Charitable opportunities

(Update with a little Aeros news first: Joe O just tweeted that the Aeros have added right wing Harrison Reed to the roster. Not sure how long the call up is for but given the thin troops, I'd guess he's along at least for the next three games.

This season, he played 4 games with the Monsters and had stints with them each of the last 3 seaons and 11 with Toledo (ECHL) with 10 points in those 11 games.)

The holidays are always full of worthwhile charity pleas, but when they're hockey related, they get my attention. Here are a couple that I thought were worth sharing with you guys. Feel free to skip this post if this sort of thing annoys you (it's okay, I'm easily annoyed, too).

The first is a charity a friend of mine in Kansas City started after losing his wife, Becky, to pancreatic cancer. Of all the cancers, pancreatic is one of the nastiest. Hard to catch early and, as a result, has extremely poor survival rates.

But Bob Klem is using his hockey prowess (he's a goalie, naturally) to raise funds for research by holding a couple of "Have a Skate with Bob" events each year (and fundraising literally year round).

The first event this year is actually being supported by the Rockford Ice Hogs. They're doing "The Skate" as it's called, before Saturday's Ice Hogs game, and then sticking around for the Hogs game after.

The event includes an auction with great prizes and just generally a big ol' celebration of how we can use something as fun and awesome as hockey to help find a cure for cancer. I'm not sure it gets any better than that. Hockey is fun, but hockey for a cause is fun AND gratifying (especially when you suck like I do).

Bob is tireless in his efforts to spread the word and champion the cause, and if you want to support him and The Skate, you can make a donation HERE. And if you're a reader in the Chicago area and want to attend, Bob's contact information is on that page as well. (It's also teddy bear toss night at the Hogs game. Always fun.)

You can also follow the Skate on Facebook by going here. It's pretty great of the Ice Hogs to support him like this and his next goal is to do the same event but with an NHL team. Wouldn't it be nice of the Wild to help out? *wink nudge hint hint*

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Second, closer to home is a cool deal the Aeros are doing with rescue group Greyhound Pets of America. This combines two of my favorite things: Dogs and Hockey, so I'm all over it.

Bonus is that it means good prices on tickets for those of you who aren't STHs. Here's a PDF with all the details.

So if you're looking to make a difference for an animal-loving organization AND get a deal on some Aeros seats, it's worth looking into.

Weekly Miscellany

Greetings to you today from downtown Washington, D.C. I am working here today and tomorrow, and tonight I am lucky enough to see the Capitals take on the Blues at the Verizon Center.

Last year I saw two NHL games; Dallas vs. Chicago and Los Angeles vs. Calgary. Those games were great, but tonight I am excited because I have never seen a game in this arena.

It's Dale Hunter's first game as head coach, and I am sure the home team will be fired up.

As for the Aeros, they are traveling to Cleveland today in advance of their three-game trek through the Northeast. It's Lake Erie first, followed by Rochester and then Toronto. Tonight, on paper at least, is probably the teams best chance at a W, but I think Lake Erie gets the payback and the Aeros will split the two games later this weekend.

Cedric Desjardins has allowed more than three goals just once in his last six starts, and the Monsters have points in six straight (5-0-0-1) following a losing streak. Basically the Monsters are hot with good goaltending and the Aeros, though still getting points, are alternating good games with bad ones. We'll see how things turn out this week.

And in closing, I want to share this link with you. It's so bad and good at the same time. It is hockey related, and I have never seen anything like it, so I will let you judge for yourself.

Have a great week!

A bushel full of roster moves

So, 4 things we know are official:

Warren Peters and Nate Prosser are headed back to the Aeros. In exchange, Casey Wellman and Dave McIntyre are headed up to the Wild. In fact, McIntyre is making his NHL debut tonight in Minnesota, so that's pretty exciting. And it's on Versus if you want to tune in.

It's a little bit of a blow offensively to lose both those guys and only get Peters back (nothing against Peters, of course, but that's 2 forwards who score a lot gone and one who scores a lot (at least lately) back). But it's fantastic to get Prosser back on the blue line.

