Welcome To The Darcy Kuemper Show

Welcome to the Darcy Kuemper Show/photo John Royal

There were many superb things about tonight's 3-0 game one playoff win over the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins. The Aeros played the best game as a team that I've seen in a long time. Marco Scandella was superb. Justin Fontaine did what Justin Fontaine does.

But nothing compares to the playoff debut of one Darcy Kuemper. Kuemper stopped all 36 shots he faced. Some of the stops were easy, but some of those stops were those that just drop your jaw, shake your head, and wonder did you just see what you just saw. He faced one barrage late in the second period when the Aeros were up only 1-0 and the Griffins were on a 4x3 power play. Kuemper just dealt with the barrage like he was sitting on his porch swatting away some lazy flies just hovering over his head, never breaking a sweat.

Head coach John Torchetti referred to Kuemper's calmness out on the ice and how that just made things easier for the team. And there was a calmness to Kuemper, a stillness. Like a concrete bunker anchored during a hurricane with the action swirling around him. 

"He keeps things calm for us," Torchetti said. "He didn’t give a lot of rebounds, which is a big plus for us and makes our job a little bit easier."
 
Kuemper just kind of shrugged off all of the attention after the game, acting as if it was just another game in the juniors instead of a professional playoff game.

"I played quite a few playoffs games in juniors, a lot of games in juniors," Kuemper said. "I just always try to touch back on those experiences, recall those memories, what went well, what didn’t, and use those to just play my game out there."

Darcy Kuemper, just one of the guys /photo John Royal

Kuemper had some help from the team playing it's best all-around game in months. Marco Scandella put the Aeros up 1-0 with a power play goal at 11:55 of the second from up over the circle. Justin Fontaine got a breakaway at 16:52 which pretty much put the game away. Then Fontaine finished the scoring with a nearly impossible angled empty netter at 18:14 of the third.

Fontaine said he got lucky on his breakaway. But despite his statements, he looked to be in control on the entire play.

"Just kind of flying up the middle, a good look," Fontaine said. "The puck wouldn’t settle down for me, kind of made a move and missed the puck, but it ended up going in. I’ll take that for sure."

Justin Fontaine gets lucky/photo John Royal

But with the way Kuemper was playing, nothing else really seemed to matter. There was this calmness to his play, a quietness to his actions, no wasted motion. He was there at all times, just where his team needed him to be, when they needed him to be there. He said he was lucky at times, but like Fontaine on his breakaway, if there was any luck involved in any of his stops, it just wasn't evident to onlookers.

"I just want to do my part, especially when I saw the guys going early there, the way they were playing, I just wanted to do my part and not let them down," Kuemper said. "Everyone had each other’s backs, and we came away with game one."

It was fun game to watch. Tense. Lots of hitting. It was playoff hockey at its finest. Here's to a few more of these before the team's run in Houston comes to its unfortunate end. And meanwhile, welcome to a new edition of the Darcy Kuemper Show, it's a wonderful, fantastic thing to witness.

The Aeros are up 1-0 in the series, and host game two on Sunday afternoon at 5:05 before heading back to Grand Rapids for the rest of the series. 

Paul Mara with a first period hit/photo John Royal

View From The Press Box: Aeros Cool Off Heat

How about that? In the space of a two-and-a-half hours the Aeros went from 10th place in the Western Conference playoff standings to sixth place. And they did so in rather impressive fashion, dominating the Abbotsford Heat and getting the 4-1 win in a game that wasn't near as close as that final score indicates.

The damage came, again, from the Aeros power play unit as the team's first two goals came off the power play. Justin Fontaine netted both of the power play goals with Jeff Taffe getting an assist on each and Kris Fredheim and Chay Genoway getting the other assists.

Jeff Taffe struck for his third point of the game early in the second when he took the pass from Genoway and stuck it past Heat goalie Leland Irving. And the Aeros final goal came off of the stick of Jon DiSalvatore who blasted a slap shot from way up above the left circle past Irving -- the assist going to, you guessed it, Taffe.

The game was marred by multiple fights -- Almond was hit with two fighting majors -- and it got really, really ugly at the start of the third period when Abbotsford's Akim Aliu went after Almond just seconds into the period. A semi-brawl ensued, and by the time the bodies were separated and the penalties were handed out, it was clear the Heat were beaten -- Aliu got 2:00 for instigating, 5:00 for fighting, and a 10:00 game misconduct, Hugh Jessiman got 2:00 for roughing and a 10:00 game misconduct while Almond got five for fighting and Carson McMillan got 2:00 for roughing (how Drew Bagnall escaped without a penalty is still surprising).

The Heat scored seconds later, but it was clear that it was way too little, too late, and that the Aeros were going to pull out this game.

Justin Fontaine looked really good for the Aeros, but the true star of the game was Taffe and the power play.

"A good power play, you have to stay with it," head coach John Torchetti said. "As long as your power play doesn't take momentum away, you've got to stay with it. And if they just stick with what we keep teaching them -- and they're doing a great job of that -- and just take what's given to you -- once you learn to just take what's given to you -- and you're going to shoot, you have to be shooting first...it starts with the shot."

Torchetti spoke glowingly about the play of Genoway, calling him a big plus who's really smart and who will be really dangerous once he learns to shoot the puck.

And speaking of dangerous, Taffe had his second four point night in his last three games, once again getting a goal and three assists. Torchetti credits this with Taffe getting more aggressive and competing for more pucks. He's challenged the vets to do more on the ice, and he says that, at times, challenging the vets and drawing more out of them on the ice hasn't been pretty because he can't always be nice, but that they have responded.

"I have a rapport with my veterans, and I trust them," Torchetti said. "We had a talk at Christmas -- now that we're down to three [veterans]...I'm going to be harder on you because I expect you to play at a level. I expect our team to still win....You're going to be pressured."

And in goal again tonight was Joe Fallon who stopped 26 of the Heat's 27 shots, including making several tough stops early in the game when the Heat seemed to be controlling the action.

"He played big," Torchetti said of Fallon. "He's getting comfortable, he's being confident. He's challenging. He's doing a good job for us."

The Aeros are now 29-20-3-9 on the season with 15 games to play. They're tied, pointswise, with four other teams who all have 70 points, but the Aeros winning percentage has them in a tie for sixth place with San Antonio, and they're only a point behind Chicago and Peoria, who both have 71 points.

If the Aeros keep playing hockey like they did tonight, aggressive, attacking the net, shooting the puck, they could still be dangerous. But this weekend could be the key as they take on a rapidly improving Rockford club on Friday, face Abbotsford again on Saturday, and Oklahoma City on Sunday.

Jon DiSalvatore said on Sunday that this is all in their control. And it is. They just have to keep winning and getting points. If the bleeding can stop in Minnesota and the guys here can actually stay here and stay healthy, then the Aeros might still be able to pull this out.

As for tonight, it was sure was a fun game to watch.

Photos from the 1-0 Win over San Antonio

There was only one goal scored in tonight's 1-0 Aeros win. And that goal was the seventh of the season for Justin Fontaine. (Quick note: the Aeros last won 1-0 on February 13, 2010, a 1-0 overtime win over Grand Rapids).

I thought you would like some photos. I had the camera on Jon DiSalvatore, so what you get is him moving in for a rebound should there be one, his reaction to the goal, then two photos of Fontaine skating for the bench to be congratulated by those guys there.