Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word

This is, I think, the hardest post to write that I've ever done here. The interviews were hard to transcribe, listening to the inflections in the voices of Mike Yeo and Jon DiSalvatore, the emotion, the passion, the disappointment, the feeling that they had just let down not only themselves, but the fans, especially the fans.

This isn't how the Aeros wanted this season to end. Not losing game six on home ice after having a 2-1 lead in the third period. Not losing a game on a desperation play by a Binghamton defender coming from nowhere to block a Patrick O'Sullivan shot that appeared to be a sure goal with about 50 seconds left that would have sent the game to overtime. Not after they finally got their power play working. Not after they left everything they had out there on the ice.

In the end, the Aeros just couldn't go any further. All of the game sevens. All of the physical play. The injuries. In the end, it was just too much. Especially with a 19-year-old rookie goalie named Robin Lehner playing out of his mind.

The better team won last night. The Senators getting the 3-2 win to win the Calder Cup in front of 10,000-plus screaming Aeros fans. So, for one last time, lets get to the notes, quotes and observations from game six.

1. First, here's the link to my game story in the Press. I know you're sick and tired of my pushing this, but this will be the last time for awhile. I don't know what the status of Aeros coverage in the Press will be for next season, but they've indulged me for four seasons, so go over one last time this year, read the story, leave some comments. Let them know you care (and damn, what do you know, people from Binghamton are already bitching about it though I say nothing but good things about the team).

2. Despite the Aeros loss, this was easily the best game of hockey I've seen in a long time. Perhaps it had something to do with Terry Koharski not being around, but David Banfield and Jean Hebert did an excellent job of officiating this game. They kept the scrums to a minimum. They called the penalties that needed to be called. They didn't get in the way of the flow of the game. Perhaps the league listened to Mike Yeo, perhaps they didn't. But still, nice job of officiating.

3. I think the bravest person around last night was Jon DiSalvatore. It's Mike Yeo's job to talk to us media folks, win or lose. But DiSalvatore could have said no. I don't think any of us would have objected. I think we would have all understood. But the guy's the captain. He's been the go-to guy for a comment all season. So we asked for him, and he came out, and he talked to us. You could tell it was hard. You could tell he was dying inside. Dying for himself, his teammates, the fans. But he stood there one last time and answered our questions.

There was a reason the guys elected him to be the captain. And we've seen it many times out there on the ice. But his performance after this game, standing there, facing us, after this, that's why he was the captain.

4. "If I can say right now, thank you to all of the fans," DiSalvatore said at the very end. "I do want to thank them. They were tremendous. They showed up tonight, and they were great. We really appreciate that support. We’re upset that we couldn’t bring a championship, but we appreciate all of the support that they’ve given to us, and we hope that they’re back next year for sure."

5. The crowd last night was fantastic. The Aeros are a minor league team in a major league town. They battle for attention with the Astros, the Texans, and the Rockets. The Dynamo probably get more attention. They're there with the Cougars and the Owls. But despite that, they went out and won games. They demanded attention, and the fans, the city paid attention. There were over 10,000 folks inside Toyota Center last night banging their thundersticks and clanging the cowbells. I was down there in the corner in the third period, and you could feel it.

6. "It was an interesting year for me, coming back here," Mike Yeo told us. "We had some amazing, passionate fans, but I think things kind of grew as the playoffs went on. Those passionate fans, I’m really happy for them that they got awarded with a long playoff run, and I wish we could have delivered to them what I believe that they deserve as well. I think our fans are the best in the league. I also think that with the help of the media – the media was great for us throughout the playoffs, and I think that picking up – I think we picked up a lot of new fans along the way. I think people got a chance to see what it’s all about. The passion that’s out there. The energy level that’s out there. The speed and intensity of the game. And our crowds were just unbelievable. Again, I wish in front of that crowd tonight, to see how classy they were, to see them cheering on right to the very end, I wish that we could have delivered a different outcome."

7. About that outcome. What a punch in the gut. Binghamton played great hockey. But the injuries were the doom for the Aeros. Cody Almond and Jared Spurgeon were probably, along with Colton Gillies, the team's best penalty killers, and they couldn't play. Jon DiSalvatore said the special teams were a wash -- each team had two goals on the power play -- and that it was the five-on-five that did the Aeros in. And perhaps he's right. Once again, going to the injuries to the Spurgeon and Almond.

We saw way too little of Spurgeon this season. That's because he was up with the Wild way before he was supposed to be up with the Wild, and he stayed up there because of just how good he was on defense. And Cody Almond had been a key piece to making the chemistry of the first line just right, providing the grit to go with DiSalvatore and O'Sullivan.

8. One of the things that Yeo and DiSalvatore have spoken about all year is the character of this team. About how they've banded together, become a family. Maybe it's kind of a cliche. But for this team, it worked, and Yeo says that why this team went as far as it did.

"You know what, when you see a guy go out and put his own agenda aside, and do everything he can to help the guy next to him, to help you, to help his teammates, that’s when you know that guy’s a winner. That’s a guy you want to go out and do the same thing for. That’s what we have with this group. It’s a group that cared an awful lot about each other. I think that that came from each guy giving everything he could for the group. It was a very special group."

9. Jon DiSalvatore was asked what that one thing, above any other thing, would be that he remembers about this season. He didn't mention a game, or a goal. He mentioned his teammates.

"It’s always going to be the guys," he said. "It’s us in there. We go through everything together. You experience different relationships with guys. You battle, and you grind, and you challenge each other, and at the end of the day you guys are all fighting for the same thing. And you come together – you learn so much about the character of guys, and what it took for what guys to get to this level, and how guys are experiencing pro careers differently, and how we all become part of it with each other. These relationships that you build, especially going this far is – they’re a lifetime. They become lifetime friends, and warriors that you’ll just go to battle with any day."

10. In the end, Binghamton was just the better team last night. Particularly Robin Lehner. "He’s fantastic. He was fantastic," Yeo said. "Certainly in the second period we had great chances. We could have extended our lead. We couldn’t get that third goal. He’s huge. He’s a big guy. He covers an awful of lot net. He was great."

11. It was tough to see the Aeros lose last night, to lose the series. It was tough to see Binghamton celebrating on the ice while the Aeros skated in a daze, trying to grasp what had just happened. But despite all of that, I had a slight tinge of happiness. Not so much for the Senators as a team, because I don't really know that team. But I do know two of the players, Barry Brust and Corey Locke.

Barry Brust was my money quote, my go-to-guy for three years in Houston. He'd always give a great quote, win or lose, especially if he had just lost a game. He's a good guy, hell, he's a great guy. And Corey Locke was only here for one season, but that season, two years ago, he was a star. He was Mr. Dependable. The guy just had, still has, this ability to put points on the board. And while not as great a quote as Brust, he would always talk and do his best to give us what we needed.

So as tough as it was to watch the Aeros lose, to see the guys I've been covering and getting to know this year lose, I want to congratulate Brusty and Corey and their teammates.

12. Finally, it's been awhile since I've posted a video. But there's this song that's been running through my head since the game ended last night. Perhaps it's because of the way Yeo and DiSalvatore kept trying to apologize to the fans and to each other for letting everybody down. Perhaps it's because the song is used in Slap Shot, one of my favorite movies. But it just seems to fit the mood I'm in, so here's Elton John with "Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word."



I'll be back later this week with my thoughts on the season and a whole bunch of thank yous.

Some Monday Afternoon Thoughts And Quotes

Sign taped to the glass at SLICE.

Headed up to SLICE for the Aeros skate/practice today, and everyone appeared to be in good spirits with no feel of impending doom and/or destruction. So that's a good thing. The guys are ready to play, they're confident in their ability to win the game, they're having fun playing in June, and Mike Yeo is still a little peeved about the officiating on Saturday night.

First things first...it appears that the only people reading/commenting on today's story in the mothership are the people from Binghamton. It's another take on the officiating, and I also state my firm belief that the officiating is not why the Aeros lost games four and five, but that the Aeros and how they played are the reason they lost games four and five, but when you have a coach supporting what you've been writing the whole postseason about the officiating, then of course you're going to lead with that, right? Anyway, click here and go read.