What's unofficial at the moment, but the clues all seem to be there, is that Dennis Endras, Aeros #2 goalie, may be headed over to play in Finland, while Adorable Darcy Kuemper is headed to the Aeros. Allegedly.

You can click the links above and draw your own conclusions. The Wild/Aeros are expected to release something tomorrow.

That said, Kuemper's been tearing it up in the ECHL with a league-leading 1.74 GAA and 0.941 save percentage in 8 games. And he was just seconds away from his first pro shutout last night, but his team gave up a couple of penalties and the Condors put one past him.

So if this turns out to be true, the Aeros are getting a very good goalie in Kuemper. Even better than when he was here late in the season two years ago. And the organization appears committed to his development, so the legitimate competition between Kuemper and Hackett should drive them both pretty hard.

I'm just glad I never had to do a "Free Kuemps" stick figure drawing to actually get him to Houston. 

On the road again ... and loving it.

I asked Aeros head coach John Torchetti why he thought the Aeros were so much better on the road than at home. I asked him that question after the Aeros stole a point from the Stars in Friday's 2-1 overtime loss.

As you read right here after that game, he said if we knew to let him know because he basically had no idea.

Well, the numbers don't lie, the Aeros are a much better team on the road than they are at home. Some may point to a softer away schedule, but it does look like there is no friendly ice advantage for the Aeros this season.

So what do they do one night after the OT loss at home? The Aeros go to Texas and win 4-2. They are 3-0 in Central Texas (4-0 if you count the win at San Antonio, too) and have outscored the Stars 17-5 on their own ice.

Now the Aeros have games on the road at Lake Erie, Rochester, Toronto and then back at San Antonio. While it would be nice to get three wins on this trip, they'll be lucky to get one of the next three and split the trip. Lake Erie is much better since the last time these two played, and Rochester is red-hot, having won seven of 10 entering play today. The Aeros never play good in Toronto, so we'll have to see how they'll handle playing improved competition.

Matt Hackett has been really good recently and the team does have points in six straight games. Even when they don't win, they still don't lose. They have the fewest regulation losses in the AHL, and something has to be said for that never-say-die mentality ... even when they play poorly and steal points (or, conversely, when they play good and don't get much at all...)

So the Aeros are 1-0 on the road trip so far. How many wins/points do you think they'll get?

It's a Dud! It's a Turkey! It's a Post-Holiday Aeros Game!

Photo by Chris Jerina/AHLinphotos.com

Maybe they should change the name of the Toyota Center to the Entenmann's Arena for all the turnovers we saw out there tonight.

The Stars first goal was clearly an issue of the Aeros defenseman needing to cut Jordie Benn's pass to Scott Glennie, who was waiting in the weeds and essentially had an open net as Hackett was having to respect Benn's threat.

I mean really, what are defensemen for if not to prevent cross ice passes 4 feet from the front of the crease? Young Cuma will get an earful on that in film review next week, I'm sure.

Meanwhile, the game winner was a turnover right next to the net, and again it was the Cuma/Penner defensive pairing. I didn't see who turned it over there in the corner, but it wasn't a good game for those guys. It wasn't a good game for lots of guys.

That's, frankly, my biggest concern about this team right now. Three quarters of the forwards seem to make smarter defensive plays than the actual defensemen. Prosser can't get back here fast enough.

Torchetti was pretty pointed in his comments to us after the game. He didn't specifically throw anyone under the bus, but he said he didn't have four lines tonight who were committed to playing the game right.

"It was almost the same game as last week. The bottom line is you can't play with three lines, we only played with three lines tonight. We had one line take the whole night off. We've got to get better effort from all 20, not just 15 skaters," Torchetti said.

He was happy with the comeback and the tenacity by the guys who were on board, however, but it came back to the need for every line to battle consistently, which would have allowed the Aeros to at least lose the game in the shootout (kidding, kidding... sorta).

"It's a good comeback! That's the best part. I loved our comeback. I loved our work ethic in the third. Maybe the second half of the second, saw changes in momentum with puck possession and shots on the net and changing our lines," Torchetti said. "Then to give up a goal on just a simple... we've got to be willing to sacrifice more ourselves in those areas and just hold on to the puck and let them battle for it instead of just giving it. It's just frustrating, giving up points."

Torch was in fine form tonight, so I'm just going to serve you the rest of his quotes neat:

"It's a situation where you've got to understand with certain people not in the lineup any more, your ice time improves incredibly. So your amount of touches improve by probably 10 more times. So, you've got to learn how to play tired in certain situations and just hold on to the puck, instead of just throwing the puck away because you're tired.

You have to think tired; that's the name of the game. So we've got a lot of guys still in positions that they're not used to playing as much. Where they were 5s and 6s here last year, now they're in the top 4. They have to understand, if they want to make the next jump, if they want to be an NHL player, you've got to be on the spot with your handles."

Do you feel like the points are coming?

"Yeah, I'm not going to argue with you about that, but I expect four lines after three days off. A little harder. I expect more from certain players because that's what's expected from our organization. We've got guys who want to go play in the NHL and you can't show up and play like that and expect to go play in the NHL tomorrow if they call you up. That's the bottom line for me."

Any chance of a line change-up?

"We pretty much had a wholesale change-up (in the third). Hack played great, and their goalie played great, but again we've gotta get traffic in there. He made a couple of nice toe saves there with, like, two minutes left to tie it up. We got a point. We're learning lessons as we get points.  When you're not getting points and not learning lessons, then you gotta start to worry."

Why is the home record so much worse than the road record?

"It's kinda like a shootout, if you guys know, let me know. We're certainly trying. We're trying everything. We're already ready. I mean, maybe we're thinking, alright, we practiced the shootout yesterday and we relax. But it's not a good play to give that play that low when we had the puck. When you have the puck, it's YOUR puck.

And we talked about this behind closed doors, we've had the puck on probably 80% of the goals we've given up. I don't mind if a guy comes in and has an incredible forecheck and runs you over and beats you to the puck, and.... makes a great play. Other teams are going to make great plays, but we can't make the plays for them. That's what I'm disappointed in."

Now the boys hit the road, only returning to Toyota Center ice on Dec. 8 for the ear-splitting, always crazy kids day game.

It was largely a pretty boring game with not a lot of great chances on net, other than a few bursts of nearly playoff-like hockey that were pretty great. Props to Hackett for that sick glove save late in the third that he put a little something extra on. That woke me up a little, for sure, but I'm a ridiculous sucker for a flashy glove. More, please.

I'll try to keep you up somewhat on what's happening on these road games, maybe even in a timely manner!

More With Jon DiSalvatore

As promised on Tuesday, I have some more stuff from my interview with Jon DiSalvatore which I didn't use. So, for Thanksgiving, I'm sharing here.

The hockey season is a long one. Games start at the first of October, and if you're in the playoffs, you can go into June. Then there are camps and practices starting in August and September. You're constantly having to train and workout, and at some point, you've got to find a way to mentally unwind from the season just past. Especially if that season ended in a Game Six loss of the Calder Cup Finals on your home ice.

And according to DiSalvatore, he's still feeling the bumps and bruises of last season, both physical and mental: "Even now though, we’re still feeling some of the aches and pains from playoffs. We’re trying to overcome some of that as we get going here. You never actually forget it because you’re body’s telling you that you were there just a few months ago. It’s definitely a feeling that I would love to repeat with this group of guys. It’s all here, but we have a ways to go yet."

As much as last year meant, DiSalvatore knows that it's not a thing that can be repeated because there's just no way to repeat the chemistry that team had. It was special. Not that this team doesn't have chemistry, or won't get the chemistry.

"Obviously we have a large core group of guys who have come back," he says. "There’s a tremendous amount of buy-in from a large number of guys we have back here already. The coaching staff is bringing the same feel, with some new energy. They’ve been great. They’re winners as well. They’ve been very successful as coaches before. They’re bringing the same kind of emotion and attitude towards what we’re trying to achieve. Now it’s just a matter of us all jelling. Again, it’s got to be a new foundation. We try to keep those same principles, we’re a hard-working, character team. We want to have teams in their own zone.

