Harding, Granlund assigned to Aeros

Just a quick post here to update you on a few transactions.

Josh Harding is all smiles ... most of the time. Competitive as hell, too. 

First, the Wild assigned goalie Josh Harding to the Aeros for a conditioning stint. He'll play two games with the Aeros this weekend before rejoining the Wild. I believe he is the AHL Aeros' all-time leader in wins, and he's a great guy, too.

He was recently diagnosed with MS, and he's on a new medicine regimen that looks to be ironed out. He'll give it a go this weekend and then hopefully is recalled to the Wild to back up Backstrom. That would likely mean that Darcy Kuemper would be sent back to Houston for the playoffs.

Also, with Matt Cullen getting healthier, the Wild sent forward Mikael Granlund back to the Aeros. He'll get primo playing time here instead of riding the pine for the Wild. With Zucker on recall, the Aeros can use Granlund on the power play for sure.

The team is off until Friday when it stars a road three in three at Texas. After that, they'll close out the regular season at San Antonio and then again at OKC.

Were You Stuck In This Line Last Night?

The photos below were taken outside of Toyota Center about 10 minutes before the start of last night's game with the San Antonio Rampage. It was the final regular season home game. It was also, probably, the final ever regular season home game to be played at Toyota Center.

These were not people trying to buy tickets. These were people who had already purchased tickets and were attempting to pick them up at the Will Call Window. But the Toyota Center ticketing system crashed and the tickets could not be printed. So all of these people were stuck outside as the game began.

It appears that most of the people made it inside by the time the first period ended. Still, it's an insult to the fans that they had to miss parts of the game because of a problem at Toyota Center that would probably never happen at a Houston Rockets game. Or at the upcoming Fleetwood Mac concert in June.

Aeros Storm Rampage, Defeat San Antonio 4-1

Stephane Veillieux (24) and David McIntyre (26) throw souvenir items into the stands as they saluted the fans following tonight's game / photo John Royal

The largest Houston Aeros crowd to ever see a game inside Toyota Center filed into the arena tonight for a very bittersweet occasion. They came to the celebrate the Aeros, to watch the team stomp out the San Antonio Rampage 4-1. They came to watch the team, in it's regular season home finale, move another step closer to the playoffs. But here's the sad part, the fans filed in to watch what's more than likely, pending one final announcement from St. Paul, the final regular season game the Aeros will ever play in Houston.

And the players did realize what tonight meant to the fans in Houston. It's about winning. It's about making the playoffs. It's about rewarding the fans who have stuck with them through the proverbial thick and thin.

"You’ve got to lay it out on the line, especially since we don’t play against till next Friday," Justin Fontaine said. "I thought the guys dug deep and played a 60 minute hockey game. That’s how we thank the fans for all of their years of support."

Fontaine was the offensive star of the game for the Aeros, with two goals and an assist. His first period power play goal put the Aeros up 1-0, assists from Erik Haula and Brian Connelly.

That's where the score stood after one period. The Rampage tied the game 12 seconds into the second period. But the Aeros scored three goals in a 1:21 period, starting with a Dan DaSilva goal off a rebound at 9:36. Chad Rau made the score 3-1 46 seconds later, and Fontaine ended the barrage with another power play goal at 10:22.

"We’re playing good as a team and that kind of energizes everyone on the bench," Fontaine says. "I’m getting some chances, and they’re going in right now. I’ve got to give a little credit to the guys around me."

John Torchetti was very complimentary of his team, and their effort tonight. And he continued to be amazed by the poise and performance of goalie Mike Condon, making just his second AHL start.

"Condon’s come in and done a great job," Torchetti said. "It’s amazing what these kids are doing as goalies. I’m not in shock, but it’s pretty incredible….You don’t just come in and win and American league game."

Torchetti also once again praised his vets, noting that they're the ones who set the tone for how it's done on the ice, and in the locker room. That's similar to the things Mike Yeo said two years ago about his vets. And it bodes well for any playoff run that this team might go on.

"It’s great fan support. We thank them as a team," Justin Fontaine. /Photo John Royal

There are three games left in this season for the Aeros, all on the road. As things now stand, the Aeros are in fifth place of the Western Conference, with 86 points. By my math, and hopefully Andrew will check me on this, the Aeros magic number for the playoffs is four points.

So until we all meet again, hopefully in a couple of weeks with the Aeros hosting a playoff game.

Aeros Hang on for 4-3 Win Over Rampage

Welcome back Mr. Bagnall, we missed you/photo John Royal

The Aeros game against San Antonio didn't have to be as close as it was. The Aeros were up 4-1 late in the third before the Rampage were able to score two late goals. And the Rampage also had a few chances in the final minute to send the game to OT.