And some other things before getting to the heart of this post. To the commenter claiming there's some kind of conspiracy to keep Matt Kassian from playing and how the use of Pascal Morency is in clear violation of the Clear Day Roster rules, I thought I would try to offer up an explanation.

Each team is allowed a Clear Day Roster with a maximum of 22 players. These are the only players who can play in the playoffs, with a few caveats. Amateurs don't have to be part of the Clear Day Roster, and once their seasons end, they can join the team and play, as happened with Brett Bulmer. The other caveat is if there is an emergency situation, such as a call-up to the NHL, a suspension, or an injury.

With the injury to Cody Almond on Friday night, the Aeros Clear Day Roster consisted of 21 healthy players. Thus, it's an emergency situation and they can add a player to the roster. Thus, Pascal Morency, who was not on the Clear Day Roster can be added to the playing roster and play on Saturday night. With the injury to Jared Spurgeon on Saturday night, I would expect to see the Aeros adding Kris Fredheim to the roster, though I expect Jeff Penner to get Spurgeon's playing time.

So, I hope that satisfies though of you who have been asking about the use of Morency.

Now on with the notes from practice.

There were no real surprises. Cody Almond and Jared Spurgeon didn't skate, and it appeared that Pascal Morency and Jeff Penner were skating in their spots -- Morency with Daoust and McMillan as he did Saturday night, and Penner teamed up with Marco Scandella. Jed Ortmeyer did not skate, but is fine. Matt Kassian, Brandon Buck, and Kris Fredheim were also out skating with the regulars -- Buck took Ortmeyer's spot so the third line could get in some practice.

Mike Yeo spoke to the assembled media after the game, and I'm sure many of you have seen the video clips the Aeros posted, or the snippets that will be on TV tonight. But for those who didn't, well, I was there.

I asked if he was going to ask the guys to skate a bit more cautiously given the uneven officiating and how the penalties are being called. The question elicited this response, which I'll give in full:

"We have to watch our discipline for sure. We’re going to do that. Obviously those statements [on Saturday] are made to hopefully make other people take notice. Even when I went back and watched the game again, I stand by my words. I think that there were some things that should have been called in the third period when we were taking the play to them that weren’t called especially. But we can’t – that’s over and done with. Those statements were made to hopefully draw some attention to it, but for us, we can’t think about it any further. It’s all about tomorrow and making sure that we play disciplined, but at the same time, we can’t change our game. We have to be playing hard, and we have to be playing that aggressive style that we do."

So yes, he's still a bit bothered by the officiating, and no, he's not going to have the guys change their style of play, aside from asking them to be a bit more disciplined, thus no obvious tripping penalties please, Mr. Gillies.

The majority of the questions from me and my brethren to Yeo and the players were about how to approach a game six, and what it's like to play in such a game when you know a loss means the season is over.

"This is a game seven for us obviously, it’s only game six, but we’re approaching it with that mentality," Yeo said. "We’ve been pretty strong in those games. When we’ve been faced with our back against the wall situations, when we’ve come out, we’ve had strong performances. We’re real excited about getting in front of our home crowd and doing everything we can to keep this series going."

Warren Peters faced a similar situation last year with the Texas Stars, but he thinks what he dealt with last year is irrelevant to anything. He instead offered up the following.

"We definitely haven’t made it easy on ourselves, not that you plan on doing that. The conference finals was a lot more stressful than maybe it needed to be, but again, that’s in the past. [Binghamton] deserve some credit in making it 3-2 and getting a win on home ice, which was big for them, obviously. They did a good job in getting that done. Now it’s our turn to respond.

[SNIP]

"We’ve had our backs against the wall a couple of times in the playoffs, and we’ve responded well. I expect the same thing from our team and the guys in our room because we’ve been doing it the whole second half of the season for sure."

Everybody seems to be focusing on how they handled the game seven situations in Milwaukee and here against Hamilton, and applying that approach to tomorrow's game six. That makes some sense, and it gives the team a semblance of confidence in that they know that, with their backs against the wall, facing a win or go home situation, they've responded by putting together a good game and getting the win. Yet tomorrow is somewhat different in that this is a game six, they've got to win this game just to get to a game seven.

Now Mike Yeo did face a somewhat similar situation as an assistant with the Pittsburgh Penguins when they won the Stanley Cup, and he sees some similarities to those Penguins and these Aeros.

"I think the biggest thing is, the similarity between that and this is that our group has confidence. I think that if you look at a series as a whole, and the way things have panned out, then we’re down 3-2 but it could easily be a different series with a couple of bounces here or there. I think that for the most part we’ve out-chanced them, we’ve out-shot them, and for the better part of most games we’ve been, I believe, the better team.

"We had that same mentality [with Pittsburgh] in 09 when we were faced with having to win both games and one of those was being game seven on the road where we get to both at home. But I know that that team, this team, both believe in themselves. And we believe in ourselves, and that doesn’t necessarily guarantee us anything, but certainly it makes things a lot more possible for us."

The Aero with the longest tenure with the club is defenseman Max Noreau, who joined the club early during Kevin Constantine's first season at the helm four seasons ago. And yes, this game does mean a bit more to him because of his time here.

"I think it means a lot to me because of that run we had two years ago. We lost in the semi-finals. We were so close, but didn’t quite get it done. Now we’re in the finals, and we’re down 3-2. It’d be nice to get it done this time. I have a lot of belief in this team. Everyone does. We had a great meeting today, great practice. Seemed pretty upbeat. Nobody’s really down. We’re coming home. We have great fans; they’ve been really good to us in the playoffs this year. We’ve just got to stick with it and get the two wins this week."

And then Noreau came out with the really important stuff. It's the stuff we hear from the team a lot, and have heard from the team a lot when they're down, and though it's rather cliched and simplistic, it has worked for the team. They've got to forget about everything and just follow the process.

"We had a big talk about that today," he said. "The main focus was, focus on the process, and focus on the little details you have to do, whether it’s getting a puck deep or getting a shot on net. Don’t focus on whether you’re going to score the goal or block that shot or whether you’re going to win the game for us. Just focus on the details. Do the right thing every time you’re out there. And if you focus on that process, the result at the end, we’re going to get the win. It’ll take care of itself."

Without any doubt this has been a physical series which has seen the Aeros lose Cody Almond and Jared Spurgeon to injury. Noreau thinks this could be part of the Senators plan, but he noted that it's been tried before, and that those other teams that tried it failed.

"I think they’re a pretty skilled team, but I think that at home they definitely upped their intensity," he said. "Whether it was because of their fans or they just completely changed because they thought that that would work, they came at us definitely a lot harder the past three games. But I think we’re by far the most physical team of the two, we’ve just got to get back to doing that.

"It’s been a grind for us, a couple of game sevens, Milwaukee was a pretty physical team. So was Hamilton. And mentally it’s been tough for us, too. We were up three-nothing and [Hamilton] came back, so I think we’ve learned a lot in the past month or two. We’ve got to put all of that together and bring it together tomorrow."

And despite the importance of tomorrow's game, Noreau had a great perspective: it's June and the Aeros are one of the very few hockey teams still playing.

"It’s pretty special," he said. "To know that it’s only us and maybe the two NHL teams left, you might be only the last four teams left playing the in the world. It’s a pretty good feeling. We’re pretty fortunate. We’re pretty lucky. We feel lucky to be here. But at the same time, I think we deserve to be here. We worked really hard this year, and all the guys poured their hearts out. It’s do-or-die. We’ve got two games, but two games away from the Calder Cup. That’s how you’ve got to look at it. It’s a pretty big honor."

I've talked to JM Daoust a bit, and I'll throw that up in a post for tomorrow, as he's always a fun guy to talk to. But before I end, the guys offered up their thoughts on what they're expecting from the fans tomorrow night.

