Hey folks, are you ready for some hockey? Now I don't know what Andrew's talking about in the post below, but I'm not planning on going anywhere. I've just been extremely busy. But I picked up my credentials today and I'm ready to start blogging about another season -- that might have to wait a bit as, since the schedule was late as usual, I got tickets to the Lindsay Buckingham concert on Sunday night and booked a birthday trip to Vegas next weekend, so I'll be missing the first two games.
I had a post over at the mothership today, trying to give a quick primer on the changes made with the team, and the league, since that game six Calder Cup loss to Binghamton. There are some good quotes from John Torchetti on his thoughts about the season, and what he wants, so give it a read.
What I didn't have room for in the story, and what ended up not really working, were some quotes I got from GM Jim Mill, so I thought I would share those here. Primarily, I asked his thoughts on having come so close last year, and whether he was able to enjoy what happened yet, or whether he was still suffering.
"I’ve only gone through it in my mind about a million times, and I still get chills thinking about it," he said. "When you get that close to one of the goals you have in life, it’s really difficult to describe into words the disappointment. There are lots of people that told me, after you reflect on it, you will be able someday, to know how great it was. And I do understand that. When you’re one of four teams playing in professional hockey, and you’re in the second best league in the world, and you’re two wins away from the ultimate goal – obviously it’s a hard pill to swallow, but you have to take all of the good that comes out of that. And know what a great group of players we had, and obviously a great coaching staff we had, and the fan support we ended up having at that end….
"I guess what you take from it is what you can do better. And that’s what I’ve really tried to think about and analyze. What could I have done, or what could we have done better to make us better, to make us – as close as we were, how could we have had two more wins. That’s where I’m at with the process, still trying to figure out. I have a few ideas on how to get better, and how I could have handled things better and how I could have helped manage everybody better, but at the end of the day, it was a very, very special and a rewarding experience….
"That was one hell of a run."
One hell of a run it was, indeed. But now it's time to start a new season. So welcome back everybody.
Before we go further, one thing needs to be said. We've said a lot of very good and well deserved things for Mike Yeo and the Aeros coaching staff for what the team has done this season. But I think we really need to give a shout out to GM Jim Mill for his work in assembling the pieces on this team. Jon DiSalvatore, Drew Bagnall, Warren Peters, Jed Ortmeyer and on and on, these were guys that Mill brought onto this team, and they've all played very, very key roles.
That said, as Yeo and Mill said after the game, this is only round one, there is still a lot that needs to get done. But the team has this confidence about itself. They know they're deep with four lines that can score goals. And they have brought in to what Mike Yeo is preaching about the system and the process.
Peoria dished out some punishment in this series, and they especially dished out some punishment in Game Four. The recipients of that punishment were Jon DiSalvatore, Patrick O'Sullivan, Robbie Earl, and Casey Wellman. The four guys who have that special on-ice talent. The goal was simple: to get the guys to feel the punishment so that they wouldn't finish their plays, or else would try and retaliate and end up in the penalty box. And that didn't happen.
"They really stepped up the physical play in the third period, and I’m really proud of the guys the way that they continued to go out and execute," Yeo said after the game. "They were getting hit, and they were getting hit hard. But that’s character. To me, that’s the ultimate hard player. The ultimate warrior. It’s easy to go out there and hit people and be tough like that, but to me a real tough player is a guy who will go out and make a play knowing that he’s going to take a hit and do the right thing for his teammates."
And that's the thing about this team. These aren't selfish guys. They're about winning games and not letting down their teammates. I think Drew Bagnall summed it up pretty well:
"I think – [Peoria's] a good team. They have some guys that can really bang," he said. "They tried to go after O’Sullivan and Robbie Earl and Jon DiSalvatore, our high end guys. I just have to give them credit because they didn’t take penalties. They sucked it up. And I think we were just very unselfish. We just knew that we were going to have to take stuff from them. And we knew that we would get them back by shaking hands with them at the end of the series.
