Hackett and the Barons

now that sounds like the title of a book, doesn't it? 



 O-cocoon  Fire Place.



And it sure seems like a book..

Hackett sporting another shut out game against the OKC Barons last evening in front of their home crowd.

And the O's were very much in evidence.

Kassian and Buck, Wellman, and others did their share as well.

As I posted earlier, the arrivals of the O's most certainly has an huge impact on the team. "They light up their fire"!

The future of the Aeros as  play off contenders is getting

rosier and rosier by the day!

Kinda makes one feel like singing.

And if one can't sing one CAN kick up one's heels!

And what makes it even rosier,

for the first time in ????  the AEROS +/- column sported all PLUSSES! 

Right! Good Job!

So now Rockford and Wolves having become the 'spoilers',

they both won over their opponents last night.

The Rampage drifting downward, the Stars rising slightly. 

And Aeros are surely emerging to spread their wings

                                             And that's all folks on this happy Sunday morning.

There is another game to come!

Battle between Birds and Planes-edited

ended alas, in a SO win for the birds.



Johnson Goal in SO-puck at corner of net.



Rau did not get the goal



Happy Birds Smiling



We're hugging our goalie today!

Am sorry to report a loss to the Griffins in shoot out: Aeros 2 - Griffins 3. Sorry for the Aeros, who battled valianty.
Earl getting a single handed goal on a break away.
O'Sullivan with Di Salvatore and Noreau the 2.
Both in the First Period.
The Griffins got one goal in the first, then evened the score in the 2 period. Neither team scored in 3. and OT.
Aeros had one PP - uneventful.
Griffins had no PP.
But with Smith as the referee we expected just that.
Few penalties called -
only when absolutely necessary as for the Bagnall/Keefe fight-below.




Cuma Down

 






Ouch!



Ministering to Cuma

And of course, he had to penalize Owens for Boarding (Cuma, the target photos above) plus a game misconduct. Happy to report Cuma was back on the ice shortly thereafter.
Scratches for Aeros: Broda,Buck, Fraser, Kalus.



Hackett and CO

 

Matt Hackett in goal did very well. Stopping the onslaught by the Griffins with their 37 shots, only alowwing  allowing 2 in. But also the 3 in SO by Johnson, Tardiff and Minard.

Pearce, the "purple" hatted one, stopped 24 of 27! Not a bad result!
He was agile and on alert and had some spectacular saves, as well.

Pearce

Both teams (thanks to Smith) got away with a few
bad boys' pranks, shall we say:


Scuffle

 Scuffles like these:


More scuffles

 Both goalies did outstanding work. Both teams gave battle. Griffins to the bitter end coming from behind..so to speak.
In the photo below the expression on Ref Smith's face speaks volumes:-)



A knuckle biter decision: Ought I? NOT!



Pearce always watching.



                                  Chilly and the T shirt Toss Hollering

Fans stunned. Some of you might recognise yourselves!

Knights in 'shiny armor'  leaving the battlefield!

Fireworks in the Southwest-Aeros have a win!

Yes, it's true.
The night sky somewhere over Meyerland Plaza was filled with bursting multicolored sparks.
A fitting end to a smashing (and I mean this literally) game.
It's been quite a while since the glass reverberated like shots!
Bodies slammed into boards so frequently -THUMP, THUMP, THUMP.
And the raucous fans went wild.. "hit'em, get'em"..
and so on right at my right ear. It still feels numb!
Leaving the numbers game to the experts,
here is my take on this afternoon game.

Apparently the talking to the guys by the coaches about
 'puck management',
 'the best defense is offense',
'don't let the others have any 'space', etc.

Ortmeyer, he with the 2 assists

worked. A rejuvenated team stormed out and took on arch rival Rampage.

Body checks de rigeur.

 'Humpty dumpty' falls on both sides.

Ortmeyer and McLean (chivalry is not dead yet-Mc Lean lent a helping hand up to fiormer mate)

Tangling with foes any which way.

This was a good game.

Not a great game, but both teams worked at it.

Both scored 1 goal in the First, with Hollweg on a PP, and Fredheim (Ortmeyer, Gillies) shortly after.

Hackett got his 'moxie' back, after all that words starts with a M(ontoya in the net), not with a C(limie)!  Just kidding.

Even though it was a good game, it lacked the DRAMA of last night...

no fights to speak of-  tee hee -

but for the last few minutes.

Lots of "to'ing and fro'ing" all through the 2.
with heavy work for Hackett and Montoya .

                       But then the Third...  Earl getting feisty.. jabbering?

Montoya, stunned, on knees after that Daoust, Rau Earl goal!

 No, I DON'T wanna look at that dratted Nr. 62!

Patting the Winner

The Scrappers's goal to make it 2 Aeros - 1 Rampage.

And after that it's back to
Rampage pounding Hackett - he saves.
Aeros pounding Montoya - he saves.

A stranger interlude: did the net break, did the puck break it?
What happened?
I was so intensely watching referees and others seemingly reweaving the net..

Inspection

Net fixed?

                                      And  now it's back to the game, guys!
I caught only the tail end.

Gillies with Ortmeyer (he's again much in evidence-good move to sign him) makes it 3-1 with an empty netter on a PP, yet!

Fans ecstatic, as are the Gillies huggers!

and few more pictures-enjoy

all by artandhockey's trusty little 'pic-snapper'!;-)



Hackett at work



 A dropped stick, yet a save!

Brandon Buck "I'm just protecting Matt, Sir"!

Intermission Entertainment of the cuter kind

Hackett in full form!

Oh, just look at that little puck!

Number 1 Star of the Game with big grin!

Aeros ready to play!

When it came to the anthem...

there was this one male/boy singer who was so darn off pitch, but he made up for it by singing loudly.

 The sopranos of this group sounded really very good, however!

But then the second choir presented such a variety: another patriotic song -was it America the beautiful, or what. Well, never mind they were hardly audible from a certain location.

On the other hand the cute little skaters in unison and the small drill team were rather pleasant to look at!

I truly hunger for trained opera singers' presentation of the anthem.

And more instrumental entertainment,

provided IT is audibly mike'ed!

Monstrous Win for Hackett

 What a game:
Aeros are hot, keeping the stick to the puck they out shot the Lake Erie Monsters, who seemed just not all there.

The occasional great passes, the rare bursts of speed.. but nothing helped. Monsters could not get a goal.



 Without the really quite herouic saves by Bacashihua, the LEM could have lost even bigger.  After all he made 38 saves while being peppered by the 'wildly' aggressive Aeros. 

Daoust made his penalty shot count and Aeros are up one.

Rau who truly earned his sobriquet WOW, was everwhere, playing extremely well. He made it 2 - 0 with the help of Earl, who in turn got a PP goal helped by Peters and Ortmeyer and so it stayed till the end Aeros 3-LEM 0.



Another save by Hackett



Hackett holding on to end

Ortmeyer, the veteran, must have injected some spunk into the team, and the Aeros flew across the ice, a fight between Gillies and Gaunce broke out, but really why.. the game was won already.



Bacashihua was like quicksilver at times,
whipping from side to side, from behind his own net to the front to stop another puck, with gloves, blocker, legs, stick...
and body turning somersaults on the way to stopping that puck..
 I believe I caught his most dramatic save below in a few snaps.



Wenninger





Bacashihua - what a save



Gillies Gaunce Fight