home games for the 2010-2011 season today. The times and opponent are still not known, but if you're really curious, here are the dates:

Saturday, October 16 (HOME Opener)
Friday, October 22.
Friday, November 5.
Thursday, December 2.
Sunday, December 26.
Saturday, January 15.

The full schedule is expected to be released next month.

Ice Girls It Is, Finally

While going through the Aeros website today, for the first time in a while, I discovered something very exciting. At least to me. The auditions for the Aero Dynamics are next week, and you know how I am when it comes to the Aero Dynamics.

But there's the really exciting thing. This year, along with their standard routines in the stands, the Aero Dynamics will also be acting as Ice Girls. And if you've learned anything else from this site, it's that I've got a thing for Ice Girls. So let's just say that I'm really looking forward to this season getting underway.

************************
Also of note. Andrew noted that Barry Brust had just signed a contract. I thought I would also point out that former Aero goalie Nolan Schaefer will be between the pipes for the Providence Bruins this season.

I enjoyed dealing with both men, and they never treated me like the true idiot that I am. So I wish them all of the best in this upcoming AHL season. (I'm also hoping that Barry can cast aside his injury issues and prove a few people in a certain organization wrong about his skills and abilities.)

And I'd like to echo what Andrew said about Palmer Hestley. You've got no idea of how important guys like Palmer are to making our jobs easier, and Palmer was a great asset last year. Good luck, Palmer.

AHL Schedule will be delayed ... again

Hello Aeros fans --

Sorry for the long delay between posts, especially from me.

Since the signing of a few free agents recently, there has not been much to report out of AerosLand. Our good friend Barry Brust has signed an AHL deal with the Binghamton Senators. That is good news for him, and we wish him well.

As some of you have noted, the Aeros are one of the last teams in the 30-team AHL to announce either A) their home opener or B) any of their guaranteed home dates for the coming season. While these dates really don't matter to fans all that much (as the real schedule will not be announced until later) this is an incredibly helpful tool for sales folks in the front office. These six dates are planned well in advance to give the team a chance to get lots of butts in the seats.

From a writer's standpoint, releasing the home opener is great for getting the word out about the team during the dull part of the summer. It's also fun to put down on your calendar; finally a signal that hockey season is once again close.

As for the AHL schedule, for those of you who look forward to getting that piece of info, it's going to be delayed again. The AHL would love to get that sucker out as early in August as possible. But there are several teams in the league that share their arenas with NBA teams (Aeros included) and the basketball schedule is not yet finalized.

Several folks from around the league I have talked to have indicated that fans won't see a final schedule until "mid August." The AHL was asked, and they said there is no time frame at the moment.

As for the home opener and the guaranteed dates, here's to hoping something comes out on that pretty soon. While not all that important to fans, it is nice to have a countdown to the next time you get to see your favorite local AHL hockey team.

In closing, I would like to publicly thank Palmer Hestley for all of his help during the 2000-10 season. He is no longer with the organization, but he was a valued member of the Aeros' communications staff. In this era of instant news, he was always helpful with a quick reply, even when the answers were, "I don't know, not until later, or I can't tell you yet."

Best of luck in the future, and please keep in touch.

Hope to see you at a few games this year.