Power Rankings: Admirals are hot, hot, hot

So yeah, if your nickname is Admirals, you've got to be feeling good right now. The Norfolk Admirals have won 25 straight games to obliterate any and all records, and the Milwaukee Admirals went from 9th to 5th in the Western Conference playoff standings with their shootout win over the Aeros.

Oh, say can you see the Milwaukee Admirals in the playoffs?

Milwaukee is up to 7th in this weeks power rankings, the biggest jump in the polls. They crushed the reeling Charlotte Checkers and then won the first two games of their three-game trek through Texas. They have an absolutely huge game Tuesday against the San Antonio Rampage, who dropped one spot because of how well the Abbotsford Heat have played of late.

If the Rampage win on Tuesday, their magic number goes down to four. If they lose to the Admirals, they are going to have sweep the weekend or get some help from the teams. The Aeros are in the same boat.

Let me just say that this has been an absolutely amazing playoffs race. The Aeros have lost eight of nine overall, but they are still capable of finishing as high as fifth in the standings. Milwaukee on the other hand looked left for dead after some struggles against the Rockford IceHogs.

Now, it looks like they are lock, needed just two wins and a loss by either the Aeros, Rivermen or Lake Erie Monsters this weekend.

2011-12 Western Conference Power Rankings
Edition 10, April 9, 2012

PR	Team	Record	Streak	Last	+/-	For the record …
1	TOR	44-23-4-3	6-0	3-0-0-0	+1	Back in the top spot
2	OKC	43-21-4-5	0-2	1-2-0-0	-1	In danger of losing 1 seed
3	CHI	40-26-3-3	2-0	2-1-0-0	-	Magic number down to 1
4	ABB	40-26-3-5	5-0	4-0-0-0	+1	Will be tough out in playoffs
5	SAT	37-28-3-2	0-1	1-1-0-0	-1	HUGE game vs. MKE Tues.
6	PEO	39-31-2-1	0-1	2-1-0-0	-1	Lost to AHL sched on Saturday
7	MKE	38-28-2-4	4-0	4-0-0-0	+4	Points in 9 of 10 overall (7 Ws)
8	HOU	33-24-5-11	0-1	1-1-0-1	-	Tied AHL mark for SOLs.
9	LEM	36-28-3-7	3-0	2-0-0-0	+2	These guys just won’t die
10	RCH	34-26-9-4	2-0	2-1-1-0	-	Need help to make playoffs
11	CLT	35-28-3-6	0-4	0-4-0-0	-5	Basically gave up Sunday
12	RFD	34-31-2-6	0-2	0-2-0-0	-3	Nice little run is over.
13	GRR	32-29-7-4	0-2	1-1-1-0	+1	End of Curt Fraser era?
14	HAM	32-34-2-5	0-3	0-3-0-0	-1	Price is Right Loser Horn
15	TEX	30-38-2-2	0-3	0-2-0-0	-	Could really hurt SA and HOU

Some More Thoughts On Last Night

My new post at the Press is up, and it expounds more on some thoughts I had after last night's game. In short, I think the loss of Jed Ortmeyer for most of the season and the lack of a reliable scorer like Patrick O'Sullivan have really hurt the team this season. I think the team's tired and the constant round trips from Houston to St. Paul and back to Houston time and time again for several of the players has worn them down.

Plus, it's just unrealistic to expect the goalies to keep pitching shut out after shut out after shut out. I know some people like to bitch and bitch about Matt Hackett, but Hackett and the rest of the goalies have done some fantastic work keeping the Aeros in games this season.

That said, the season's not over. There are still three games left.

P.S.: It was asked and answered in the comments to the post below, but...

Marco Scandella was a late scratch last night. He did skate pregame, but apparently tweaked something in his lower body and is day-to-day. And Matt Hackett did appear to get hurt during the game last night, but he was able to continue playing. I would think he'll be available for this weekend's games.

Aeros Lose 2-1 (SO) to Milwaukee

These posts are tiring to write, so...

The Aeros didn't win for the eighth time in nine games. This time, they lost 2-1 to the Milwaukee Admirals in the shootout -- yes, I know, shocking. The shootout loss, they're 11th of the season, ties an AHL record. And except for Brett Bulmer getting his first goal as an AHLer, there's really not much positive to say.

