#Winning

I remember last year when I was covering for Andrew for the Chronicle and I thought the Aeros played a terrific game, had my story three-quarters written. I run downstiars for quotes and ... Yeo is just pissed. He hated the game. And I'm thinking, "Great! REWRITE!"

Well, tonight I got the opposite. I thought the second period was absolute crap and they were extremely lucky to get out of that with just a tie. Was expecting Yeo, or someone, anyone, to acknowledge this. (And then when they didn't, I didn't want to be the jackass to say, "Yeah, you won, good for you. But what about that AWFUL second period?")

But everyone we talked to was full of praise and pride. I mean, obviously limiting shots like that is impressive, but man, all three of us, at the end of the second period, said, "Milwaukee is winning this game tonight. No. Question."

Hey, shows you what we know.

What I do know is that Ally, @TheAnthemSinger, had the tweet of the night. She sits down behind the Aeros' net and often has signs with her: "NEW SIGN SIDE 1: Stay Hackett, stay. Good goalie. SIDE 2: Bad Goalie."

Seriously, this going behind the net and standing around back there in a crisis of indecision is going to burnnnnn like a thousand suns when it results in a goal. I am literally gonna have a stroke and die one of these nights watching that.

Seems like a fairly new thing, too. Looks like a Tordjman move, come to think of it. Stop doing that.

Also, in the third, I said, "Man, I'd LOVE a McMillan goal right about now." BOOM, I really DID have you in the pool, Big Mac! He's photogenic AND clutch. Can't really ask for much more from a hockey player.

I told the boys that if the Aeros lost tonight, I was going to do a stick figure of Kassian sitting in the stands in a suit in my usual "stick figures as a form of protest" way. Glad I didn't have to do that, because I wanna go to bed ASAP. And despite Bulmer passing it right to the stick of an Admiral when entering the zone on the first solid offensive chance I saw for him, he did seem to have more of an impact tonight, playing more minutes, etc.

Finally, props to the Aeros staff for the really funny Billy Madison clip. Totally went top shelf on that one. WTG.

Anyway, see you crazy kids tomorrow night. Bring your outside voices.

The Game Winner (Some Blurry Photos)

That was an exciting night here at Toyota Center as the Aeros get the 3-2 OT win to even the series at 2-2. As Andrew promised below, I'll be back later with some quotes from the game star, Carson McMillan, as well as Colton Gillies and Mike Yeo.

But I thought I would share these somewhat awful photos I got of the game-winner. The first photo shows Jarod Palmer moving into position with the puck. You see the just how little space he has to work with for the pass. The second shot is just as the puck's gone in the net, though you can't really tell. The third one's really out of focus, and while I know it won't meet with the approval of Mr. Fred, or myself really, I do think you can get a nice view of the expression on Palmer's face as he's falling down. Then you get McMillan's expression as Max Noreau comes running at him. Then we have the big celebration.

View from the Pressbox - Aeros win Game 4 with McMillan OT winner

Now that is more like it. Not more of what I like to see, because, hey, I am supposed to be neutral. But more of this "our game" that we keep hearing about. More of this "our game" we saw against Peoria, and more of this "our game" that the Aeros played in Game 2.

I don't have a lot of time to write - John should have more meat and potatoes for you later - but I just wanted to give a few players credit for what I thought was a very good game.

The top line, now Rau, O'Sullivan and DiSalvatore created I don't know how many scoring chances. They looked good; keep that just like that.

The fourth line that scored the game-winner. After the game, McMillan said he did not know how many chances he was going to get with Bulmer and Palmer. But boy did they make their time count. Smith lost the puck for just a split second, Palmer slid a pass right under him and McMillan roofed his second game-winner of the playoffs.

Jeremy Smith. Wow, that guy is playing special right now ... Here is his quote on the OT winner from McMillan:

“The guy (Palmer) carried the puck around the net and threw it out front,” said Smith, who finished with 30 saves. “I don’t know what happened. It might have hit somebody. He threw it over to the guy (McMillan). I stretched, and it went in. It was a bang-bang play. Nothing really we could do.”

