3/11/11 -- Aeros Lose To Moose

Okay, that was a tough loss. Very tough. Any game lost in a shootout is, in my opinion, a tough loss, but losing 2-1 like that, when you gain the early lead in the shootout...well, ouch. The Aeros had a rough first period, and if not for the play of Matt Hackett in the first, the Aeros would not have been close to getting this game to a shootout. Unfortunately for the Aeros, Manitoba's rookie goal, Eddie Lack was just as on his game as Houston's rookie goalie.

1. Mike Yeo wasn't happy with the play of his team in the first period, but he that on himself and his assistant coaches for failing to get the team ready for the drop of the puck. And while the bad luck of Robbie Earl and Patrick O'Sullivan in the second period -- hitting the posts on several occasions -- could have sapped the team of any momentum, Yeo had no problems with the second and didn't see it as proof that this was not going to be the Aeros' night.

"I wasn’t thinking it that time [second period]," Yeo said after the game. "I was thinking it wasn’t our time in the first period because I thought we were just not good. And I’ll take the blame for that. It was our week as coaches to make sure we were ready to go at the drop of the puck, but I liked the way we responded in the second period. I thought we were – as you said – starting to get the momentum and starting to tilt the ice. But having said that, obviously you would like to put in the net. But I felt like if we kept going like that we would give ourselves enough chances to get back in the game."

2. This was a tough game for Hackett to lose because Hackett played his ass off. I was down in that corner during the first period, and he was barraged with shot after shot (Manitoba got off 18 shots) and if he hadn't of been on his game then the score would have been way worse than 1-0 Manitoba after one period.

"It’s a tough way for Hack not to get the win because I thought he deserved it," Yeo said. "I thought he was great. Their guy was very good, too. I thought Hack was great. We had no business even being in that game after the first period. We were awful the first period, and Hack really gave us a chance."

3. Andrew asked about Hackett's perceived problems in the shoot out. Yeo said that wasn't the problem tonight. The problem rested with the Aeros not being able to get the puck back into the net after Patrick O'Sullivan started off the shoot out with a beauty of a shot.

4. Still, despite it all, the Aeros, as Yeo noted, did battle back to get a point tonight. And while it wasn't two points, the Aeros still came out better than Milwaukee, who lost to Rockford, Texas, who lost to Syracuse, and Chicago, who lost to Peoria.

5. And while the Aeros getting a point is a comfort, damn, it's getting hot in here. Milwaukee leads the division with 81 points. The Aeros are in second with 80. But Peoria's now in third with 79 points, Texas is in fourth with 78, Chicago's in fifth with 77, San Antonio in sixth with 75. Oklahoma City seems to be falling off, finally, and they sit in seventh with 73 points.

6. The Aeros and Wolves only have 12 games left while Peoria has just 13 and Texas just 14. While I'm more optimistic about the playoff scenarios than Andrew, who Heather has nicknamed Fun Killington, this is whole thing is just too damn close and I would really like to see some other teams start to fall by the wayside.

7. The Aeros welcomed back Casey Wellman, Cody Almond, and Drew Bagnall to the lineup tonight. As for the rest of the walking wounded, Yeo says not to expect to see any of them on Sunday. The bad news is that it appears that the MASH unit that is the Minnesota Wild suffered another shot on Friday night, so it's quite possible that somebody could be on plane Saturday morning.

8. Speaking of Drew Bagnall, for all of the great play by Hackett tonight, it might have been Bagnall who guaranteed that one point for the shootout. At one point in the third Hackett made a block but was out of the net. The puck bounced around and around in front of the net, just begging for one of the Moose to tap it in, but Bagnall flew into the scene and shot the puck out of the way of danger.

9. We spoke with Jed Ortmeyer for a bit after the game. Being the old man vet of the team -- and what a pick-up he has turned out to be, huh (thank you San Antonio for screwing the pooch there) -- who has handled these type of tight scenarios before, I asked him about what he's trying to tell the youngsters for handling the pressure, and I think he gave a great answer.

"There’s a bigger picture," he said. "The goal is to make the playoffs and to have a big run, and I think that at this point in the season you get banged up, start to mentally get a little bit fatigued, and you have to have the idea of having fun, making sure that coming to the rink everyday is fun."

He also said the team just has to stay with the process and not deviate from that. And when Ortmeyer speaks to the team, guys listen.