The AHL website says the Aeros are now in sixth place. Aeros PR is saying the Aeros are in eighth. I'm going with Aeros PR. There are three games left in the season. Will there be a post-season? Who knows? But even if they make it into the Calder Cup playoffs, do you have any confidence they'll get out of the first round?

Last year's team was special. This year's, not so much. I expound on this for tomorrow's post in the Press (stop bitching, I have to give them some decent stuff), but Jed Ortmeyer and Patrick O'Sullivan aren't around for the Aeros this season -- I'm still not understanding why Ortmeyer couldn't come back, but I'm slow -- and the Aeros just really appear to miss their presence out on the ice.

Oh well.

That didn't suck: Aeros win 4-2 over Peoria

First the bad news: Peoria was at the end of a 3-in-3 tonight, so they were a weary bunch. The Aeros' whopping 46 shots on goal were evidence of that, for sure, but how much of the Aeros success was a tired opponent and how much was the team stepping up?

The good news is that it did seem like the team responded from an embarrassing loss Friday night that really felt like the last straw. Another weak effort tonight would have said, at least to me, that they'd checked out just as much as I have. But nobody's paying good money to watch me write, so...

Lucky for Peoria that Jake Allen was both good and lucky tonight in goal, often getting something in front of shots, not always knowing where the puck was after the fact. His defense did a good job clearing those out, but left him hanging several times, letting the Aeros toy with him on a couple of those goals.

Frustrating for a goalie for sure, but how about poor Hackett, making that HUGE paddle save on what was otherwise an open net, and then still getting scored on. I felt for him there. That blows to make save like that and then an easy goal. Bahhhh.

Also a difficult game for Hack in terms of how few shots he saw. It's made a bit better by the fact that even though he didn't see a ton of shots, there were good periods of activity around the net to keep him warm and in the game and moving with purpose.

Torchetti on the goalies: "(Jake Allen) played incredible tonight. He really kept them in the game. I was sitting there watching and the shots were 28-6, and I was like you have to be kidding me. But we battled; that was a tough game for Hack to play in. I think he is ready to get on a roll for us."

Funny story from Torchetti regarding Chad Rau, who Torch said he did not include in the heavy message to his veteran players Friday night:

These are the situations where you learn about the kids. This morning, we were talking and I asked him how his game was last night (vs. Chicago), and he said, 'You know what, I stunk.' And then I was like, 'Oh, I didn't want you to be that hard on yourself. I just wanted to ask you how you played.' He told me, 'Don't worry, I'll be better tonight.'

And that is the difference between a guy who wants to be a pro ... and that's him, and then I told him that I only saw him like that twice all year. He's been so consistent for me. He's a little man that plays like a big man, and he's definitely ... if you're a fan, you definitely love watching this kid play hockey.

Tomorrow, per reporting from Russo, the team will have Nate Prosser back in the fold. They're going to talk to Marco Scandella about coming down and, I presume, let him have some say in that decision. He's turned into a real stud for them this season, so it's a nice little show of respect to do that.

We talked to Drew Bagnall after the game, too, and while he praised what the younger guys have done for the defensive corps, the veteran presence of a guy like Prosser, who's been to war with all these guys already, has a calming effect for the team.

Torch, on the other hand, said he'll believe he's got Prosser back when he sees the whites of his eyes. Spoken like a guy who's had his roster jacked with about 30-too-many times this season.

For those scoreboard watching, which is apparently everybody BUT Torchetti, the Aeros are in 8th place, tied with San Antonio at 81 points. But Milwaukee, Sunday's opponent, would sure like to rise out of 9th to beat the Aeros, as they're only 1 point behind.

More Torchetti: "We need 86 or 87 points, I don't know ... All I am doing is worrying about us. We've got four games and we just need to keep playing good. I am proud of our guys and even though we have not played our best as of late, we've got a group of guys that are hanging in there right now."

Unfortunately, we don't have an update on Sean Lorenz, who left the game fairly early after getting pushed and slamming his face into a goal post. Blood and difficulty skating and a trip straight down the corner tunnel to the doctors' office was the result of his 2nd-ever pro game. Bless his heart. 