And history ... yeah, have to give history some credit right now. The Aeros have been to 10 overtime games since Game 2 of the 2003 Calder Cup finals ... and they have won all 10 of them. The last one they lost? Oh, that was a little 75-minute gasser that saw the Aeros lose 2-1 on a goal by some guy named Michael Ryder.

That 10 straight OT wins is an unofficial AHL record. I e-mailed the league and they could not find a longer streak of OT wins in the postseason.

Press Link and Goal/No-Goal Photos

First things first...Here's the link to the story in the mothership. Give it a read and show them you actually give a damn about hockey and hockey coverage in Houston. Send it to your friends. Send it to their friends. And so on, and so on, and so on...

As I said last night, I was down in the other corner for the goal/no-goal/goal scenario. Here's what I got. You can't see the shot. But you see the player reactions. And if you look in the last several photos, the goal judge appears to be reacting to the ref waiving it off. I don't know if he ever set off the lights. Some people said he did. Some say he didn't. I don't have a photo of it going off, but something sure set off the Toyota Center folks, and I doubt it was just the player reaction.

Aeros Lose 5-3: A Few Comments and A Favor Request

Photo: Colton Gillies comforts Matt Hackett after Milwaukee goes up 5-3

Yes, it was a bad night for the Aeros. And yes, I do kind of kill them in the Press tomorrow because they played an awful, awful game tonight. They didn't play like the team I saw in the Peoria series. Still, I don't think anything I'm going to write will be anywhere near as bad as anything as Mike Yeo going to do to them in practice.

This game, this loss, was something he could see coming from practice.

"Again, I think that guys were feeling pretty proud of themselves, getting the split up in Milwaukee, and all of sudden we’re coming home and hey, we’re a pretty good team and we’ve had a lot of success in the playoffs," Yeo told us after the game. "And somewhere along the way we forgot we’re playing a first place team. A real quality opponent who has had a lot of success on the road."

The Aeros played really good hockey for about the first half of the first period, then I'm not sure what happened, but it was like, for the most part, a different team was on the ice. And that team that played the last 50 minutes or so that really needs to be worried about because they weren't playing very good hockey.

Not everybody mind you. Once again, there aren't enough good things that can be said about Robbie Earl's game. Jared Spurgeon was on target. I thought there was good effort from the third line. Again.

But the other lines are doing nothing. It's nice to talk about the depth of this Aeros team, and about how this Aeros team can excel because they're not dependent on Patrick O'Sullivan and the first line to do everything. But damn it, at some point, the O'Sullivan/DiSalvatore/Almond line and the Earl/Wellman/Rau line have to do something because if the Aeros are going to be dependent on Colton Gillies to get all of the goals, the team's in trouble -- nothing against Gillies, but that's the checking line.

And yes, Mike Yeo is also bothered about this. He tried to change things up a bit in the third, throwing Wellman in with DiSalvatore and O'Sullivan, but that backfired because that line got burned with some bad turnovers in the third that directly led to Milwaukee goals with minutes of the Aeros pulling within a goal.

Yeo said before this series not to expect the Peoria lineup, and he put Marco Scandella in for Jeff Penner and he put Brett Bulmer in for Matt Kassian. But he also said to expect changes between games. He's not done this yet, but that might be coming.

"We’ve had good chemistry with our guys," he said. "But at the same time, I think that we’re playing a bit of a different team in the way that they defend. We have to find a way to penetrate more to the inside. A lot of the lines have had moments where they’ve gotten something done, but too many times where we’ve had too many guys on the outside. So whether that’s just a shift in their mindset, or a shift in the personnel and we try to get some different type players playing with different guys, then we’ll look at all of those options as well."

