Aeros GameDay - Milwaukee visits for pivotal game

The last time the Aeros hosted the Milwaukee Admirals, they had a chance to leave the building all alone in first place. On Feb. 22, they blew a two-goal lead in the third period, one of the worst meltdowns of the year, and are still chasing Milwaukee today. Had they won that game, they'd still be in first place, as it turns out, but they get the same chance this evening at the Toy Box.

Win, and they're in first place all alone. Lose, and the Admirals keep their grip on the West.

The Aeros have lost three straight in the season series and have played four one-goal games against Milwaukee. They are equal in many ways with a top-ten goalie on either side and enough offense to get the job done most nights. The Admirals have some of their top skilled guys either out or in Nashville (Blake Geoffrion, for example), and the Aeros will still be without Warren Peters, who is still in Minnesota.

A loss tonight won't kill them, but it will speak volumes about the team in general. It will prove they cannot beat the team directly in front of them in the standings. It will show the coaches and team officials that they have not been able to take advantage of a very fortuitous schedule and, quite frankly, it should make them doubt whether or not they are good enough to make the playoffs.

I think they win tonight. I think they play with the kind of desperation (and discipline) they need show in a playoff race that has not had an equal since the team joined the AHL in 2001.

The Aeros have 11 games left, and I think they need 94 points, maybe 95 to secure their right to play for the Calder Cup. That means they need to go 6-5, maybe 6-4-1, just to qualify. That kind of a record will send them on the road to start the playoffs. I'd love to see what they can do with home ice advantage for the first time since ... God, when was the last time they had home ice? 2006, I believe!

The teams behind them are not playing well, so even this minor slump of late has not cost the Aeros. Texas has fallen back, Peoria is depleted beyond belief and Chicago's defense is so leaky, well even Peoria with six or seven ECHLers stole two or three points from them last week. San Antonio, once the king of the division is three or four games below .500 since New Year's, and OKC has the most brutal closing schedule I have ever seen.

It is there for the taking. If the Aeros can't win six or seven of their last 11 games, they don't deserve to have home ice. If they cannot win tonight, they don't deserve to call themselves one of the best teams in the AHL.

If they can't beat Milwaukee tonight, everyone that following the Aeros will just end up hoping, praying that nobody makes a big run during the eight long days where they don't play.

Here is an update look at the playoff picture. Click on the image to see a larger version.

Roster Updates - Update, Scandella back with Wild

As Andrew points out above, huuuuuge game tonight against the pesky Milwaukee Admirals, who are a mere 1 point ahead of Houston in first place.

Presumably Dekanich will start in goal and he's just been a boss this season. It's going to take a valiant offensive effort by the Aeros to sink his ship.

Good thing is that the Wild reassigned defenseman Marco Scandella to Houston now that Clayton Stoner is healthy (knock on wood). That should significantly strengthen the blue line.

Not so fast - It appears that Marco Scandella will play for another injured Wild player, per a recent Russo tweet. He practice for and play with the Wild when they lose to San Jose.

And they have signed Scott Campbell, a center just finishing up his college career at UMass-Lowell, to an amateur tryout contract. Apparently he was out most of this season with an injury, but presumably he's good to go.

Here's a press release on the signing.

Jed Ortmeyer: The Houston Aeros' Medical Miracle Man

My latest story in the mothership is up, and it's a little bit on Jed Ortmeyer. I have to admit, I didn't know until recently all of the medical stuff that he has to deal with so that he can keep playing hockey, but knowing it just makes watching him play all of the more enjoyable.

Now not included in my post is this little tidbit which I found to be fascinating, but didn't have room for. When he played for the New York Rangers, he was on two reality shows: Cash Cab and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. The Cash Cab was for charity, and the Extreme Makeover dealt with trying to help out a New York fireman.

So, yeah, he's just one of those good guys. Give it a read.

