The Thirteenth strikes again.. Aeros loose in OT to Checkers

Even if it was not a Friday, the 13th seems an unlucky number for the Aeros.

 Alas, no Birthday Present of a win for Chilly who had invited friends to celebrate and entertain the  few 3,000 loyal fans who kept sneaking away to check on the Texans game ;-)!

Friends of Chilly's

To my big surprise the First Period saw heavy action, fast and furious skating and lots of slipping, sliding and pile ups in front and into nets :-D!
And some heavy crashing into boards ... a WILD game!

Foucault tried often

Despite that appearance, the Checkers were off to a slow start with just 8 sogs but 1 goal by Dalpe, Shugg and Beca, while Aeros managed to toss 10 on Muse all of which he stopped.

In the second period penalties multiplied  5 for Checkers who skated aggressively. They revved up their attack on Hackett to 14 but no goal. Aeros had progressively fewer sogs for the rest of the game.

 

Genoway on offense?

Genoway on defense

 

Glove Catch by Muse

.

Genoway takes on Sutter

Fredheim in action-no he did NOT trip Rutherford

Another pile up-save by Muse

Hackett lets puck go after save

One of the PP allowed Foucault, Phillips and Cuma the only goal for Aeros in the 2nd.
In the 3rd a visible slowing occurred; neither team scored. And so we went to OT.

What seemed to me happened at the very end of the period, or even just into the 2nd intermission was a huge fight. Mara and Sutter, which almost escalated - but did not - into confrontation between the two goalies, as well. 5 minutes to each Fighter plus a game misconduct-leaving the bench for Mara - and so HE was out for the rest of the game. I am sure Mills did not intend that when he hired Mara!

Somewhere in there is Muse, Fredheim hugs  Pistilli ;-)!

Mara and Sutter, Muse faces Hackett - lineman arm keeps them apart ?

Rau speeds by fallen Bellemore ;-)

Red Sweaters after Zucker !

Genoway seemed just about everywhere, on defense, on offense, taking on Sutter in a little "Hey you" broken up soonest by officials. McMillan skated like the devil was after him...and twisted and turned rapidly where needed.
Phillips, long locks flying, gave a lot. Larssen tried, as did others. Fredheim had long carry of the puck only to pass it to the wrong stick ;-)!
Cuma had a few good moments but overall was ineffective.

The Goal by Nash in OT-fuzzy pic due to shock ;-)! by photo taker :-)!

Zucker appeared to have become the whipping boy for the opponents, many times he was hemmed in by red sweaters.

A dismal First, Better Second, Average Third and Aeros still lost to Stars 2-1

Yes, the boring to bad First period - seemingly an Aeros speciality - has returned at this game tonight. Letting the Stars start out with 13 sogs, while OURs only managed a measly 5!!!!

Hackett on the Prowl

It was almost entirely due to Hackett (earning him 3rd *) stopping all but 2 sog's which the Stars threw at him, IMO, the team would have lost even more, because ..  just asking:
Where, really, was the defense, or better yet where was the offense?
Where was the power play by the Aeros who are listed up to this game as 5th in the division?

Genoway Goal

They did have 6 opportunities, but only Genoway with Zucker and Granlund scored in the Second ... and it was THE lonely goal tonight!

The power of  black pads threatening:-)!

Aeros DID skate up to better snuff (not perfect, but better) in the  2nd with 9 and even better - 12 during the 3rd - albeit to NO avail.
Nilstorp stopped all but the Genoway one and was named Nr. 1 *, Benn the number 2*.  Patrik Nemeth of the Stars-usually a more 'mild' player, caught the ref's eye with high-sticking... twice!

The victorious Three plus Vincour-Goal 2 Stars!

On the other hand ONLY 2 penalties were called on Aeros (Granlund for holding) and the second for Interference on McMillan; and yet the Stars (14th in pp!!) scored one PP by the Victorious Three: Alex Chiasson, Eakin, Smith, while Jordie Benn and Glennie put the Stars on the board in the First Period!