Who knows how those changes will look. Personally, I go back to Kassian, see if he can cause some havoc inside because he's become good at that. Maybe you go back to Jeff Penner over someone like Falk, but besides that, I can't think of anybody who hasn't played in the playoffs who should be playing.

Maybe you throw a Carson McMillan into the first line -- he's played on the same line with DiSalvatore and O'Sullivan during the year and he was good. Or maybe you go back to Wellman fulltime with DiSalvatore and O'Sullivan. This isn't a knock on Cody Almond who has been good, but maybe something needs to get changed with that line. I think you leave Peters/Gillies/Ortmeyer alone.

Who knows? I'm not the coach. But I think Almond, Wellman, McMillam and Jarod Palmer -- who has also played on the one through four lines throughout the season -- are the chess pieces who get shifted about the various lines.

What I come back to, though, is that nobody thought this series would be cakewalk -- I said Aeros in six, after all. I also come back to what Jed Ortmeyer told us before the playoffs. It's not so much how you handle the game. It's how you handle the day between the games. You're not going to sweep every series, and it's in the handling of the wins and the losses that matter. The Aeros didn't handle the win on Sunday very well. Maybe they'll handle the loss better.

"It’s one game at a time," Colton Gillies told us. "Yeah, we lost. We’re going to go over that tomorrow, all of the mistakes we made. We’ll fix those, and we’ll be ready for the next game."

And now my favor request. As a reminder, the Press is giving me the playoffs to save hockey coverage and show that the people in Houston really do actually care about the Aeros. So while I know you're disgusted with the loss, I do hope you'll go over tomorrow (today/Wednesday) and read my post on the game whenever it should go up -- I've got quotes there I don't have here. Otherwise, instead of Aeros stuff next year, you'll see more crap from the new designated golden boy which, instead of being about sports, which is why he's supposed to be writing, is instead about guys in lingerie killing pygmie goats in West Virginia -- yes, that was the supposed sports content for the Press yesterday.

Thanks, and until Thursday, when hopefully the result will be much better.

Aeros Lose: A Bad Night In Photos

Mike Yeo and Colton Gillies gave us some decent quotes after the game, which was good of them. So I'll have some of those later. For now, a few pictures which, I think, best define this game.

First we have the celebration after Jared Spurgeon's power play goal to put the Aeros up 1-0. I like this kid. It's a shame we're not going to see him next year, but he was too good for the Wild this past year to let him come back here next season.


This photo shows just how close the Aeros were to going up 2-0 in the first. If that happens, things might turn out different. Instead, Ryan Ellis comes from nowhere to get his stick on a puck that Jeremy Smith was not going to stop.


Here, to me, is the most amazing call of the night. This is Robbie Earl interfering with Smith. Yes, this is when Earl got called for goaltender interference. No, he doesn't do anything else. Trust me, I've been spending a lot of time lately watching the play in front of the goalie, and this is nothing compared with what Jon DiSalvatore and Warren Peters do nightly, or were doing tonight. So as bad as the missed goal was, this to me is more outrageous because at least they eventually got the goal call right.


Speaking of that goal...I don't have a good shot of it because I was down in the opposite corner by Matt Hackett. But the Aeros sure as hell reacted to as if it was a goal.

I'm not sure how many of you follow the Milwaukee Admirals on twitter, but they're damn maddening to follow because the only thing they don't tweet during a game are player bowel movements -- no, I'm not exaggerating. They tweet line shifts, passes, and icing calls. So for me, the best part of this whole thing was reading their tweets as they go ballistic that the refs were reviewing the replay. Only they weren't reviewing replay, as you can tell from Warren Peters begging them to look up at the video board as the goal was replayed. And trust me, I watched, and shot. They never looked up. And they weren't looking at any monitors or else Peters wouldn't have been going so ballistic when they weren't looking up at the video boards.


