In tune with Inner Self?

so, while I have been doing that for a while - in the world of Aeros and Wild things are going on.
Revolving doors keep Aeros on the move, up and down, as the case may be.

Plus Endras heading back to Europe, so he can actually play!

Kuemper heading to Houston.

Now, how THAT will turn out? Your guess's as good as mine!
Hackett will just have to share his spot in the limelight.
Well, the powers that are better make sure that IS so.
After all, one does not call a very successful goalie to the team only to have him sit and rust. So as not to - hmmm - put out the nose of the Wundergoalie of last year! :-)!

Meanwhile Wellman gets HIS chance with the Wild,

Jim Mone, AP

but Peters and Prosser are back with the Aeros.

While I have been "tuning to my inner self"- very much needed, let me asssure you -
Hockey and Opera have taken back seats.
One's attention span just could not be shared, or else!

Since it feels the way to normalcy has begun,
I start to focus on other things happening, here, and in the world.
Alas, events are not inspiring to flights of  'touchy feely' sentiments.
What in the heck...is everyone going bananas?
And I do not mean bananas in a humorous way!

It's all so very nauseating!
So maybe THAT :-) was the cause of the misery of last week and the hospital stay!
Just kidding - there is at least one physical NOT just a perceived mental reason! 
And now off to Doctors' offices for follow up!

But 'nuf said!

And the Winner ....

IS the Toronto Marlies.
A lot of 2s about, this evening.
Marlies goals 2 in 1., 2 in 2. and 2 again in 3. for 6 total.
Aeros 1 in 1. and 1 in 3 for a total of-you guessed it a 2!

Aeros got on the board barely into the First with a PP goal by Peters, Di Salvatore and Wellman.
And with 12 second to go at end of game Di Salvatore, Taffe and Genoway got an honorable 2. goal.

After the Peters Goal

It was not that the Marlies Goalie, Stockholm native (yes) Mark Owuya was THAT good a goalie...
and Endras was not!

You'd think with all those Aeros in attendance??? But Frattin still got his 2 goals on Endras

Endras in one of his Humpty Dumpty Incarnation

Being peppered with a total of 39 sogs,
Endras stopped 33 looking like a humpty dumpty at times
Owuya stopped 20 of 22.
Both goalies tried their hand at a "Barry Brust" (lol) move tonight!
Both skated wayyyy out to fire the puck down the ice!
Where oh, where were their defenders? Napping?
Maybe trying for a shoot out goal on each other, just kidding - lol?

It was more that the Marlies (after having lost several games) apparently woke up,
skated well, passed well, stole puck well and kept the game for the most part in the Aeros side.

It was not that the Marlies offense was that good.

Cuma - trying out for goalie position maybe?

It was not that the Aeros Defense was real bad!
And that the offense was not too sharp either.
Or was it?
Spread legs allowed puck through only to end up on the stick of - a Marlies!
Pucks lost to 'stealing' Marlies :-)!

Maybe it was the 'Ortmeyer factor' :-), that was missing, as was he -
due to being suspended by the AHL for this one game.

Maybe it was that  2 / 3 new(ish) guys were at the game...
Almond 2. game down (two penalties)- there are the 2s again!
Reid (almost new) 1 penalty,
Kassian 1. game back (one penalty).
Others went to Peters, McIntyre and
Foucault {no Papa Ortmeyer around to calm down the young hothead?:-)}.

So what was it?

Maybe my not wearing the Ortmeyer Jersey ;-)?

Maybe my friend EK who had wanted so badly to see this game,
but was unavoidably stuck in opera rehearsals
("Cosi fan tutte" at Opera in the Heights -
he sings the sneaky older man with an awesomely deep bass),
that the Marlies put on this show and won it for him in absentia :-)!?

I am not clear in my mind if the bad playing Aeros made the Marlies look like a super team?

That slogan just seem to have inspired the Marlies tonight ;-)!

Or the Marlies playing like a well oiled machine, made the Aeros look like an amateur team-
to be charitable a - better  - amateur league team!

Anyway, half way through game a case of heartburn made me miserable.
So I was already miserable and not only through watching this slaughter of the (not so innocent)
Aeros by the rapacious (my, they really were hungry for a win!!) Marlies!

