Aeros v. Syracuse Crunch - Game 24

Quite a few superlatives from tonight's 4-3 win over Syracuse, but for my goalie-loving money, nothing was bigger than Barry Brust's game. As Constantine pointed out (ever the goalie-turned-coach), he allowed way too many rebounds, but the ensuing saves were absolutely phenomenal.

Of the 40 saves he made, at least 10 of them were "rubbing my eyes because I can't believe what I just saw" unbelievable. He has said before that he needs a little physical involvement in the game to really get into it, so I'd like to thank the Crunch's Craig MacDonald for running Barry into the boards while he was playing the puck in the trapezoid. Barry (oh please, let there be video or a photo of this) goes careening backward like he's been shot, arms and legs flailing, onto the ice. It deserved an Emmy, if not an Oscar. And then he even got into the ensuing scrum a bit, nabbing a Crunch in his trapper until a ref pulled him off. Good, "crazy goalie" stuff.

Then in the second period, Rogers got a double minor for high sticking, during which the Crunch got a ton of pressure and shots on the Aeros net. Barry made a series of saves that is the stuff of highlight reels. Fred has a couple of photos of it here. The crowd went absolutely wild. It was exciting. (Yeah, I know goalies shouldn't be this exciting this much in one game, but I can't help myself.) But then the Crunch pinned the Aeros penalty killers in the zone for too long and, getting tired, let one slide in with only 10 seconds left on the kill.

That goal put the Aeros down 0-2 midway through the second period, and my instinct is that Aeros-past would have been defeated at this point. That should have sucked the air out of the building and the team should have spent the rest of the game gripping their sticks and overcomplicating and trying to do too much. And they didn't. They stayed steady and focused and potted three goals in the next 6 minutes (Locke with a breakaway, Mojzis with a PP goal off a slapper from the high slot that went 5-hole on LaCoste, and another PP goal by Noreau).

Then, after a flat start in the third, Locke took advantage of another breakaway and landed the 4th goal and his third point of the night. Dude is ridiculous in one-on-one situations. With 2 minutes left, the Crunch goalie was pulled, the Crunch got a garbage goal with :19 left in the game.

This is a game that I felt would go one of two ways: Either the Aeros would just be dominated by a very good Syracuse team or they'd rally in the absence of some of the team's top players, as they have several times this season, and impress the hell out of everyone. Luckily, they chose door #2. And speaking of top players out, they included R. Hamilton, Lundbohm, Albers, and Stoner, plus Kolanos who sat in the press box tonight for the Wild.

Other notes:

A couple of fights in the game. I thought Mirasty and Kassian might say hello again, but it turns out Scotty went with Mirasty and it was unspeakably lame and perfunctory. I think they talked more than fought. But Love went with Harvey in the closing minutes of the game and that was a good one. Love won handily. For a team with a crapload of PIM, they sure didn't cause anything close to the kind of trouble this team couldn't have handled. That was good to see.

Speaking of Scotty though... the guy looks happy to be playing hockey again. He seemed to have a grey cloud over his head much of last season. I won't make guesses as to why, but whatever it is, I'm glad it's gone. He's skating better, he's more confident, he's better positioned. It's good.

The boys now have a 3 day respite until the Rochester Amerks roll into town on Wednesday. Hopefully they went out and got their beer on tonight. They earned it. Even Mojzis.

ETA: Here's Andrew's Chron write-up and Royal's blog. And finally Royal's Houston Press article. CLICKY!