Monday was for intros and more players started trickling in on Tuesday. But today, the Aeros got down to business with a nice practice, followed by a break and then a hard-fought green vs. red scrimmage.
Just two days before their first preseason game against the OKC Barons, the Aeros worked through a little bit of everything. 2-on-1s, faceoffs, breakouts - you name it, they did it. And right now is the time when everyone looks big, everyone looks fast and everyone knows what they are doing with the puck.
Former Aeros defenseman Steve Jacques attended, and those words came right out of his mouth. I talked to Aeros PR guy Rich Bocchini and play-by-pay man Joe O'Donnell. All looked to be in mid-season form, based on the number of ice cream sandwiches missing from the inventory.
(I tried to get a picture of that, but I don't want to give away TOO many team secrets. Instead, I hope you like my arsty iPhone picture of the stick rack .... )
But on a serious note, Torch was raring to go and had the boys at a pleasing pace well before the first player left the ice.
"That was a really good pace we had out there today," said Torchetti. "We have to keep the guys sharp. I was really happy with them today. Right not is is about getting the systems down and seeing what the players can do."
Two guys that stood out to be were forward/defenseman Mike Hoffman and Mike Kramer. Both goaltenders looked good during the scrimmage, and unless I missed anything, Kuemper didn't let anything by for the green, including a great stop on Jon DiSalvatore.
Speaking of Sal, I talked to him before the scrimmage, and he said expectations are way up top for the team that includes a key group of returning players.
"All of the pieces are there, and then you add another year of maturity to our defensive core and our second and third-year guys," said DiSalvatore. "We’re all really excited about the personnel and the foundation."
The team will practice tomorrow, bus to OKC and spend the night. I assume they'll skate there Friday morning in advance of the first preseason game Friday night. I did not get a great look at the lineup, but it looks like the main veterans will be hanging back for this one.
A lot of the fringe guys, especially those on tryout, will get a chance to shot what they've got against the Barons.
A few assigned players had not yet made it done. Missing Wednesday were veteran Jeff Taffe and rookie Kris Foucault. Both are expected soon, and Foucault should be ready in time to catch the bus to OKC.
That is all for now; I look forward to hearing your thoughts and expectations for the 2011-12 team.
Every morning I try to read as much hockey news as possible. Without fail, this time every season produces some big laughs as far as headlines are concerned; this year is no different.
Check out this headline from a Northern Colorado paper about the signing of a new player for the Colorado Eagles. You can always tell when the interns are getting to re-write teams press releases. To be fair, we're talking about the ECHL, so many of the TV interns actually do a better job.
The Aeros released their training camp roster today, and there are some interesting tryout names on there. The one that sticks out the most is RW Aaron Boogaard, who will wear No. 29 at camp. This is not his first camp with the team, but it is his first since the death of his brother and former Aero Derek. The Wild say that want to help him get his hockey career back on track. We certainly, too, wish him the very best of luck.
Some other names on the camp roster include (camp number in parentheses)
D - Wes O'Neill (2) D - Mike Hoffman (32) F - Greg Stewart (10) F - Matt Marquardt (11) F - Mike Bartlett (21)
To be sure, these are depth guys, but they all have AHL experience and could be on the short list of players that will be on the final 23-25 guys that make the Aeros.
Wes O'Neill spent some time in Bridgeport last year, but Aeros fans may remember him from his days with the Lake Erie Monsters. He is a tall blueliners (6'-4") and had his best year two seasons ago with the Monsters. In three years in Cleveland, O'Neill scored four goals added 24 assists in about 150 games. Definitely a stay-at-home guy.
Mike Hoffman is an veteran guy that played in Germany last season. (This is not the Mike Hoffman that played for the Calder Cup Champion Binghamton Senators last year.) This Hoffman is another big, tall d-man that has bounced around quite a bit in the AHL. Before playing overseas, he's suited up for AHL Cleveland, Toronto, Manchester, Portland, Chicago and Hartford.
Greg Stewart and Matt Marquardt spent some time last season with the Oklahoma City Barons. Stewart is a veteran AHL winger, a tall (6'-2" LW) that has never put up 20 points in a season. He is tough, and his best year was his 07-08 campaign with the Hamilton Bulldogs. That year he scored 10 goals and finished with 137 PIMs. Last year in OKC, Stewart finished with 16 points in 74 games and recorded 108 PIMs. Marquardt is a former 7th round pick of the Blue Jackets, and he is another guy that's had a few OK seasons in the AHL. Last year with the Barons, he scored five goals and added seven assists in 63 games. Before OKC, Marquardt played for Springfield and Providence.