20 ways of creative officiating?

No, really I mean that.

Between the officiating of the two Referees (Meyer and Croft) nothing resembled the Van Ryn Motto:"Keep It Simple (usually followed by Stupid-KISS)".

I lost count of the many three on five penalties both teams endured.
And some were called rather innovatingly:

• Delay of game BEFORE puck drop in Third? Duh? 
• Closing Hand on Puck? Double Duh?
• Others were the usual offenders.

At least in the end they were evenly divided 10 and 10, and both teams made two of them count!
Both Cuma of the Aeros and Pistilli (looked like) of the Checkers went down on the ice and needed attention from the teams' athletic trainers. Thankfully both came back to skate some more.
Neither incident was (apparently) severe enough for a penalty on the other team, this time!

Action around Murphy

Now after an unsually hectic fast paced first period in which the Aeros managed 5 Sogs to the Checkers 13,  the score was 1 Aeros - O Checkers..

Eyes-on-the-Puck Endras :-)

Endras simply making save after save - seemingly in most incredible ways...deep butterfly, stretched body, high glove catches, hard blocked shots (you could literally hear the puck striking his pads!)...

Just to recap Aeros Goals:
Taffe, Chenoway, DiSalvatore (1. period).
Foucault, Fontaine, Ortmeyer (2.)
Wellman, Taffe, DiSalvatore, Unassisted goal by McMillan, and finally empty netter by McIntyre, Fredheim all in the 3.

To the far right Ortmeyer and Foucault Goal 2

After Goal 1. PP by Taffe

Samson still looking (for a Delilah, perhaps? lol)

Checkers:
Soryal, Faulk, Staal;
Matsumoto, Samson, Faulk;
and Samson, Terry, Matsumoto all in 2.

Di Salvatore, Foucault chasing after puck



Soryal goal

Sutter (C) consoling Murphy after Houston goal 3

 McMillan=Number 1 Star with unassisted goal.

I truly believe this was one of the worst officiated games I've seen.

And the "Third Period Aeros" DID show up again to win this game against all odds...truly!

Almost unbelievable officiating (all those 3 on 5 calls) plus some less than stellar playing by several Aeros (Cuma, Bagnall (he ought to know better after all the years), Broda, Medved).
Did they, mayhap, mishear Van Ryn's "Keep It Simple"?

Well, whatever the case.
Aeros kept Checkers in check - but only by the skin of their teeth - especially in the second period.

Warming up in the 1. (as we now know they like to do).
Barely making it in the 2. (aided perhaps by ref's calls!)
And roaring back as the by now - almost expected  - AEROS OF THE THIRD!
Win with 5 to 3 vs Checkers.

Pre season game vs Barons -update

With just a few minutes to to end of regulations...Barons 4-0 vs Aeros who sport a team mostly made up of newbies.
Listening it seems the Barons goalie is really good. Endras was pulled after he allowed 3 goals, for Kuemper who stopped everyone except that last one on the first OKC powerplay and that's how it ends.
Aaron Boogaard received large penalties,
David McIntyre several as well.
That's all folks.

# Skaters in Bold still with Wild I think..
2 Wes O'Neill D
3 Jamie Fritsch D
5 Jeff Penner D
7 Kris Fredheim D
8 Kyle Medvec D
10 Greg Stewart LW
11 Matt Marquardt LW
13 Kris Foucault LW
14 Jon DiSalvatore RW
16 JP Martignetti F
19 Jarod Palmer RW
20 Chad Rau C
21 Mike Bartlett RW
22 Jeff Taffe C
23 Tysen Dowzak D
25 Warren Peters C
26 David McIntyre C
27 Carson McMillan C
29 Aaron Boogaard RW
32 Mike Hoffman D
36 Mike Kramer F
37 Justin Fontaine RW
39 Chay Genoway D
41 Jed Ortmeyer RW
52 Sam Lofquist D
56 Joel Broda LW
61 Tyler Cuma D


# Goaltenders
31 Matt Hackett G
34 Dennis Endras G
35 Darcy Kuemper G
Sun., Oct. 2 -  Next Preseason game at Texas (5 p.m.)