"But more than that, he’s a guy that has a very good pulse for what the team needs to hear at that time, whether it’s between periods, whether it’s on the bench," Yeo said. "He’s a guy when things get a little bit hectic and he needs to calm them down, he’s quick to do that, or if things are a little big sleepy, he’s quick to pick them up. I think a big part of that is experience, but it’s also making sure that first and foremost you go out and do the right thing to give yourself that credibility. So when you speak, guys listen."

10. A final thing. I really like these uniforms the team's won the past several games. I've always hated that stupid, cartoonish bomber logo -- yeah, I know, most of you love it -- because it just doesn't scream hockey to me. The unis they had on tonight, those screamed hockey. But since the team has yet to wear a game wearing them, I'm not counting on seeing them again.

Just A Brief Apology

Humor can be hard to detect on paper/computer sometimes, especially mine, which can be a very dry humor at times. So I just wanted to clarify that the part in this post about Marco Scandella being called up just for the purpose of sitting in the press box was meant to be in the same humorous tone as the parts that followed.

And let this serve as a reminder, as much as those of us in Houston are devoted to the Aeros and their attempt to reach the playoffs, the Wild are striving to do so the same thing, and just like the Aeros, they've been decimated to injuries to some key players who normally don't get hurt, like Cal Clutterbuck. So while we might all like to think there is some conspiracy by the Wild to harm the playoff chances of the Aeros, that is not the case, and for the most part, I think we can agree that Wild management has done a pretty good job of stocking the team with talent this year with guys like Warren Peters and Jed Ortmeyer and Patrick O'Sullivan and Drew Bagnall, guys who, without their being here at all this season, would mean the Aeros were nowhere near being playoff contenders.

So that's my say, and I'll get back to the bitching and moaning and poor attempts at humor after tonight's win over the Moose.

Casey Wellman Reassigned

Well here's some good news for the weekend. We're being told that Casey Wellman has been reassigned to the team. So while there's no help for the defense, Wellman's return would be a nice step to strengthing the lines and bringing some scoring punch.

Big weekend ahead for West division

First, the good news; even though the Aeros are just 4-4 in their last eight games, they are still hanging on to the No. 2 seed - points wise - in the tight West division race. The bad? Well, the West is losing its grip on that crossover rule. The No. 5 seed in the West (Chicago) is just four points up on the No. 4 seed in the North. That "lead" has dwindled with all the intra-division action taking place recently.

Some other good news is that most of the teams in the West, since Feb. 21, have not gained much ground on the Aeros (eight points since then). Chicago has moved the most with 12 points in that span, while San Antonio and OKC continue to spin their wheels.

In the short term, I expect the Rampage to reverse that trend. I think OKC, Texas and Peoria will slip in the division over the next couple of weeks. And depending on how the Aeros do this weekend against Manitoba, they may slip down to third after this weekend's action. We'll see.

I think if the Aeros can go at least 7-6 in their last 13 games, they'll squeeze in. They are battling huge injuries and call-ups right now, and they are playing teams that are not having to deal with those. The next six games are very, very crucial.

Below is my West division playoff picture, and here is a link to the marvelous playoff primer that the AHL has been putting out there this week. Good stuff all around.

Click on the image to get a better view:

Goodbye Marco

Since Cam Barker is injured, again -- yeah, I know, a shock, huh -- and since Clayton Stoner MIGHT NOT be able to skate tomorrow night because of a back problem -- Stoner with a back problem, a shocker, I know -- Marco Scandella has been called up to the Wild where he will likely do nothing more than sit in the press box.

It's the job of the minor league club to provide healthy players to the big boy club, but damn it, Jamie Fritsch having to get major minutes is just not fair to a club trying to secure a playoff spot. So I've got a suggestion for Mike Yeo. When your phone rings, and you see that the phone number belongs to the Wild, don't answer. Don't open any emails from the Wild. Don't read any text messages. Don't open any letters. Don't accept any telegrams. Shoot down any carrier pigeons. After all, if the team can't contact you, they can't take any more of your players, right?

And damn it, Wild, maybe you guys should look into getting some new trainers. Or maybe you should consider signing some players who don't get injured in a stiff breeze.

Shoot Me Now

I give in. I'm not even going to attempt to defend this. All I can say is that the Aeros marketing folks must really, really, really, really, really, really, really HATE those Aeros fans who actually bother to show up most of the time.

So just shoot me now and put me out of my misery.

Aeros Hope The System Will Save Them

Here's my new mothership post on the Aeros. It's based on comments from Mike Yeo and Jarod Palmer on Friday night about how the Aeros are going to depend on their vets and Yeo's system to carry them through this injury patch.