It was a big win for the Aeros in that the Aeros a) got the win and b) reduced the magic number to eight points. And while the fight and effort level were a lot better tonight, the team's probably not too happy with its performance. At least head coach John Torchetti wasn't too happy, and he's the one who really matters.

"We’ve got to be way more detailed," Torchetti said. "It’s a win. It’s a big win. But we’ve got to be way more detailed. We can’t be satisfied being average. We’ve never been average all year, and that’s the bottom line."

He was especially not happy with the play of his defensemen, and he was quite clear that there will be some healthy scratches among that group on Saturday night. He was quite complimentary of goalie Mike Condon, who just weeks ago was taking Princeton midterms and working on his thesis.

Condon said it's been quite the whirlwind for him these past several weeks, going from Princeton hockey to Orlando and now the Aeros. His planned celebration for this game was kind of unique for a pro hockey player: "I’m going to go back to my room tonight and write a midterm and do it all over again," he told us.

[And congrats to Mr. Condon for not being insulted when Andrew asked him about taking midterms at Harvard.]

Torchetti was complimentary, once again, of the veterans on the team, Stephane Veilleux, Paul O'Mara, and Jake Dowell for not being afraid to go out and do what needs to be done. And another key veteran returned to the lineup, with Drew Bagnall getting game action for the first time in over a month.

"The ankle felt really good," Bagnall said. "I think it’s pretty tough at this time of year to prepare yourself for the pace of games. I didn’t feel out of place out there, but I didn’t feel where I need to be kind of going into playoffs, so I’m happy we’ve got a few more games to get under my belt."

Bagnall said it's been tough sitting back and not being able to contribute. Last week, during the team's home losing streak, even though not completely healthy, he tried to get Torchetti to play him, but Torchetti refused.

"We weren’t playing real well at home," Bagnall said. "And I actually approached Torch and we talked and I said, ‘hey, listen, if you want me to play, I’m ready to go.’ And he said, you’re not ready, so take your time. So he let me play tonight, and hopefully this means I’m in the lineup the rest of the way.'

The Aeros play there last ever (more than likely) home regular season game on Saturday night when they once again host the San Antonio Rampage. 

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

Drew Bagnall was named by the AHL as Houston's Man of the Year for his involvement with the community. There will still be a lot of professional athletes in Houston once the Aeros depart, but I can't help but think the community is going to miss a little something by not having guys like Bagnall in it.

"I try to just make myself available whenever there are certain activities or things to do, especially with kids," Bagnall said. "I know that our booster club is big with Kids Unlimited, and I try to go spend time with kids at Children’s Hospital. I just feel that if I can brighten somebody’s day, that’s part of the responsibility you have as an athlete, and it’s something – I mean, when I was a kid I would have loved to talk to pro hockey players, but we didn’t have that option living in a small town, so I try to make myself available when I can."

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Regarding the relocation. I saw several nice signs in the arena tonight, but I was not in a position to get any photos. Kudos, however, to the Toyota Center video crews for repeatedly putting up some of the signs, including the one saying "Save Our Aeros, Occupy Toyota Center."

There was another one I liked that compared Les Alexander to Bud Adams. And somebody told me that instead of shouting "Hey [Insert Goalie's Name], you suck," that some people were shouting "Hey, Les, you suck." It's really hard to make out the chants down in the corner however.

Not to overstep my bounds, or to get me in any kind of trouble, but I say go for it with the signs and chants. Just don't use profanity for the kids who are around.

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And an unrelated hockey point, but I need to rant since I wasted two hours on it tonight...If you work in a HR department of a temp agency. And you're sending out forms for your temp employees to fill out before starting temp projects, make sure your damn inbox is big enough to contain the damn attachment that I'm sending you after I destroy a tree printing the material, then fill it out, then scan it into my computer, then try to send.

Oh, and would I be convicted of murder if I were to kill Microsoft Word. It crashed on me three times while I was trying to transcribe the quotes from tonight.

View from the Pressbox - Aeros hang on for win over Rampage

Wanted to get something up real quick. John is going to provide some game notes and quotes from the players and head coach John Torchetti.

That is coming later, but I wanted to throw up some big picture stuff and thoughts on the team's overall play in the 4-3 win over San Antonio Thursday.

Bottom line? Two points is two points, but the Aeros had better be ready for a great counter on Saturday against a Rampage team that looked better as the third period wore on. Did they just magically start playing better? Well, no, but getting that second goal with three minutes left really helped.

The Aeros started to get sloppy, and a lot of the same defensive mistakes the team made early in the game, cost them two goals with time winding down.