"Just what they’ve been doing is fantastic," Yeo said. "We’re hoping for a great turnout. Binghamton was well-represented. When we get back home, we’re playing in front of our home crowd. I know that they’re going to be loud; I know that they’re going to be into the game, and they’re going to crank up the energy level for our guys. We’re hoping that it’s a big crowd and ready to come out and cheer us on, hopefully setting us up for a game seven here."

Warren Peters was a bit more precise: "We hope that they’re loud. We came from a chaotic building, and we’d like ours to be as loud and as noisy as possible"

And then there's Noreau who once again put things in a proper perspective. No matter what the crowd is like, it's still up to the Aeros to do their job out on the ice.

"Just some enthusiasm, some energy, but the bottom line is it’s our livelihood right now," he said. "It’s do-or-die tomorrow and whether the fans are upbeat or not, we’ve got to go out and produce. I know the fans are going to show up. They’ve been there the whole playoff run. They’ve been unbelievable. It’s up to us. It’s going to start in our room and it’s going to finish on the ice."

Notes, Quotes & Observations from Game Five, Houston v. Binghamton: Or The Someone's Going To Get Fined Edition

If the Aeros would have played in game four like they played game five tonight, then it's quite possible the Aeros would be the Calder Cup champs right now. Instead, they're down 3-2 and coming back to Houston tonight on what has to be a rather depressing charter flight.

The Aeros dominated the action in every single period of the game, outshooting, outhustling, and outplaying the Senators in just about every aspect possible. Yet tonight, playing an outstanding game, the Aeros still lost by the score of 4-2. But along with losing the game, they possibly lost Jared Spurgeon for the rest of the series with a hit that saw him prone on the ice for several minutes while trainer Jody Green worked on him.

Corey Locke put the Senators up at the 9:19 mark of the first when the Senators took advantage of, you guessed it, a turnover. Jean-Michel Daoust tied the game at 11:08 when he scored on a wraparound, but at 12:17, Binghamton went back up awhen Erik Condra got free on a breakaway. But Daoust came through again, punching the puck past Robin Lehner at the 19:54 mark of the first period.

The Aeros would not score again, though they had numerous chances. But the Aeros fell victim to some questionable officiating as well as their own stupidity, and when they fell behind 3-2 on a Zach Smith power play goal with nine seconds left in the second period, it was obvious the Aeros were going to lose.

So now the Aeros return to Houston down 3-2 and having possily lost two key players, Cody Almond and Jared Spurgeon, to injuries for the rest of the series. But it's doubtful the Aeros are going to play any more stinkers like they did in game four. The question though is whether the Aeros are going to be able to take this to a game seven. And that's a question we'll get the answer to on Tuesday night.

Now on to fun the stuff, notes, quotes, and observations.

1. The AHL, as I discovered today, likes to throw fits when you criticize the competence of the officiating. So I'm not going to slam the officials. I actually thought they called a better game tonight than last night. But just because I was a bit more happy with the zebras doesn't mean that the Aeros were happy with the officiating.

Mike Yeo's generally a pretty levelheaded guy, and he doesn't generally make statements that can be seen as criticisms of other teams or of officiating. But someone removed his filter tonight.

"If you didn’t ask me about [the officiating], I was going to ask you if you wanted to ask me about it," he said. "But certainly we took some penalties we shouldn’t have taken. But at the same time, I think that some were either called that shouldn’t have been called, or I think that there were some penalties that should have been called that were not called.

"The one thing that you ask is don’t just manage the game. As soon as it’s 4-2 in power plays you know that they’re going to call one. At the same time, we’re dominating puck possession time, and I think that, minus last game, we’ve dominated puck possession time in the entire series, yet they have 21 power plays to our 17. And we’re not known as being an undisciplined team. That’s not because we’re being undisciplined, they’re doing the same stuff after the whistle that we’re doing, both teams are doing that stuff. But the play between the whistles, when you’re actually playing, when you have the puck that many times, your team should be on the power play more than it should be short-handed."

But wait, there's more. Here's what he had to say being asked about Jared Spurgeon's injury in the second period.

"That’s one we’ll have to watch again and see if that was worthy of a call. If we lose a defensemen there, that’s tough. Same thing with Prosser in the third period when a guy leaves his feet. If it’s a penalty it’s a penalty. Doesn’t matter the situation, call it."

2. Jared Spurgeon's injury looked rather ugly to me, worse than Cody Almond's last night. I didn't see the hit. But even after he was down along the board it appeared that one of the Senators kept going at him. He lay on his stomach for awhile, then was able to turn over on his back, which is how he stayed for awhile while Jody Green worked on him. He eventually stood and was essentially pulled off the ice by Green and one of his teammates as he didn't really skate and really appeared to be favoring his left leg.

And of course, it was at the time of this injury, when the injury was obvious because the trainer was out on the ice and looking him over, that the Binghamton fans chose to start shouting out their taunts at Matt Hackett. A real classy move. We noted this on twitter, and we were informed that "hey, we clapped when he went off the ice."

3. The officiating isn't the reason the Aeros lost this game. They lost for the old familiar reasons. Turnovers and good goal tending from the opposition. Who knows what can be done about the turnovers? That just seems to be the team's modus operandi. And for the most part, Yeo was happy with the team's play, being really upset only about Binghamton's final goal.

"I was [happy with our play] up until about seven minutes left in the game, and then their fourth goal is a result of us forcing a play and not paying attention to detail the right way," he said. "We gave them that one. Otherwise, I think you could see five-on-five, we play that way and they feel pretty confident ourselves.'

4. DiSalvatore is confident in the team's ability to win this series. Especially if they keep playing the way they played tonight.

"Absolutely. Absolutely," he said when asked if they could win the Cup. "We’re extremely confident right now. More so now that we put forth a good effort again. After we felt like we kind of let go a little bit in game four. What we did tonight was just another affirmation that if we put forth a good effort, we dominate. We felt like the balance was more to our favor as far as chances were going tonight. So we feel like if we do that, we’re going to have a 70-30 game as far as game six is concerned. We have the utmost confidence that we can bring this thing home."

5. The stars of this game were the fourth line of J.M Daoust, Pascal Morency, and Carson McMillan. Daoust first saw playoff action toward the end of the Hamilton series, and Morency saw his first action of the playoffs. But together with McMillan they set the tone of the play, controlled the action, and made pests of themselves.

"Those guys are a tough line to play against," Yeo said. "They’re looking for every opportunity to finish every check. They’re going to force you to go back – they’re d-men to go back – that’s the type of game that we play. That’s the type of game that we want to play. Over and over and over again. They pay attention to detail, and when it’s time to defend, they defend the right way. But when they get the puck, it’s a matter of how quick can we get to the defensive zone and how many times can we make their D go back and force them to play in their own zone.

"When they get to the offensive zone, I like the way that they manage the puck. I like the way that they get the cycle game going. Again, they don’t have a mentality where I’m going to turn every touch into the goal. Because of that, they end up getting a lot of scoring chances. They manage the puck well. They force their team to defend, and that’s when you end up getting the good chances."

6. The Cody Almond injury forced some line shuffling. Casey Wellman was moved back to the first line with Chad Rau joining Robbie Earl and Jarod Palmer on the second line. The third line stayed intact, and then there were Daoust, McMillan, and Morency.

Yeo was adamant after the game that the shuffling was totally due to Almond's injury, and would not have come about because of the game four result.

"It was a direct result of Cody’s injury," he said. "Last game – we knew last game what it was, we didn’t show up, plain and simple. So we were comfortable with the lines we had, and we were going to give those guys a chance to respond. Cody couldn’t go, and when you’re looking for answers you go back to previous experiences and those guys had played together before and they’d done a nice job together, so we put those guys out."

7. The fourth line was outstanding tonight. There's no question about that. And while the overall effort was there, some of the Aeros still appeared to have a bit of an off-night. Yeo was asked his thoughts on Jed Ortmeyer and Patrick O'Sullivan and whether he could get more out of them than what he's been getting.

"You know what? Those guys have gotten us here. I’m not going to sit here and point fingers at anybody because those guys have gotten us to this opportunity. All our focus is on is winning the next game because if we do that, we’re playing in a game seven.