I'm sure it's not negative enough, and I didn't attack management for not acquiring the AHL version of a young Wayne Gretzky, so feel free to comment away over there -- they always like seeing comments.

By the way, the Clear Day rosters are out. There are no real surprises on the Aeros roster, though it would have been nice to see Jeff Penner actually play a game in a Aeros uniform before putting him on the roster. And Casey Wellman, Warren Peters, and Jared Spurgeon are on the roster in case the Wild fail in their playoff attempt, or in the case of Wellman and/or Peters, Cal Clutterbuck ever recovers from his concussion upper-body injury.

Weary Aeros feel the heat, lose 5-4

Abbotsford played 5 of the last 6 nights.

Houston played 4 of the last 5 nights.

And tonight, the last game for both teams for several days (thankfully, for them and for those who have to watch them), displayed every bit of the fatigue you'd expect from teams at this point in their schedules.

Physically, they looked a tired and mentally, they looked downright exhausted.

The injury list is as long as I've seen it, not only this year but in recent years. The Wild are banged up, so Wellman and Peters are there and not coming back any time soon (#reversejinx). Add that to the Aeros injury woes (Cuma, Kassian, Almond, Fraser, Penner, Gillies, Bagnall) and basically you've got essentially only 3 lines of forwards to roll.

"I'm not gonna say that we couldn't have done something better. I'm not going to just completely make an excuse here," said Yeo. "But the biggest thing that I've seen this year is that these games, these third games in three nights, these fourth game in five nights, it's not even the energy level as much as it is the brain."

He acknowledged that essentially some of the mistakes that led to goals aren't "something we do" and attributed those instances to fatigue.

I kind of appreciate that he's not throwing the "we don't make excuses" line at us. Sometimes you have to acknowledge that clearly the effort was there but humans do succumb to the physical and mental rigors at some point.

You could argue Abbotsford isn't as good a team as Houston, and you'd be right, but as I mentioned, missing 1/3rd of the regular team means this Houston team just isn't as good as we're used to. It's like cutting a guy's arm off and telling him to do all the stuff he used to just as capably.

You're also missing a lot of toughness with Kassian and Bagnall out, but I have to commend 5'10" call-up Pascal Morency for his temerity in fighting 6'7" defenseman Chris Breen, who had 30 pounds on the scrappy winger. Breen's not a fighter and Morency was crafty and kept it even just through experience and determination.

That said, Morency, Lawrence (who was called up yesterday from Stockton), and Joel Broda had a whopping 11:31 of ice time combined. And missing that 4th line that can play 6 or 7 minutes is wearing out the regulars.

So this will be an important week of rest and recuperation. Yeo said he hopes to have Bagnall, Almond, and Gillies (upper body) back by Friday. Anyone of them would be a significant add. All three would be heaven sent.

Yeo said that he expects, after getting some rest and getting some practice time, "these games that are 50-50 right now or 60/40, we'll flip it more to 75/25 in our favor and that's when you more."

"It's how you respond. You can win a game like this and feel really good about yourself, and then have a crappy week of practice and stink it up next weekend. So hopefully we use this as motivation to make sure we bounce back."

The boys are off until Friday when they have a weekend series against Manitoba, who are tied for first in the North Division.

Couple of other notes:

• That nice buffer between Houston and Texas is gone now. A win tomorrow against Syracuse puts them in a tie for second with Houston. We're all up against each other again, but not in a fun way.
• With his two goals tonight, Jon DiSalvatore became only the third active player in the AHL to have 8 seasons of 20+ goals. Other two are Denis Hamel (who has 9 seasons at 20+) and Alexandre Giroux. 

Photo Time From Aeros/Crunch

So how about a few photos from tonight's game versus the Crunch? Yeah, I thought you would agree, too. These photos are through glass, and I haven't done any editing tricks, yet, so...

Here's Josh Tordjman making a stop early in the first period.

Here's Pascal Morency going for a little spin on the ice.

Here's is Jarod Palmer's first goal.

Here are the guys celebrating Palmer's goal.

And here's Palmer moving in to stop Nate Prosser from getting into further trouble.

3/4/11 -- Aeros Crunch Syracuse

That was a nice 3-1 win by the Aeros over Syracuse tonight. The team didn't play there best hockey -- Mike Yeo had to call a timeout four minutes into the second period because of the team's play -- but needing a win over a last place team while playing the first of a three-in-three, the Aeros came through big time.

