Aeros v. Toronto Marlies - Game 44

As usual, you never know what you're going to get when the boys come home from a long road trip and then have 4 days off. So far this season, these "welcome home" games have been mostly ugly, losing affairs, and this one certainly started no differently.

The rust was nearly palpable in the first period, which ended with shot count of 5 to 15 in favor of the Marlies. But Matt Beaudoin continued his scoring streak jamming a power play marker past Justin Pogge, and the game went to intermission 1-0 Aeros. Also, Albers and Ondrus fought early in the period. Not sure why. It was kind of a wrestle-and-grab thing, but I'd say Ondrus edged Alby by a little bit.

In the second, Love and Oreskovic dropped the mitts early on and it was pretty much a draw. The Aeros continued to struggle to hold the puck in their zone and spent 6 minutes killing penalties during the period, and allowed two goals. One even strength and one power play goal. The period ended with the shot count at an abysmal 8-24 in favor of the Marlies.

It's a testament to just how en fuego Schaefer was tonight that the score wasn't 6-1 in the second. He really stood on his head, but the guys in front of him looked like their sticks were full of water. They just couldn't clear the rebounds as effectively as they usually do. In fact, stick vs. puck was really the theme of the night for the Aeros. Whiffs, bad passes, and overskating ruled the evening.

Then in the third, Brent Aubin, who is 5'9" starts jacking around with Scotty. Now, it takes a special kind of stupid to start shoving around a guy who's a foot taller than you, and I think he's probably lucky he got a slashing penalty in the process. The Aeros were certainly lucky to get the man advantage, as Ryan Hamilton ripped off a shot from the slot and it got past Pogge.

I hope Fred got a picture of Hammy celebrating that goal, but he might have been in a bad spot for it. He was basically on his knees, both arms in the air, just looking like he's tied the 7th game of the Stanley Cup finals. It really exemplifies why people root for Ryan. He just leaves it all out there, plays with his heart on his sleeve. He's a fun guy to watch. Players like him are the reason people love hockey so much.

Update: Here's what he was able to get from his corner. Just imagine Hamilton, arms raised, eyes closed, just having watched his shot go in. Awesome. Photo courtesy of Fred Trask aka Mr. Awesome.


Now tied up, the rest of the game is just defense defense defense, with the occasional scramble in front of the net, during which Schaefer continues to look like Brodeur. He was just incredible and I think he may have ousted Barry as the "hot goalie" for now. Rightly so. Though I still squirm when he plays the puck.

Anyway, OT was more battling but no goals. In fact, Mojzis got a penalty that the team had to kill during OT and I even put my computer in my bag, ready to bolt for the locker room assuming this was where it would end. But nope. The stellar PK did its job again and the boys rolled through to the shootout.

Now, as of 10 p.m. Friday night, the Aeros were 2-7 in the shoot out. But they showed Schaefer on the big screen talking to Schultz, who was the first shooter, and Nolan was smiling and looked at ease. (Though he told Royal after that that wasn't the case at all. Coulda fooled me.) But he certainly played like it was the case. He stopped all 3 shots like it was nothing. Just great positioning and timing and patience on his part. As nice a shootout shutout as I've ever seen.

And at the other end, the Aeros shooters were on fire. Only Schultz didn't get his rather uncreative shot (right into the belly of Pogge) in the net. Locke, Madsen, and Beaudoin (which must be French for "Where the hell have you been all season, hotshot?!") all nailed their shots. That was one seriously happy team streaming off the bench to give their goalie and shootout boys the love. Great stuff. And a great welcome home.

A few notes:

• Mitch shaved his mustache! Apparently, the 'stache was the result of some game the guys play during practice and the loser has to grow a mustache for a month. Or something like that. I missed the original telling of the story. But essentially, he lost a bet. :) Apparently, Kassian is the latest loser. Oh yay.
  
• The injury situation is pretty painful. The only healthy scratch was Kassian. Rosa, Noreau, Lammers, and Stoner are all out with injuries. Not good, though Beaudoin's success has certainly alleviated the loss of the forwards, as has Pouliot's return.
• Speaking of Pouliot's return, here's an article from the Pio with some quotes from Riser about it. Pouliot didn't look good. He played like his dog got run over before the game. And really, I imagine this disappointment kinda feels like someone or something has died a little for him. Hopefully he finds a way to dust himself off.
  I asked Constantine about it after the game and he talked about how utterly disappointed Ben is and how disappointed they are FOR him. It sounds like they're motivated to help him get over the hump, naturally.
  To be honest, Ben looked pretty much like he did last season in Houston. Floaty and mostly ineffective without the puck, a few breakaway opportunities with the puck and one that, if he'd been able to pick a top corner rather than trying to go low, would have converted. I'll call that one a quality chance.
  To his credit, he showed up and he played through the heartbreak which is pretty much all I expected in this game. I think it will be a few games before he finds some spark and motivation, if he's going to, and honestly, I'm okay with that for a couple of games. I give him the weekend to lick his wounds.
• And speaking of licking, I saw him as we were leaving the locker room area, and he was already in his suit, and looking about as tall and gorgeous as any human I've seen in person. No joke. I mean, here I'd just spent 2 hours clenching my fists in frustration watching him float around the ice, ready to send him to the ECHL, and then he walks in looking like Adonis. Dammit! I think Dolly says it best (sorry for the ad):
  

Here's the Andrew's Chron article and Royal's blog post.