"And those guys again, not only their on-ice contributions, but when you’re dealing with young kids like we have year, their leadership, the way they help them prepare, the way they help them deal with the ups and downs, our leadership group and our core group has been phenomenal up to this point."

8. And unlike in Hamilton, where the Aeros had the series lead, this time, they're time they're the team fighting to stay alive. But DiSalvatore said that doesn't matter.

"At the end of the day, it’s still, you’re playing for your lives," he said. "We’ve put in two situations where we’ve played for our lives before, so we know how to handle that situation. What it comes down to is all of the preparation we put forth the entire year, that all comes to the forefront right now. We close our eyes, we see, we visualize what our game is, and we go out there and do it. That’s all we’ve got to worry about. We’ve got to manage our emotions, and we’ve just got to go out there and do what we’ve been doing all year."

9. I saw on Twitter today the Aeros have already sold over 7,000 tickets for game six. That's great news because there's nothing like a packed and loud arena for hockey. But one thing, let's keep things in check. I wasn't at game two, but I heard that a beer was tossed on the ice at one point. Let's not do that, especially not after the Binghamton fans littered their ice with trash after game three. And folks, this shouldn't need to be said, but if there's an injured opposing player on the ice, don't taunt. Be respectful.

10. And I've got a message from Jon DiSalvatore for those of you who will be turning up at Toyota Center: "Bring it! Bring it as loud and as crazy as you can bring it. We’re excited to get home and play for them. They’ve been great all year, and we expect them to be a huge boost for us coming home."

That's it from Binghamton. I've got a 7:50 a.m. flight out of Philadelphia, which means that I need to leave Binghamton in about two hours if I want to get there in time to deal with the rental return and the security line hassles. So everybody get some sleep while I deal with the Pennsylvania Turnpike, and I'll see everybody on Tuesday night at Toyota Center for game six.

View From The Pressbox: Senators Take 3-2 Series Lead

That was a painful game to watch tonight. Not because the effort wasn't there tonight, but painful because the Aeros got the 4-2 loss while losing another player, Jared Spurgeon, to injury, painful because of some boneheaded penalties, and painful because of the officiating.

Jean-Michel Daoust was the star of the game tonight, scoring both Aeros goals, and doing so in the fashion he did last season, by being pest in front of the goalie. Daoust's linemate, Pascal Morency, playing for the first time since March, also excelled, forcing action. In fact, if the whole team had played like the fourth line, the Aeros might have pulled this game out.

The first line didn't have the best of games -- though much better than last night -- but they were also messed up a bit with Casey Wellman being put back in that mix thanks to last night's injury to Cody Almond. Chad Rau was dropped by to the second line, and their chemistry seemed a bit off. The third line did what the third line usually does, but most of the really stupid penalties came from that line.

Speaking of penalties, Mike Yeo is usually kind of vanilla when it comes to commenting on officiating, but he wasn't happy tonight, and he said so.

[I'll have those later quotes later tonight.]

In the end, the Aeros probably have no one but themselves to blame for the defeat. The third goal, the game-winning goal, came with nine seconds left in the second period and was on a power play that had been necessitated by a Colton Gillies penalty. Matt Hackett did everything he could stop to puck, but sometimes, there's just nothing that could be done. If the hotel internet connection were better, I'd post the photo showing Hackett's efforts. And the other goals came off of that Aeros speciality known as turnovers.

All in all, a much better game for the Aeros, but still a loss, a loss which finds the Aeros returning home down 3-2 in the series. Frankly, I'm glad I'm not with Heather on the flight home because I think that's going to be one painful charter -- according to Joe O'Donnell, they're supposed to arrive at Hobby around 2:30 in the morning should any of you want to drive out and greet them.

And I'll be back later with the notes, quotes, and observations.

Notes, Quotes & Observations from Game Four, Houston v. Binghamton

The Houston Aeros lost game four of the Calder Cup Finals tonight to the Binghamton Senators by the score of 3-0. But that score doesn't even begin to indicate how much the Senators dominated this game. They outshot the Aeros 37-21, and most of the Aeros shots weren't even that great. The Senators kept possession of the puck and kept in the Aeros zone for about the first four minutes of the game.

The first goal of the game was one that looked like Matt Hackett should have been able to stop, coming off a really slow to develop wraparound. But it's hard to pin this loss on Hackett as he did everything he could to keep the Aeros in the game, especially seeing as Binghamton came out on the attack and peppered him with 18 shots in the first period.

The Senators won this game because they wanted this game. They played this game like it was game seven. The Aeros seemed to play like it was game five of the regular season. But who knows, maybe if they would have played with the same effort during the game as they did in getting into that stupid scrum/fight at the end of the game they might have been able to at least make the game close. But alas, it just wasn't meant to be.

1. We're all familiar with the story by now since it's a story we've seen throughout the last month of the regular season and during the playoffs. The Aeros get the ultimate goal within their reach, then all they care about is that goal which results in them forgetting everything that made it possible for them to get where they are. What's more aggravating than anything else is that the Aeros recognize this, too. Mike Yeo knows about it. The players know about it.

Jed Ortmeyer said on Monday that he thought the guys had learned a lesson from the Hamilton series about what happens when they get away from their game. But it appears that, if they did learn the lesson, they forgot all about it tonight.

2. "We weren’t ready to match their desperation level," Mike Yeo said. "It’s tough – it’s like your sinking in quick sand when that happens. You dig a little bit deeper and you sink a little bit more."

The Senators wanted this game. They knew they had to win. The Aeros played like it was game four against Hamilton.

3. They paraded Kurt Klienendorst, Robin Lehner, Cody Bass, and Corey Locke out to the press room tonight and didn't bother to bring any Aeros along. And frankly, I'm not in the mood for transcribing everything they said.

Klienendorst said that he hadn't been frustrated by his team's play, and neither was his team. He felt, and the team felt, that they were all capable of much better play than what they'd had so far in the series, and that tonight was what they expected. They're all expecting a much better Aeros team out on the ice tomorrow, and they're all expecting a much better effort from the Aeros.

4. My recorder malfunctioned when it got to Lehner, so this note I have might not be his exact quote, but he speaks truth: "If you don't play desperate, you're not going to win the game."

Like I said, that might not be exact, but it's close. And you could tell the difference tonight. The Senators were desperate to get the win tonight -- they didn't want to go down 3-1 -- and the Aeros, well, they weren't desperate.

5. Mike Yeo admitted to slamming a few things around after the game. And while he didn't name names, he was not very happy with the play/effort level of some of his players. Personally, I think the only guy that gave out a good effort tonight was Hackett.

"There’s some things we talked about [during intermissions]," Yeo said. "There were some moments where we saw our game kind of getting there, and I don’t think that we had full contributions from everybody tonight. And that’s going to be tough when you’re playing against a team – we had a lot of guys who had below average games, and if you have one guy that has a below average game right now, the odds of you winning the game have just gone down by quite a bit, and we had a number of guys.

"The one thing that you always find is that it’s tough to recover, it’s tough to have – to not be ready, or not have a great first period and then all of a sudden flip the switch. It doesn’t happen. I think that we’re not too far in the process to learn. We’re not too far in the process to learn from our opposition, and what we’re facing, and even ourselves and what we have to bring going into a game."

Emphasis mine.

6. Yeo's not too worried about playing the back-to-back. The Aeros should be used to this anyway since the AHL had them playing three-in-threes seemingly every weekend. But Yeo said that no guy should be tired when it comes to the Calder Cup.

"If you want to sit here right now and look at it that way, yeah you can, but this time of the year, I don’t know," he said. "The adrenaline’s got to kick in. I’m already excited for the game tomorrow. Our players should be excited for the game tomorrow. You know, it stinks. It stinks to lose. I don’t think there’s anybody who hates to lose more than I do. And I had my moment where I went and I slammed a couple of things. Even as I sit here right now, what an opportunity. We’ve got a best of three for the Calder Cup. Two good teams going at it. I don’t know how you could get tired right now. You’ve got to get excited, you’ve got to get fired up. When you have that approach, I think that energizes you. There’ll be plenty of time to be tired."