UPDATE:
Wild assign defensemen Nate Prosser and Drew Bagnall  as well as forward Casey Wellman to the Houston Aeros.

Matt Kassian, Mike Lundin and Cody Almond are on injured reserve.

The Active roster stands  at 23 players, with 14 forwards and seven defensemen, including the real surprise, rookie Brett Bulmer (Apr 26 1992 -- Prince George, BC
Height 6.01 -- Weight 165 -- Shoots R)!

Whose name we saw on the Kelowna Rockets Roster as LW just the other night!

Nick Johnson who was picked up off waivers from the Pittsburgh Penguins on Thursday morning and barely made it to the game..

The forwards: Mikko Koivu, Dany Heatley, Devin Setoguchi, Guillaume Latendresse, Matt Cullen, Pierre-Marc Bouchard, Darroll Powe, Kyle Brodziak, Cal Clutterbuck, Colton Gillies, Brad Staubitz, Eric Nystrom, Johnson and Bulmer.
The defense: Greg Zanon, Marek Zidlicky, Nick Schultz, Clayton Stoner, Jared Spurgeon, Marco Scandella and Falk.
Goalies: Niklas Backstrom and Josh Harding.

Taking the day off

and what happens! Just "waking  up" to the stunner of a trade..
(It has to be that injection at the dentist today-because a tooth needed pulling)


Jeff Penner



Anton Khudobin for one man (in America)

Jeff  Penner, 23 (4/13/87), has posted 19 points (5-14=19) and is a plus-10 in 57 games with the AHL’s Providence Bruins this season. The 5-foot-10, 185-pound defenseman from Steinbach, Man., notched a career-high 35 points (7-28=35) in 68 games with Providence in the 2009-10 season. He made his NHL debut with Boston on March 9, 2010, at Toronto. Penner, originally signed by Boston as an undrafted free agent, played one season of collegiate hockey at Alaska-Fairbanks.




Mikko Lehtonen



and one man (still skating in far off Europe): Lehtonen, 23 (4/1/87), ranks second in the Swedish Elite League in scoring this season, racking up 56 points (29-27=56) in 52 games with Skelleftea. The 6-foot-3, 196-pound winger from Espoo, Finland, spent two seasons with AHL Providence (2008-10), posting 103 points (51-52=103) in 150 games. Lehtonen participated in the AHL All-Star Game in 2010. He played two games in Boston, including his NHL debut on April 11, 2009, at Buffalo. Lehtonen represented Finland in both the 2005-06 and 2006-07 IIHF World Junior Championships. He was Boston’s third-round pick (No. 83 overall) in the 2005 NHL Entry Draft.
AS  If Endras wasn't enough, who also still skates over there!

To Anton Khudobin-Dosvidanya or something like that...and the best of luck!
So now I better change my photo spread atop this blog to ???
Josh Tordjman... in red hot pads! Or ?? Any suggestions by chers readers?


Anton Khudobin



Josh Tordjman



Darcy Kuemper

Matt Hackett



Dennis Endras





Wundergoalie to the NHL?

or not?
Per Russo's Rants both Wild goalies are under the weather.
ONLY Khudobin stands in the net. UNLESS, Matt Hackett gets HIS crack at playing in the NHL, backing up Khudobin.

While Tordjman will be Nr. Uno with the Aeros and someone will have to be found to be back up.


 Dennis Endras photo courtesy Augsburg Allgemeine

That would really make the next three games vs the  Wolves on Friday,

the Griffins both Saturday and Sunday VERRRY interesting.



Now the Wild might wish they had Dennis Endras here instead of in Germany? 

Ouzas

Then there is Michael Ouzas, with a 2.24 GAA, once called on as a back up already and thus a somewhat known entity. 

But he was chosen for the ECHL All Star game on January 26, 2011 in Rabobank Arena.

So maybe not!

Of course this is all just speculation.

But then the Aeros have become rather unpredictable.

Just when one thinks they will win they'll fold.

And when one feels they'll fold...they storm out and well, you get the idea.

Tonight Better Half and I will see the Griffins take on the Rampage and so will have a (maybe) better idea of what to expect vs. Aeros Saturday and Sunday.