Game Day Update

The Texas Stars will get on the bus bound for Toyota Center here shortly...In the meantime, there is some Aeros news to report. The Wild did assign Casey Wellman back to the Aeros. Not sure if this is a virtual assignment or a real one, but I am guessing it's the latter since they had to do that in order to get Mike Lundin off injured reserve.

Speaking of which, Russo's blog in MSP reported that Lundin has accepted a rehab assignment and will play for the Aeros this weekend. He'll probably play both home games ... no chance he'll do the three in three this weekend. The revolving hospital door up north keeps on spinning though. Just to make Aeros fans nervous, Jared Spurgeon and Dany Heatley did not practice for the Wild today. Both could be injured, just taking a day off or sick. Who knows at this point?

Also, if I were a bettin' man, I'd lay down a few bones that Jon DiSalvatore will be good enough to go tonight against Texas. The Aeros need him right now, especially against a Stars team that allows a ton of goals per game.

Update! Here is a link to a preview of the game from Stars' perspective....

Oh, and one housekeeping note here. We love all your comments, and we don't like to censor. We love compliments and criticism both equally. How can you get better if no one disagrees with you and dialogue dries up? But ... we are not going to publish comments when we are called names. If you call us a name and tell us WHY you are calling us a name. Well, we'd be more than happy to print that. But if you just call us a name, that is not going to fly.

Our readers want entertainment, and insults without explanation are not entertaining.

Home and Home with Texas weekend

One of the reasons we started and maintain this excellent blog is to inform, opine and manage your expectations. We want you to know what your team is doing, how we feel they're going about it and what you can expect week in and week out.

So, with that, pretty much the best you can hope for this weekend is probably three of a possible six points against the Texas Stars and Abbotsford Heat.

The Aeros are going to play first a team with arguably the worst defense/goaltending in the league followed by the team with the best goalie (Leland Irving) and hottest player in the league right now (Krys Kolanos). A three-point weekend without Warren Peters, Nate Prosser, Kris Fredheim and Casey Wellman, in my opinion, would be just gravy. And there is a fair chance that Jon DiSalvatore won't play with a lower body injury. He is a game-time decision for Friday, and I doubt, either way, he makes the trip to Cedar Park on Saturday.

Two weeks ago, the Aeros were the best (statistically) team in the AHL. They fell back a bit after two bad, bad home losses to Toronto and Abbotsford. Maybe they should outlaw the singing of "Oh, Canada" before the games, but health certainly would help at this time.

Proposed new logo for Minnesota Wild

The Wild keep getting concussed and some of their key players are being outplayed by Aeros call-ups. I am not overly confident that the Aeros will get back the roster they had when they were off to that great start. We'll have to see how things shake out.

If there is any good news out there, it's the schedule. There are six games left this month and five of them are against two defensively-challenged teams. In the one "tough" game against Abbotsford, the Aeros have home ice and have a better 3-in-3 schedule to deal with (less travel).

Torchetti sounded like he was ready to go off on a few guys after the game last week. And that was BEFORE he lost Wellman and Fredheim. He basically said selfish play and the lack of team defense was starting to be an issue. I think the goaltending has lacked as well, but they are certainly not the reason for all the turnovers and odd-mans coming AT them.

Players are human, though. They see the revolving hospital doors just outside the Xcel Energy Center and opportunities present themselves. Now, with four key players on recall to the NHL and several other players in still in Houston who did not get the call, it will be more interesting to see how the team responds.

First, your coach says you're not playing good defense.
Then two other players get called up ahead of you...
How do you respond to that ego check?

I guess we'll see Friday night at Toyota Center.

WARNING! Meaningless predictions to follow

Friday - @Aeros 1, Stars 4
Saturday - Aeros 5, @Stars 3
Sunday - Heat 3, @Aeros 2 (OT)
Three of a possible six points

Wellman Back To Wild

That was quick...Casey Wellman re-recalled to the Minnesota Wild where he joins Warren Peters, Nate Prosser, and Kris Fredheim. And with the way the Wild players are getting injured, I think we should send some bubble wrap to Minnesota on the plane with Wellman to give the players more protection.

Fredheim signed, called up

Well, all you folks (like me) who expected the Wild to call up Cuma or Bagnall to replace yet another concussed defenseman in Marek Zidlicky would be wrong.

Instead of taking the obvious route, they decided to do what they should have done in the offseason and sign Kris Fredheim to a 2-way NHL contract. And then they immediately called him up, and he is likely to make his NHL debut tomorrow night in Minnesota.

It's an interesting choice by the Wild, but it was nice to see a tweet from his d-partner, Cuma, sincerely congratulating him. No doubt the decision stings a little for Cuma.

It's in the comments as well, but Wellman was returned to Houston, so the Wild still have Prosser, Peters, and now Fredheim. 

View from the PressBox - Aeros 5, Charlotte 2

The score should actually read, AHL Schedule 1, Charlotte 0. As for the scoresheet, go ahead and give the goal to Jon DiSalvatore, who scored twice while playing for AHL Schedule. As for the first assist, well give that to Mother Nature, who surely hates us all for the 81-degree temperature and 150-percent humidity.

As for the second assist, just give it to Tim Tebow, who for some unexplained reason keeps leading the Denver Broncos to wins. All I can say is man, there are a LOT of bad teams in the AFC this year ... but I digress.