"Our third line, Gillies, Ortmeyer, and Peters, they didn’t score a whole lot for us during the season, but in this playoff series, they were great, and they really shut down [Peoria’s T.J. Hensick]. It was great for us."
But this is only one series. The team is not done, and they're not satisfied, especially Mike Yeo.
"It feels great, but I can’t say that I feel satisfied right now," Yeo said. "It’s a step in the right direction. We’re a quarter of the way to our goal, and I’m very pleased with the way our team responded to a very tough team to play against. They came at us hard, and for the guys to keep their focus, and for the guys to fight through some adversity, some deficits we had to fight back on. For us, the ultimate picture, the ultimate goal, is to keep getting better. And I think that we did that these four games.'
I think it's good that the Aeros aren't satisfied. How often do we hear about teams that are just happy to make the playoffs? But not this team. And I'm looking forward to where they might end up.
************************ A real quick trivial matter: Peoria scored the first goal in every game. And they lost all four games. And in none of the games did the Aeros ever look panicked. These guys just seemed to have the attitude that if they just went out and did their thing, then the other team would break. And break Peoria did.
************************ And here's a special shout out to Darryl Sydor. Bagnall and Yeo said the team was aware of Ben Bishop's tendency to go out and play the puck. But it was Sydor who kept on the guys about it, reminding them to take a chance if the opportunity came. And Drew Bagnall took that opportunity.
"Just the way it happened – we had talked a lot about him playing the puck, and we talked that maybe, if you get that chance – this is something Darryl has talked to the defense about a lot, you fake like you’re going hard around and then you put it on net and maybe you can catch him cheating a little bit," Yeo said after the game.
And how about Drew Bagnall? Just think what it does to a team to have a guy who hasn't scored a goal the entire season be the guy who makes the tying goal in the most important game of the season?
"Certainly, you get a goal like that, it puts doubt in their minds, and the momentum that it brings to your team is huge," Yeo said. And Peoria never looked the same after that goal. Sure, they hit and played head hunter, and the game was tight and one of those things where you chew your fingernails up to your knuckles, but you just had to sense that things were going to go the right way for the Aeros after that.
*************************** Next stop? Who knows? The Stars are up 2-1 on Milwaukee, and the Aeros will get the winner of that series.
As promised, here's my post in the mothership on the Aeros schedule and that very special home game in St. Paul. So go over there and vent a bit, if you feel like it.
And I hope to get my tape of yesterday's presser with Jim Mill and the coaching staff transcribed this weekend, so keep checking back here for some good stuff. I was a Kevin Constantine fan, but I really liked Mike Yeo's attitude yesterday.
One more thing: the roster is pretty much set for this season, but Jim Mill did say he hopes to get about 3-6 more guys signed, including one goalie. These guys would have the chance to make the club, but will more likely be with the Aeros new ECHL affiliate and come up here as needed based on Wild/Aeros injuries, call-ups, etc.
Real briefly...over at the mothership I've got another Aeros post up, this one regarding some of the off-season changes, including some roster updates which have been discussed here, but I include some quotes from GM Jim Mill on the coaching change, some of the returning players, and some of the new players. The money quote deals with Mill inheriting a situation this year, but that this year things should be different.
I talked for a bit with Aeros GM Jim Mill before last Saturday's game. I know this is a bit delayed, but I've been busy with other matters. However, though some of this might be a bit dated because of news with the Wild lately, I still thought I would post. So...
As you know, this is Mill's first season as a team executive, instead of as a league executive. So I wanted to know what it was like watching a team that's he helped assemble as the season opens.
"It’s incredibly exhilarating," he said. "It’s exciting and it’s a totally different kind of pressure. That’s for sure. I went from the pressure of making sure everything goes just okay…and knowing that the referees don’t screw up or anything, to wanting to win every time."
But while he wants the team to win everytime, he was clear that building a team doesn't happen overnight, and as such, the Aeros are still a work in progress.
