Aeros v. Bridgeport Sound Tigers - Game 40

Halfway done, boys! Phew!

So, I'll just say straight up here that I only caught the last 7 minutes of this game and seeing as how it was 3-0 Bridgeport when I tuned in and there were hardly any penalties and no fights, there's just no way I'm watching the early part of the game. If anything awesome happened that I should know about, someone drop it in the comments. If anything horrible happened, keep it to yourself.

That's said, there's PLENTY to say about the last few minutes of that game. Because I saw 3-0 and thought, "Oh damn. Who's in goal? Schaefer. Hmm. Well. This is the New Aeros who do freaky shit all the time like come back with 3 goals faster than you can say, 'Mmm, Peters, your thumb tastes delicious!'" (Technically it was in 1:22, a team record for scoring three goals in a row, according to the Chronicle.)

I saw Noreau get jammed into the boards. Glad he appears to be okay. Any hit bad enough to get the other guy 15 minutes of penalty time, including a game misconduct (but isn't Ms.Conduct always game?), is a pretty bad hit. Way to be tough, Max.

So the boys were gifted with 5 minute man advantage that couldn't be canceled by a goal. Someone's been making the hockey gods happy (I'm guessing it wasn't Max, unless he was the sacrificial lamb).

A little over a minute into the penalty, Rosa hammered a goal in and you got the feeling the floodgates might open. And indeed they did as 40 seconds later, Ryan Hamilton did a little garbage pick-up in front of the net for the second Aeros goal.

At that point I'm thinking, "Okay, 3-2 looks a ton better than 3-0. This is fine." And then a few seconds later, with Schaefer on the bench and a two-man advantage, Locker fired a shot in from the slot to tie it up.

If I had a dollar for every time I said, "Holy shit!" during the final minutes of this game, I'd have a healthy wad of cash.

As usual, OT was back and forth and defensive and scoreless so the game went to the shootout. And from there, we all know what that means. Schaefer let two of three shots past him and the Aeros got nothing in and, frankly, were pretty unimaginative in their shots. Like, they looked like shots I could have stopped. (Scott TCG doesn't read these game reports but he'd be laughing his ass off if he saw me say that.) Schultz, Madsen, Locke and Beaudoin were the Aeros shooters.

Madsen was back in the line-up tonight for the first time in ages and got an assist. Boy needs to get some more points, though. I'm getting concerned.

Dietsch is still out. I'm assuming he's injured but haven't checked.

Aeros are now 2-7 in the shootout. That is just absymal and really kinda heartbreaking because I know these guys are better than that. Well, the goalies are, anyway. What the hell is going on there? Seems like Barry's problem was taking too long to react to a shot, and tonight, Nolan was committing too quickly and they were popping them in behind him. I believe this team needs to be on Mission: Avoid the Shootout.

Or maybe they need the Ms. Conduct as Goalie treatment that Scott got last Friday at stick and puck. Boost their confidence through the roof as they're reminded how bad it can be.

They're off tomorrow but back at it against Hershey (who they blew out of the water at home a few weeks ago) on Friday night for the start of yet another 3-in-3. But then this miserable road trip is over! Yay!