NO sunshine tonight

Sprawling did not help tonight

First OKC Goal in the 2. period opened floodgates

Even though the sunshine kid, Darcy Kuemper, managed to stop 23 of 29 shots the OKC Barons threw at him in front of close to 11,000 'fans' .. Yann Danis got the shut out winner of OKC 6 Aeros 0!


Despite the fact that Ortmeyer WAS back.
Despite the fact the the 1. Period started rather promising. So promising in fact, that I turned to Better Half and commented: "Well, sure looks like the guys came out full of pep tonight. Maybe all due to the Hot and Spicy Texas Caviar (Black eyed Peas.. a tradition at New Year's Eve Parties down here in the South)".

It was however the OKC Barons who spiced up the game...skating well, passing well, penalty kill well done, and making 4 of 9 7 PP opportunities count, plus 2 goals on 5 on 5. And badgering Kuemper who, it must be said, let in 2 that could have been stopped - and he did try - throwing himself into it (see pic).

Despite the fact, that some like Foucault, Rau, Fontaine skated like the devil were after them..
But some of the blame lies squarely with the less than stellar performance of the defense, the offense... two major penalties for fighting did not improve the game, except of course fired up the audience.

A stickless Almond keeps on skating ;-0.

I  do not really like fighting, but the Almond/Ringwald bout was IMO "legal".
Ringwald, not just once, but several times pulled the 'waiting forever behind his own net' trick to delay the game once too often to suit Almond. Why was there No penalty 'delay of game'?
Maybe because it's a newish thing and neither NHL (where it started) nor AHL have decided on how to regulate that.
Well whatever, Almond hot-headily started to 'regulate' on his own, and the fans approved! Those fans, that booed loudly every time Ringwald pulled that ruse!

Linesman holding Tremblay, to save Broda :-)!

The second fight between Tremblay and Broda, alas, ended with Broda subdued and loosing.
Which he seems to be prone to as seen in his previous fights.
Why start a fight when the outcome is negative? A Kassian he is not!

Desperate Measures to keep the puck away?

Despite the fact that in the 3. a bit more pep was shown by Aeros getting off 11 sogs.. all of which Yann Danis stopped handily-with the help of some outstanding defense, I must admit.

Final Assault - in vain - no, single, honor goal for Aeros

And insured that their coach Todd Nelson will be Head Coach for the Western Conference at the All Star AHL Classic Game in Atlantic City. That could have been a HUGE spur for the Barons, especially after their loss 3-4  to the Rampage at Cox Center Dec. 31.

It was NOT a pretty game. It was NOT an exciting game.
You know like some games win OR loose are exciting.
It was a poorly played, disorganized game on the Aeros part, IMO.
And resembled a sacrifice of the innocent ="sunshine kid'!

Enuf said!
Guys, Aeros you need to play more consistent.