"We’re similar to what is happening in Minnesota where there’s some new systems and some new philosophy to some degree," he said. "The guys are trying to adjust. Specifically at the American League level, if you’re asking me or any other GM or assistant GM, scout wide or anybody else, they’re going to tell you that for that first month, you’re pretty much going to stay in flux. You’re trying to adjust to putting a bunch of new players together. That does take time. And that’s what we’re doing right now. "
Now I know that some of you are going to complain about that and believe that the team should be at top form right now. But that's just not how it works with the Aeros, especially in the now-three years that I've been covering the team. Kevin Constantine has stated over the years that he is never sure of what he's going to get from his team until a month or so into the season. And Constantine struggled throughout last season trying to figure out a team that wasn't as strong defensively as he was used to but which featured an offensive element he also wasn't used to. And the Aeros last season were a team that didn't really gell and come together until the playoffs got going. So don't go into a panic right now if the team doesn't look cohesive. Give Constantine some time to work his magic.
I spoke to Mill about some Aeros alum who are currently up in Minnesota. Mill credited John Scott with being the spark behind the Wild's open night come from behind victory. "He was pretty good wasn’t he?" Mill said. "It was opening night in Minnesota and he changed the game. You can’t say he won the game, but he changed it, and he gave us the opportunity to win that game. He changed the momentum by doing what he did. That was great. He was the difference maker."
Then there's the enigma known as Benoit Pouliot. During the playoffs last season, I made a habit of attending the morning skate, and Pouliot was always the first guy out and always one of the last guys off of the ice. So I know he works hard, and you can see the guy has talent. But he just hasn't been able to make that talent work to his advantage.
"I wish I knew the answer to that one," Mill answered when asked about getting Pouliot to play to his skill level. "Guys develop at different rates, and he’s obviously incredibly talented and skilled. He’s got great size and he skates and he shoots, everything that you want. Some guys take a little bit longer to figure out how to put all of the tools together to use properly."
But as was evident by some of Wild coach Todd Richards' comments about Pouliot last week, the team does appear to be losing some patience with Pouliot. Mill is just not at that point. Yet.
"Guys do develop at different pace. We hope that a guy like that, with all of that talent and skill and ability, figures it out and puts it all together."
Then there's Cal Clutterbuck, the hard-hitting wing who graced the Aeros with his presence for the 2007-2008 season. Clutterbuck, who was called up after only two games last season, quickly made his presence known in Minnesota, and he's become a fan, and management favorite.
"I thought he would be a great guy in the National Hockey League," Mill said. "He uses speed. He does great things by using his body and keeping it simple. He skates well. He takes the body. He does all of the little things that you want. He keeps that intensity level up, and he creates things because of how aggressive he is. It’s not a big surprise at all [his success]."
Of course, Clutterbuck is currently on the injured reserve after spraining his ankle on Saturday night in San Jose. And as anybody who remembered Erik Reitz's struggle to recover from his high ankle sprain back in 2007-2008, you know that that's an injury that doesn't heal quickly. But if the Wild are to have any success this season, then the timing of Clutterbuck's return might be the most important element of all.
The Aeros and Stars battled tonight, in front of 5736 at the Toyota Center, and just as Friday’s game between the two was close, so was this one. So close, in fact, that the game went to a shootout before Jon DiSalvatore hit the lone goal for either team, giving the Aeros the 2-1 victory and increasing their record to 2-2-0-0 (4 points).
Tonight’s game belonged to the newbies, especially the fourth line which featured Peter Zingoni anchoring the wings of Cody Almond and Carson McMillan. While several of the lines featured some energy, and while DiSalvatore and Nathan Smith -- two more newbies -- had several opportunities to get scores, it was Zingoni who scored the one Aeros regulation goal, virtually shoving the puck past former Aero playoff hero Matt Climie to put the Aeros up 1-0 at the 17:26 mark of the first.