Torchetti wasn't exactly thrilled with the game Sunday. He basically said that he hopes that there is a nasty bug going around to make the team play selfishly and not on point. (Jeff Taffe did miss the game due to illness, by the way.) His best quote was, "Points don't get you to the NHL, team defense does."

Here we are 15 games into the season, and most people have to be thrilled with the balanced offensive attack. But what is lacking is any sort of consistent discipline and the kind of defense that will make a team one to be feared in the playoffs.

Look, the Wild are banged up right now, and the Aeros are missing a few guys due to recall and injury and illness. Something tells me the Aeros need to get things right before the weekend, because a home and home series against Texas will start on Friday.

The Stars are winless in three straight and will be working their asses off all week with just about one goal in mind.

And the Aeros, depleted or not, better be ready for that no matter who is in or out of the lineup. Like Torch said, a sound defensive game gets you to the NHL ... not whatever it was the Aeros were trying to do for the second half of Sunday's game.

To be fair, it is nice that the team can play like that, make a the coach a bit uneasy and still find a way to win 5-2. The Aeros are a good team, and just a few tune-ups are needed to make this team an AHL powerhouse.

But, just as easily, things could go the other way if a selfish mentality continues to penetrate a sound, defensively structure.

Now, back to your regularly scheduled Sunday evening.

Matt Kassian, Twitter Super Star

I've got a piece in the mothership today on Matt Kassian in which we discuss his funny and fantastic twitter feed. So go read it.

But I spoke with him last Sunday about a some other things, primarily his return to Houston after starting the season with the Wild, and I thought I would use this post to share those thoughts.

"The message [from Mike Yeo] is to keep working," Kassian said. "It’s kind of a difficult situation for me. It’s obviously disappointing, and you want to be there, but at the same time, I’m coming down here with a group of guys who have already done a fantastic job this season. And the coaching staff has done a fantastic job this season. You know you’re going down. You can look at it two ways. You can either be frustrated and angry and disappointed, or you can try to make the best of it. I’m back down here now, and it’s not where I want to be. But it’s not like I was out in the first two days of training camp. It’s another step forward for me. I was there for a reason, and I stayed around for a reason. It wasn’t like they didn’t like me and weren’t happy with what I was doing. So it’s just about working hard and getting back here. I’m excited to be here. It’s been my home for a few years, and I have a lot of friends and some family down here."

So there you go. Read the post in the Press if you get the chance. And if you're not already, give Kassian a follow on Twitter. It's well worth the time.

So, About That Game With The Heat

The Aeros got the loss tonight, their second in a row, losing 5-3 to the Abbotsford Heat led by head coach Troy Ward, assistant coach Luke Strand, and forward Krys Kolanos -- notice the Aeros connection.

The Aeros actually played a good first period of hockey, and they had some quality shot attempts, but they just couldn't get the puck in the net. But they also suffered the loss of defenseman Elgin Reid on a boarding call early in the first period. And since it was his head that went off the wall, one would expect to see a five minute penalty. And one would expect wrong as the offending Heat player got only two minutes.

Jeff Taffe and John Torchetti were quick to remind the officials #42 Danny Burchell and #42 Jarrod Ragusin of that in the second period when some calls were missed, but the result was back-to-back unsportsmanlike penalties. Penalties which surprised Torchetti because he's never seen unsportsmanlike penalties given out for asking questions, especially when there is no profanity involved. But this is the AHL, and the AHL isn't exactly known for good officiating.

The penalties led to two goals for the Heat which put the game out of reach, despite a furious comeback in the final minutes which found the Aeros get to 4-3 with :57 remaining the in game. But sometimes deficits are just too hard to make up, and Abbotsford got the empty netter just before the horn to make it 5-3.

Torchetti took the blame for this loss, noting that he was the one who got the second unsportsmanlike penalty.

There was no word, after the game, on the status of Reid, but he did not return to the game after being knocked out of the game early in the first period.

The Aeros are off until Sunday afternoon when they host the Charlotte Checkers at 5:05 (and I the only one getting tired of the constant Sunday home games).

Peters to The Wild

Guess what, kids. The injury bug appears to be alive and well with the Wild yet again. As a result, Warren Peters is on his way to join the Wild.

View from the Press Box; Aeros killed Sunday

View from the Press Box is the same view everyone else had. First 5-6 minutes were good, and the rest of the game was crap.

It was turnover city, and the Marlies capitalized time and time again in a 6-2 drubbing of the home team.

While it's easy to say now, it just looked like the Aeros thought they could just dipsy doodle past a Toronto team that has been struggling lately. After they scored their first power play goal in the first period, the Aeros clicked on the cruise control and paid dearly.

How to fix this?

Well, for starters, it will be nice to have Jed Ortmeyer back on Thursday. Also, I did not see Hackett on the bench tonight, so I can only assume that he was sick and unavailable to backup.

Torchetti said the Aeros went from their best hockey game to their worst in a matter of two days. Don't turn the puck over, don't be lazy, work hard, and things will be fine.

Abbottsford is a good hockey team with a great goaltender.

The Aeros have three days to get ready for their first "biggest division matchup" of the season.

Ortmeyer Suspended

The AHL has just announced that Jed Ortmeyer has been suspended for one game because of an illegal check to the head on Friday night in Hamilton. He will miss this afternoon's game against Toronto.