Mike Bartlett's name should sound familiar, too. He played for the Milwaukee Admirals last year, so maybe Jerina can give us the real scoop on this guy. Looks like he's bounced around in the AA level for awhile before a pretty decent run with the Admirals in 10-11. He had 18 points during the regular season before putting up a pretty decent playoff run with Milwaukee. In 13 playoff games, he scored two goals, added three assists and added 8 PIMs. Those numbers were well above his regular season averages.
Not all of these guys will make the team ... but these are definitely five players to keep an eye on in the two weeks of training camp.
(Just a quick update here on the status of Jordan Hendry. As many of you already know, he did not make the cut on his tryout with the wild. The organization, however, is working on a two-way deal with the veteran defenseman. Heather reported that the other day, so this is definitely another training camp story worth watching.)
From the ace Aeros staff, we get a peek at all the players vying for a spot on the Aeros roster, or even just hoping to make a good showing in order to get a call-up during the season from the CHL or ECHL.
Here's the list of players at training camp this week:
#
Skaters
2
Wes O'Neill
D
3
Jamie Fritsch
D
5
Jeff Penner
D
7
Kris Fredheim
D
8
Kyle Medvec
D
10
Greg Stewart
LW
11
Matt Marquardt
LW
13
Kris Foucault
LW
14
Jon DiSalvatore
RW
16
JP Martignetti
F
19
Jarod Palmer
RW
20
Chad Rau
C
21
Mike Bartlett
RW
22
Jeff Taffe
C
23
Tysen Dowzak
D
25
Warren Peters
C
26
David McIntyre
C
27
Carson McMillan
C
29
Aaron Boogaard
RW
32
Mike Hoffman
D
36
Mike Kramer
F
37
Justin Fontaine
RW
39
Chay Genoway
D
41
Jed Ortmeyer
RW
52
Sam Lofquist
D
56
Joel Broda
LW
61
Tyler Cuma
D
#
Goaltenders
31
Matt Hackett
G
34
Dennis Endras
G
35
Darcy Kuemper
G
Aeros Training Camp Schedule (Sugar Land Ice and Sports Center unless noted) Weds., Sept. 28 - 10:15 a.m.
Thurs., Sept. 29 - 10:15 a.m.
Fri., Sept, 30 - Preseason game at OKC (7 p.m.)
Sat., Oct. 1 - 6 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 2 - Preseason game at Texas (5 p.m.) Schedule subject to change --------------------------------------------------------
I bolded ones that seem to me to be pretty sure bets to be on the team out of camp. A few guys, like Almond, Wellman, Kassian, Bulmer, and Bagnall are still up in Minnesota either injured (Kassian, Almond, Bagnall) or playing some more pre-season games.
Not much room on the roster for extras, as you can see. 9 (+4 in MN) forwards, 5 (+1 in MN) defensemen.
I'm not sure whether to say, "Can you believe it's here finally?" or "Can you believe it's back already?" Dunno about you guys but I'm still getting over last season, though every day I get a little more ready to tackle a new season.
But today I'm ready, especially now that I'm done moving into a new (to us, old otherwise) house, which has drained me dry the last couple of months. The serendipitousness of all that settling down the day training camp starts isn't lost on me. Thank you hockey gods and house gods....
We haven't gotten a training camp roster yet to see who's been invited in, but camp will be kicking off with the majority of the big players already in Houston, which is the first time I've seen that since I started covering the team.
But Yeo wants "his team" and only his team up in Minnesota to get them firing as a unit before the season starts. It's kind of a bummer for the guys who miss out on another week of NHLer perks, but the benefit of having most of the "glue" guys here from the start of Aeros camp can't be understated.
(Update: I added Kyle Medvec, who I left off below, and Russo reports that the Wild/Aeros are signing Aaron Boogaard to a two-way AHL deal. Aaron, if you aren't familiar with him, is beloved former Aero/Wild Derek Boogaard's younger brother, and has spent a good chunk of his career in the Penguins system.)