“It was a great forecheck from my linemates Cody Almond and [Carson] McMillan,” Zingoni said. “They stayed hard on the puck and got the puck to the net. [McMillan] gave me a nice little pass crossing…[Climie] made a nice initial save, and I just kind of buried my head and just kept working on it.”
The Stars tied the game at 5:11 of the second when Brad Lukowich’s shot hit off of one of Anton Khudobin’s defenders and deflected past him. But after that, Climie and Khudobin kept the offenses in check even though the Aeros had several good chances in overtime to get the score. Smith was working Climie so hard at about the 2:34 of OT that it looked like the two were going to come blows, but alas, the Aeros were unable to get the score.
Texas went first, and Khudobin easily stopped Kevin DeVergilio’s attempt. In fact, he easily stopped all of the Texas attempts, and if not for DiSalvatore getting it past Climie on the Aeros first shootout attempt, this game might still be underway.
Khudobin said after the game that the shootout was one of the best parts of his game when he was in Russia, but that it has suffered here. Tonight, however, he was solid. “I was sure I was going to stop the pucks [in the shootouts],” Khudobin said. “I was focusing on the pucks.”
The Aeros, as with last week, lost the first game of a weekend series, but came back to the win the second. And head coach Kevin Constantine noted how tough that was this weekend against the Stars.
“They’re a good team,” he said. “They’re on the road playing, and they haven’t lost a game in regulation out of four. They don’t give you much room. Getting pucks to the net is hard. We’ve got to give them some credit. They’re a very good team.”
As for his team’s play tonight, Constantine noted that they were more consistent tonight, and that while they might not have had the intensity at the start of Friday’s game, neither did they sink to the depths to which they sunk on Friday.
The Aeros will return to action next weekend when they take on the San Antonio Rampage for two games at Toyota Center on Friday and Saturday.
SOME MISCEALLANEOUS GAME NOTES:
The Aeros are still, at this point, a team in flux. The lineup for tonight’s game had some big changes, and Constantine and his staff are still trying to find the right mix of players. GM Jim Mill noted during the game that the Aeros are carrying a big roster, but that several players had been released. And Constantine told us after the game that the roster would be thinned come next week.
“We purposely held guys around longer than normal just to be real thorough in evaluation of who we want to play and who should make the team,” he said. “There’s a negative to that as it’s kind of hard to become a team and work with individual guys. The positive of that is that your decisions are better.”
Released before the game were right wing Simon Ferguson, left wing Gregg Johnson, and right wing Matt Fornataro. Mill noted with Ferguson that this really had nothing to do with his play, but just that there are a lot of veterans on the team, and that they did not foresee the Wild sending Craig Weller and Andy Hilbert down to the team. Mill stated that he liked Ferguson and that Ferguson would be one of the first guys he contacts should their be an opening on the roster.
What I don’t think either Mill or Constantine intended was that the team would be losing players to Minnesota. However, during tonight’s game in San Jose, the Wild, according to tweets from reporter Michael Russo, lost John Scott, Cal Clutterbuck, and Petr Sykora to injuries. The severity of the injuries isn’t yet known, though while Scott had returned to the bench, Clutterbuck and Sykora had not.
********************* Once again, I was impressed by the play of the rookies. Chad Rau had a nice game on Friday, and Almond and McMillan were nice surprises. They were hitting, they were attacking the net, and they brought an energy to the game that was kind of like what Clutterbuck used to do, and kind of like the Love/Ryznar/Kassian line last season.
Peter Zingoni, the veteran who played with them, was impressed.
“We did a great job, and I give a lot of credit to them,” he said. “It’s their first pro game. They did an awesome job….It was a lot of fun playing with them….they gave a good impression for the coach and the staff.”
And just as Rau got his first professional point on Friday, McMillan got his first professional point tonight when he assisted on Zingoni’s score. Also, note, that the score sheet is wrong. Almond, not Nathan Smith, was on the ice with Zingoni and McMillan when Zingoni scored. Zingoni even credited Almond, and Almond could easily be seen behind Zingoni on the replay.