And besides, he said in another shot at his players, a back-to-back shouldn't be a problem because "I think that we saved a little energy tonight."

7. I've got to give it to the Binghamton fans, the "You can't Hack It" chant was funny. However, they did the Wave, so what credibility they gained from the chant was lost with that.

8. Yeo didn't think the crowd had much of an affect on the Aeros. He did, however, think the crowd helped out the Senators, especially after that first goal. The building was loud, and Corey Locke spoke afterwards about how great the Binghamton fans were. And the crowd tonight was way more into this game than the crowds I saw in Peoria and Milwaukee.

9. The game ended with a big scuffle after the buzzer in which the Aeros just seemed to lose their cool and got into with the Senators down by where the Senators exit the ice to get to their locker room. Justin Falk, Warren Peters, and Nate Prosser were each hit with two minute roughing penalties and 10 minute game misconducts for persisting a fight. Eric Gryba, Mike Hoffman, and Cody Bass were nailed with the same penalties.

And the reason for this, beyond just the Aeros losing their cool, was the once again god-awful absolute crappy officiating of Terry Koharski and Ghislain Hebert. These guys never had control of the game and missed many obvious penalties committed by both teams while making up, from nowhere, a four minute double minor high-stick on Justin Falk in the second period. But hey, at least Koharski didn't screw up any goal calls tonight.

Seriously, if any of you suits with the AHL are reading this, could you answer me this: are the officials you've been assigning to these games really the best you have because, if they are, I fear for the future and the integrity of the AHL and NHL officiating. I know that the AHL is a developmental league, but that doesn't mean developmentally-challenged officals should be continuously assigned to the league's most important games.

I hope I don't sound like a homer because I've seen these guys, especially Koharski, miss way too many calls this playoffs, and just not calls against the Aeros. Hamilton and Milwaukee have just as much right to be angry with this guy as the Aeros, and I don't think Binghamton should be too happy with him, either.

10. Cody Almond left the game about midway in the third period after being hit on what probably would have been a penalty in the regular season. It looked like his leg was injured because he sure skated slow and seemed to be favoring one of his legs -- sorry, I don't remember which one.

Yeo didn't know his status after the game as he was still being checked out by the medical staff, but we're hearing rumors that he left the arena on crutches, so that doesn't sound good. Hopefully we can find out something more at the arena in the morning.

11. I'm trying not to go into full on negative mode here, like Heather, so it should be noted that Heather's prediction of the Senators winning in five is wrong. Second, we've been watching the Aeros do this throughout the playoffs. They'll throw out a stinker of a game then recover. The question is how long that recovery will take. They switched it on-and-off several times against Milwaukee. They were demolished by Hamilton in game four, then spent the next two games trying recovering before getting it all together in game seven.

But unlike with Hamilton, the Aeros don't have a 3-0 lead with which to play. And I think the Senators are better than the Bulldogs and the Admirals. Hopefully Jed Ortemeyer will knock some heads together and get the guys back on track -- I say Ortmeyer because the guys have made it pretty clear that he's their spiritual leader in the locker room.

12. On a positive, non-hockey note. I made a pilgrimage to the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown today -- it's about an hour-and-a-half drive from Binghamton. It was my first time, and I really got a kick touring the Hall and the town. My favorite part was something that I knew, but had forgotten. A friend of mine, Ria Cortesio, was the last female umpire in professional baseball, making it up to AA-ball about four years ago before hitting the glass ceiling. I was walking through the Diamond Dreams: Women In Baseball exhibits when I came up on one of her umpire masks.

While I knew her mask was there, she had told me several years ago, I had forgotten, and you have no idea what a kick it is to be walking through a shrine of great players from the sport I love the most and seeing that my friend has been acknowledged. If only the guys running MLB would have been more open minded because she should have made the majors -- I know for a fact that she's a better umpire than Angel Hernandez can ever dream of being.

That's it for tonight. The Aeros and Senators return to action on Saturday night, same bat time, same bat channel -- sorry about that for those of you stuck with AHL Live. And if the Aeros are going to win the Cup, then they're going to need a much, much better effort on the ice. They're going to need to play like it's game seven.

Some Final Hamilton Thoughts and Story Links

Look in the background at Mike Yeo's smile.

Here's some links to some news stories from last night's game. Here's my Press story. Here is Heather's story from Pro Hockey News. And here is the write-up in the Chron from Andrew.

Chronicle columnist Jerome Solomon was also at last night's game, and he wrote a very good column on the game that really captures the essence of this team. So go read his, after you read mine.

Here's the story from the Hamilton side, especially their view of the DiSalvatore goal.

I don't know what more to say about that goal, though I think Andrew's working on something about Hamilton was robbed on it. I had a bad angle. I put up my one good photo of the sequence. And it looked to me as if Terry Koharski was actually in a good position to see everything that was happening. However, there have been countless times during this playoff run where it's looked like Hackett or MacIntyre or Jeremy Smith had control of the puck and play should be stopped but instead the officials let the whack-a-goalie approach go on and on and on and on, so why should it have suddenly changed for this game?

It's a shame that this all comes down to the officiating, but in a way, I think we all suspected that the guys in the zebra stripes would have too much of a say in how it all ended, and I hope that the AHL will use these playoffs to reevaluate how they assess officials because countless goals calls were missed, and penalties were missed while phantom calls were made.

As I said last night, I won't be around for games one and two of the Finals because of previously booked vacation plans. But I've been informed that our Milwaukee Bureau Chief, Chris Jerina will be around, so it looks like there'll be photos of those games after all. But I've booked my flights, hotel, etc., and contacted Binghamton media relations, and I will be there for games four and five.

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.

And Our Game Seven Refs Are...

According to reports, aka Jason Iacona, the AHL has decided that the refs for game seven tomorrow night will be Terry Koharski and Ghislain Hebert. Which leads me to ask this of the AHL: don't you have any competent refs you can send down to Houston?

And I know the AHL is a developmental league not just for players, but for the officials. To which one has to say, if these guys are really the best the AHL has to offer then the quality of officiating in the NHL is doomed.

Notes, Quotes & Observations from Game Six and The Brink of History

Before you do anything else, or after, go read my story in the mothership. Please.

Heather handled the doom and gloom below. But I wanted to throw out some quotes from Yeo and DiSalvatore, and maybe offer up a little analysis. So...

I've had the pleasure, the past couple of years, of getting to know Tom Franklin. Tom's the radio voice of the Houston Cougars, and he's a mainstay of the Houston media -- he also did some PA work for the Aeros when they first started back up in the 1990s. But if Tom's best known for one thing, it's for being the radio voice of the Houston Oilers during their final stretch of glory in the early-90s.

Those Oilers, despite the gaudy stats, the good records, and the numerous playoff appearance, aren't necessarily viewed through of prism of fondness. And the reason for that is, despite an ability to run up the score and win big in the regular season, they just could not find a way to win games in the playoffs. And they didn't just lose games in the playoffs, they LOST games in the playoffs.

They would storm out to big leads over the likes of the Broncos or the Chiefs or the Bills, but despite the size of the lead, they would find a way to lose, a way that inevitably meant a last-minute drive led by a John Elway or a Joe Montana that the mighty Oilers defense suddenly couldn't stop.

I did a story in the mothership on Tom, and I asked him about the infamous Buffalo Bills playoff game of January 3, 1993. You know the one. The one they show over and over and over and over on the NFL Network. The one where the Oilers jumped off to the 28-3 halftime lead before increasing it to 35-3 early in the third. Yeah, that game, where the Bills were led not by Jim Kelly, but by his back-up, Frank Reich. Yeah, that one, the one the Oilers lost 41-38 in OT. The biggest come from behind victory in NFL playoff history.

And one of the things we discussed was when he knew the Oilers were going to lose that game. Read the answer here.

All of that's a long way around to getting to this point: the Aeros are on the verge of history, and it's not a good kind of history. Before yesterday, there had only been two occasions when a team, losing 3-0 in an AHL playoff series, had forced a game seven. Now there are three occasions. And on both previous occasions, that team coming from the 0-3 deficit won game seven.

