Rise of the Wolves continues

If the Vancouver Canucks can stay mostly healthy down the stretch, the Chicago Wolves are a final four AHL team in my opinion. Since the new year, they have done nothing but win, and right now, I'd take them in a best of 7 against just about any team save for maybe the OKC Barons.

Wolves move into Top 4 after an
impressive week on the ice. 

With Climie and Lack in net, the pressure is off to score four goals a game to get a win. The continuity is there to build chemistry and confidence. (In the dictionary, that is a synonym for "Houston Aeros"). Since most of our readers are Aeros fans, be very glad that the Wolves are in a different division this year. Playing the Wolves just two more times this year may be a blessing in disguise.

Other big winners this week were Abbotsford, Hamiltion and Texas .... All three had great weeekend, and the Bulldogs have won four straight. Toronto won two of three last week to keep a hold on the No. 2 spot. They are probably the best home team in the AHL and will be a very tough first round opponent for someone.

Big losers last week were the Rochester Amerks, Grand Rapids and Rockford. King Loser title for the week goes to the Houston Aeros for playing with just 16 skaters on Friday, 17 on Saturday and losing both games to the Abbotsford Heat. Houston lost all three in the stretch, but did play a very good game against Milwaukee on Valentine's Day. The Aeros probably deserved at least a point in that game, but the posts were very kind to the Milwaukee netminder.

The Aeros exist to help the Minnesota Wild, and they have to field what they think is a competitive team in the NHL. Aeros fans will continue to suffer until the ship is righted in St. Paul. When they get their act together, things should stabilize in Houston. That does not mean they'll get better, but that will likely put an end to playing with too few players in big division games.

Minnesota has been a joke for about two months, and the Aeros are only in the top 8 of this poll because they continue to have the fewest regulation losses in the conference.

Right now the Aeros are a team without confidence, and the guys in the locker room, while not publicly, are questioning their stance with the organization. Jim Mill keeps saying that he is trying to do everything he can to make the Aeros better. But his No. 1 priority right now is helping his GM make the Wild better. Things have to change for the better up there, or those guys are only going to have one more year to show they've made some progress.

Don't expect sweeping changes for the better in advance of the trading deadline. The best moves for the Aeros right now is just hoping the Wild get healthier before too long.

2011-12 Western Conference Power Rankings
Edition 4, February 20, 2012

PR	Team	Record	Streak	Last	+/-	For the record …
1	OKC	33-14-2-3	0-1	1-2-0-0	-	Lost 2 of 3 to MKE and SAT
2	TOR	29-18-4-2	0-1	2-1-0-0	-	16-5-3-1 at home
3	CHI	30-18-1-3	4-0	3-0-0-0	+2	Hottest team in the West
4	CLT	30-19-2-3	0-2	1-1-0-1	-	Jumped TOR in standings
5	SAT	28-22-2-1	1-0	1-1-0-1	+1	Lost two straight to Texas
6	PEO	28-22-2-1	1-0	2-1-0-0	+1	Won four of six to stay hot
7	HOU	25-16-3-9	0-3	0-3-0-0	-4	Expect more disappointment
8	ABB	28-20-3-0	2-0	2-0-0-0	+2	Powered past weak HOU
9	MKE	26-22-2-1	0-1	1-2-0-0	-	Split huge series at OKC
10	LEM	26-23-2-2	1-0	2-1-0-0	+1	Keep moving up with wins
11	RCH	23-21-6-3	0-2	1-2-0-0	-3	Have lost 4 of 6 to fall back
12	HAM	24-23-1-4	4-0	3-0-0-0	+2	4 straight wins, but 5-5 in L 10
13	TEX	23-25-2-2	2-0	2-1-0-0	+2	Huge weekend sweep of SAT
14	GRR	20-21-5-4	0-2	0-1-1-0	-2	Played fewest games in West
15	RFD	21-26-2-4	0-3	0-2-1-0	-2	Lost 3 straight in a bad week

Western Conference Power Rankings

Rampage stopped just short of franchise record

Last week and going forward, the San Antonio Rampage had a decent chance to move even higher up the Western Conference Power Rankings. They had won seven in a row, and went to OKC looking to set a franchise record for most consecutive victories.

Not so fast.

They got shut out there and then went home to face Lake Erie in front of more than 16,000 fans and a pink ice surface. The Rampage were about five seconds away from another shutout, but Mike Caruso scored San Antonio's only goal of the game before the last tick of the clock.

Rampage went 0-2 last week, fall to
seventh in the power rankings. 

Now the team hits the road for its annual rodeo road trip, where, like the Aeros, they will play 11 straight away from home. The Rampage should be able to work their way back up through the pack as five of their next six opponents are struggling right around or below the .500 mark of the season.

Trust me, we have not seen the last of the Rampage this season.

Other notes

Charlotte and Toronto just keep on trucking, and the Rochester Amerks really had a good week post All-Star break. The Aeros beat Texas and Lake Erie, but could not finish off the trifecta against the struggling Milwaukee Admirals.

Not a ton of movement elsewhere in the standings, but the Texas Stars did not have a good week, and they are going to have to get things going soon if they want a third straight trip to the AHL playoffs to start their franchise.

  2011-12 AHL Western Conference Power Rankings

                              February 6, 2012 edition

PR	Team	Record	Streak	Last Wk	+/-	For the record …
1	OKC	29-11-2-3	0-1	1-1-0-0	-	First team to 30 wins
2	CLT	26-16-2-2	2-0	2-0-0-0	-	Good start to road trip
3	TOR	23-17-3-2	2-0	2-0-0-0	-	Very tough at home
4	HOU	23-12-3-9	0-1	2-1-0-0	+3	They just won’t die
5	CHI	24-16-1-3	0-1	1-1-0-0	-	Cannauton w/ 10 goals
6	PEO	24-20-2-1	2-0	2-0-0-0	+2	Best forwards in AHL
7	SAT	24-20-2-0	0-2	0-2-0-0	-3	Rodeo trips under way
8	ABB	25-16-3-0	0-1	1-2-0-0	-2	3-7 in last 10 overall
9	RCH	21-17-6-3	3-1	2-0-1-0	+2	Kassian back from BUF
10	MKE	23-19-1-1	1-0	1-1-0-0	-	Big road win at HOU Sun
11	RFD	20-22-1-4	0-1	0-1-0-0	-2	158 goals against!
12	GRR	19-18-4-4	1-0	1-1-0-0	-	Rookie Nyquist is a beast
13	HAM	20-20-1-4	0-1	1-1-0-0	+1	Needs a push NOW
14	LEM	21-22-2-2	0-1	1-0-0-1	+1	Points in three straight
15	TEX	20-22-1-2	0-4	0-2-0-0	-2	Team is better than this

Let us know what you think about these rankings! Discuss, leave a comment, and tell us what you think.