But again, hard to complain too much about two points and a win, especially after how poorly the team competed Wednesday against OKC.

I thought Stephane Veilleux was very good all night. Energy, compete level, blocking shots; he did quite a bit toward a win. Zucker was again very good and creative. And the new goalie Mike Condon, from Princeton, was very good when he had to be.

He's a bit of a wanderer, but he got his first AHL win. We'll have more on him before the next game with the Rampage, but he's still writing papers. That's pretty cool to say while you're helping another team prepare for the postseason.

The Aeros magic number to clinch a playoff spot dropped to eight. They still control their own destiny with four games left, but things look really good right now for making the postseason tournament.

There is one home game left in the regular season. Hope to see you there on Saturday night.

New Goalie, Etc. For Tonight

A few miscellaneous notes before tonight's game:

1. Jason Zucker has been named to the AHL All-Rookie Team.

2. Drew Bagnall was named as Houston's AHL Man of the Year for his outstanding contributions to the Houston community for 2012-2013.

3. Houston's new Spinal Tap drummer, sacrificial victim, goalie is Aaron Dell who today was signed to a PTO. Bell's in his first year of professional hockey, and spent the season with the CHL's Allen Americans where he went 22-11-6 with a 2.30 GAA and a .916 save percentage. He was also 4-1 in the CHL playoffs. My guess is he gets the start over Mike Condon tonight. But that's just a guess.

A Little Love From A Colleague

One of my colleagues at the Press has a little post up about why he, as a non-hockey fan who rarely goes to the games, will miss the Aeros. He says a few nice things about the Aeros fans. I thought you might enjoy reading it. So here it is.

Aeros Lose Game, And Lose Another Goalie

Have you ever seen the movie Spinal Tap? It's a comedy classic from 1984 about a fictional British heavy metal band that starred Christopher Guest and Rob Reiner. I bring it up because, as those of you have seen the movie know, the band has a bit of bad luck with drummers. One drummer dies from a gardening accident. Another dies from choking on somebody else's vomit. Then there's the guy who just spontaneously combusts during a concert.

M*A*S*H - Suicide is NOT painless if you don't do it right. 

Why bring this up? Because it dawned on me while Jeff Deslauriers was writhing in pain during the second period. The Aeros are the Spinal Tap of goalies. Don't believe it, ask Deslauriers who was in for Cody Reichard who was injured during a game last week. Or ask Reichard who replaced an injured John Curry. What about Mike Brodeur replacing the injured Joe Fallon who replaced the injured Darcy Kuemper or Brodeur who replaced an injured Hackett in the playoffs.

Remember Jeff Crawford, an equipment assistant skating out in uniform to take Barry Brust's place after Brust's leg was slashed during a game? Remember Anton Khudobin skating in the playoffs because Nolan Schaefer and Brust were injured, then the Aeros having to bring in Matt Climie during the end of a playoff run because Khudobin was injured?

If you're a goalie, you want to come to Houston because you're definitely going to play. But if you're a goalie, you've got to want to avoid the Aeros because you're going to get injured during game action. So good luck to Mike Condon. And good luck to Josh Harding who, according to reports, will be making two rehab starts for the Aeros next weekend to close out the season.

As for the rest of the Aeros, they lost 4-1 to the Oklahoma City Barons, a team just below the Aeros in the standings who the Aeros are fighting for a playoff spot and in seeding. This game should have featured some playoff intensity. But it didn't.

"That was a tough one for us to swallow," John Torchetti said after the game. "I’ve got to maybe get us a little more fired up. I didn’t think we really had to get too energized for this game, but we really certainly didn’t play up to our potential. Our physicality was lacking tonight. We didn’t win any battles, and that was the difference."

At one point during the third period the Aeros were being outshot 30-12. A hockey team's not going to win many games when it's being outshot 30-12.

"I think that they’re 7-2-2 in their last 11 games," Torchetti said of the Barons. "And that’s not them chasing, that’s them gelling at the right time. They seem to be getting parts and add-ons in the right areas. We’re coming out of a game with nothing. We didn’t give up nothing tonight. You have to give something up, you have to give up something as a hockey player to win a hockey game. You just can’t show up and come out like it’s a Sunday school dance."

With the loss the Aeros drop to 7th place in the Western Conference playoff standings, behind OKC and Rochester. The magic number should still be 10 points.

They're back in action tomorrow night against San Antonio, so come see them before they're relocated.

And for you Spinal Tap fans, here's the history of the drummers.

The Des Moines Aeros? Really?

If you would've asked me about the lease talks/relocation last week, I would've said it was 80/20 in favor of the Aeros leaving. After yesterday's news, I'm putting it at 95/5 in favor of the Aeros leaving.

I've got a story up over at the Press taking a look at yesterday's news, including reactions from Des Moines. The good news is basically this: there is no lease in Houston, but there's also no lease in Des Moines, and Des Moines officials are throwing out the same kind of smack the Toyota Center's been sending out, ie, they don't really need the Aeros because they're making a pretty good profit off of concerts and by hosting a NBA D-League team and a team in one of the 15,000 arena football leagues.

There's also this, maybe Russo's story wasn't so much a final announcement, but was actually more a shot across the bow meant to get Toyota Center's attention, to let them know the Aeros are serious and they're tried of screwing around, and telling Toyota Center to make a legitimate offer already.

So give it a read. And don't forget, there is a game tonight.

A huge week starts now

Lost in yesterday's free for all rumor mill were the actual Houston Aeros. The players that take the ice, entertain us and provide services for the Minnesota Wild when they need players.

Tonight, those guys will start the last three regular season home games, and they'll host the red-hot OKC Barons at Toyota Center. After tonight, the Aeros will welcome the San Antonio Rampage Thursday and Saturday. Then, the team will take a week off before closing out the regular season with three road games in three nights in three different cities.

Aeros host the Barons tonight at Toyota Center (7:05)

But first things first - tonight they host a red-hot Barons team that some how did not die with their Big 4 went to the NHL after the lockout ended. Everybody, including me, left them for dead, and now they are just two points behind the Aeros with a game in hand.

Huge game for both teams. If the Aeros win, they'll have a four-point cushion. Lose, and the Barons will have the tie-breaker both in terms of winning percentage and ROW (regulation and overtime wins). The Aeros' magic number to clinch a playoff berth for the 16th time in 19 seasons is 10. That number goes down by two every time the Aeros win. It also goes down by two every time the team currently in ninth loses.

Based on that, Aeros fans are really pulling for the Peoria Rivermen tonight, who host the Rockford Icehogs at Carver Arena.

Tonight is a playoff game, and both teams will go hard for 60 minutes and hope for the two-point reward. These last three regular season games will be fun to watch; this is the time of year where the intensity is up and the proverbial emotions run high.

John Torchetti will have the boys ready for tonight. How will they execute under pressure?

Here is some more news on the Barons via the Houston Aeros press office:


The Oklahoma City Barons –

When the NHL lockout ended, Oklahoma City lost six of the team’s top sevens scorers to the NHL’s Edmonton Oilers. In all Jordan Eberle, Justin Schultz, Taylor Hall, Teemu Hartikainen, Ryan Nugent-Hopkins and Magnus Paajarvi are all gone. The team is 17-12-3-2 since their departure. Despite not playing for the Barons since Jan. 5, Jordan Eberle and Justin Schultz remain among the AHL leaders in points. Eberle had 51, while Schultz, a defenseman, collected 48. Eberle led the league with 25 goals until Providence’s Jamie Tardif surpassed him in late February. Schultz had 30 AHL assists, which remains among the highest in the league.

Mark Arcobello is the team’s active leading scorer with 20 goals and 41 assists for 61 points in 67 games played. He is followed by rookie Toni Rajala, who has 13 goals and 23 assists for 36 points in 39 games played. He has five assists and eight points in his last seven games played. Left wing Teemu Hartikainen is third on the team in scoring, scoring 14 goals and toaling 35 points in 44 games played. Forward Philippe Cornet has four points in in his last seven games. Cornet is fourth overall in team scoring with 13 goals and 14 assists for 27 points in 39 games played. Since joining the team in late January, Jonathan Cheecoo has 26 points in 29 games with the Barons this season. The veteran winger has three points in his last seven games played. Defenseman Martin Marincin is sixth on the team with 25 points in 64 games played. Center Josh Green has 23 points in 47 games played this season.

Oklahoma City features goalies Yann Danis and Niko Hovinen in net.  Danis is 22-14-5 with a 2.79 goals against average and a .906 save percentage. Fellow goalie Niko Hovinen is 4-3-2 with a 3.26 g.a.a. and a .884 save percentage. At 6-foot-7, he is one of the tallest goalies in pro hockey.

The Barons rank first in the AHL on the power play converting 61 out of 286 chances (21.3 %). As far the penalty kill goes, Oklahoma City sits 30 out of 30 teams, stopping 219 of 283 attempts (78.1 %). The Barons rank 20th out of 30 teams in penalty minutes, averaging just 14.9 minutes a game. Oklahoma City is averaging 3.16 goals per game, while allowing 3.17 goals per game.