Here's a little on the guys coming down from Minny, some of whom you know, some you don't:
Kris Foucault (foo-coh): Left Wing, sizeable guy fresh out of Juniors (Calgary Hitmen). Here's some video of him:
David McIntyre: Center, second year pro, 30 points with the Albany Devils last season and a Colgate graduate. Solid follow on Twitter if you're into it: http://twitter.com/DaveJMcIntyre
Carson McMillan: Center, third year pro, bad ass. You know him, but maybe you didn't know he played with Foucault for the Hitmen back in 08-09.
Jarod Palmer: Center, second year pro. 9 goals last year, most during a hot streak at the beginning of the season that I completely jinxed. Scout's honor, no more asking players about their scoring streaks. Maybe I'll start asking about scoreless streaks and see if the jinx works in reverse.
Chad Rau: Center (think the Wild have a Center fetish?), third year pro, 40 points last season and just keeps getting better. Lady Byng-worthy discipline with only 14 PIM in 84 games (through regular and post season play).
Tyler Cuma: Defense, when his knees are healthy. If you're the praying type, pray for the kid's knees. Love to see him get through a whole season healthy. Should be an asset having him back on the blue line again.
Chay Genoway: Defense, small (5'8") offensive minded. First year pro. I think the hope is that he fills the rather large void left by Max Noreau's departure. Genoway was the fourth highest scoring defenseman in the history of North Dakota Fighting Sioux hockey. Was also captain of the Sioux hockey team.
Kyle Medvec: Defense, tall at 6'5", so imposing presence with hopefully a long reach, which I find delightful in defensemen. Just finished his college career at the University of Vermont. Believe he's a stay at home guy.
Darcy Kuemper: Goalie. Adorable. Won every award possible for his final season with the Red Deer Rebels (WHL). But he's got an uphill battle for a spot in Houston, as Dennis Endras and Matt Hackett are also headed for Houston and Darcy has the least experience of the three. He may get to enjoy the porous defenses of the ECHL for some or all of this season.
Matt Hackett: Goalie. Showed tremendous growth last season and plays a consistent game for such a young guy. Took on a huge load after Khudobin was traded last season and went (almost) all the way with it. His spot in Houston is secure barring a major setback. Will be interesting to see how he handles not being the clear #1 here (because I don't think he will be if Endras is here).
On waivers for the purposes of sending them to Houston are:
Jon DiSalvatore: Right wing, Aeros Captain past two seasons, career year thanks to teaming up with Patrick O'Sullivan on the top line half of last season. He's on the second season of a 2 year deal.
Warren Peters: Center, versatile and gritty with enough scoring touch and hockey sense to make the third line a threat every shift. Also on the second season of a 2 year deal.
Jed Ortmeyer: Right wing, Mr. Clutch. Anything seems possible when Orts is in your locker room. Just when you think you're over-romanticizing his effect on the team, he does something awesome to remind you why you feel that way.
Jeff Taffe: Center. Jim Mill's answer to "How can we do this again without Patrick O'Sullivan?" Dude can straight up score goals, has deep AHL experience, and has gotten NHL call-ups pretty much every year he's played in the A.
Jeff Penner: Defense. Small guy with similar PP quarterbacking abilities to Noreau, so the Aeros should be set on the offensive defenseman front between Penner and Genoway. We got a brief look at him at the end of the season, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do when he's not just thrown into the mix mid-season like last year.
Dennis Endras: Goalie, with 3 years of pro experience in the DEL with the Augsburg Panthers. I think the Wild is nervous about having two very young goalies in Hackett and Kuemper as their only insurance against a major injury to Backstrom or Harding. Endras is a solid, sharp goalie and if he's on board with being in Houston (he paid a visit late last season to check it all out), he should be a real asset to the Aeros and push Hackett to stay hungry.
Signed to an AHL deal is:
Kris Fredheim: Defense, and one of my favorite defenseman last season because I almost never had to think about him. And if you're thinking about stay at home defensemen too much, they're probably not doing their jobs. It's a thankless role, so lemme just say, "Thanks, Kris! I really think they should have thrown you a two-way deal."
Potentially signed to a two-way deal is:
Jordan Hendry: Defense. He was trying out with the Wild and the expectation is that, if he's game, he'll sign a two-way deal to provide depth for the Wild and be a very good stay at home d-man for Houston. Young guy still, but with a good deal of NHL and AHL experience under his belt. We'll let you know as soon we hear anything further on that.