Also, my apologies to McMillan. I believe that on the little video discussion with myself and Andrew that I said Corey McMillian instead of Carson. That was a stupid mistake on my part.
***************** I’ve got a problem, again, with the people who decided on the three stars. I’ve got no problem with Zingoni’s star, though I would have made him the third star. Matt Climie was a deserving star, but I would have made him two instead of three -- he did stop 30 of 31 game shots and four of the five shootout shots. And though Jon DiSalvatore did a nice job to get the shootout goal, I fail to understand how Khudobin, who stopped 23 of 24 game shots and all five that he faced in the shootout, could not have been given his proper recognition.
***************** As for our video to play us out tonight, I just can’t think of anything better than “Under Pressure” from Queen and David Bowie as a little salute to the excellent goaltending from Climie and Khudobin.
I'm going to take a little time tonight to talk to GM Jim Mill on the record. I really want to focus on some of the guys who are up with the Wild right now, like Cal Clutterbuck, John Scott, and Benoit Pouliot, but I thought I would offer a reward to the readers. Send me questions. I'll pick one I like and ask him. One caveat: Jim Mill is the general manager, and he works on the hockey side, not the business side, so leave T3I and our problems out of it. Give me a hockey question regarding personnel, style of play, stupid penalties, etc. And as I said, I'll take my favorite of the questions and ask Jim.
Just a few thoughts, which I couldn't get in because of space purposes. Mill and Chuck Fletcher are trying to assemble a team of high character guys. He mentioned that word a lot. They also want guys who can come up from Houston right away and play in the Wild system. So they're getting players that he, Fletcher, and coach Todd Richards are familiar with, thus the heavy emphasis on guys who played over in the Easteren Conference.
He is really high on Jon DiSalvatore, Pete Zingoni, and Duncan Milroy on the offensive end. He thinks they will work great in the style of play the Wild want. And he thinks Nathan Smith is going to be a great veteran presence who will teach the youngsters to play the right way.
They want very much Kevin Constantine playing a different style of hockey. Under the old regime, Constantine's marching orders were to make the team competitive, and teach the kids the fundamentals. The thinking was the other stuff, like the offense, could be taught in Minnesota. The current regime doesn't want to have to bring a guy up to speed on the style of play when he gets to the NHL. They want him to be able to jump into the lineup and skate with the regulars from day one. But they want the team to be competitive. So they've gotten guys who are used to playing an attacking style of play.
Just a brief note. Be watching our blog links tomorrow, especially "Hair Balls," because over at the Houston Press mothership they should be posting my story/interview with new GM Jim Mill. I'll have some comments, etc., over here after it goes up. But I'll let you know for those still asking: Matt Beaudoin is definitively not going to be on the team.
Check out this quick article on Jim Mill's desire to get back to the competitive side of hockey after 11 years in the AHL office.
Interesting that he's declaring a light hand when it comes to complaining about officiating on behalf of the team. Makes me wonder how often Tom Lynn charged that hill for the team. Regardless, Mill certainly brings an interesting perspective to the position.
People, people, people. Sit back, relax and enjoy the voice of reason.
It is a bummer than Locke and Kolanos are gone. They did a lot of great and fun things for this team last year. And yes, it is a bit alarming that they team has not re-signed Beaudoin, Schultz and others.
But it is still early, and there are still a ton of free agent forwards out there. This is not a conspiracy to A) save money and B) let the team fail on the ice so it will be easy to move the affiliation to Des Moines next offseason.
Here is what I do know.
(UPDATE: Thanks to the anonymous poster, it does appear that both Jon DiSalvatore and Duncan Milroy have signed with the Wild and will provide good depth at forward for the Aeros this season.)