"We need to build that identity. Even though we have a lot of guys that still want to do it, when you have a few guys who have never played that way before, it takes some time for that all to jell. Yeah, we’re off to a good start, but there’s still a lot that our team needs to do to become that team that can go the distance in the playoffs."

There's also the matter of DiSalvatore being on his third coach in three years as an Aero. I specifically asked about the adjustment from Mike Yeo to John Torchetti, because being around the team last year, it was obvious how much Yeo fought for his guys and how much those guys for fought him.

"Of course they’re different," he told me. "They’re two different human beings. But they’re both great. There’s a really good feeling. Torch brings a really good attitude, really positive – not that Yeosie was ever negative, Yeosie was tremendously positive. They both have a really good – we call them player’s coaches. They both have a really good pulse on the team, they know how to relate to their players. They care about their players. And that’s what this coaching staff is bringing to this team, and that’s what the guys last year brought to the group we had last year. It’s the same, but it’s different in the sense that it’s good because they’re bringing the right kind of approach to the team that we need to be a winning team."

And here's the point that surprised me the most. The AHL made a big deal about reducing the season to 74 76 games from 80 games. It would cut travel costs. It would mean no more four games in five nights. It would be better for the players and mean much fewer midweek games. But so far, early in the season, DiSalvatore doesn't exactly like the new scheduling format. He thinks it might work, but right now, not so much.

"You can look at that schedule and see where it’s a little bit different," he says. "You get rid of the four-in-fives, but you have a lot of three-in-threes. You end up having to get on planes a little bit more actually because you can’t go up and bang out four teams up in the Chicago-area like maybe we did in the past. Maybe it’s a little more rest and practice – there’s going to be pros-and-cons to it, but we’ll just see how it plays out at the end.

"Houston always seems to start out with a lot of games early, and we’ve gone three-in-three, three-in-three, and that’s fine, so right now I can’t really tell you that there’s all that much difference."

That's it. Happy Thanksgiving everybody, and I hope to see you all the game versus the Texas Stars tomorrow night.

Jon DiSalvatore: The Heart of the Aeros

The Aeros media gurus asked us at T3I to assist them this year with providing material to the AHL.com "On The Beat" feature. And I was tasked with the first story. So...here's the link to the just posted story on Jon DiSalvatore, the captain of the Aeros. I hope you'll go over and give it a read.

And just a note, I got a lot of material from DiSalvatore that I didn't use in the story (and they didn't use my favorite photo) including his thoughts on the new scheduling, so I'll try to throw those up on your favorite website on Thursday as kind of a Thanksgiving stuffer.

Aeros Lose 1-0 To Heat In The Shootout

Both Houston and Abbotsford were playing the third game of a three-in-three weekend tonight. It didn't show early on though late in the game it really looked as if some f the Aeros were really dragging on the ice.

But neither team could score as both goalies, Matt Hackett for Houston and Leland Irving for Abbotsford pitched shutouts through 65 minutes. Hackett was able to stop three of the four shootout shots he saw, but the fourth one, from Dustin Sylvester got past him, and none of the Aeros could get any of their shots -- some of them being really weak attempts -- could get past Irving.

"Shootouts, right now they're affecting us a little bit," head coach John Torchetti said after the game. "We're not productive on it. We'll address and keep working on it. We can't hide it down in the basement because it's costing us points right now. We have to understand that and keep working on it."

They constantly had what appeared to be some excellent scoring chances on Irving throughout the night, but they just couldn't shove the puck past him. Torchetti wasn't as thrilled with that part of their game, saying that though there were some good shots, they didn't do a good enough of job of creating good rebound opportunities.

Torchetti also wasn't pleased with the power play's work tonight, but then again, this is the Aeros, and problems with the power play seem to be part of the Aeros DNA.

The Aeros were able to get four of a possible six points this weekend, getting points in each game. But it seems kind of hollow in that the Aeros could've won all three games, or so it seems.

And is it just me, or is there a bit of deja vu with these shootout/overtime problems. It seems like the Aeros suffer through this every season.

