Fights and A Game

In the beginning several Great Saves by Hackett

Aeros lost to Chicago Wolves 5-3.
2 referees assigned beaucoup penalties-apparently most to the Aeros allowing several PP goal by the Wolves. ..3 to Penner in the First alone, later there were more, also against Chicago!.
And after we left, the game must have deteriorated into a major brawl, since game misconduct, roughing, fighting and unsportsmanlike conduct penalties teemed in the third with less than 4 minutes to go..
Anyway, aggressive Wolves just snapped at Hackett and spit him back out.
Tordjman came in later.

First Goal by Chicago

Hackett makes another truly great save



Second Goal by Chicago



 

 Heavy activity at Chicago net in the seond

After 4. Chicago Goal in second - Hackett recalled



 Tordjman sent in and warming up




The Red Knight is ready





Aeros goal in second

Otherwise, this game was only memorable by the omissions by referees in not calling penalties that were due.

Aeros starting slow.. did they have 'morning skate' in mind after the 3 days off?

They did heat up a bit in the third and increased their offensive shots on goal.

However, the trio of Earl, Rau and Palmer got 2 goals.

AND  Rau, Noreau and O'Sullivan got the 3.

Hackett looked a bit battered after a melee. 

That may very well have been part of the reason for sending Tordjman in!

Or was it the 4 goals he did not stop?

Morency was helped off but came back later.

Wolves played a very aggressive and rough game, and -

so it seemed to me - were rather good in causing incidents for which Aeros player went to the penalty box.

Deservedly or not?

And that's all folks.. gonna have a glass of 'cheer me up' - and so Good Night.

Aeros Eclipse Stars with a 3-1 win.. with an add on

In the West:
Peoria and Admirals are also tied with 55 points!
Aeros are now tied with Oklahoma City with 54 points!

Beaudoin

Rampage trails with 53 points after a big comeback tonight (meant to write that Beaudoin, after being out for weeks, came back on the ice AND scored one goal of the many - just for all those  loyal fans still following Beaudoin)  
Stars and Wolves tied with 52.
Icehogs with 43 points still firmly last!

Unbelievable how tight this race is!

And without further ado:

Mr Hockey drops first Puck





Let the game begin



 Stars goal first




BUT Hackett saves the rest



After the Wellman Goal










 

IMHO both goalies did well, with the bigger share of spectacular saves going to Hackett, back in his  Wundergoalie reincarnation.

It was quite an eventful game.

Stars gave chase, passed well. Pounded the net of Hackett. 

But Aeros were flying from one end of the rink to the other, skirmishing, stealing pucks and digging for it everywhere. Inserting and excerting themselves between the Black clad Stars. And catching up the Stars by shots on goal.

Stars' followers were few, their usual screamed 'STARS

 during the anthem sounded rather puny, for a change.



O'Sullivan and DiSalvatore after the empty netter



A bunch of Real Happy Campers

To some hot headed and fiery hearted fans, there was ONLY one fight, and one that was rather un- impressive, between Sawada of the Stars- clearly the winner - and Palmer of the Aeros.
And not much of slamming against the glass either.
So the fans' sound level seemed much reduced. But - ah well I shall NOT go there!

"Unexplained" is the fact that when ever I do NOT wear an Aeros Jersey, the guys win! 
Yes, really.
Of course I am NOT superstitious.
Not me, oh no!
But they do win when I wear one of my others!

And so they did, after 3 periods of fluid motions and 1 goal each.
I still can't wrap my eyes and mind around the saves by Hackett, using all he got. Eyes behind the head maybe? You all saw that one: Reaching back and plucking the puck out of the air-SAVED again!

Feet, legs, pads, body... all used to make save after save!


Actually I thought that empty netter was due earlier - but Bachman, hurriedly putting on the brakes to skate backwards to the net, and his defense guys did an admittedly super job getting the puck away from the net. Only to have one slapped into it, after all that exertion, by Di Salvatore from O'Sullivan just seconds after Bachman, again, scooted towards the bench in favor of 6th Star.

BTW for Beaudoin fans: he's back on ice, and he gets one of the goals tonight.

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!

Aeros in the Alamo City



Muncy



are skating tonight with two Forwards brought up from the Rio Grande Killer Bees.





Sean Muncy and Aaron Lewicki have both been leaders for the Bees this season.

Sean Muncy, at 6’0 and 193 pds, from Missouri, shoots left, has 25 points in 28 games including 12 goals and 13 assists. Muncy has five goals in his last five games.

Aaron Lewicki, too



Aaron Lewicki, at 6'0 and 202 pds, from Michigan, also shoots left, has 22 points in 25 games including 12 goals and 10 assists. Lewicki is riding a hot streak with eight points in his last five games (4+4 =8).

Anton Khudobin, on a hot streak, has stopped all but one shot by Kearns (Prucha, Stone) on a PP.

Aeros still 2-1 over Rampage.
McMillan with Prosser and Khudobin (!!)
and Earl, Almond with a shorthanded goal.

Montoya had an 'easier' time of it, Aeros ONLY shot half as many times,
but scored twice. ;-) 

All 3 goals came in the First Period.
Out of several PP opportunities, only the Rampage made one work.

What seems almost incredible:
the attendance at the ATT center ON A MONDAY night is over 7000,
including (to my knowledge) 2 loyal hockey fans who followed their team from Houston, taking a day off work.

Final just now Aeros 2 Rampage 1.
The three Stars: Mc Millan, Khudobin and Kearns
Go AEROS.
Vaya con Dios del Hockey
on your road to Milwaukie, Wednesday
and Rockford, Thursday and back
home on January 1. for the Bikini Night Game,
eagerly awaited by some fans ;-).