T'was the Night of O' Fallon and McIntyre

Yes, indeed, the Irish and Scots had it, methinks.
After an unbelievably exciting 3 Periods with Zero - yes - 0 - goals,
zero goals also in OT- the game went to a SO which had the crowd of over 6000 on their feet screaming and ringing cowbells, and making any kind of noise conceivable.
Was it St. Patrick who kept his hand over Fallon (sorry I could not resist calling him O'Fallon) and over McIntyre as well, who scored the winner?

Maybe it was all that green:
hats, caps, jerseys, Tee shirts, Beard, HAIR, yes, indeed, hair...that did it.
Well, whatever it was, it sure seemed the luck of the Irish came through for the Aeros tonight and we all just love a winner, don't we.

So where do I start?
Best to just say WOW...
What energy flowing back and forth on the ice, from green to red and red to green. Battling every which way. Ref calling only 4 penalties per team, none turning into a PP goal. penalty kills were even between the two teams, with kudos going to Aeros for holding fast in a 3 on 5 situation early on.
And Fallon was incredibly hot! or ought that to be GREEN? LOL.

Even Kolanos got a bit smashed by aggressive Aeros and he did let the official know it, or so it seems here............
Fallon stopped 32 plus 6.. a shut out Shoot Out!
Danny Taylor wasn't shabby either and was nominated Number 3 Star.
Nr. 2 McIntyre of the winning goal, and
FALLON was Number One Star as he should be, no doubt!

Awesome Fallon Save

Another

Mcmillan up close and  - personal?

Waiting for the SO?

OMG,  the Puck's coming thisa way ;-)!

During Shoot out-all out save

 With a little help by Medved Aliu is stopped

 Almond en garde

Collision Time

 Taylor gets that one, falling flat on his.. tummy:-)!

all photos artandhockey.

Aeros tie up Hogs...

Fallon and the Aeros defense managed to keep the win going. despite the furious onsaughts onslaughts of the Icehogs in their flaming
red jerseys.

A little fight never hurts- an Astros fan likes what he sees :-)

I really could not believe what I saw in the first period... who were those guys out there on the ice?

a really determined Fontaine ready for anything

SCORE!

I did it .. twice!

rushing, passing, energetic, battling, skating and scoring Aeros!
Was it a reincarnation of Aeros of the past?
What was it? A team whose coherence in play has been absent for so long.
Now that the end is near, the Aeros are giving it their all.
One has to wonder if they can keep it up for the next two games.
Time will tell.

NR. 39 seemingly everywhere IMO

The fight's over lets play hockey guys..

Salak and the missed puck.

Taffe scores...

St. Cuma and the Goalie :-)!

Face Off Tension

And the HOGS battled without let up and did indeed score 2 goals within minutes of the end of regulation,
both goals by Flick, who just flicked it in.

Sad Salak after a goal by Taffe

What more can a fan ask? 3 goals in the first, one ion the second and keeping Flick from flicking in another one. Aeros 4-Hogs 3!

Fallon did rather well.. blocking a shot, plus catching the rebound seemingly out of thin air, not just once.

GO AEROS.

Following the puck ...

Hot No More

What else could one call the result of tonight's game?  Aeros 4 Heat 1!!!

He's earned it

Puck stopped, what more could one ask?

The Captain leads by example-playing with body and soul

Aeros 4 Heat - a short handed goal which kept Fallon from a shut out, which IMO he should've had. He did very well, did Fallon! He stopped by mitt, blocker, stick and body!

Almond, the defender- this time

LeTourneau-Leblond a-flying?

Foucault at attention!

JP Testwuide as sandwich filler? He didn't like that?.

And the defense was present as was the offense!
Anyway, Aeros stormed out, two goals PP goals at that right of the bat (ahem stick), and two more in the second. Letourneau-Leblond was also rather present :-), and finally retrieved Heat's honor by scoring a shorthanded goal in the the 3. I did notice the announcer having a bit trouble wrapping his tongue aroudn that name LOL!

A fast fist can subdue the most rambunctious!

The Heat turned it up by starting several fights.
And Bancks really let fly at the referee barely kept leashed by serious Bagnall.

But all was in vain, a energized, fluid, endowed with good passing,  Aeros were simply NOT overcome by the Heat.. Lol!
A good game. Makes one widner why they could not play like that before? Will it make much difference? Maybe. But ....

Befogged and Bewildered

everything is good - in moderation - like waking up to a version of this...this morning.

And so it goes.

Sacrificing in vain...

Did I really believe staying away from the game tonight would let the Aeros manage a repeat of last night's incredible winner.  ;-)!

Not so, hungry, or mad as hornets (?) Griffins won by 1 goal. 3-2 . 
OOOPS turned off radio too early. The actual numbers 5-2....in favor of the Griffins. Mea Culpa.
Gloves not withstanding. Maybe the Aeros were so bedazzled by the array of pink gloves around the arena ;-)!
Not fun for fans in attendance who braved the downpours to show their support.
Had I been there the numbers would have been 10240!
So there were 10239 instead watching DiSalvatore with another PP goal.
He seems to be on a real streak of scoring,

but he cannot single handedly bring home the bacon. Defense and offense have to be there as well.
Have all those injuries and call ups discombobulated the team? Perhaps.
Having lost 2 goalies and bringing up ECHL netminders surely will have an effect.
Although I do recall Fallon having some good games while with the Rampage that we saw at the ATT Center.
I do not remember Keetley (26 soon) at all, and yet Better Half says we did see him play during his stint with Quad City Flames a couple years back, and more recently with Abbotsford. A team the Aeros will face on Tuesday 3/13! And hopefully I am able to attend.