See you tomorrow, full of ham and scalloped potatoes. Yum.

Aeros Lose To Wolves, Now 0 For Last 7

Let's keep this short and sweet. The Aeros led the Wolves 2-1 with 5:49 remaining in the game. They ended up losing 4-2. They're now 0-4-2-1 for their last seven games, and they're now in ninth place in the playoff standings after a win by Lake Erie which catapulted the Monsters from 10th place to seventh.

It was the same story for the team. Good start with no follow through. Torchetti told us after the game that it's time the veterans stood up, which is something we've been hearing for awhile now.

There's five games left in the season for the Aeros, so it's never over until it's over, or for you Animal House fans:  "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" But with games against Peoria tomorrow and Milwaukee on Sunday, the season could be almost over.

And frankly, at this moment, I just don't have much left to say. If you've got anything to add, please feel free to do so.

Playoff picture update - Thursday edition

The Aeros are the only team in the very thick of the Western Conference playoff chase that has to play three games in three nights twice to close out the season. While that may seem bad, if they get on a roll again, that could be a good thing. And five of those six games are at home, where the Aeros have been very good for the last two months or so.

Last night, though, they did not get any help. Rochester earned a point in an OT loss at Abbotsford and San Antonio beat Chicago.

The Rampage finished the season 4-0 against the Wolves, winning all four games by a single goal.

The Aeros are still in 7th and have at least a game in hand on the teams around them, so it's all on them as to whether or not they want to play in the post season.

My take is that they need six points to get there. That will pretty much get them at least the 7 seed, I think. If they can go 4-2, they might sneak up to sixth and a 5-1 or 6-0 run would get them even higher.

Ideally, I think home ice is out the window for the first round, but stranger things have happened. That is their goal, and as long as they are shooting for it ... you just never know.

Their three opponents this weekend are Chicago, Peoria and Milwaukee. They are 2-7 against those teams this year, and I think they have a six game losing streak against them. They have single wins over Chicago, but lost both games at Allstate Arena. They have a SOL point against Peoria, and they split the two games at Carver Arena.

And they have zilch against Milwaukee this season. 0-for-3 against a team that calls the Aeros their slumpbusters. I think that changes this weekend.

It has been a great week of scoreboard watching. Now we'll see how the Aeros do as they play catch up with three games in three days ... all at home. Enjoy.

Power Rankings: Lots of movement in the middle

Just two weeks ago, I really thought the Peoria Rivermen had that same mojo the Aeros had in the second half of last season. Great mix of vets and young talent, and they just added Patrick O'Sullivan, one of the best AHL snipers around.

They started winning, and then did it with timely scoring and defense. And now it looks like that offense has gone a bit dark, and the team is perhaps overworking Jake Allen a bit. Peoria dropped from three to seven in my rankings, but the the 4-7 sports are really 4a, 4b, 4c ... well you get the picture.

I moved the Rampage up to four this week and I really think that is where they are going to end up at the end of the season. I really, really like their team, and I think Rampage fans are going to get to cherish what it's like to win a playoff series.

The Abbotsford Heat have really turned things around too in the last few weeks and I have them neck and neck with Charlotte, who was slumping badly the last time I did the power rankings. I have the Aeros, their six-game losing streak and all, in the No. 8 spot, and I think that is exactly where they are going to be on April 16.

Also, can you image the IceHogs if they had started their run about a month earlier? They, the Monsters, Amerks and Bulldogs have all turned things up a notch lately, and right now it is a good thing that the Aeros and Rivermen and Heat got a decent leg up on them earlier in the year.

I don't think there is enough time yet to see any of these guys sneak in ... but if one of them were, I'd have to think Rochester has the best chance, thanks to a favorable schedule.

And Admirals fans ... you have had the pleasure of slump-busting it against the Aeros recently, but because your team had so many late games against Rockford, that might be the single reason your team will not make the playoffs for the first time since 2001.

It was a nice run.