After tonight, the Aeros are tied points-wise with Oklahoma City for second place in the AHL West Division, and they have the third most points of any team in the AHL, with a record of 10-3-1-4 (25 points). They're off until Friday when they host the Texas Stars at Toyota Center at 7:35.

MISCELLANEOUS NOTE:

Krys Kolanos did not play for the Heat tonight, though he was in the building. We're not sure if there's an injury issue, but I do remember hearing earlier this season that the Heat were trying to be careful with how they use him because he's been recovering from an injury that nearly kept him out for two seasons.

Pictures from the weekend

Pictures! Courtesy of Chris "Midwest" Jerina. Ahhhh, so nice to have photos again! You can see his favorite shots from around the AHL at http://ahlinphotos.com.

DiSalvatore/Penner/Bachman/whoever score on a rebound off the boards behind the net.

Helluva shot of Hackett making that sick save Friday night. Wow.

Kassian wails on Godard

Rau rips a beauty past Bachman

Kass and Wathier jaw at each other on the bench. Funny.

Taffe puts one through Bachman Friday night

Stars get their shorthanded goal and the teddy bears rain down.

Wellman picks a corner over Bachman's blocker side

Thanks again, Chris! Was fun having you here this weekend! (Donkey!)

Roadtrip Recap: A nifty win at the CPC

I don't do a lot of road trips with the Aeros, but boy did I choose a good one. With Chris Jerina in town, we made the trek to Cedar Park and even though I have bags you could run away from home with under my eyes today, it was well worth it.

The early goal by McMillan was a little fluky and when the Stars answered with that shorthanded goal and the Aeros started to look a little rattled, I thought, "Uh oh."

But just a few nice plays by your teammates can calm a team down and boost the confidence, and the Aeros got that from Jed Ortmeyer and Dennis Endras. Ortmeyer set up some beautiful chances on goal and was just completely clutch. And Endras made huge save after save at really critical times that could have put the Stars up 2-1 very easily.

But by the end of the period, the Aeros had settled into a nice rhythm. The Stars led for shots, but the Aeros led for goals and from there, it was the kind of hockey we all saw in through the playoffs last year. Just wave after wave of badassery.

And by the third period, Stars goalie Bachman was on the bench and Beskorowany was in, but never looked comfortable. Understandably so, too.

I like how this team looks going into today's game, and even as ugly as that last game against Abbotsford was, Coach Torchetti feels the same. Even though I felt the Aeros were on their heels from the word go in that game, he felt like without the penalties, that game would have looked very different.

And while there were a couple of penalties he didn't like last night in Texas, he felt better about the team's discipline.

"Everything we discussed last night, we did a lot better tonight," Torchetti said. "We wanted to be hard to play against and I think we did that tonight."

I thought it was interesting that he had Endras play the middle game of the 3 in 3 rather than sticking him with the stinky third game like the back-up usually gets saddled with.

Whether it was to yank Hackett's chain a little after Friday's Jeckyll and Hyde performance or to reward Endras for his good play that's so far gone unrewarded by the Aeros playing poorly in front of him, I couldn't get Torchetti to say. But he did have high praise for his tenders.

"You know what, our goaltending, they're both hardworking guys. Endras has worked hard in practice... for someone to sit there for almost a week and not play, that's a great performance by him. He's a really hard worker, and his teammates know that and they want to play hard for him."

I asked him if he thought Endras stole the game at times. If the Aeros hadn't been able to rack up 5 goals, Endras' performance was unquestionably star-worthy. In fact, the one goal against was on that breakaway and he had to sprawl so thoroughly to make that save, there was no way he could have gotten back for the rebound. His defense needed to be a little sharper there and clear that out or play a little goalie themselves.

"Again, that's his work ethic in practice. He's willing to take shots after, and... that's our goaltending! Our goaltending, it's frustrates our team because it's tough to score in practice. So, that's what makes you better. I've been on a lot of teams with some good goalies and it makes your players want to work harder to try and score goals."

That's all! I'll throw up some of Jerina's pics and then see you all this afternoon.