Several players kinda stuck out, in my eyes at least, tonight:

A Stars player skate keeps Larsson's stick away from the puck

Coyle, Phillips battle for the puck with Fortunus, Baldwin

for speed and super effort: Phillips and Palmieri;
for rather good passing and some good plays: Granlund, and - surprise - Couture!

Larsson gives his all -Phillips and others look for ?

Couture and Cuma in defense of the Net :-)!

for trying hard: Larsson, Zucker and  Petersen.

Hackett in fine fettle

Sceviour surrounded!

Do not count out the Aeros

After the loss to OKC and of Brodin and Granlund, the team rallied and came back with 3 goal in the third in short succession, driving the game into OT and SO. Hackett in goal. The scorers were (seems a bit repetitious, doesn't it but we'll take it fans, right?):

Doffing helmet to you Aeros :-)!

McIntyre with Fontaine, Kampfer; Genoway with Phillips, Fontaine (on PP); Broda and Phillips. And Phillips (Nr. 1 *) won the team the 4-3 win over OKC .. feels good- like a bit of revenge over the team that sidelined the 2 up and coming Euro Talents the night before.  :-)!
Hackett stops the SO's by OKC's most talented scorers with 27 in regulation and OT and 4 in SO.

Winners everywhere

While the Aeros recorded their first at home win over the Texas Stars WITH Hackett in goal (more on that below), I was delighted to find out that three of IMO best singers won the Concert Of Arias (Eleanor McCollum Competition) last night.

A truly impressive line up of 9 finalists sang their hearts out in front of a full house and 3 judges (Tenor Griffey, Maestro Summers and HGO Managing Director Leech).
The slate included singers from as far away as Russia, South Wales, Canada and China.

Prize ($ 10,000) plus Audience choice award went to the 22 years old soprano

Andrea Carroll,
HGOs Assoc. Music Drirector Eric Melear was the accompanying pianist for all!

2. prize to Welch born Natalya Romaniw  (24) and

3. prize to Bass Chen Peixin (30) from Beijing.
Carroll sang with purity and an extraordinary expressive voice from Mascagni and Massenet.. proving her familiarity with Italian and French works.
Romaniw sang from Mozart and Gounod with flexible strength and a depth that showed off her big voiced soprano.
Chen, a huge bass, with room to spare, and great stage presence wowed most by his choice of Verdi and even more so Rossini, showcasing his grasp of comedy.

After hearing all 9, my Nr. 1 too,  was Carroll, but followed by Chen as Nr. 2.
Carolyne Sproule (23), a mezzo with, to me at least, interesting vocal shading in her Strauss, and a very impressive presentation of an aria from Julius Caesar by Handel, would have been my Nr. 3.
And Romaniw I had definitely pegged as the audience choice.
I got three right, just not in the final order, lol.

Now to the three goals last night: Wellman - a single handed goal in the 2., Genoway (Fontaine ,Wellman) on a power play, and Broda (Fontaine) in the 3 on the empty net!
Sure looks like a very lucky night for the Aeros.
And yet, a sad ending to this has to be reported: Wellman was traded by the Wild to the New York Rangers! 
They also re-assigned Rau to Houston.
And re-signed C.J.Stretch to the a PTO. Poor guy having to pack and unpack his satchel in such a short period!
Now they'll play in Houston Saturday Lake Erie, AND Sunday..at HIGH NOON Milwaukee-not to conflict with the Super Bowl Parties awaiting football fans LOL.

So another point is gained..

even though they lost to Texas Stars last night. Stars 4 and Aeros 3..SO Loss!
In their 8th shoot out loss. Which is a season (thus far) record in the AHL.
Only one other team, The Connecticut Whale has 5 SOL - a bit smaller!
And yet, the Aeros (53 games played) remain in 2nd place after OKC Barons (59) and ahead of Abbotsford Heat (53). Aeros Numbers thus far: W 21, L 9, OTL 3, SOL 8.
The miracle of last night's game was the huge number of saves made by Sunshine Kid Kuemper. Of the 49 sogs by the Texas Stars he stopped 45 which earned him the Nr. 3 Star.

