Yeo to Go Wild

Yes, Russo's and other bloggers have confirmed
Rumours had been flying about the nomination of Mike Yeo as Wild head coach.
At a news conference tomorrow morning at 11 AM The Wild are planning to make 100% official.
Bravo for Mike Yeo!

Photo by artandhockey at rampage game 2011

He was NOT waiting here, yet, on the call up North :-)!

*Youth* will prevail in the frozen (at least during those looong wintermonths) North!

And whom among the Aeros - that are not traded or emigrated to Europe (lol, lol)- will he take with him?

What about Sydor?

Now, too, begins the guessing game re Aeros Head coach?

To Ruskowski or not to Ruskowski that is the question-to paraphrase old Will.

For continuous updates as they become known to me... keep your eyes on artandhockey!

Of course, I am posting other stuff as well, as the fancy may strike me LOL!

Three O' Clock ...

and being wide awake, even without a cock's crow! Oh, what to do? Sleep seems too elusive...

Well, for one, it might be a good time to recount
Coach Mike Yeo's prediction of the AEROS'  future in front of dedicated, avidly curious hockey fans.
Who will have to bide their time to meet the other two coaches face to face to pepper them with questions :-)

 

Actually, it might be better to describe it as HOW he said it. 

Brimming with enthusiasm, full of great plans, happy with the majority of the current player talent; still having a certain concern at some weaknesses to be ironed out, and above all GUNG HO to go!
And per Yeo, this is a YOUNG team.
HmHm... does that mean that several of the 'older' guys (if one could call 26 - 28 older) will be shipped down or rather up to Bakersfield or across the State to Laredo, just to keep them near in case; or will they get a nice "thanks guys but no thanks"?

What IS certain is that "Dimples" Anton Khudobin and "Wundergoalie" Matt Hackett will be the 2 net minders, while J.T. Nr.1 (Josh Tordjman) will be off soon, and apparently he knew that when he signed on for the year.  I seem to recall also hearing that "Baby Boogie" (Aaron Boogaard) will or already has be(en) ship(ped) out, since the "Kassassinator", Matt Kassian, after clearing waivers, will be back in Houston.
And with Drew Bagnall ("The Bagman?") we seem to have the 'fighting Aeros' section covered.
And let's not forget that Cody Almond "JOY" and Carson McMillan -"MacAttack" have been known to drop the gloves at a moments notice. And not afraid to go nose to nose with foes, and even, when disagreeing, with referees. Perhaps not smart, but afraid - they are not!

Warren Peters (of the Texas Stars Fame) looks to be Captain material, as does "Speedy" Jon DiSalvatore. And Chad Rau-"WOW" apparently has caught the coach's confidence with his controlled, but perhaps a bit too calm, playing; while "Frisky" Colton Gillies will need to learn to calm 'down' :-)! On the other hand he is slated to be on a line with "The Scrapper" Daoust- Aeros's "energize bunnies" at play!
Marco Scandella ("Shatterhand"?) looks to give "Ironman" Max Noreau some hard competition in slapshot fury.

We did learn that Yeo is a smooth raconteur, and can, and does say it all with utter conviction which IS a good thing.  And seems to want coaches and players to be 'accessible to fans'...on that subject we will have to wait and see ;-)! And  no, visits to the locker room after a game are not considered an option, despite some suggestions  ;-) from some engrossed members of audience last night!

The team will need firing up to sustain it over those murderous 3 on 3s, when sleep will have to come on the bus and energy will need constant re-igniting! And yet, Yeo knows that there will be 'dead zone' nights, but as he so bluntly stated "I might be dying inside, but on the outside I will be calmness personified".
And so he looks, very capable of bringing THAT of!
On the other hand, he will be a 'hands on' (figuratively, natch, not literally.. he did solemnly swear NOT to throw water bottles or other items) coach, moving and talking players up while on the bench etc.!
Yes, we can expect some 'hype', cliches, lots of  'rah rah rah'.. but IF that's what it takes to get the guys going-I mean skating and scoring- in the right way... I, for one, am all for it!
Go Yeo! Yeah, Yeo Go!
And talks of a fast game, of a physical game, of a concentrated game with good line pairings but flexible enough to switch as the situation warrants.  Power play, Penalty kills, Face Offs are areas he feels need still to be worked and improved upon.  And in his opinion it is not only the face off  'specialist' that will count, but also the wingers. He wants a tight game with good puck handling/passing! Short concise passes.
And seems to frown on the 'primadonna' approach which some players seems to have succumbed to, at least during last season.
As he rattled off the names on 'HIS' lines, I caught only the Daoust/Gillies (Energize Bunnies) combo, and somewhere in the 4th line will be "Avalanche" Petr Kalus..but the rest is still ?? at least I do not recall every name, since there are all those NEWBIES!
Apropos, Newbie, Tyler Cuma of the leg brace-minor injury, is expected to be soon back to normal.
For them we have yet to match name to face to talent :-)! We shall find out soon enough when the FINAL roster will be announced-any day now, maybe even later today! And since I am certain that other bloggers will blog on that, I leave you, dear readers, to go to their sites for that "little" (lol) detail.
So, that was my impression and it was a good one.



and with Queen's"Don't stop me now" - Bring on the games!
And let's

"New" Aeros Team Meets the Press..