There are several players (free agent Aeros) that I have spoken to, and they all want to come back. A lot of that is out of their hands, but no one is running these guys out of town. I talked to someone that has a great pulse on what is going on with the Rangers organization and they told me that the AHL part of Corey Locke's contract will have him doingbetter than just "A-OK." And that put him out of the reach of most organizations looking for minor league depth. In other words, it wasn't going to happen.
Kolanos, and I hate to say this, really wore out his welcome with his attitude. Especially after he was sent down for good. For what it's worth, I don't think the phone lines were buzzing to his agent either. Sure he was injured down the stretch ... but there are people that believe he changed for the worse.
There is talk that some of the powers that be with the team are concerned about the Aeros lack of depth right now at forward. There is also talk among players and others that this could be the very best defensive corps the team has seen in a long, long time.
That in itself, I am sure, has motivated GM Jim Mill to work the phones and get some forward depth. I got a chance to talk to him, too, after he took the job, and he has very much been looking forward to building a team down at this level. He is working hard to put a good team in Houston and to do what is best for the Wild.
I will talk to him again today, so we will see what comes of that. (Obviously, I will ask about DiSalvatore and Milroy.)
Also, Kevin Constantine, who is getting re-married soon to his wonderful fiancee Val, knows how to get the most out of whatever team he is given. Just look at how entirely different the last two teams have been. Yet, they both finished 3rd in the division and had teams capable of making a run in the playoffs.
The '08 was great defensively, but could not find the back of the net against Rockford. And the '09 team played better than expected with an unproven goalie with tons of injuries and still made one of their more memorable playoff runs in team history.
Trust the coach, give the new GM a chance and wait until the roster is final before pressing that big red button at the top of this blog.
MINNESOTA WILD NAMES JIM MILL ASSISTANT TO THE GENERAL MANAGER
SAINT PAUL/MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. – Minnesota Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher today announced the National Hockey League (NHL) club has named Jim Mill Assistant to the General Manager. He will report to Fletcher and help oversee the day-to-day operations of the Wild’s hockey operations department. Mill will also serve as the General Manager of the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League (AHL).
“I am excited to add Jim to our staff,” said Fletcher. “His strong hockey background and extensive experience working in the American Hockey League will be a great addition to our team.”
Mill 41, (11/17/67), has spent the last 11 years working for the AHL. He joined the AHL’s hockey operations staff in 1998, was promoted to vice president in 2001 and was named executive vice president of hockey operations prior to the 2007-08 season. In addition to personally supervising some 100 games every season, Mill managed all facets of the league’s hockey operations department, including management of the AHL’s officiating program, recruiting, hiring and assigning on-ice officials to supplement those in the National Hockey League officials development program.
“On behalf of our teams and our Board of Governors, I would like to thank Jim for his 11 years of invaluable service and dedication to the American Hockey League,” said David Andrews, President and CEO of the American Hockey League. “We are elated to see a most deserving member of our organization get the ability to demonstrate his talents at the next level, and we offer our sincerest best wishes to Jim and his family.”
Mill also oversaw the league’s disciplinary process for fines and suspensions, and developed and executed the 1,160-game league schedule and coordinated the playoff schedules with all participating teams. He also served as the league secretary to the AHL Board of Governors.
A native of Hartford, Conn., Mill came to the AHL office after serving as assistant director of hockey operations at the East Coast Hockey League. He played four seasons as a goaltender in the ECHL (1992-96) and served on the executive board of the Professional Hockey Players’ Association. Mill also served as an assistant coach and director of player/community relations for Tallahassee (ECHL) in 1996-97. He played junior hockey for the renowned Springfield Olympics program in Enfield, Conn., and captained the varsity team at St. Anselm College in Manchester, N.H., where he earned MVP honors in 1992.
He and his wife, Cindy, have three daughters. Mill will begin his new role with the Wild immediately.
I know nothing of the man other than what I just read here, but I'm personally crossing my fingers that the Aeros will not continue to have the absolute worst schedule in all the AHL with someone so well connected in and knowledgeable about the league on board.
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