UPDATE: Oh, I almost forgot, Heather also has a writeup on Ortmeyer at the Pro Hockey News site. So read it, too. Just read mine first. And leave comments.

3/13/11 -- Aeros Dog The Moose

It's tough to say that today's game was the biggest game of the season for the Aeros because it seems that since January every game has been the biggest game of the season. But if the Aeros had lost today they could have fallen into a tie for fourth place. So it was big for the Aeros to get the 6-3 win over Manitoba today.

This will be quick and dirty today because of some time constraints, but....

1. For those of you interested, the six goals the Aeros scored in the third period were a franchise record for goals scored in the third. And it was the first time since November of last season that they scored five goals in a period.

2. You can slowly see the Aeros regaining their confidence on offense, especially their big scoring lines. Patrick O'Sullivan's game-tying goal at the start of the third just seemed to open up the flood gates, and when a team gets a gift like the second goal, where the Manitoba goalie just seemed to hand the puck to Jon DiSalvatore, you just get the feeling that things are going your way.

3. Yeo said after the game that that DiSalvatore goal, which put the Aeros up 2-1, was a result of the ways the Aeros were just grinding away and wearing down the Moose defense and the goalie.

"We talked about it yesterday and our game plan going into every game is to grind teams down, regardless of whether they've played three games in three nights. That first period was only okay, but second period -- the amount of times that we made their D turn and go back for pucks," he said. "You could see towards the end of that period that we were just taking the game over. And that's what we talked about in between periods, as far as sticking with it, and we did. The first goal is getting the puck in deep and a good forecheck. And on the second goal you've got a skilled player like Casey Wellman coming down, and instead of taking a high risk play he chips the puck in behind the defense and makes them go back again, and from there, the game was over."

4. We talked to Jon DiSalvatore after the game, and I followed up on something I got from Jed Ortmeyer on Friday night. And that's the fact that those these games are grinders, and the Aeros have been having to play playoff caliber hockey since January, the game is supposed to be fun, and the best way to cope with the pressure is to go out and have fun.

"Since the day that [Ortmeyer's] got here, he's said that 'winning's fun, winning's fun,'" DiSalvatore said. "He's said that every day in the locker room. The result of winning is always fun. And we went on a big tear when he got here. And it was all based on little details that we really stuck to. And when you see us out there playing our game at a high level, and we're hemming teams in their own zone. You have so much more energy when you're playing in the offensive zone as you do than when you're playing defense. Our game, and what we stress to our guys, is let's just get the puck up the ice, and let's just play offense. It's easier on the D, and we have more energy as forwards. And it's a lot more fun when we're just moving the puck up quick..."

5. There are now 11 games left in the season for the Aeros, who are now 38-25-1-5 (82 points). Yet while it's hard to believe, the Aeros are still just in second place. They played incredible hockey in January and February and they're 3-2-0-1 so far in March. But for their incredible play, they can't put any distance between the clubs below them.

6. Both DiSalvatore and Robbie Earl noted after the game that the West Division is always the toughest division in the AHL in terms of teams making the playoffs. It's just par for the course in playing in this division. And as DiSalvatore told us, while things are tight and everybody's sweating it out, this is still fun for the players because they're always out playing for something meaningful.

7. That's it for me. I won't be here for Tuesday's game against Milwaukee -- vacation time -- but I'm sure Heather and Andrew will give you lots of good stuff on the game. And I hear that there should actually be some good photos -- instead of my crap -- for that game.

Scoreboard Watching

For those of you watching the scoreboard for scores around the league, know this...

Texas lost to Hamilton, Oklahoma City lost to Grand Rapids, and Manitoba stomped San Antonio 7-2. So nobody gained any ground on the Aeros tonight. And here's hoping that Manitoba used up its weekend allotment of goals tonight and have none for tomorrow.