So here's the goal being allowed. From the best I could figure, this is what happened. There was a stoppage in play and the Aeros got on them about the no goal. So they did the baseball umpire thing and conferred. I think that one of the refs thought it was a goal but hadn't had time to say anything before the other called it a no goal. They talk. Then the one who said it wasn't a goal went over to the corner with a linesman and conferred with the goal judge who said that it was a goal. So he did the right thing and called it a goal. Not that it mattered because the Admirals came right back and scored.


But at least one good thing happened, the Admirals tweeters had to tweet about something other than icing calls.

The sun don't shine on the same dog's ass every day

Fear not, gang. These Aeros are good enough to right the ship. Andrew predicted 7 games and I think we might just get them yet.

But this was an ugly loss and Milwaukee could smell the blood in the water, and chomping limbs off their weakened prey is exactly how this team wins its games.

I thought the Aeros looked tired in the second period. Like they were gassed, but had absolutely no reason to be. That's the bit I can't explain.

I know folks are wanting to get on Hackett pretty hard, but I just can't join you. I mean, you hope he gets a few that he shouldn't but I didn't feel like any of those goals were a result of a lack of effort on his part. Maybe I'm looking through sympathetic goalie eyes, but I know tough situations when I see them and most of those were tough situations.

Now, I don't want to get called a "retard who's never played the game" in the comments again *ahem* for writing about the psychology of goaltending (even though I personally am the biggest goddamn headcase goalie I know, and if there's a way to fuck it up mentally, I've done it... multiple times), but when your team is playing like shit in front of you, it's going to affect your game.

Most goalies don't actually get BETTER when suddenly the wheels come off their team after they've been dominating for a period, and Hackett is no exception.

Frankly, kudos to the kid for not getting rattled and continuing to play his game and not getting sucked into the emotional roller coaster that the rest of the team was on. He stayed focused and aggressive, and correctly covered the shooter on those odd-man rushes and too often, his defense wasn't there to pick up the pass.

I was more annoyed by the repeated trips behind the net to settle the puck when there was an Admiral in close pursuit of the Aero he's settling the puck for. I guess you have to choose your approach there and stick with it, but I don't like it. Too often, he was having to scramble to get back and I think it's introducing unnecessary risk.

What was super cool were those few outlet passes he made to spring the offense without them having to wade through Milwaukee's stifling forecheck. We haven't seen much of that from him yet and I'm glad we're seeing it now. I think it's a great tool to have when your team is struggling to get possession in the offensive zone. Plus it reminds me of Brusty, which warms my Brusty-lovin' heart.

I guess my point on Hackett is that this was a team loss. The guys in front of him were soooo unfocused in the final 40 minutes, while Hackett kept his shit together and did his job. If Hack were half as unfocused as the rest of the team, it would have been 10-3.

So there. #GoaliesRuleSkatersDrool

View from the Press Box - Aeros dropped like a (fill in the blank)

Let's face it, the three goals and emotional third period made this game a lot closer than it should have been. The Aeros got away from playing responsible hockey, turned the puck over time and time again, and the Admirals pretty much routed them with five easy goals on Matt Hackett.

They had absolutely no answer for the line of Steve Begin, Mike Bartlett and Andreas Thuresson.

Begin finished with a goal and two assists, and Bartlett and Thuresson added a goal and an assist apiece as the Admirals now lead the best-of-seven series two games to one.

Kind of masking one breakdown after another were the two goals in the third period. Scandella made it 3-2 on a pretty power play goal, and Palmer's breakaway might go down as one of the strangest in a long time. It was clearly a goal, and I ABSOLUTELY LOVED how the replay folks played it over about three times, including the last two in super slow motion.

But both times the Aeros scored, the Admirals answered very quickly, knocking out any and all momentum. I hate to point fingers, but facts are facts. The same three forwards (O'Sullivan, Wellman and DiSalvatore) were on the ice for Milwaukee's last two goals.

Mike Yeo did not throw any of his players under the bus, but he did not mince his words when talking about the mental breakdowns and turnovers.