So yeah, the Aeros jumping out to a 3-0 series lead and becoming only the third AHL team to find themselves having to then play in a game seven after having squandered the series lead are, roughly so to say, on the verge of joining the Houston Oilers in the epic annals of Houston sports misery.

1. You know, both Andrew and I predicted this would be a seven game series. And that the Aeros would win it in seven. But neither of us predicted it would get to game seven because the Aeros were choking away a 3-0 series lead.

2. I was in Milwaukee after game six, and I spoke to several of the Aeros, and to coach Yeo. I spoke to them again after yesterday's game. And though they're putting on the brave face and saying the right things, the tone in the voice was different. Game six in Milwaukee was also a loss in OT, but the team just seemed to feel that things would be fine and that of course, a series with Milwaukee was going to go seven.

But yesterday, there was just this despondent sound in the voices I didn't hear in Milwaukee. Perhaps it's just the nature of that game, and the crappy officiating, and finding a way to score two goals to send it to OT that just really deflated the team more than normal.

3. For instance, maybe I'm reading too much in this statement from Jon DiSalvatore, but I haven't heard him say something like this before. And while the players are unnamed, he just never goes about throwing guys under the bus. Until last night.

"Obviously this loss kind of stings," he said. "But there’s a lot of great things that happened in that game for our team tonight. We showed how resilient we are, being down two goals and bouncing back. Obviously out-shooting them, I think that we controlled and dictated most of the game. But obviously it just goes to show you, one play’s the difference. I’m not blaming anyone, but one play is the difference in situations like this." Emphasis mine.

4. But these one plays have been making the difference, yet game after game it seems that, at least two or three times, Hamilton has an odd-man rush on Matt Hackett because somebody's turned the puck over and there's no defense around to help out. And while it would be nice if Hackett were able to pull a Drew MacIntyre and stop 57 of 61 shots in one game, it's hard to put all of the blame on the goalie when he's dealing with breakaways and odd-man rushes time and time again because of poor puck handling.

5. The Aeros can win on Tuesday. But to do so, they have to come out and play a complete game. They played a good first period. They played a good second half of the third period. And it was during those stretches that they pressured MacIntyre with shot after shot after shot.

6. "Just keep doing it. That’s all you can do," Mike Yeo said about dealing with MacIntyre. "Obviously you look at video and you look for weaknesses. And certainly the more traffic you can get around him the more you’re going to make it difficult for him to see the puck and control his rebounds. Having said that, you can’t try to get too precise with your shots. When you do that, that’s when you start missing the net. That’s when you don’t get them off because you take that extra second, and that’s when – that opportunity when the puck gets to the net and we’re banging in the rebound, that opportunity’s lost. We have to make sure to just continue to shoot pucks and go to the net. Certainly, when you’re in tight you want to go in upstairs. We have to put pucks in places where he’s kicking out the rebounds. But otherwise, just keep shooting."

7. Dear Aeros, yes, the officiating sucks. It's beyond suck, if that's even possible. And putting both of the guys named Hebert on the same crew and having them work a playoff game was just beyond stupid. But damn it, you've got to forget about those bastards. I know they're missing obvious penalties that are happening right in front of them while inventing phantom calls to nail you with. But don't let that affect your play on the ice.

The game was lost for the Aeros during a five minute stretch at the end of the second period and the start of the third period. It began when Colton Gillies got called for doing something to the goaltender that nobody in the entire building not named Hebert could see. Then Jed Ortmeyer is somehow about to start up on a rush and he's interfered with, which is great because it would be 4x4 hockey. Instead, the Heberts don't see the interference, play goes on, and Hamilton gets a goal on the power play to tie it at 2-2.

And things just went downhill from there with Hamilton scoring shorties right before, and right after, the second intermission. Yes the Aeros got back into the game and sent it to OT, but it was the loss of composure at that time in the second that cost the Aeros this game.

8. Game seven can be won. DiSalvatore said afterwards that the team needs to wipe away the negatives, focus on the good things, and come out and play.

"We have to try to forget about the pain that we’re feeling right now, the sting of the loss right now," he said. "But we have to recognize and see what we did so well this game. I think, it’s just when we get away from the details of our game that we give them opportunities. And I don’t think that we made a tremendous amount of mistakes tonight, but they were just opportunistic. You give them credit, but I think we can feel really good about a lot of things that we did tonight, and we can build a lot of confidence off of what we did tonight heading into game seven for sure."

9. There's the word from DiSalvatore. Details. Focus on the details. When the Aeros execute, they score. When they execute for a complete game, they win. But when they get sloppy, when they make bad passes or lose composure or miss on a hit, they fall apart.

10. Yes this is only the AHL. There's no AHL Network to replay historic losses over and over again. The Aeros losing this series could never, to the populace of Houston, hurt the way the Oilers losing to the Bills did. But damn it, going in the history books for the wrong reason hurts, no matter how large or small the impact. The impact on the city will be small, but the impact on the team should they lose, well that's going to be huge.

View From The Brink: Aeros Poised To Make Very Bad History

The game winning goal from Nigel Dawes.

Only twice in AHL history has a team come back from a 3-0 deficit to force a game seven. Before tonight. Tonight the Hamilton Bulldogs became the third team in AHL playoff history to force a game seven after being down 3-0 when they defeated the Aeros 5-4 in double OT. And here's the bad news, in each instance, the team that forced the game seven went on to win the game seven.

It would be easy to blame this loss on the officiating. The Heberts were so bad I was longing for Terry Koharski -- and no, the Heberts are not related though they suck so damn bad that it's easy to imagine they're brothers. And there's some truth to that as the Aeros fell completely apart after a fanthom call on Colton Gillies and a missed call on Jed Ortmeyer and quickly surrendered three goals within four-and-a-half minutes, including two short-handed goals.

It would be easy, but it would be wrong. The Aeros found a way to get back in this game. And they had multiple, excellent opportunities to win the game in OT, only Drew MacIntyre came through big and stopped the Aeros.

No, the Aeros can blame this loss on one thing, and one thing only. Crappy puck handling. It's been their problem throughout this playoff series, and it doomed them tonight. The shorties came off turnovers. And the game-winner came off of a turnover at center ice.

They dominated the Bulldogs for the most part tonight, 61 SOG compared to 38. But when you're sloppy with the puck, bad things happen. And tonight, bad things happened.

I'll be back with some quotes later night, and I think Andrew will throw up some other thoughts as well. We'll see you on Tuesday. Let's just hope we're not writing about the Aeros being on the wrong side of history.

Notes, Quotes & Observations from Game Two, Houston v. Hamilton

Do photos of the guys celebrating after a win ever get old?

QUICK: Before reading further, click on the link and check out my game story in the Press. There's some quotes from Colton Gillies on his game-winner, Mike Yeo on the team's play this weekend, and I include a nice quote from Matt Kassian on Derek Boogaard. And remember, I was there in the locker room long before the guys with the TV cameras started hanging around.

Here's the thing, Heather picked the Aeros in six. Andrew and myself picked them to win in seven. I don't remember seeing Heather's winning sequence, but mine had the Aeros winning games one, four, six, and seven while Andrew's, I believe, had the Aeros winning games two, four, six, and seven. So seeing them come out and win these first two games is just not what I was expecting. This wasn't because of the Aeros, it was because of Drew MacIntyre in goal for Hamilton and the fact that the Bulldogs are a very good team. So I just figured they find a way to get a split. But the Aeros, despite not playing their best hockey, figured out a way to get it done. And that's how it's done in the playoffs, right? You find a way to get it done.

1. Now I'm not expecting that the Bulldogs are going to roll over. The Aeros are on their way to Hamilton as this is posted, and I can guarantee that there's not one person associated with this Aeros team that thinks this series is over.

"I think the feeling, and you can ask any of the players, is we haven’t won anything yet," Gillies said yesterday. "Still a lot more games to be played and we’re just going to stick to the game plan that got us here."