Matt Hackett Has A Great Game Photos

I spent the first period down in Matt Hackett's corner of the ice. So I got a lot of photos as he was barraged by 18 shots. I think the photos speak for themselves, so no commentary, but, looking at photo number one which was just before the game, well, do you think he had any idea at that moment just what he was about to face?

3/11/11 -- Aeros Lose To Moose

Okay, that was a tough loss. Very tough. Any game lost in a shootout is, in my opinion, a tough loss, but losing 2-1 like that, when you gain the early lead in the shootout...well, ouch. The Aeros had a rough first period, and if not for the play of Matt Hackett in the first, the Aeros would not have been close to getting this game to a shootout. Unfortunately for the Aeros, Manitoba's rookie goal, Eddie Lack was just as on his game as Houston's rookie goalie.

1. Mike Yeo wasn't happy with the play of his team in the first period, but he that on himself and his assistant coaches for failing to get the team ready for the drop of the puck. And while the bad luck of Robbie Earl and Patrick O'Sullivan in the second period -- hitting the posts on several occasions -- could have sapped the team of any momentum, Yeo had no problems with the second and didn't see it as proof that this was not going to be the Aeros' night.

"I wasn’t thinking it that time [second period]," Yeo said after the game. "I was thinking it wasn’t our time in the first period because I thought we were just not good. And I’ll take the blame for that. It was our week as coaches to make sure we were ready to go at the drop of the puck, but I liked the way we responded in the second period. I thought we were – as you said – starting to get the momentum and starting to tilt the ice. But having said that, obviously you would like to put in the net. But I felt like if we kept going like that we would give ourselves enough chances to get back in the game."

2. This was a tough game for Hackett to lose because Hackett played his ass off. I was down in that corner during the first period, and he was barraged with shot after shot (Manitoba got off 18 shots) and if he hadn't of been on his game then the score would have been way worse than 1-0 Manitoba after one period.

"It’s a tough way for Hack not to get the win because I thought he deserved it," Yeo said. "I thought he was great. Their guy was very good, too. I thought Hack was great. We had no business even being in that game after the first period. We were awful the first period, and Hack really gave us a chance."

3. Andrew asked about Hackett's perceived problems in the shoot out. Yeo said that wasn't the problem tonight. The problem rested with the Aeros not being able to get the puck back into the net after Patrick O'Sullivan started off the shoot out with a beauty of a shot.

4. Still, despite it all, the Aeros, as Yeo noted, did battle back to get a point tonight. And while it wasn't two points, the Aeros still came out better than Milwaukee, who lost to Rockford, Texas, who lost to Syracuse, and Chicago, who lost to Peoria.

5. And while the Aeros getting a point is a comfort, damn, it's getting hot in here. Milwaukee leads the division with 81 points. The Aeros are in second with 80. But Peoria's now in third with 79 points, Texas is in fourth with 78, Chicago's in fifth with 77, San Antonio in sixth with 75. Oklahoma City seems to be falling off, finally, and they sit in seventh with 73 points.

6. The Aeros and Wolves only have 12 games left while Peoria has just 13 and Texas just 14. While I'm more optimistic about the playoff scenarios than Andrew, who Heather has nicknamed Fun Killington, this is whole thing is just too damn close and I would really like to see some other teams start to fall by the wayside.

7. The Aeros welcomed back Casey Wellman, Cody Almond, and Drew Bagnall to the lineup tonight. As for the rest of the walking wounded, Yeo says not to expect to see any of them on Sunday. The bad news is that it appears that the MASH unit that is the Minnesota Wild suffered another shot on Friday night, so it's quite possible that somebody could be on plane Saturday morning.

8. Speaking of Drew Bagnall, for all of the great play by Hackett tonight, it might have been Bagnall who guaranteed that one point for the shootout. At one point in the third Hackett made a block but was out of the net. The puck bounced around and around in front of the net, just begging for one of the Moose to tap it in, but Bagnall flew into the scene and shot the puck out of the way of danger.