So, let's get on with it.

1. Injury news first. Matt Kassian is suffering from a lower body injury and will be out several weeks according to Yeo. They're still hoping to get Drew Bagnall back next week.

"He’s a warrior, though," Yeo said of Bagnall. "As soon as he’s ready, I know he’ll be in there."

2. One of the more impressive things about the win was that because of the annual Wild injury carousel, coupled with injuries here, the Aeros had a lot of guys playing tonight who haven't put in a lot of time with the big team this year. This is something to be expected, and they're having to come in and play without a lot of practice time. So though the ice time was really limited Joel Broda and Pascal Morency tonight -- probably because Morency couldn't stay out of the penalty box whenever he stepped on the ice -- guys like Jamie Fritsch did get some ice time.

Yeo attributes the play of these guys tonight, and that they were able to fit in without looking like sore thumbs, to the system the team's playing. The regulars on the team have bought in to what Yeo is selling, and they're making sure everybody else goes with it as well. And this, according to Yeo, is what successful teams do. They get a system and everybody works with everybody to make sure the plan is implemented.

3. That leads us to Jarod Palmer, the star of the night on the line of the night. Palmer finished with two goals -- and came "just this close" to the hat trick -- playing on a line with Robbie Earl and Chad Rau. And Palmer put all of the credit for everything he did on those two guys.

"What can I say?" he said. "Pucks just seemed to bounce my way for me tonight. Sometimes things go your way, sometimes they don’t, and when they go your way, you’ve got to take advantage of it and try to put one in the back of the net. I had some help by line mates. A couple of pucks ended up right on my tape right in front of the net. That wasn’t all my work. That was a lot of team effort there. It wasn’t too hard to put into the net."

4. Earl and Rau have really been clicking as a line this year, but it's always seemed to be just missing one piece. But they've been working their asses off and Palmer just seemed to make all of the difference. But Palmer said Earl and Rau did everything within their power to make his game tonight possible.

"Those guys, they help me out a lot by just talking to me," Palmer said. "Coming off the ice every shift, around the bench, they’re telling me where they wanted me, where I could have been to be in a better spot, where I could have passed the puck to get it to them in a better spot. Just small details that they mentioned to you that you’ve got to listen to and pay attention to. If your teammates are talking to, it makes everything a lot easier."

5. Yeo was excited by the play of Earl/Rau/Palmer. He thought they played an excellent defensive game to go along with what they did on the offensive end -- the other goal came from Chad Rau on the power play. He liked how Palmer was willing to get in position around the net and he thinks Earl and Rau did good work with creating open ice that made Palmer's work possible.

6. Palmer also gives a lot of credit to Yeo's system, and to the veteran leadership on the club.

"I think we have a lot of structure as far as where we’re supposed to be and what we’re supposed to do," he said. "It’s well known. It’s preached constantly by the leaders on the team. A lot of the guys walk the talk, and that helps a lot. A lot of leadership on this team. You’ve got Ortmeyer, DiSalvatore, O’Sullivan – just some guys, some of our leadership left – Peters up in the bigs right now – still, there’s enough here right now that we can take in some new guys and keep rolling. It’s a tough challenge."

7. Just a note of clarification: we didn't let Heather talk to Palmer because the last time she did, he went into a huge scoring funk. So being a superstitious lot, we just let her hold a tape recorder and listen.

8. Nice game by Josh Tordjman in goal tonight. He let in a first period power play goal that briefly gave Syracuse the lead, but that came off a deflection which kind of left him helpless. But I don't know if we can continue letting Heather sit with us in the press box when he plays because she's screaming and squirming and hitting and punching with worry that something's going to go wrong.

9. After tonight the Aeros record is 37-23-1-4 (79 points), and they're still in second place. Go down and look at Andrew's post for the latest on the standings and the things that still need to happen.

10. Nice stat of the night: the Aeros are now 18-1-1-0 when holding opponents to zero or one goal.

11. I noticed tonight that the Aeros are celebrating the "Roudiest" Fan Of The Game in their Hilton Hotel giveaway thing. Has this been the case all season and I've just missed the typo? My question: how did the video people at Toyota Center -- not Aeros employees -- miss a typo like this? That used to be one of my functions with the Astros and Texans, making sure no typos like that went up on the video boards. So was this a one-time only thing, or not? I know I just noticed it, but that doesn't mean it's new.