Just back from a press conference with the 'old' as in Jim Mills and Joe O'Donnell,
the 'new' as in Mike Yeo, Darryl Sydor and Brian Wiseman, but all about the AEROS.

Now let's see.. the average age of the 3 newbies is 38, with Yeo at 37, Sydor at 38 and Wiseman at 39.
Between them they have 2 Turner Cups, 3 Stanley Cups, several Eastern and Western Championships and other kudos (Frozen Four, Memorial Championship, NHL ALL Stars, etc.).

Only Yeo and Wiseman have some coaching experience, while Sydor defintely leads in NHL playing experience with almost 1300 NHL games in 18 seasons.

So it comes to no surprise that the coaching team (I should - maybe- include Bob Mason -goalies coach, primarily located with the Wild) is eager and hungry for success.

Yeo, who charmingly explained that he always wanted to be a great coach and always studied his coaches' actions after games at night, alone in his hotel room, feels he and his team have THE system ready.
A system that will rely on fast, physical and aggressive playing - in other words (will THAT be this seasons slogan?) "IN YOUR FACE HOCKEY"! Fans ought to love THAT!

Now that strikes a chord.. Opera in the Heights has been offering: "IN YOUR FACE OPERA"!

And it's a good thing, just to rub it in!
Baseball, football and soccer, golf and tennis fans, even Lacrosse fans
Houston has IN YOUR FACE HOCKEY" - just saying.
Plus TWO morning games to nurture and expose the kiddies to this game of fast action and young hot athletes! Season ticket holders donate yours to your kids! Because YOU work at that time anyway!

Further, Yeo, explained that he and Wiseman will work on power play skills;
Wiseman will work also with the forwards;
while Sydor will concentrate on honing the defense and penalty kills.
As already mentioned  Mason will do double duty as goalie coach,
but I get the feeling, HE will be mostly up at the Wilds.

Which means that Khudobin (must find new petname for "Dimples" as would be suitable for his responsible position) is expected to exemplify experience and work ethics opposite the young quality prospect goalie Hackett, and eventually Kuemper (The Darcy Vader of successful plays end of 2009/10!).

Possible NHL'ers were named , even as they may play with Aeros, such as Wellman, Cuma, Palmer, Prosser, Broda.  Scandella, whom we all know from previous seasons was slightly injured during the Wild Camp and not displaying much other than his BROAD shoulders :-D!
Bagnell and Peters are looked to be the providers of veteran experienced leadership, which, it is hoped, will augur well for this season's AEROS.

Others slated in Yeo's eyes for leadership:
Noreau, "Ironman" (is our Max finally getting the recognition he so deserves?) and Mc Millan ("MacAttack") and the separate but special talents of Kassian ("The Kassassinator"- let's hope marriage will not mellow HIS aggressive play).
OOOPS, FALK is the marrying one, unless Kassian is sneaking it past!

On asking (by yours truly) about Jean Michel "The Scrapper" Daoust and Chad Rau"WOW", Sydor admitted he had not seen them play at camp, but... if Daoust plays as a fearlessly and with his usual "ice sense", he MOST definitely will be a good fit with Yeo's aggressive system.
Rau, not a flashy player, might probably provide the solid, intelligently played, backbone for the young team.

Anyway, enthusiasm and mutual respect among the staff from Mills on down is rampant and palpable!
It just might turn the tide for AEROS to stage a comeback to Championship, even Cup level.

And that IS music to my and all fans's ears, n'est pas?

The competition within Texas (Aeros-Rampage-Texas Stars) is to continue, and the new opponent in Oklahoma City is expected to deliver extra spice into the stew!

Words is out that the team is working on offering a special package (air, hotel AND Wild/Blues game ticket) to season ticket holders for that February game in Minnie, or the ticket holder may elect to receive extra ticket to a home game of his/her choice

One day behind - One Euro short

Having divorced Twitter some time ago ;-(,
just found out that Aeros will not only have a new head coach
(Mike Yeo)but also a new (well actually also old Aeros) equipment manager Bronwell.
For more details feel free to head over to The Third Intermission/Russo's Rants.
As far as Aeros fan faves are concerned, Anton Khudobin "the famous "Dimples"- as well as Matt Kassian ("The Kassassinator") have received qualifying offers from the Wild. Welcome back, old friends as presented by Cabaret Singer Ute!!