9. We spoke with Jed Ortmeyer for a bit after the game. Being the old man vet of the team -- and what a pick-up he has turned out to be, huh (thank you San Antonio for screwing the pooch there) -- who has handled these type of tight scenarios before, I asked him about what he's trying to tell the youngsters for handling the pressure, and I think he gave a great answer.

"There’s a bigger picture," he said. "The goal is to make the playoffs and to have a big run, and I think that at this point in the season you get banged up, start to mentally get a little bit fatigued, and you have to have the idea of having fun, making sure that coming to the rink everyday is fun."

He also said the team just has to stay with the process and not deviate from that. And when Ortmeyer speaks to the team, guys listen.

"But more than that, he’s a guy that has a very good pulse for what the team needs to hear at that time, whether it’s between periods, whether it’s on the bench," Yeo said. "He’s a guy when things get a little bit hectic and he needs to calm them down, he’s quick to do that, or if things are a little big sleepy, he’s quick to pick them up. I think a big part of that is experience, but it’s also making sure that first and foremost you go out and do the right thing to give yourself that credibility. So when you speak, guys listen."

10. A final thing. I really like these uniforms the team's won the past several games. I've always hated that stupid, cartoonish bomber logo -- yeah, I know, most of you love it -- because it just doesn't scream hockey to me. The unis they had on tonight, those screamed hockey. But since the team has yet to wear a game wearing them, I'm not counting on seeing them again.

Just A Brief Apology

Humor can be hard to detect on paper/computer sometimes, especially mine, which can be a very dry humor at times. So I just wanted to clarify that the part in this post about Marco Scandella being called up just for the purpose of sitting in the press box was meant to be in the same humorous tone as the parts that followed.

And let this serve as a reminder, as much as those of us in Houston are devoted to the Aeros and their attempt to reach the playoffs, the Wild are striving to do so the same thing, and just like the Aeros, they've been decimated to injuries to some key players who normally don't get hurt, like Cal Clutterbuck. So while we might all like to think there is some conspiracy by the Wild to harm the playoff chances of the Aeros, that is not the case, and for the most part, I think we can agree that Wild management has done a pretty good job of stocking the team with talent this year with guys like Warren Peters and Jed Ortmeyer and Patrick O'Sullivan and Drew Bagnall, guys who, without their being here at all this season, would mean the Aeros were nowhere near being playoff contenders.

So that's my say, and I'll get back to the bitching and moaning and poor attempts at humor after tonight's win over the Moose.

Casey Wellman Reassigned

Well here's some good news for the weekend. We're being told that Casey Wellman has been reassigned to the team. So while there's no help for the defense, Wellman's return would be a nice step to strengthing the lines and bringing some scoring punch.

Big weekend ahead for West division

First, the good news; even though the Aeros are just 4-4 in their last eight games, they are still hanging on to the No. 2 seed - points wise - in the tight West division race. The bad? Well, the West is losing its grip on that crossover rule. The No. 5 seed in the West (Chicago) is just four points up on the No. 4 seed in the North. That "lead" has dwindled with all the intra-division action taking place recently.

Some other good news is that most of the teams in the West, since Feb. 21, have not gained much ground on the Aeros (eight points since then). Chicago has moved the most with 12 points in that span, while San Antonio and OKC continue to spin their wheels.

In the short term, I expect the Rampage to reverse that trend. I think OKC, Texas and Peoria will slip in the division over the next couple of weeks. And depending on how the Aeros do this weekend against Manitoba, they may slip down to third after this weekend's action. We'll see.

I think if the Aeros can go at least 7-6 in their last 13 games, they'll squeeze in. They are battling huge injuries and call-ups right now, and they are playing teams that are not having to deal with those. The next six games are very, very crucial.

Below is my West division playoff picture, and here is a link to the marvelous playoff primer that the AHL has been putting out there this week. Good stuff all around.

Click on the image to get a better view: