Casey Wellman Traded To Whale

We're hearing word from Hartford that Casey Wellman has been traded to the Connecticut Whale, who are part of the New York Rangers organization.  Wild beat writer Michael Russo is also reporting the trade, and he's saying that the Wild are receiving New York Rangers center Erik Christensen and a seventh round draft choice.  We're still trying to work out all of the details here, and figure out fact from rumor, but I'd go with Russo being correct.

UPDATE:  It's official.  Wellman to the Whale.  Christensen to the Wild.  Chad Rau is being returned to the Aeros.

The Aeros Lose In The Shootout Again (Yes, I Know, Shocking)

When I was a kid there was this cartoon called The Pebbles and Bamm-Bamm Show which was a Flintstone's spin-off centered on the teenage kids of Fred and Barney.  One of the characters on the show was this kid called Schleprock, who literally walked around with a black cloud hanging over his head.

I bring this up because I'm convinced there's a black cloud of bad luck hanging over Toyota Center whenever the Aeros are playing there.  Like tonight where, once again, the Aeros lost a game in the shootout.  The Aeros have won just one game in the shootout this season, and that win came on the road, in Peoria.  This time, the Aeros lost 4-3 in the shootout, but unlike in games past, the Aeros actually were able to make shots in the shootout -- Casey Wellman and Kris Foucault were able to hit their shots -- but the San Antonio Rampage were able make three, including one that went through the net and was originally called a no-goal but, after consultation, was changed to a goal.

John Torchetti wasn't too sure about the call however, and after the game, he stormed out of the locker room to the ice, where he had them bring him the net for his own personal inspection.  He then had a nice, calm chat with the officiating crew -- way, way, way more calmer than the little discussion that Lane Lambert had with them after Game Five last season.

So of course we asked him about that goal, and about losing again in the shootout.

"You know what, it’s over," he said.  "That’s it.  I can see a puck going through the net on a point shot, but on a shoot-out, there’s no velocity?  It’s hard to do.  I can see if [the netting's] loose, but I just wedged it to get through a puck.  But whatever, it’s a point."

[For what it's worth, when we asked him, Matt Hackett said it was a goal, and the TV replays we were able to see off of the San Antonio TV replay monitors also seemed to indicate that it was a goal.]

The shootout wouldn't have mattered if the Aeros would have been able to hold on to their 3-1 second period lead.  But they couldn't.  There were multiple special teams breakdowns, and for a while, it seemed as if the Aeros were just content to let Casey Wellman do all of the offensive damage -- and welcome back Mr. Wellman.

And thus ended another three-in-three weekend.  The Aeros were unable to get a single win, but they were able to get a point in each game.  All three games went into overtime, and the Aeros were mixing and matching the roster at all times due to the Friday morning Wild call-ups.  And Torchetti offered up praise for the play of some of the newbies.

"Kids that come up, they want to come up," he said.  "[Chris] Clackson’s got a brother that plays in Chicago, so it’s in the bloodlines.  [Mike] McKenzie’s done a great job just working hard and just competing every night, and that’s what the game comes down to."

And as for the return of Wellman, Torchetti once again gushed with praise.

"He just plays hard.  He’s just come down and he’s accepted his role being sent back, and he’s just gone back to where he was.  And that’s kudos to him.  It shows you what kind of character he has as a person."

But in the end, the point is that the Aeros were only able to get a point out of a game where they appeared set to get two points.  It's a game where, once again, they failed to get the win at home.  Maybe this is just their Schleprock season when it comes to playing games at home.  Yet things could be worse.  They're still getting points after all.  Not two points, but one.  And one's better than none.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTES:

This was the seventh straight Aeros game decided by one goal, and the fourth of sixth games to go into overtime.  They are 3-1-1-2 for this seven game stretch.

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Marco Scandella appeared to take a shot off of his knee late in the third period.  He was barely able to make it back to the bench, and immediately went to the locker room from which he did not return.  We asked Torchetti about his status after the game, but it was still too early to know anything.

And for the curious, Cody Almond is suffering from a lower body injury and Jeff Penner is suffering from an upper body injury.

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Yes, this game was on television.  San Antonio television, so it was probably available on one of the various Fox Sports Southwest channels.  No, I don't know why it wasn't being televised here, and no, I don't know why Aeros games seem to have vanished from that thing known as a television.  The only games that make it on TV are those when they play San Antonio, and that means getting the San Antonio call of the game.

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.

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.

Notes, Quotes, Observations, And End Game Controversies -- A Fun Night In Houston

Sorry folks, this is going to be quick. They're doing electrical work at my apartment complex tomorrow and shutting off the power at 9:00 a.m., so I've got to get some sleep. But I wanted to throw out a few things, and answer some questions.

1. Some of you have wondered why Hamilton got so upset over the DiSalvatore game-winner, besides it being the game-winner. Hamilton was arguing that Drew MacIntyre was in control of the puck, so the whistle should have been called. This is an issue we've seen all series with the officials taking forever to blow the whistle, allowing players to play whack the goalie.

I was down at the other corner, but I checked my photos of the sequence. In most of them, I can't tell anything because there are too many players blocking my view of MacIntyre, but I do have this one photo below. And if you look closely under MacIntyre's pads -- click on the photo to enlarge it -- you'll see that the puck is free. This is just a split second before the goal is called.


Here's what Jon DiSalvatore had to say about the play: "The puck was thrown at the net. It was laying there between his pads. I think he may have thought he had it covered, so throw everything at him and see what happens. Sometimes that’s the way you’ve got to get it through that guy."

2. This next sequence of photos involves the very end of the game where we had the scrum in front of Matt Hackett and where it looked like some of the Hamilton players were going to kill the officials. The issue here, as I understand it, was that the Hamilton players felt one of the Aeros, and I heard Justin Falk's name, covered the puck with his hand while in the crease, thus there should have been a penalty shot called.

This happened just in front of me, so I checked my photos. If you look closely, you'll see the puck right below the "4" of Falk's sweater. You can't see the puck in the final photo as it appears that he's rolled over on it.

Three things. If you look at the photos, it appears that Terry Koharski is looking right at the puck and at Falk. Second, from these angles, I don't see how Falk could have grabbed hold of the puck. Third, in the final photo it looks as if Warren Peters was making a grab for the puck, but that's the best shot I have as chaos ensues in the photos I have after that.






3. We get lots of access to these guys during the season, so we get to know them. And as much as advancing to the Calder Cup means to all of these guys, I think it means more to Jon DiSalvatore than it does anybody. He's spoken in the past about never winning a playoff series, and about how special this group of players is, and how much he wanted this. And now he's got it.

"You can go around the league and find maybe more talented teams than our team, just on paper," he said after the game. "But character-wise, top to bottom, the depth that’s on our team, the coaching staff. Everything has just come together so nicely and we’ve grown so much. Guys have brought into the process of maturing as people and as athletes. You see that all come together in 20 minutes of a hockey game. Everything that we battle through to persevere and come out. That’s what makes it so special. We put in all that extra time throughout the year just for a moment like that. And that’s why this team’s so special."

4. This couldn't have been an easy night for Casey Wellman. Wellman's struggled throughout out the playoffs, and tonight he was on the fourth line after having started the playoffs against Peoria on the top line. So playing on that fourth line, Wellman went out and had his best game of the playoffs, scoring the second and third goals of the game.

"This series has been a struggle," Wellman told us. "Obviously we went up three games, and lost three in a row. And personally, it’s been kind of a struggle for me. But these are the games you dream about, game sevens, and I’m glad I was able to step up for our team."

5. And we asked Mike Yeo about the move, and Yeo responded: "It’s a response by him. It’s a tremendous response, and that’s what you’re looking for, and that’s how we got to this point, really. I give Casey huge credit for the way he responded tonight…."

6. And let's hear it for you fans who were attendance. That was the loudest I've heard Toyota Center in years. There were 6,000-plus in attendance, and your presence was felt every moment. You have no idea how much it meant to the players, and how they fed off of it. That's what home ice advantage is all about.

"We haven’t been a team to go to center ice and salute the crowd before. I think it’s a great tradition, and it’s something that I would like to see," Yeo said. "But the guys thought it was appropriate tonight because that crowd was unbelievable. I thought that just the game, the excitement value of it, just the energy that the crowd brought to the game and the life that they brought to our players was phenomenal."

That's it. I'm out of here. I'll try to post a link to the mothership story whenever it goes up, providing I can find some power and a wireless connection somewhere. Also, some bad news. I'm not going to be at games one and two because of previous vacation plans, so there won't be any photos. Maybe Heather will nice enough to bring out the pen and paper and do us some stick figure drawings, though I'm sure all of her attention will be focused on Mr. Barry Brust. But the good news is that I will be in Binghamton for games four and five.

Goodnight everybody. It's been an incredible evening.

View From The Pressbox: Bring On The Bulldogs

Colton Gillies ties the score at 1-1 with 12.2 seconds left in the first period.

I've got a confession to make, I thought the Aeros were going to lose this game. I sent Andrew and Heather a note before the game, and I said it was going to be a blowout in Milwaukee's favor. Never have I been so glad to be so wrong.

I wasn't thrilled with the Aeros play in the first period, especially the first half of the period. I just thought Milwaukee was dominating the game, and from what Mike Yeo told me after the game, the guys on the team thought the same thing. And as the seconds ticked down to the intermission, I was thinking the Aeros should be thanking the hockey gods that Terry Koharski was so frigging blind so that they would be down only 1-0 instead of 2-0, only to have Colton Gillies strike and tie the game.

Casey Wellman was the man at the end. He buried that puck, learning from a mistake he'd made on a similar shot several shifts earlier, but if not for Gillies, I don't think Wellman has the chance to be the hero.

"That [Gillies] goal was huge for us," Yeo said after the game. "A number of reasons. I thought Milwaukee played a great first period. I thought that our first period was good, but the feeling on the bench was that Milwaukee was handing it to us good. I don’t think that was the case. They played a very good period and made us feel that because of it. But getting that goal kind of put things back into focus for us, and say, hey, we’re tied going into the period, and I think we know we’ve got another level."

That goal gave the Aeros some momentum, some much needed momentum. The second period was scoreless, though each team had some good chances, then Carson McMillan caught Jeremy Smith alone, being careless with the puck behind the net, and he rushed in from the blue line, got the puck, and found a way to get in the net before Smith or the Milwaukee defenders could stop it.

(Here's a stat: McMillan had three goals in the series. Two were overtime winners, and the third put the Aeros in the lead.)

Milwaukee was able to tie it on a nice goal, and it really, really looked like this game was going to go to OT. Then with about 2:00 left, the Admirals really went on the attack. They surrounded the net and Hackett and pounded him with shot after shot after shot. I thought for sure they were going to win, but Hackett came up big at the most important time of the series and he kept them out of the net. Drew Bagnall was able to make a great play on the puck and get it to Wellman, and BAM!, the Aeros were up.

"There was a crazy scramble in front," Hackett said. "I was lucky to make two or three big saves. My D, they helped me out great. Bags blocked a shot right at the end there. It went to Casey, and he buried it low glove. It was a crazy feeling when he scored that goal."

Here's how Colton Gillies described the sequence as he saw it from the bench.

"Man, our coach tells us, that’s playoffs," Gillies said. "That’s when a lot of goals do happen. The other team is focusing on trying to get that puck home, and guys are sacrificing in front of the net to block the shot, and taking guys out. It just takes one good bounce and we’re off in the other direction.

"It was obviously an emotional rollercoaster on the bench watching it all develop. But it worked out."

I hate to do this to you, but if you want to read what Casey Wellman and Mike Yeo said about the goal, then you're going to have to check the Press tomorrow because I've got to do something to get you to read over there.

This was an incredibly tough series. I was tough on Matt Hackett a lot, but damn, when it was the most difficult, there at the end, the guy really came through. And who doesn't feel for Jeremy Smith. The guy had an incredible series. He did what you want a goalie to do, until the end when he just couldn't do it anymore.

"Jeremy Smith, he had an unbelievable series," Welmman said. "I think we out shot them almost every game. I think it might have been every game. He was coming up with saves left and right. There was obviously some frustration on our side, but we were trying not to let it get to us. We just wanted to get pucks to the net and get guys there for rebounds and second and third opportunities."

I think I'll close this out with Matt Hackett who just summed up this series, and this game seven, just perfectly.

"It’s just fun," he said. "It’s playoff hockey. It’s what you do playing as a kid. You play on the road hockey. It’s overtime, all the time, game seven. Tonight was a special game. It was close again. I didn’t have that much work this series, and it was tough for me to kind of stay focused. But Smitty he had a lot of shots, and it was different for me. But I got used to it later on.

"I’m proud of the boys right now. They did a great job."

So good night from Milwaukee and an incredible game seven. Please read my post in the Press tomorrow/Wednesday. We'll see you on Friday night at Toyota Center for Game One against Hamilton.

P.S.: My MVP of the series is easy. It's Colton Gillies. But you can feel free to argue that out.

P.P.S.: Dear AHL, please do something about your officials. Terry Koharski missed Roman Jofi's goal in the first period. I really fail to understand how he refused to call that a goal. Then he missed a Chad Rau goal later that period. If you're not going to go to replay, then at least get some guys out there who have some decent eye sight.

Photos Say So Much

I've got to transcribe so I can put up a few quotes with the View From The Pressbox. Plus I've got to pack. And I'm sure Heather will post some of Chris Jerina's photos later, but I wanted to share these photos because, well...

This is the immediate aftermath of Casey Wellman scoring to put Houston up 3-2. Just look at their reactions, and just look at Robbie Earl jumping into the air as he hugs Wellman. Great stuff. Great stuff.

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.

Dear Aeros Fans: Why So Serious?

First off, my latest story in the mothership is posted. It's on the return of Casey Wellman and Marco Scandella to the team. Key returns, I believe, of two very skilled players who will help the Aeros immensely in that fight for a playoff spot.

I wrote this story, and filed it, before the Anton Khudobin trade, which is why I only address it at the bottom, in the miscellaneous notes column. But I want to use the post, and the Khudobin trade to address another matter: why is everybody so damn down on this team?

Yes, I've written some negative things in the past, especially after some of the losses, but frankly, I tend to be pleased with the team. The Aeros, after a bad start to the season, an awful start to the season, have regrouped to become one of the best teams in the league. Playing in what is probably the toughest division in the league, they're in second place, just a point out of first place, and they just won two out of three games in another tough three-in-three weekend that had them playing two other teams also fighting for a playoff spot.

Is it going to be easy? No. But should it be? Probably not. I think everybody was blinded by the play in January when the team could do wrong. It appears that I need to point out that, in this month just past, the Aeros went 7-4-0-1. Sure, it's not the 10-2-0-1 of January, but the rest of the teams in the league would kill for that record. And instead, we're over here discussing in comments that not only will the team not make the playoffs, but that they might drop all of the way down to seventh place.

I'm not trying to be all Mr. Sunshine here. I'm going to miss Khudobin. He was a great guy to talk to because he's still figuring out how to use his filter. But for all of you lamenting how the team is screwed because he's gone, remember this: it wasn't that long ago that Heather was writing him a "Dear Anton" letter because of his subpar play. And for all of you saying that Matt Hackett's not equipped to lead this team deep in the playoffs, I ask this: how many of you thought that Khudobin was equipped to take the Aeros deep into the playoffs two seasons ago?

The Aeros in the playoffs are not a sure thing. Not playing in this division. And I'm not trying to say otherwise. But stop looking at the trees and look at the forest. These Aeros, these Aeros we love to gripe and bitch about, have one of the best records in the league, and they have this record despite playing one of the toughest, stupidest, screwed up schedules in the league. The team has a top line of Casey Wellman/Jon DiSalvatore/Patrick O'Sullivan. And the number two line is now probably Cody Almond/Robbie Earl/Chad Rau.

The team added a good defenseman yesterday, which is probably a good thing seeing as how Drew Bagnall and Tyler Cuma are injured and that the Wild go through injuries like Carlos Lee goes through the post-game buffet in the Astros clubhouse.

So that's it for now. You may now proceed to blasting away at me. And also, if you don't mind, give the Houston Press article a read. I had to wait a really long time after Sunday's game to get quotes from Scandella, and I don't want that time wasted.

Random Thoughts from Last Night

Is anybody else like me where at this point in the season, it's all sorta running together?

Never the less, that was one of the most exciting games I've seen in a while and I'd been wondering when this "rivalry" was actually going to start looking like a rivalry. With 3 fights and more boarding than an airport, I'd say we're getting darn close to this one getting as nasty as San Antonio, especially as they get more desperate.

Like I always say, "If you can't beat 'em, beat 'em up."

I know you guys might think I don't like Anton because I'm hard on him, but it's not true. I'm hard on him because I know he's a good goalie. But I'm gonna say something good about him, in spite of that abysmal first goal against: When he lands on his butt and rolls through the splits to get back on his knees/feet... well, that's just fantastic bendy goalie porn and I (and others, trust me) appreciate the show. The kid is cuh-razy flexible.

So, don't say I never said anything nice about Anton.

How sick is that DiSalvatore, O'Sullivan, Wellman line? Good gravy. I kinda would have thought that line would be too much "soft and handsy" without Almond's grit, but honestly, they battled through bodies and protected the puck just fine. Being small, quick, and slippery like Wellman is can work pretty well if you've got solid hockey sense.

And while his OT game winner was a thing of beauty (how's that for a "Honey, I'm home!"), his back handed pass to DiSalvatore on that gorgeous tic-tac-toe goal impressed me even more. Awareness and finesse. Man. Welcome back. Stay healthy!

Since the game was at home Tuesday, I dunno how many of you heard Joe's 2nd intermission interview with Kalus, but I had to leave early and heard it on my way down to Space City to stop some pucks.

Anyway, if you haven't noticed, Kalus has been a healthy scratch a lot this season, so I was glad to hear the interview. Sometimes we only want to talk to guys who have a happy story to tell, but Kalus really doesn't right now. I thought he had matured a lot last season, but maybe wasn't finding his niche on this team, though he said in the interview that Yeo's system suits his game well.

The interview made me sad for the guy, because he clearly just wants to play and said they haven't really told him why he's not playing nor what he can do to get in the lineup (other than wait for guys to get hurt or called up, which is how he got in last night).

One really honest bit that stood out to me was when Joe asked him how this coaching staff is working for him, Kalus said that's hard to answer. On one hand, their style suits him and the team is doing well, but on the other hand they don't play him. I don't wanna put words in his mouth but I felt the gist was, "Well, no, they're not really doing it for me, to be honest."

I would think it's tough to see everybody else buying in and having success while basically looking in from the outside.

Anyway, kudos to Joe for doing an interview that was bound to get a little awkward. He was in the Terry Gross zone there.

I just checked out my magnet schedule while I was making my decaf (ugh--I miss caffeine) this morning and, man, is there ever a LOT of home ice hockey coming up. Wee! Gonna be a fun month if the guys play like we know they can (and now EXPECT them to).

10/24/10 -- Aeros vs. Lake Erie -- I Think I'm On A Losing Streak Edition

In case you were elsewhere today, you might have missed the big news. The Aeros actually held a lead going into the third period. That's no lie, the Aeros skated out for the third period with a 2-1 lead. They promptly lost that lead :47 into the period, and they eventually lost the game 3-2. But with the Aeros, you take the small victories where you can find them, and for this game, it should be noted, the Aeros actually had a lead after two periods.

Now the hail of bullets.

1. The Aeros second goal was a thing of beauty. Jarod Palmer rushed the net with the puck. He drew a defenseman with him, and as he went past the goal, Lake Erie goalie John Grahame followed. Palmer passed back up the ice, and across the net, where he hit perfectly hit Casey Wellman with the puck, and Wellman buried the puck before Grahame could even think of getting back into position. And for once, the Aeros got the puck in the net.

2. I should know this. Those of us on press row should know this. But none of us do, so...is Max Noreau hurt? He's not shooting the puck as often as he did last year, especially on the power play, and when he does, the shot seems to lack the zip it's had in seasons past.

3. If Noreau's not hurt, then why the hell isn't he shooting it more on the power play?

4. I thought Marco Scandella had another good game. He bailed out Khudobin in the second period when Khudobin made a block and the puck bounced around the crease, seemingly forever. As a Lake Erie player came rushing for the puck, Scandella appeared from out of nowhere and swatted the puck away, preventing the goal.

5. Yeah, I'm liking what I see from Scandella.

6. It would have been nice to see Warren Peters swat the puck out of harm's way in the third period on the goal that tied the game. Peters thought he should have got to the puck, but didn't, saying: "Looking back on what happened – I was on the ice for one of them – we ended up going back into our zone, the puck went over my head, I guess close enough for me to grab it with my hand and try to take a swipe at it. The guy’s waiting on the other side, he bangs it into the empty net."

7. Where in the hell were the Ice Girls? Damn it, don't toss them out for just one game to start the season then get rid of them. You don't expect me to have to watch this team, do you?

