Slightly befogged - Aeros Win

Early Morning Fog Over Bayou - 31.12.2011

but in a nice way.
Because..
well, because the Aeros are leaving 2011 with a win!
And are still in 3rd place in the West right after Heat.. which won last night as well, which will please KK fans!

By the enormous effort of Hackett!
Who was listed as the Nr. 2 Star between McIntyre (1) and Penner (2)
Who stopped 38 of 40 sogs thrown at him by a hyper aggressive but almost fruitlessly scurrying Rampage.
Last night at the ATT Center, to which a slew of dedicated, and ultimately very happy, fans traveled.

Well, what more can I say.
I was not there.
Aeros 5 Rampage 2.
Aeros got five goals on two goalies...
yes, Markstrom pulled for Grumet Morris.
Markstrom had a really bad 'ice day'.

While Hackett, according to the Voice of the Aeros, acrobatically managed to make save after huge save! Maybe similar to above!

Now, astute chers readers -
you will have guessed, that I am back on a freshly scrubbed,
free from insidious Trojans and viruses (or ought that be viri?) computer.

After the first day with withdrawal symptoms, lol, I did not miss it abysmally.
Really enjoyed reading BOOKS.
You know that kind that one holds and flips its pages with moist thumb :-)!
The most interesting IMO was Alan Furst's "Night Soldiers" .
Of course, I have read one or two by him before. But I felt this one was the most fascinating, yet!
How to describe it? Best I can do is borrow the name from a reviewer "Historic Espionage novel" and so it was. And rather absorbing, too.
Following its Bulgarian protagonist through training at the NKVD (KGB or whatever initials used) through the Spanish Civil War, German occupation of France to his ending up finally in the USA after 'escaping' the long reach of the NKVD, at least that is the assumption on which the novel ends.
Next in line in fascination quotient was "The Lost" by Daniel Mendelsohn, a deeply felt and researched history into the lives of "lost" relatives, interspersed with Torah excerpts. A must read for anyone who is a student of the holocaust and its effect on the generations following.
 "Snow falling on Cedars" by David Guterson, sort of a court room drama which involves events following Pearl Harbour, the Japanese internment and its long term effects of that. Only to end on a positive note. Well written and gripping, he does let the characters grow in stature, at the end.

"Tell Me Another Morning", an autobiographical novel by Zdena Berger is one of the rare books that provide some insight into the lives of women and girls during the Nazi years, and in the camps. The way the author uses the 'present tense' makes reading it even more stirring.

After that came two 'easy reads' fictions.
The less said the better.. just a few hours spent on those.
But one has to step away from the sad and horrible, just to relax!
And nothing relaxes more that a steamy romance,
or some cleverly constructed crime, fiction...no? :-), :-D!!!

So now you know, chers readers, that having only limited access to the web was rather relaxing. 
At least for me.

Ah, you say what about "News of the World"? Well  t'was sufficient to just get the biased (alas) condensed versions on the Nightly News (lol).
No real worries about 'catching up' with Tweets, FB.
I may have missed some birthdays.
Or other momentous event?
Maybe!
That a friend was "at this or that place" which by the time most of us get around to reading it, is already old news,  :-)! 
And new photos posted by friends around the world.
But never fear others will be posted - that is a given.
So a few days without the web was not devastating... after that First Day! Lol.

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2012!

Chaos paid off; Kuemper shuts out Rampage

A rare event, a win on home ice, and not just a win - a shut out win ! Granted by only one goal, but a win is a win. And that sole winning goal a PP goal by Fountaine (Star 2) with Penner (Star 3) and
here's the STAR Nr. 1
Goalie cutie Darcy Kuemper who seemed a bit shy, skated out and back..
but finally was told: Hey you gotta go out there and talk!
Which he did and quite nicely, thank you, to the accompaniment of 6600 or so screaming fans. And the Lady Dynamics seem to enjoy this Cutie, too, to judge by their huge smiles (lol

Now to the title, the whole first two periods the two teams just went at it like Energizer Bunnies, quite a chaotic, storming from side to side. San Antonio seemed to keep the impetus going by the number of SOGS 12, 11, 10.. all 33 stopped one way or another by Darcy Kuemper (almost typed.. Cutie lol).

These are just a few shots of Kuemper saves.

And newcomer Mike Montgomery (formerly of the Ontario reign -ECHL)Nr. 24 was much in evidence as an effective defense man 

and here is the reason, Fountaine sat for hooking, one of the 5 penalties called by 'let'em play tonight' Ian Croft-But he redeemed himself in the 2. by getting that PP goal with Penner.

Now I don't know about you, but this action (photo above) in front of Markstrom looks like Kendo to me...

And so the game was won -Victory on home ice!

The longest shoot out - I can remember

Esposito Winning Goal

San Antonio's Esposito got the winning goal.

Now that the baddest news are past...I'll get to the rest of them.
Aeros defense was quite good, Hackett was too, he did stop 23 sogs during the regulation time,
and 10 of the 12 SO.

The  3 P.. goal

That SA's Kostka with Thomas and Cullen (!) got a short handed goal which put SA Rampage on the board first - was kind of a fluke. 
But Aeros evened the score soon with goals by the 3 P's (Penner, Peters, Palmer) -
a PP goal at that -lol; followed by another PP goal by Wellman, Hendry, Prosser.

That D + D equals G...
Or it does when you have a Dadonov with a Derlyuk attacking a surprised Hacket that's when you get a Goal (Nr. 2 for Rampage).
BTW Dadonov #14 was rather impressive, holding onto the puck, switching out the way of Aeros defenders to sneak around the goal and plant the puck on Hacketts' uncovered right flank. Now that happened in Period 2. But Fontaine (he IS good - that one) with Broda and MacIntyre made it Aeros 3- SA 2.
Also good was the twinset Penner (right) and Chenoway (left) skating towards SA Goalie Brian Foster (who for a Rookie did extremely well) - in a sorta pincer movement.
Passing the puck well amongst themselves, skating speedily and agilely...a good combo, IMO.

During another PP of the Aeros caused by an interference call on Cullen of SA - forced,  so it seemed to me rather on purpose by Chenoway, no goal was scored.
So there we have the rookie Chenoway, at 5"9 the littlest guy on the team, doing arabesques around the others. Niiice! very nice!

In the third we have no goals by Aeros nor SA despite 3 PP ( 2 for SA) 1 for Aeros.
And the game seemed in favor of Aeros, when at 13 min, Kearns with Repik made it 3-3.
And so it stayed though the 5 minute Over Time.
McMillan was the recipient of the newest penalty "illegal hit to the head" of Dadonov (#14) who took his time to rise from the ice...a case of embellishment (?) which was however NOT called.
And soon after he was back skating as furious as before.

Rallo Tries

Now the Shoot Out.. a total of 10 as per AHL sheet,. my notes said 11 shooters .. the Nrs 19 for Aeros, and 27 for SA, were on it!

Palmer Tries

Did I dream these? I dunno.
The Official AHL sheet said 10 shooters.
But here are the 2 photos I took!
Palmer and Rallo tried.
 I did NOT dream!

With Fontaine getting the lone goal for Aeros; and Cullen (here he is again) and Esposito the two for SA.

BUT SA Rampage won the shoot out..
a historic shoot out?

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