2011-12 Western Conference Power Rankings
Edition 9, April 3, 2012

PR	Team	Record	Streak	Last 2	+/-	For the record …
1	OKC	42-19-4-5	0-1	3-2-0-0	-	First in the West to clinch
2	TOR	41-23-4-3	3-0	5-1-0-0	-	Have won 8 of last 10
3	CHI	38-24-3-3	0-1	3-1-1-0	+1	Just about a lock for No. 3
4	SAT	37-28-3-2	0-1	4-2-0-1	+4	Markstrom started six of last 7
5	ABB	36-26-3-5	0-1	3-1-0-1	+4	Points in 7 of 8 overall
6	CLT	35-24-3-6	2-0	3-2-0-1	-	On track at the right time
7	PEO	37-30-2-1	1-0	2-4-0-1	-4	Fallen off considerably
8	HOU	32-23-5-10	0-6	0-3-1-2	-3	Lost six straight overall
9	RFD	34-29-2-6	1-0	5-1-0-1	+2	Just on unbelievable run
10	RCH	32-23-8-4	0-3	1-2-2-1	-3	Like Aeros, OT loss kings
11	LEM	34-28-3-7	1-0	2-2-0-3	-1	Put up 8 spot against the Stars
12	MKE	34-28-2-4	0-2	3-1-0-2	-	IceHogs have killed their season
13	HAM	32-31-2-5	2-0	5-2-0-0	+1	Just came on too late
14	GRR	31-28-6-4	0-1	3-4-0-0	-1	Maybe next year
15	TEX	30-36-2-2	0-1	3-4-0-0	-	Finally, officially eliminated

Down the Stretch - Just six games left

I am going to defer to the AHL's playoff primer for the rest of the season as THE place to check on the playoff race. With just six games left, it has ALL remaining games, and you can see things like magic numbers, rankings and games left.

The Aeros have lost six straight and have slipped from 4th to 7th in that time frame. I don't know what to say about the team other than what Torchetti has told us. And basically he's preaching that the team just isn't playing very smart. As far as I can tell, there has not been one stretch of about more than four games this season where the coaches hasn't said something to that effect.

So basically, the Aeros aren't very smart, I guess and they should just be lucky to sneak in to the playoff dance.

What is particularly troublesome to me is that the Aeros shot totals  and legitimate scoring chances are way, way down, recently, and they are losing a ton of games in which they have scored first or had the lead after 20 minutes. Those used to be money-points-in-the-bag for this team, and that just simply is not happening any more.

And before I close off this post with a string of positive comments, I just want to say that I think the Aeros main problem is that they don't have enough skillful vets to overcome a bunch of young players that have not been in this situation before. Players like Genoway, Fontaine, Foucault, and others have not yet had to be the go-to or lean on guys like they are this year ... and that is catching up with the team now. I think that is why the Aeros are losing these games that are close late and got getting that third goal when they really need to get it.

I heard a rumor that Jon DiSalvatore was either close to or had already signed to play in Europe next season. I asked him about it, and he quickly quashed that notion. Sometime veteran players have to sign early to get in on the big bucks over there, and there are some teams that have suffered down the stretch because of those transactions. And sometimes it doesn't matter at all; the 2003 Aeros best offensive players Hnat Domenichelli and Jean-Guy Trudel both secured overseas deals rather early, and the Aeros ended up winning the Calder Cup .

Now for the good news. Time is running out for the teams that are directly behind the Aeros. With six games left, if the Aeros go just 3-3 the rest of the way, the Rochester Amerks would have to go 5-2 to surpass them in the standings. I think the Amerks are the team in the best position to catch the Aeros. Their set against Abbotsford will be huge. If the Aeros continue their slide, they'll be hoping for a Heat sweep. If they Aeros can get hot again, they'll want Rochester to win so they'll have a shot at their goal of home ice advantage in the first round.

I like the Aeros chances because they are still getting points when they play like crap. I like the way DiSalvatore,Taffe, Bagnall and Hackett seem to be getting things turned around after that really bad weekend in the Midwest two weeks ago.

If you had told me in September that the Aeros and Wild would have all the injury problems they've had, I would have guessed no playoffs by a long shot. Torchetti and Jim Mill have done a magnificent job of keeping this thing together long enough to give the Aeros a shot.