Schnurzegal

How that word sounds depends on my mood.
Mad - it growls schnurrrrrzegal.
Vicious - it hisses schnurzzzzzegal.
Bored - it drawls schnurzegaaaal.
But however, it rolls, trips and whips off my tongue deliciously foreign. SCHNURZEGAL.
And that's it.
That's all there is.
Which is sorta the meaning of it.

And that brings me to tonight's game.
Starting out, I wanted to be oh, so, blase...schnurzegaaaal.
And now I could not go after all.
And I already knew I have to miss the next one, and several more post surgery.
And it turns out it is not really that schnurzegal for me afterall.
Thanks to the Voice of the Aeros.. my only way to 'see' the game!

Fallon as Rampage

Save by Endras on Oct 23.11

So I am posting an old Photo Aeros vs Griffins... a won game at that - LOL
And what a game. The Voice just ababble with excitement 3 - yes, 3 PP goals. 

Color commentary provide laconically by McKenzie, and the AEROS win this one at home in front of over 8,800 (minus yours truly-maybe that will also be a factor tomorrow and they'll win again-just joking a course) 5-1. Fallon doing rather well in goal stopping 29 of 30 SoGs. And that sole goal came in the 3rd. So he'd almost had Shut out, and Di Salvatore lacked only 1 goal to hattrick.

Rain on MY parade? In drops and driblets...

How dare it do that?
Well, after reading several posts elsewhere (thethirdintermission for one) it looks like that. IMO - for what my opinion is worth!

The tales of Wild and Aeros can't be getting any grimmer, can't they?

photo: www.physorg.com

2011/2012 just is not a good year for the 2 teams.
Could it be the effects of solar storms?
Or full Moons, while we are at it!
Or Fridays the 13ths?
Or Unlucky Sevens?
Or ???? Just kidding.

Even the best of coaches and the best intentions of players cannot overcome fate when players fall like nine  pins.

If I were a Penguin fan (a really BIG one) I would rejoice at the news of Sidney Crosby's (left) probable return.

I do rejoice that several of OUR Aeros are now skating in the rarefied air of the NHL, albeit with (lately) the low-man-on-the-totem-pole Wild.

I also rejoice that several minor leaguers are getting a chance at shining (one hopes) at the AHL level in the green gray of OUR Aeros.

Shortly, Better Half and I will drive South to watch a game by the Ice Rays of Corpus Christi vs Texas Tornadoes (apropos, eh?) of Frisco.
And Killer Bees  of McAllen vs. Laredo Bucks.
(BTW Aaron Lee , a Bee! ;-)
- photo at left - seems to be doing quite well there, even after his short stint in green-gray sweater).


Wild Oak Ranch

And then onward to San Antonio to sit back and relax,
maybe we're lucky to watch some NHL games on TV?

Before I am heading into the operation room at the end of this month!

And tomorrow is another game to enjoy! LIVE!
GO AEROS!

Grimm Tales

actually Grimm's Fairy Tales.
. Who has not read them. And was scared, or wasn't. 
Anyway, what was perfectly fine to be told to, or read by, kids growing up then, today, most likely falls under 'unsuited' for the sensitive psyche of kids.
Which might have unspeakable influences on the child's development. 
Pish Tosh, I say. Kids know a lot more of sex and horrors, especially today, than some would believe!
And are more resilient, too, than some would hold.

I read, and was read to, all Grimm's Fairy Tales over the years of turning from a babbling baby to an always questioning, surely rather annoying, kid.
Why ? What for? How? When? How come?
Which parents, grand parents and adult friends of the family mostly answered patiently, in detail yet! Yes, without 'glossing over' special areas. One has to grow up, naturally! And ought to do so realistically. Euphemisms were not used for long at my home. Black was black and white was white, and many gray shades are there, too! Accept and go on!

Did the Tales of the Big Bad Wolf,  the Wicked Witch, or the ugly Stepmother  turn me into a raving monster? Of course not!
One accepted the bad with the ugly and the good.
One laughed a bit about the absurd in some Tales.
Shivered when reading about the bad and horrid.
Maybe had a nightmare or two, but such deliciously wicked ones at times.
And enjoyed all good endings. Triumphs of romance!
And, maybe, as growing older at the least realized, if not accepted, the warnings these tales offered. And hopefully taught not to repeat, or at least learn from them.
I say maybe. As a young one, one feels invincible, the 'can't happen to me' idea was alive and well.