2. Speaking of Gillies, who out there isn't enjoying his game in the playoffs? I asked Mike Yeo about Gillies yesterday, and about how it seems he's elevated his game. And as Yeo was quick to point out, this is how Gillies has been playing all season, the only difference is that he's now finding the net.

"He’s elevated his game, obviously, by putting the puck in the net," Yeo said. "But really, what he’s doing is going out and doing what he’s done for us all year long. He brings momentum for us when he’s out on the ice.

"I think the most important part is that line’s going out there against top lines. And they’re shutting them down. Quite often when you do that, then the other lines are going to get frustrated and you’re going to generate some opportunities off of the rush, or in the offensive zone because they’re a little bit more focused on the offense, especially when they’ve had to try to battle through all game. And they’re not getting much.

"Now he’s in a position where he’s doing all the things he’s supposed to do as Colton Gillies, but he’s capitalizing on his chances and he’s elevated his game."

3. But what does Gillies have to say about this? He's just doing what needs to be done. But he's not the hero. The entire team is responsible for where the Aeros are at at this moment.

"For me with playoffs, I’ve been going to the net a lot harder," he said. "I’ve been going to the net and trying to make sure my presence around the net is known. You can ask anyone of the players in the dressing room, including myself. It’s not about the goals, we’re here to win the game. If you score, good job, you get to be the hero for the night. But there’s a lot of guys in that room that do little things that don’t get noticed that deserve to wear the cape."

4. Now we talked to Matt Kassian after the game. I had him brought out because I wanted to ask him about Derek Boogaard. But then Andrew decided to ask some non-Boogaard questions, and the way he answered these questions goes to just what a classy, team-oriented guy Kassian is.

He wants to be playing. And it hurt to know that he was the guy who was going to have sit once the Milwaukee series started. But there were more important things than his feelings because he couldn't let his feelings impact the team.

"It’s not an easy thing," he said. "I don’t think people understand how difficult it can be on you mentally and emotionally, as well. When you’re here the whole season, you want to play and you want to be a part of it, but at the same time, you’re here to be a good teammate. You can’t bring any kind of that negative emotions that you feel about it into the dressing room. You really just have to have a good attitude and work through it.

"That’s difficult. It’s tough. You want to play, you want to be part of it. I’m the type of player who, if you play me four minutes I’m going to want to play five. If you play me five I’m going to want to play six. You play me 19 I’m going to want to play 20.

[SNIP]

"You never like to see an injury, especially to a young guy. It’s never good. And he’ll [Bulmer] be back, and it’s not too serious….At the same time, it’s an opportunity for myself to get back in there and be consistent and try to do what I in the first series. Just be consistent in the room and be consistent on the bench and the ice, too. Just play hard and make their [defense] hear footsteps and chip pucks out and that kind of thing."

5. Then comes Matt Hackett's play these first two games. Hackett said after game seven in Milwaukee that one of the problems he'd had was that he wasn't seeing enough shots, but that he thought he had adjusted to that problem. Well that hasn't been a problem in this series so far. We were talking to Kassian when Hackett came out and talked to the TV guys, so I don't know what he said. But if he keeps playing like he's been playing, the Aeros aren't going to have to worry about his play.

6. Jon DiSalvatore said an interesting thing about Hackett after the game, and how he'd been challenged after game six in Milwaukee to elevate his game, and how he's begun to understand the importance of goalie play in the playoffs. It's not clear from DiSalvatore's statements if this challenge came from Hackett's teammates, or if Hackett challenged himself. But this follows on what guys like Jed Ortmeyer said on Friday night about Hackett elevating his game after that sixth game in Milwaukee.

Here's what DiSalvatore said: "I think after game six in Milwaukee – in that Milwaukee series, a lot of guys were challenged, and that game six, Matt Hackett was challenged. And the kid has responded tremendously for us. He has really – I think he won us the first game of this series. And just the way that he’s kind of matured and accepted the true responsibility of how significant goaltending is in playoffs has been tremendous. We’re very proud of him, and we hope that he continues to strive to be better. He’s been excellent so far since that game six. Absolutely."

7. And since I've been following around the team a lot the past month or so -- I'm really sorry I can't make it to Hamilton -- I've seen a lot of Colton Gillies dealing with Hackett. After game four in Peoria, I was asking Hackett about some tough stops, and Gillies popped out from nowhere and went on about how Hackett saw everything.

And when asked about Hackett yesterday, Gillies was just as effusive in his statements: "Hackett, he’s a great goalie. That’s pretty much it. He’s definitely had a good series for us. He’s had a good season. With Milwaukee, he didn’t see a lot of shots for long periods of time, which could have been hard on him. But he’s playing well right now, and he’ll keep up. I know he will."

8. The defense had another good game. And after being really down on Justin Falk during the Milwaukee series, I think, like with Hackett, we're seeing a guy who has elevated his game. And the defense as a whole, has been good -- man, you've got to wonder just how good this team would have been with Jared Spurgeon and Marco Scandella around all year, and man, are we going to miss them next year.

"[Falk] in particular, but I thought the entire group was again very good," Yeo said. "[Hamilton] is a team, if your defense is not sharp, then they’re going to make them look bad. They’re committed to getting every puck in behind your defense and making them turn and go back. And they put them under heavy pressure.

"The way that we executed, not only were we able to relieve that pressure, we were able to get to our game a little bit more effectively. We were able to generate some speed off the rush and off the attack because of the way those guys went back and executed."

9. The officiating, as it's been throughout the playoffs, was atrocious. I'm still trying to figure out how Max Noreau was the one who got the four minute minor for roughing in the third period. Whether it's a blind Terry Koharski waiving off pucks that are goals, or Jean Hebert and Francis Charron yesterday who just seemed to have their heads stuck up their asses, there's just no way to explain it. I also don't know why the linesmen thought they were required to hold onto the puck for 20 minutes in the face off circle before dropping the puck to start action.

I'm working on a separate post/rant about the officiating, but the AHL should just really be ashamed by how bad things have been. And not just how bad they calls have been or not been against the Aeros. The officials have been equal opportunity offenders -- see Koharski blowing a goal call against Milwaukee in game seven -- and it's just a pity to see great series being dragged down by their awfulness.

10. And I just want to add that the crowds at Toyota Center have been fantastic and only getting better since the playoffs began. The crowds in Milwaukee were almost non-existent in Milwaukee last week -- there were just under 3000 for game six and, I think, about 3500 for game seven. But the Aeros have been getting some big crowds, and those crowds have been loud. And I'm not the only one who thinks so.

"The crowd’s been awesome, especially the last couple of games," Yeo said. "I think it’s been building as this playoff run has gone along. It seems like with the intensity that increases in the games, it’s increasing the atmosphere and the playoff vibe that we’re feeling right now.

"Right from the start of the game you can tell that the crowds are jacked up, they’re excited, and they’re feeling it. And because of that, it brings a little bit more life, and little bit more emotion to our guys."

So job well done. Now it's white-knuckle time as the guys head off for three games at Hamilton.

Aeros Win Another Thriller, Take 3-2 Series Lead

This is what it looks like in the scrum after a huge win.

When the Milwaukee Admirals took the 2-0 lead on a short-handed goal with just five seconds left in the second period, I turned to Heather and Andrew and made the following statement: it's all over. The Aeros are going to lose tonight. Then they're going to lose Sunday.

While a bit dramatic, one couldn't be blamed for thinking this, seeing as how the Aeros were losing 2-0 in a game they were absolutely dominating. They had out-shot Milwaukee 38-16. They were playing physical hockey, and they were forcing the action in the Milwaukee's zone. There's just no way they should have been trailing, except that Matt Hackett had a brain fart on the first goal and there was a huge defensive breakdown on the shortie.

But Milwaukee goalie Jeremy Smith was just light's out dominating this game, stopping anything and everything the Aeros were throwing his way. There was just no way, NO WAY, the Aeros were going to make a comeback and win this game.

NO FRIGGING WAY!

