Monday, January 19, 2009

Aeros v. Lake Erie Monsters - Game 45

I'm really tired and it's really early in the morning, and Royal did a great job writing up the game, plus Mr. Awesome gave him a great picture of the game winning goal celebration. You don't see Ryznar or Kassian in those too often so go look at that and soak it up.

Royal's blog
Andrew's Chron article

Just a few extras:
I was tres impressed with the domination of the Aeros today. I don't believe we've seen this kind of puck possession all season. But I'm going to resist the urge to say they've turned a corner of some sort. The Monsters were on game 4 of 4 games in 5 days, so they were tired and kind of resorted to the dumping and chasing required to just hold the offensive zone. Definitely a hard fought game on their part.

And Monster's goalie Tyler Weiman was off the hook. It would have easily been 6-1 with a lesser goalie in the net. His positioning is just spectacular because he wasn't making much in the way of dramatic saves. He was just always in front of the puck. I thought he deserved the #2 star. I'm not sure I understand why Schaefer got a star at all. Should have been 1-Ryznar, 2-Weiman, 3-Schultz.

In the picture on John's blog, you can see Kassian's "I lost the bet this month" mustache. *sigh* Why do these good looking guys do this to themselves? Here's hoping his month of 'stachedness is over soon.

Pouliot was alternatingly quite good and quite frustrating. Definitely peppier and more involved than Friday night, which was good to see. He had a few quite good opportunities on goal, but couldn't convert. But, when he hits the blue line and there's a d-man after him, it's still just, "Oh sorry, was this puck yours? My bad. Here ya go!" Though at one point, he had a big shot on goal and Weiman froze the puck, and they played Marilyn Manson's Beautiful People and I had to agree with John that it's a great choice for Ben's "theme song." Though it was probably just a coincidence.

I'm delighted for the 4th line boys. They dominated this game for the Aeros and I'm glad one of them got the big prize out of the effort, though ideally, it would have been a Ryznar goal with assists from Kassian and Love. But I'll take whatever.

I have to wonder if the knowledge of how short on forwards the Wild are right now has guys playing 110% right now. It's really a crap shoot as to who the call up would be, at least from where I sit. I wonder how long this delicate balance will last? Probably not into next weekend, unfortunately.

Healthy scratches were Mike Hamilton (who I suspect has the most to lose from the Pouliot demotion, besides Pouly himself, of course) and John Adams. Still injured and out are Stoner, Rosa, and Lammers.

Next game isn't until Friday night when the Aeros have back-to-back games at home against the Peoria Rivermen. Notable about these games is the return of Matt Foy to the Toyota Center. Mothers, hide your daughters. Fathers, lock the liquor cabinet.

After the game Friday will be a fun amateur USA vs. Canada game that a bunch of my teammates are playing on, so that should be a laugh if you want to stick around after the Aeros game and take in some more hockey.

5 comments:

Fred Trask  January 19, 2009 at 10:03 AM  

These are harsh words but I think anyone watching him play, and is honest about it, will see that it's difficult to disagree with my points.

Benoit brings nothing to a team. He's soft, as soft as anyone you'll ever see on the ice. (He makes PMB look tough.) The guy has real talent and he's a really really nice guy. Maybe that's the problem, he's too nice on the ice.

Hit someone Ben, defy them to stop you or to take the puck away. Get an attitude that there is nothing they can do to stop you from making the play. If you play like that, with your talent, you'll be back in the NHL and a star. Right now you're taking up roster space from someone who actually plays with passion.

I think that's the biggest thing, no passion on the ice. You take the puck from him, no big deal. It's a sad, sad thing to watch. Sadder still because you WANT the guy to succeed. You see that talent and then no passion. Sigh ...

You can't coach heart and passion ...

When he was here the past two years people here and in MN kept saying that it was because of his linemates. He didn't have the talent around him etc. Well we can all see that wasn't true. STARS make those around them better. Benny brings flashes of brilliance with long spans of nothing but groans about what could have been.

Phew, glad I held back and didn't tell you what I really think.

Ms. Conduct  January 19, 2009 at 10:06 AM  

Well, you know I don't disagree with ANY of that. Very well put.

Jennifer Hammer  January 19, 2009 at 11:17 AM  

Oh that Tyler Weiman. <3! (sorry Aeros).

Stoner should be close to coming back, no?

Ms. Conduct  January 19, 2009 at 11:21 AM  

Apparently the only thing keeping him out is that he has trouble holding a stick with the cast on. Apparently he could have gone if he absolutely had to. Love to see him next weekend but it might be after the All Star break.

Weiman is a tough goalie for this team to solve. He's very good.

Jennifer Hammer  January 19, 2009 at 12:17 PM  

Weiman played well in an AMS sweater too!

Hope Stoner's back sooner rather than later, but I can see where trying to grip a stick with a cast on would suck.

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