And for some it still is.
As is so evident in much some do now or rather not do now.
Take the 'decision by committee' syndrome.
Seems no one wants to take the lead in action.
So we sit in committee after committee days in a row and ...
waste much time to come to the decision that ' subject will be tabled until the next meeting'. Does that sound familiar? Am sure it does.
No one wants to stick their neck out and say: "Let's do it this way".
No, no, no, a new Megatrend is developing.
The one in which NO one is responsible for anything.

Once upon a time, like in a fairy Tale :-),
we (individually and collectively) were masters of our own destinies.
We 'made our beds and lay in them'.
We had freedom to do good, or bad, or nothing at all ;-)!
We had choices. Being endowed, so it was believed, with brains to evaluate the choices!
We succeeded or failed.
Died or lived happily ever after.

Now, a new ideology is popping up.
Blame 'the other' - always.
Actions are not allowed consequences.
Criminals do not become criminals of their own volition.
They are always products of their environment, 
or anything that they were exposed to while growing up.
Grimm's Fairy Tales, for instance, most definitely could be a cause, or watching too much 'decadent TV or movies, right!

So why am I not a criminal?
Why do I dare to write about what I think and what I feel is not OK or P.C.?
We all have (since we are NOT animals) the option to decide.
We ought to have been reared to distinguish between right and wrong (Grimm's Fairy Tales come to mind here, as do Aesop's Fables and other tales of morality).
But it seems to me, anyway, that this idea of using one's own will to decide,
to succeed or fail, to be responsible for one self, and even one's family's behaviour, has become an oldfashioned, even misantropic, idea.
Never my fault.  Always blame the others!

Now, you will understand, chers readers, surely, that for the reasons stated above I'm NOT at all responsible for what I just posted :-)!

And if you don't, it's your own fault :-)!
And if you won't or can't accept it, blame it on the world!
Or pick anyone or anything to blame it on.

Just don't expect that I shall voluntarilty retract what I just posted.
It's really not my fault. ;-)!

Wild no more?

Reading between the lines of various bloggers about the Wild, it sure looks like
we should ask WHERE are the Wild (Things  :-)...) ?

And what about the Aeros?
One win does not a Summer make!

Freely adapted from Cervantes: "Una golondrina sola no hace verano"
Sorry, no swallow photo I can lay my hands on. just this minute. A rooster statue from Little Havana must serve - at least IT is colorful!
***********************************************************

On the opera front I hear many good things..
Don Carlos (Verdi)  and Maria Stuarda (Donizetti) at HGO are shaping up,
 and so is Il Trovatore (Verdi) at The OH!
Both comapnies going out with a bang-musically that is.
While U of H is offering Der Rosenkavalier (Strauss) as year end 'Zuckerl' =
Ear Candy.
Just to get you all going a few clips from all 4.... enjoy!

Don Carlo: Conducted feelingly by Riccardo Chailly

Maria Stuarda (La Scala Performance-seen 2008 in Shades cinema off HWY 6 here )

Even at this late stage,  Di quella pira...beautifully sung  by Pavarotti

The Ouverture to Der Rosenkavalier brilliantly conducted by my fave

Maestro Carlos Kleiber (r.i.p)

Night falls on the Wild

The Wild loose at Detroit, and loose two more players to injuries.
Will they call up more players from the Aeros;
and Aeros to call up more bodies from the minors?
A few more games away and then a longish home run for the Aeros.
First up San Antonio tonight. 

artshound photo

More on that later.
Here we are later:
Rampage 2 Aeros 1.
Kuemper in goal faced Markstrom.
The only goal by DiSalvatore in the third.
Rau recalled to Minnesota.
Aeros sign Joe Fallon to PTO .. jersey number 34 as BUG.

Then 2 at Abbotsford, who, BTW, have Kolanos back, we hear.
Not a good sign for the Aeros.
And then 10 at home interspersed with a set of 4 away (incl. Peoria who have  Pat O'Sullivan now) and one more away vs OKC before battling Stars and Rampage at home. End of season, methinks.
Neither Wild nor Aeros will be in the play offs, IMO.
Sadly!

On the home front:

an eye of a pelican (artandhockey)

looking at possible surgeries.
My right eye (another one you say-alas) and Better Half shoulder?So, having no play offs, just means fewer games missed and less stress ;-)! But also less excitement and fun. Hockey is entertaining-win or loss IMO!

Something New not always Something Good

or is it?
I am having a hard time getting used to the new blogger here.
Especially since downloading photos from my library seems to take forever and some.
Am always hitting wrong buttons and whoosh the post is history... sigh!
But maybe that's just me.
Enough said.

Having lots of fun downloading photos taken on the trip to Florida and remembering those moments. Certain ones are outstanding: Museum of Diving History for one. Claw and foot (right) of the BIG Deep sea rig on the left.


. On the other hand there were some instances of pure delight at the bird rescue sanctuary where pelicans played escorts along the boardwalk and owls sleepily blinked at curious visitors. Who were not put off by the guano smell...


And then there was the sea lavender also an import to the Keys -  not looking very lavender at all :-).
Rather like a desert plant, but then Key West does not get much rain and water has to be piped down from up north. Which was done by the Navy so we were told.

And the 'cement' from the sea still showing the imprints of the sea creatures who once inhabited it!


And on the Aeros front... nothing at home until March 10 through 18.