Their playoff chances are going to go down to the last weekend, and what more could you want out of a team that has just been hit with torpedo after torpedo after torpedo?

Something tells me the Aeros will clinch with a win or an OT point against the San Antonio Rampage next Saturday. That would be good, too, because it would give Torchetti a chance to rest some players on Sunday against Texas and get people ready for the first round.

I just can't see the Aeros not in the playoffs this year. They've overcome too much now to just let it all fall apart in the last month.

Bulldogs Bite Aeros, Win 3-2 in OT

John Torchetti was rather calm and collected when he came out to address the media long, long after tonight's 3-2 OT loss to Hamilton. He wasn't so calm in the locker room, however, as shouting and things being tossed could be heard in the corridor outside the locker room.

He's probably right to be angry. The Aeros are now 0-3-2-1 for their last six games, and with this loss, though the Aeros got a point, they dropped to seventh in the standings, and the reason for those losses, according to Torchetti is rather simple: the team's not playing very good hockey.

"It’s tough," Torchettis said. "You know what, our last six games have been that way every night. I would love to give you an explanation, but it comes down to how simple we want to play. We’ve got to simplify our game."

They took the 1-0 lead less than two minutes into the game when Nick Palmieri got the puck back to Chad Rau who stuck the puck into the goal. But Hamilton scored three minutes later tying the game. And like so many of the goals the Aeros have surrendered lately, it came as a result of a defensive breakdown.

"First mistake, first goal – it was two-on-two, stay in our lanes," he said. "Where were you about getting the puck to go on offense when we were not even going to get any offense from it, so we give them the middle of the ice. Just a rookie mistake."


The second Hamilton goal came late, late in the third period, after the Aeros, had again, taken a lead early in the period, this time with Palmieri getting the goal. But then there was another defensive breakdown hanging Hackett out to dry, and the game was tied.


Then the game goes into overtime, there's a turnover, and the game's over.


"The third goal, we turned the puck over," Torchetti said. "Instead of just passing it to the boards, we tried to pass it through the guy, and then we’re not focused because we made the turnover and we didn’t gap up. And now we’re so far back the guy just shoots it, our guy puts a stick in the way, Hack’s playing the shot, it gets deflected, there’s nothing you can do about it. It was over."


The game was about more than just the Aeros own mistakes. The game started nearly hour late because the ice compressor broke down and the ice started melting. But while Torchetti was very upset about the officiating during the late stages of the game, he did compliment the crew when it came to delaying the game and making sure it was safe to skate on the ice.


"Everyone did a good job," Torchetti said. "It is what is. Compressor goes down, you just have to make adjustments. The referees did a good job. [Official] Zac [Weibe] and Carl, Carl Sasyn [linesman] was pretty much like an ice man, so kudos to him. He did a hell of a job. He should have been double-paid tonight."

But late in the game, Cody Almond was sent flying into the boards when he was sent flying by a stick to his skates and no penalty was called. And there seemed to be some officiating confusion, as they were looking at a possible icing call on the play.

"It wasn’t icing," Torchetti said. "It hit his skate. 12,000 people seen it, except there were 12,003 people and only 12,000 seen it."

But the Aeros didn't lose this game because of the AHL's standard sub-par officiating. The Aeros lost this game because of bad hockey on their part. Sloppy defense. Sloppy puck-handling. Lack of discipline. And with the team not playing a game until Friday, they're going to be getting lots and lots and lots of practice time at SLICE.

"This is going to be the hardest week we’ve ever worked," Torchetti said. "Guarantee it. There’s no days off now. I don’t care if you’re tired. This team has to understand what discipline is because we’re not doing it right now."

But it's beginning to look like that, even if the team does begin to understand what discipline is, it's going to be too late to save a playoff spot.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

The Aeros are now 32-23-5-10 on the season with 79 points. Abbotsford is in fourth place with 80 points. Charlotte and San Antonio both won tonight with both also reaching 79 points on the season. The Checkers are in fifth place, and the Rampage move into sixth place with the Aeros now in seventh place.

Rochester, Peoria, and Lake Erie are all poised three points behind the Aeros. There are six games left in the season, but for the Aeros, time might be close to being over.