So, these guys and a several more should be on the ice starting at 3 p.m. today down at the practice rink in Sugar Land. Hitting the 100 degree mark today, so skip out of work early and check the boys out while you cool off.
Man, has it really been three weeks since anyone posted a damn thing on this blog? Ms. Conduct moved, I have a new baby boy and John ... well, he's working really hard right now. The summer is flying by and hockey season is less than a month away. The Wild start training camp soon, so there will be cuts and news that affects the Aeros in the not-so-distant future. Things will pick up, I promise.
There are a few things that are worth mentioning before camp(s) start, so I will give you those and my reaction here.
First, one notable name on the Wild's camp roster is Jordan Hendry. He was on the 'Hawks Stanley cup team a couple of years ago, and Aeros fans might recognize him from the Rockford IceHogs. He is just on a tryout, so it remains to be seen what he will do if he does not make the Wild. My guess is that he'll sign a two-way deal. Russo had this to say on his blog about two weeks ago.
I think he'd be an OK stay-at-home veteran guy for the Aeros. The battle for the blueline jobs in St. Paul will really be fun to watch this year ... talking about the fringe guys, too. Could be some tough decisions for Yeo & Co. in the early goings.
Secondly, the Aeros will not have a home preseason game for the second year in a row. (Last year, they had one scheduled, but something that makes the ice work and stay safe failed ... ) The Aeros will play one game at OKC on 9/30 and then wrap things up at Texas on 10/2. Home preseason games are far less exciting for us media types because there never seems to be ANY communication between the front office and SLICE folks about where to put the media. Three years ago, I sat in a closet (it had a window) to watch the game with Brent Hughes, who, at the time, was the coach for the Corpus Christi Rays. Sometimes we sit in the stands, and one time I was the announcer for the green vs. white scrimmage game. I think that was the year the Aeros played their preseason games in San Antonio in Beaumont and Laredo.
I think having a home preseason game is far more important for the hard core fans, and I hate to see them go without. It's also nice to have a warm-up game for the game ops people that will surely give us much to talk about on this blog.
I know this is pie in the sky, but I really wish they would do a round-robin preseason "tournament." You get all four teams to play each other in two locations and you rotate the locations every year. You get to hype up what otherwise would be a meaningless set of games and you could get the fans competitive juices flowing a bit early.
Let's say Cedar Park and San Antonio are the "host cities" ... you could do all the games in three days. No team would have to pay more than two nights at a hotel and that is the key, I think, to making this work.
2011 Buc-ees Preseason Spectacular Schedule of Events
Friday, Sept. 30
Game - 1: Houston at San Antonio, 7 p.m. - Ice Center at Northwoods
Game - 2: Oklahoma City at Texas - 7:30 p.m. - Cedar Park Center
Saturday, Oct. 1
Game - 3: Oklahoma City at San Antonio - 7 p.m. - Ice Center at Northwoods
Game - 4: Houston at Texas - 7:30 p.m. - Cedar Park Center
Sunday, Oct. 2
Game 5: Houston vs. Oklahoma City - 3 p.m. - Ice Center at Northwoods
Game 6: San Antonio vs. Texas - 7 p.m. - Ice Center at Northwoods
Everyone gets three games and you could actually have a mini competition with standings. You get media out and a chance to hype up what would otherwise be a forgotten weekend in the news cycle.
Some might call this a bit too much work for the preseason. Maybe it's too costly and maybe you risk injury with a third game. To me, I think it is well worth the risk and think the preseason games would benefit the on-ice product for the early part of the regular season, too.
I apologize for not getting anything posted from media day/meet-in-greet on Thursday. I've been really busy at the temp job and just haven't had time to transcribe the interviews.
A few quick thoughts.
John Torchetti seemed just as eager to get started with this season as Mike Yeo did last year. I liked what I heard from him, and I really loved his attitude. I also enjoyed meeting David Burke, the new team president. I liked some of the things he said, and he said the right things about dealing with the fans. Of course, we won't know how that works until the season gets underway.
I really, really, really, really liked the third jersey the team has. Primarily because it doesn't have that stupid bomber logo plastered on it. It just looked classy. Sorry, I didn't take my camera, so I don't have any photos.
Hopefully, if I get the time soon, I can get the interviews transcribed and get a post up.
The Aeros are calling this season "Unfinished Business." So I guess that tells you what they're aiming for. There are a lot of changes to the team, new coach, new coaching staff, new players, and we'll get into all of that later on, but the big news is that we finally have a schedule.