We know now how the game turned out. Robbie Earl scored on a 5x3 power play with 4:22 remaining in the game. Then Jon DiSalvatore hit Chad Rau with a beautiful pass and Rau buried the puck with 1:22 left to tie the game. Then Robbie Earl again, off a play by Casey Wellman, netted the game-winner at the 8:45 mark of the overtime.

And just like that, the Aeros got the 3-2 OT win for the second night in a row to grab the 3-2 series lead over the Admirals.

What more can be said after that? Well...

1. I think Jeremy Smith could kill his entire team and get off with justifiable homicide. He faced 53 shots in this game as the Admirals defense struggled to keep the Aeros out of the offensive zone. The Aeros weren't successful for most of the night, but the reason they weren't successful was that Smith was getting to everything.

That said, the Aeros knew they could get to him. They knew if they kept attacking he would break because he's only human. Here was the Aeros game plan as the game got late.

"He was great, again," Mike Yeo said. "He’s played – the one thing you keep saying is we can grind him down, too. If he’s going to make 50-something saves then we’re going to get to the net, and we’re going to get to the net. And we’re going to keep throwing pucks there, and eventually he’s going to get tired, too.

"He played back-to-back, and he played two hard games in a row. So hopefully we’re going to get to him as well."

And eventually, the Aeros did get to him. It took nearly the entire game, but they got to him.

2. Fifteen of the 53 shots Smith faced came off of the sticks of Robbie Earl and Chad Rau. Earl, specifically, has been attacking Smith the entire series, but he hadn't been having much success. Until tonight, when the team needed him the most.

3. Of the game-winner, Earl gave the credit for the play's success to Casey Wellman who won a face-off and started the action. Earl claims to have just been in the right place at the right time.

"Off the face-off, Wellman had it," Earl said. "I’m not sure what happened, but I know he cycled it back down to me. And I was able to get the bead on the D and was able to cut back, and then I saw a bunch of legs and I decided to pick one out, and it went in."

4. Earl's goal comes off of the rype of play that Yeo wants to see. Attacking the net. Again, and again, and again, forcing Smith to make plays. And he thought they were better at it tonight than they were in game four.

"That’s where you give the guys a lot of credit," Yeo said. "I thought last game we started to try to get a little too precise with our shots. Tonight we were just focusing on getting them to the net and creating those battles in front of the net. Those are hard plays for the goalie, and physically draining when you’re scrambling around and there’s traffic in front and guys are poking at pucks. I thought we did a nice job with that."

5. The Aeros had doubts when they went to the locker room for the second intermission. They had been following the game plan, putting the puck on net and trying to create havoc, and they were losing. But Chad Rau said they talked about this and knew what they had to do.

"Just to stick with it," he said. "We knew for the most part, besides a couple of plays, a couple of turnovers, that we were playing a good game. That’s the kind of feeling we all felt. So we knew we just had to stick with what we were doing and come out of strong."

6. And Mike Yeo noticed this, saying that a mindset that Jeremy Smith was just too perfect began to get to the team in the second period, leading to the two goals.

"That is exactly what happened," he said. "One way we can get better is, once that happened, we started to force things a little bit and we put ourselves in some tough positions. You start to force a play into the middle. And now we’re all kind of caught on the offensive side of the puck, and we’re back-checking. There was some frustration in our game where we started to take some penalties. It’s a good lesson for us. One way, certainly, we can improve. And then when they scored that second goal, we were stretching a shift and we were forcing a play. You want to do the right thing. You just have to make sure you keep your focus and go and do it the right way."

7. As you read below, Admirals coach Lane Lambert attempted to have a heated discussion with the officials in their locker room after the game. And in some ways, that was understandable as the officiating in this game, hell, this whole series, was horrendous.

For instance, I'm still trying to figure out how, where two players drop their gloves, throw numerous punches to the face that land, don't get called for fighting but instead each get four minutes for roughing. And it appeared to me, numerous times, that both goalies were mauled and mugged by guys jumping all over them and jabbing them with sticks while they were covering the puck. So while I'm sure Lambert will be getting a hefty fine from the league office, I hope that somebody with the league will do something about Ghislain Hebert and Mark Lemelin.

For what it's worth, I think Lambert might have been right regarding the interference penalty on Grant Lewis as I felt it was a fantastic acting job on the part of Casey Wellman. Still, that shouldn't have caused the Admirals squad to melt down, get called for a delay of game penalty seconds later, and have to kill a 5x3 power play.

Also, for what it's worth, I've been going down that corridor for four years, and this is the first time any coach, either the Aeros or the opposing coach, has attempted to get to the refs after a game.

8. Once Earl made that first goal, you could feel the momentum shift. Still, I was really worried and I was mentally cursing Mike Yeo as Matt Hackett stayed in the net and stayed in the net and stayed in the net as the clocked ticked down. I was down in that corner, and I saw him keep looking at the bench, waiting for the sign to rush off so the Aeros could get that extra skater out there. The irony being, of course, that they didn't need the extra skater as Hackett wasn't even halfway to the bench when Jon DiSalvatore hit Chad Rau with that perfect pass which Rau then buried in the net to tie the game.

9. The Aeros were lucky tonight. As much as they dominated the action, they needed luck to swing their way, and swing it did when they got that 5x3 power play. And when they got that chance, they capitalized.

"We needed that," Earl told us. "It’s one of those moments where you’re like, okay this is do-or-die, and we were able to capitalize. That second goal, it was an unbelievable play, and a timely goal. It was a valiant effort by everybody, and now we’re up 3-2."

10. Yes, the Aeros are now up 3-2 and they're heading back to Milwaukee. You've got to wonder if all of the action he's been facing is going to get to Smith. But the Aeros can't worry about that. They've just got to concentrate on their game.

"They’re a strong home team," Rau said. "We know that. We’re going to have our work cut out for us when we get back to Milwaukee. We’re going to have to come with an even stronger game."

11. Games six and seven will be in Milwaukee. The Aeros will fly to Chicago on Saturday morning, then bus to Milwaukee. They've got the momentum on their side. But while it looks like the Admirals might be going into meltdown mode, that can't be counted on.

I hate to keep going back to this, but I have to go back to what Jed Ortmeyer said after the last regular season game. The key to winning a series is what happens on those days between games. You can't get too high; you can't get too low. You can enjoy it, but you've also got to put it behind you and focus on what's ahead. The Aeros can't worry about Jeremy Smith or how Milwaukee responds in an elimination game. The Aeros have to concentrate on their game, on their process. They've got to control those things they can control, and they've got to work hard.

It's worked so far. Let's see if it keeps working.

(And just a reminder, T3I will be in the building for game six, and for game seven, if needed. I'll be there for both, and Andrew hopes to be there for game seven.)

In Which Lane Lambert Throws A Fit

The corridor that leads to the Aeros locker room is also the same corridor that houses the locker room for the AHL officials. And it's after the game and various people are gathering. Families of the coaching staff start drifting down. There are various security people there, and the medical staff, waiting to see if anybody needs to be treated.

It can get kind of crowded.

This is also where we conduct our interviews every night. And we're talking to Mike Yeo, getting his thoughts on the game, and a commotion begins down at the door where the officials locker room is. We keep on with our interview, but it's kind of loud. When we're done, Yeo asks those around what the noise was about, and we're informed that it was Admirals coach Lane Lambert trying to get to the officials in their locker room. There were a few loud profanities exchanged, but nothing physical happened.

As far as we can determine, Lambert never actually got into the room. We have confirmed that he talked to the AHL officiating supervisor, who was down there, but we do not know if he ever actually talked to the officials, besides shouting various profanities at them.

We were also informed that he put the loss of the game and the loss of the series -- which has not yet happened -- on the officials. And we have learned that what ignited his fury was the interference penalty called on defenseman Grant Lewis at 14:49 of the third period when Milwaukee was still up 2-0. A few seconds later, the delay of game was called on Brett Palin, the Aeros were on a 5x3 power play, and just like that, the score was 2-1 Milwaukee and all of the momentum was on Houston's side.

And, this probably goes without saying, but Lambert can probably expect a call from the league office tomorrow demanding an explanation for his actions while hitting him with a fine.