“Every chance they got, for the most part, came off turnovers,” said Yeo. “That is just guys (not) being ready, being focused out on the ice and knowing what they are supposed to do.”

Another good one from Yeo:

“It’s not like (Milwaukee) did anything fantastic out there,” added Yeo. “What they got, we completely gave them. We had guys that turned pucks over like crazy, and that played right into their game.”

O'Sullivan is getting a few points this postseason, but Wellman and DiSalvatore have just four points (COMBINED) in the playoffs. Earl and Peters and Gillies are all getting a few points, but Noreau (three points in seven games) is another scoring threat that is being neutralized.

Scandella, DiSalvatore and O’Sullivan all finished with a plus-minus rating of minus-three on Tuesday. Wellman, Spurgeon and Bagnall each finished minus-two. Earl stood out with three assists and was named the game’s third star. He was one of just five players to finish even on the night; no one was on the plus side of the score sheet.

It was a bad night for the boys, and I am sure they'll play better on Thursday. But playing better might not be enough. They probably need to win the next two, and if they lose Game 4, they are going to need three straight wins, including two in a row at Bradley Center.

Practice is tomorrow at Toyota Center, and Gillies had some good words about what needs to be done.

"We’ll have practice tomorrow, get rid of some bugs, and we’ll come out hard on Thursday," he said.

Pictures of a whitewashing

As promised, some pics from our friend Chris "Spit Take" Jerina.

Always more fun to look at pics from a win, and Chris said the boys were visibly looser before game 2. He caught a funny interaction between Hackett and some Wild fans outside the locker room tunnel. They were asking him if he was a goalie (had has pads on, so.... duh) and he said no. Then they asked if he was a player. "No..."

Cheeky goalie

He couldn't deny it anymore after being announced first star of the game...

The youngster, Bulmer. Amazed more hockey players don't bite their
tongues off they way they've always got them sticking out.

Sully gives Gabriel Bourque the ol' Swedish Chef treatment (no idea what that means...)
And actually, Sully got an interference call.

Check out this great interview with Hackett today from your hero Kevin Falness.

Cool shot of Noreau and Steve Begin making some snow.

Lots of great shots from this game, so go check them out here if you want to see more. And again, extra special thanks to Chris for his great work on these.

Aeros bounce back like .... something really bouncy

Well, it seems like small potatoes compared to the Bin Laden death/capture, but I'm a hockey writer, so I'll stick with that.

Hackett was THE man in the first period and kept the boys in it when, at least to my eyes, they didn't quite deserve to be. He stopped 10 shots in the first, and a lot of those were quality chances. The 24 stops Hackett made on his way to his first professional playoff shutout were hard earned and he now leads the league in playoff GAA.

Now, nobody gets a shutout without help in front of him and kudos go to the Gillies, Peters, Ortmeyer trio, who are really the playoff story in my mind... they have been seriously big bosses for this team. I mean, if I told you Gillies would be leading the team in goals during the playoffs, would you have laughed at me?

Also, Hackett only saw 3 shots on goal in the third period and that's just that suffocating effect this team can have when it's clicking. So, here's to lots and lots of that in the upcoming week.

You really can tell when this team is on or off. That first goal flipped the switch to ON and they were just nasty the rest of the game. I quit worrying when they look like that, and Milwaukee seemed a bit stunned.

But the Ads will be loaded for bear Tuesday, so we should have some fun hockey to watch.

Here's my story on the game. Cannot even begin to tell you how much I can't wait for these games to come back home. Really sucks to write about a game you can't watch in person or get quotes after.

Anyway, that said, we do have pictures! Yay, thanks Chris! There will be more tomorrow but I understand some pics require explaining to fully appreciate, so I'll get with him and put a new, photo-intensive post together in the morning.

All photos courtesy of Chris "Palmolive" Jerina.

Celebrating Gillies goal, which you can see him getting .....

.... right here.

Michael Latta "interfering" with Hackett