8. I was the only one of us three there for the entire game. Heather went to something called an opera and didn't show up until the second period. Andrew's son was playing a little league baseball game, and he didn't arrive until the third -- note, the Aeros were winning when Andrew arrived, then promptly gave up the lead. Make of that what you will.

9. I thought the team looked awful in the first period. Whether it was just sluggishness from playing the third game in three days, or whether it was just bad play, I don't know. I thought the team looked better in the second. Heather thought I was nuts for saying this, but after all, she didn't see them in the first period. I thought their third period was the worst of the three.

10. There was no excuse for the way the team started that third period.

11. Mike Yeo agrees about that third period: "That’s a very disappointing way to lose a hockey game. Right there. For three games in three nights I thought, for two periods we’d done a lot of good things. But to come out – there were three mental lapses on the first goal, and there were two on the second. You’ve got to know – to be a winner you’ve got to know what the situation calls for. And we didn’t there in the third period."

12. For the commenter to an earlier post saying the Aeros should sign Krys Kolanos. Know this: Kolanos is unsigned at this point. There's a reason he's unsigned. So get over the mythology of Kolanos already.

13. The defenseman, for the most part, and in my opinion, have been very good. Especially Scandella and Drew Bagnall. And I think I understand why Brandon Rogers is being scratched every night. But it's obvious to all that the power play's not working, and in the past, before the current folks took over in St. Paul, Rogers was a good power play quarterback -- he was especially good at it getting it to Noreau in just the right spot for one of Noreau's shots. So maybe they should sit one of the ineffective forwards -- I think they can find a few to choose from -- and find away to get Rogers some ice time. If even for just the power play.

14. You know that Troy Ward's up in Abbotsford, looking at the power play stats, and laughing at all those who thought he and Kevin Constantine were at fault for the power play woes. Constantine's in Switzerland, and if I were in Switzerland, or anywhere in Europe, I wouldn't be wasting my time checking out AHL stats.

15. I did the math during the first intermission. It was 158:30 between goals for the Aeros. Yeah, that's bad.

16. When asked after the game if he saw anything good in the Aeros, Yeo responded that he liked seeing the team have a lead, and score some goals as opposed to losing with no goals. But that was said with an air of resignation.

17. Jarod Palmer: no more fights please. That was a pretty weak one in the first period. Leave the fighting to Bagnall or Matt Kassian. That's what they're there for.

18. The Aeros lost to the Lake Erie Monsters. How bad do you have to be lose to the Monsters, especially when this is the last game of a seven-game road trip.

19. After seven games: the Aeros are 2-4-1 (five points) and in last place in the West Division.

20. The Aeros have their third three-in-three in three consecutive weekends this week. They play in San Antonio on Friday, Austin on Saturday, and here for Sunday. Sunday is Halloween. If the Aeros play anything next Sunday like they did today, then that's going to be one scary Halloween.

21. On the plus side, next Sunday is Halloween which means the Dynamics will be in costume.

22. That's it for this edition. And I think the Rolling Stones and "Satisfaction" might be in order because this team is on a five game losing streak and nobody who is watching them is getting any satisfaction.

Meet Your 2010-11 Aeros: Casey Wellman

Casey Wellman
Center

Born: 10/18/1987 (22)
Brentwood, CA
6'0" 173

Shoots: Right

We kept putting off writing about Wellman because, gosh, the Wild just love this guy. They want him up in Minnesota, but they also want him playing meaningful minutes, and if there's not room for him to do that in MN, then they said he's going to be in Houston where he can.

Soooo, don't get too attached because I suspect if there's an injury among the top 6 in Minnesota, he's headed north. Plus, the Wild are in a cap pinch and he's able to be moved up and down without waivers, so they may be doing that a lot to manage the numbers.

Wellman was one of the first college kids picked up by the "new" Wild, just finishing up his sophomore year at UMass-Amherst, and was one of the most highly sought after undrafted college players this off-season. And he's lived up to the hype having played very well in his jump to the pro ranks.

Of all the guys that were on the bubble, he's the one I'm most excited to see drop to Houston. While he's here, he should be able to Make Shit Happen and that's exactly what the Aeros need.

Also, he's just looks like a nice boy, doesn't he? I'm warm to him already.