Excuses, Excuses...

"My alarm didn't go off"
"Wolves hunt better in packs under a full moon"
"The crowd energy was missing"

Which one do you prefer?

Kinda like the wolves and full moon one, myself.
Although it was morning and the moon had set!
Sure seems obvious, after several NON evening games, the Aeros are no matitutinal
rather they are nocturnal creatures.

Guess it was "Warm up" time during the first period - with just 7 shots on goal to the Wolves 12 and 1 PP goal by Deveaux for which he got the Nr. 3 Star.
Revving it up after, undoubtedly some pointed talking to by the coaches, in the 2 to 15 and still no score!

On the other hand the Wolves scored 2 in rapid succession despite a ready Anton.
They slowed down a bit in the third to just 13 SOG BUT..
Our thanks to THE Captain the team went home with at least ONE PP goal!


Peters on the draw

Tell me, what's going on behind my back, Sifers?

THE MAN(nino) in the Wolves net, almost had a shut out.
But Di Salvatore said NO to that late in the third.
And so ended the 'undervisited High School Career Game'.
IMO too many High Schoolers stayed home or took advantage of the day off ;-)! Just a few lonely and relatively quiet souls were sprinkled about the TC. And no earplugs were needed this morning!

Not this one, oh no sirs!

And of course a respectable number of die hard hockey fans must
have taken the day off to be there. Afterwards a large number were observed taking solace with numerous beers, to stave off the return to work, perhaps.

Mercifully, the game seemed to be over quickly.

And Better Half and I headed to the Symphony Box Office to get our tickets for the all Mahler Concert in May, then to KIM SON for some sustenance.
Watching Hockey in a cold arena makes one real hungry!

 Earl and THE MAN real close?

 Crouching 'tiger'

The Trio in Waiting

Catch me a puck!

Goalie on watch

Deveaux is ready for the PP goal puck





Captain, Oh my Captain in place?

Let me rewind the tape..

starting with the Aeros win over very hungry Wolves 4-3

.

Celebration

loving hugs to Goalie "The Kid"Darcy Kuemper , who was agile, seemingly calm and made great saves.

A unrecognizable Aeros poured onto the ice, red waves after red waves kept 'The Man-nino" rather busy.

Aeros on board early : "Handy Andy" Hilbert with "The Scrapper" Daoust and "Son of a Gun"derson at 10:45 in the First. Three Minutes-count them 3 minutes - after Rau"WOW" with "King" Duncan Milroy and "Avalanche " Kalus made it 2.

Meanwhile "Frisky" Gillies tried a "solo skate" towards and behind the Wolves net, even though he had plenty opportunites for passing it to a team mate in good position. The Wolves stole it easily!

2 Chicago goals came in the Second by Pohl, Kulda and Kozek (The 'PKK' goal ;-)

and later the 'PV' goal - Pohl, again, with Vishniesvskyi.

Aeros goal Nr. 3 came about 7 minutes into the 2. by "Sunny" Fraser with "Son of a Gun"derson and "Handy Andy" Hilbert.

Hilbert has turned out to be a rather good, fast and precise player, too bad he's been sidelined for months! Would he have made that difference that might have propelled the team to the play offs?

Now, when Machacek (Wolves) went to the sin bin for goalie interference, it did seem to me, from my vantage point, that "The Kid" came out of the crease -ahem- rather purposefully! Just saying....

But then, I'm no goalie nor expect in hockey! Just seemed that way to me. And he got away with it, too!

And the DEFENSE was finally in evidence throughout out all 3 periods..

haven't seen such massing in front of Aeros goal since .......last year?

Having "The Kid" in goal must've brought out all the 'fatherly instincts' in our seasoned professional guyz ;-)!What protection, what efforts to get rebounds and other shots away from the KID.

LOOK all those guys in front and oh, so protective!

More of the same

Photos are from 1,2 and 3. periods...

and for good measure here's one of "The Man"nino...

ready for a catch, which he did achieve a couple times

(has he been playing baseball in off season?)

The third period came after some amusements on ice and the screen - Celebrity Waiter Promo with pictures-what FUN- Sifers or was it Fraser ? doing a Belly Dance routine - fully clothed of course, plus red apron).

Anyway, shortly "Frisky" Gillies finally got his goal in this game with "King" Duncan Milroy.

Aeros 3 Wolves 2.

A period of ' bowling' followed with players falling like pins all over the ice when being bowled into-'accidentally' of course. As my grizzled neighbour said: "What is this. No fights? Are making love or what?"

A puck or was it 2, went heavenward into the stands. Delay of game penalty- at least once - called.

At a 19:51 Holzapfel faked out 'The Kid' and the defense, and made it 3 for Chicago, the ref added a bit of time instead of a penalty (for what I am not sure), the Wolves kept their goalie recalled and the rush was on for a last minute goal by Wolves to even the score, but 'The Kid' held fast and so did the defense. Several PPs were awarded, none led to a goal by either team.

First Star of the game-a sweaty but supreme ly happy "The Kid"Kuemper.

2. and 3. Stars "Andy Handy" and "Son of a Gun"derson.

Felt it was time to celebrate a little..so in the spirit of 'parenthood'.. I poured myself a Florida Citrus Wine called "Mamma Guava"- yum - and promptly mispelled words, hope I caught them - if not you will surely forgive and forget in the spirit of this game :-).. BTW:all pix are mine, none a re cribbed,as are my words in this post! LOL.

So Kuemper is a 'keeper' goal keeper LOL.

Now, if the Aeros had only skated all season long like the did this game -

A Play Off Position would have been in reach, IMO.

Alas, it took them 75 games to jell into a cohesive, executing, decisive and effective team! At least we may have 2 more exciting games ahead at The TC.

I am quoting "he Power in the North" (thanks to Russo's Rants):

"Richards called out his players as a group for two major sins: a lack of intensity and playing as self-serving individuals rather than as a team. He said it was particularly unacceptable to do that at home, at this point in the season and against a quality opponent."

Hmm, this quote seems eerily applicable to our Aeros, doesn't it?