Kuemper saves-no goal for Brule(artandhockey)

And despite the loss Mike Radja (a sorta Aeros newbie) made it to Nr. 1 * (2 goals).
Now if just all of those newbies the Aeros have hired on lately could be as examples to the 'old gang'?
Joel Joey Martin (goal), C.J. Stretch
and the newest newby Chris Clackson, all had assists lately.
Morin of Texas was the 2.*

We were not at Cedar Park, just listened, off and on, to the voice of the Aeros.
And how about  Kuemper getting 2 penalties for delay of game!
Someone please explain that - someone who actually saw what went down!
On the other hand he also got a 2. assist on the Fontaine goal in the 2. period.
Wayyy to go Kuemper!
And does he,  or does he not, channel a younger Barry Brust?
While Genoway's and Garbutt's penalties in OT did not result in PP goals for either side.
BRAVO, Kuemper for doing a yeoman's job last night!
But do practice a bit more on your shoot outs!
As all players ought to!
8 SOLs is nothing to be prouid of, just saying.

Aeros 1:Rockford 4 - so the curse continues

The only positive thing  IMO of tonight's performance - if one can call it that - was that  Mike McKenzie got his first goal of the season to even the score after the Icehogs scored almost immediately.
You'd think, that the presence of a respectable crowd of over 7,000 would have fired up the Aeros!

But, other than Kuemper getting his award early on, Hackett stopping 28 of 31 (the last goal for Rockford being an empty netter - Hackett is absolved from that !)

Final last seconds

Another Goal for Icehogs

Battling for the Puck: Genoway vs Richards

 4 on Defense and yet...??

and the afore mentioned baptism of McKenzie with godparents Prosser and Kassian,
it was a depressing game.
Rockford skated, fought a seemingly discombobulated Aeros.
There was lots falling about.
Several lost and broken sticks.
Fortunately 2 'might have been' injuries weren't, as far as I could tell tell.
Both 'nose holding' skaters - one from each team - were back skating soon after!

 A conference re what?

And the Ref (singular) called ONLY 4 penalties - neither resulting in a PP for either side!

Richards pushing Genoway  away from the puck in front!

 Hackett saves that one

But fans, it WAS an at home game..
and the majority of those, as we are getting used to, are being lost.

Wild Additions- and previous fan faves

The Wild Roster as of July 2, 2011....here

Two more players have been added Charles "Chay" Genoway Defense, Canadian born Dec 20, 1986 

And

Kyle Medved born June 16, 1988 in Colorado, raised in Minnesota, who will probably skate in Houston .

(BTW Medved  - from the Russian - means bear or honey eater).  Just a bit of levity....

                                       
        Y'all now have a

                                 Happy Independence  Day

And for those loyal Khudobin fans here is some good news.

Aeros vs Rampage Win of 12/10/10
photo artandhockey

Boston Bruins have signed AK to a two year contract. Possibly as the Number One in Providence! Bravo Anton. So the rumors of him signing with KHL were unfounded.

file photo Wild

They also signed former Aeros/Wild Benoit Pouliot for one year despite his disappointing records with the Wild and Canadiens...but I do know there are still BP fans in Houston!
So you can go see him with the Bruins in Boston or Providence!

Andf those Greg Rallo (remember the Texas Stars?) fans will be happy to hear that he signed with the Florida Panthers who are now affiliated with the Rampage ....and so it goes, the Merry-go round 
by hockey players.. here today, gone there tomorrow.
It's really time consuming - but so much fun - trying to keep tabs on them! I am trying my best to keep chers readers informed -
just to pass the time during the summer doldrums - Lol.