The season opens at home on Sunday, October 9, when the Aeros host the Chicago Wolves at 5:05. That's one thing you'll notice, lots of Sunday games, which might cause some problems for those of you happen to be football fans as the Aeros are playing nine games at home on Sunday during the NFL regular season. Plus some Sunday games during the playoffs, and they're also playing a home game on Super Bowl Sunday. The good news is that we don't have to worry about any team from Texas making the playoffs, much less the Super Bowl, and the Super Bowl Sunday game is at noon, so you'll only miss about five hours of the pregame show and not the game itself.
There's some really good news about the schedule. Most of the home games are on a Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. There are seven games on a non-Friday weekday, including the annual kiddie game in early December and a Monday game on the day after Christmas. And as always, they'll have a game at home on the Friday after Thanksgiving as well as a game on New Year's Day, so don't party too hard on New Year's Eve.
And the Aeros only have nine10 three-in-threes this season.
The one troubling aspect of the schedule, to me at least, is that the Aeros have an 11-game road trip in February/March that will see them away from Toyota Center for a month. They have three home games at the first of February, then they're gone from February 7 until March 10. Four of those games will be up at Abbottsford, which they'll visit for two games midway through the road trip and then again for the final two games of the road trip. They'll play Grand Rapids twice on the trip, the Stars twice, and the Ads, Wolves, and Rampage once each.
But of the Aeros last 10 games, seven will be at home. So if the team can survive that road trip in good shape, then they're in a good position to cement a playoff spot. So there you go.
It's kind of unusual for August to have much news, but there's been a trickle of things coming down the wire in the last few days that, if you don't have Twitter, you might have missed.
John already covered the dates and David Burke's hiring as the Aeros new President. A little more on Burke (who I desperately want to call Burkie, a la Brian Burke) is that he's on Twitter! Which I think is pretty cool.
You can follow him at @DBurkeAeros if you so choose.
Between his and Kassian's twitter feed, which is really funny stuff, consider making the leap to the dark side. I put together a quick and dirty Aeros-centric list of follows that shouldn't overwhelm anybody to keep up with, if you just want to dip a toe in: http://twitter.com/#!/list/3rdIntermission/aeros-essentials
You do have to create an account to view it, it looks like, but I promise, it won't turn you into a hipster doofus.
Anyway, on to other news:
It looks like the Aeros will be announcing the assistant coaches pretty soon. On the defensive end, they're hiring recently-retired defenseman Mike Van Ryn, who played for Torchetti in Florida. Knee injuries pretty much spelled the end of his career a bit early, but he should still have plenty of fire in the belly to bestow upon the Aeros' youngsters.
Also, Sebastien LaPlante is the other assistant coach that is reportedly coming into the fold. He played on Torchetti's team in San Antonio and has most recently been assistant coaching the team at Northeastern University, where he played his college career.
So, lots of new blood in the mix this season and I'm excited to get things going... in September. Still not quite recovered from playoffs.
We've been away for awhile, so I thought I should apologize. Andrew's busy doing that real job with the airline thing. I've been so busy on the current, probably soon to end temp job, that I even missed the tryouts for the Dynamics on Saturday, and you know how I am with the Dynamics. As for Ms. Conduct, who knows what all she's been up to, and I'm not sure I even want to know.
There's not much new on the team front. The assistant coaches still haven't been named, and there is still no schedule, though that should be coming in a few weeks. However, the team did announce last week the dates of five home games for the 2011-12 season.
Saturday, October 15: Saturday, October 29; Friday, November 18; Friday, December 16; Friday, January 20.
The Aeros also announced today that the team has hired a new team president, David Burke, who from 2007-11 was the Vice President of Ticket Sales for the Phoenix Coyotes. He's previously worked for the Dallas Stars, the Texas Motor Speedway, the New Orleans Hornets, and the Charlotte Bobcats. And he's going to oversee the day-to-day business operations of the franchise.
You should find this interesting because the press release from the team says that sometime in late August Burke and the team will be holding a townhall meeting with season tickets holders and other fans. So all of the complaints and gripes you've had, well instead of telling them to us, who can't do anything about them, now you'll have the chance to let someone with the team know about your problems. In person. He won't be able to hang up the phone. He won't be able to delete the email, he'll have to listen.
We'll send along the date when we get it. Until then, happy off-season.
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