When you can count the snowflakes...

it's not really snowing, per se. But by god, I'll take it. It's been nearly two years since I saw falling snow. I enjoyed my 10-20 flakes very much, thank you. Might have enjoyed more, but I didn't have shoes or socks on and the slate on our back porch was mighty cold on my feet.

Anyway, if that isn't a sign of hockey weather in Houston, I dunno what is. Fortunately, the ground/roads are still warm enough I don't need to freak out about driving to and from the Aeros game against the Rochester Americans tonight. But the bitchy part of me (which I think we all know pretty much rules me) is happy that the Americans aren't getting easy-going flip-flop weather during their stay.

Strangely, the last time I saw falling snow, I also had bronchitis. Suppose my respiratory system has some kind of sixth sense about when it's going to snow?

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AHL All Star Ballot Time

Go vote!

The only easy decisions are the Planet USA defenseman, for which Houston only has two choices, Brandon Rogers and Jon Insana (who isn't with the team anymore), and Planet USA goalie, for which there are no Houston choices.

The rest I'm gonna have to ponder deeply. I'll let you know what I decide.

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If you haven't found Love, you should

Again, Google Alerts is better than crisp bacon and fluffy pancakes on a lazy Sunday morning... because it found this fantastic article about Aeros d-man and pugilist Mitch Love and, boy, if you didn't have a sense of who the guy is yet, this will get you there.

Seriously, if you're an Aeros fan or you just like great hockey stories, go read it.

And I have to wager they yell "fight" because, to say Mitch is a prolific fighter is a huge understatement. To not yell "fight" would be like yelling "peanut butter" but not yelling "jelly."

Thanks for the terrific post, MotleySu!

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PHN: Third period a dent in Aeros' flight plan; more from Constantine

Ha. I like the title this time. Pretty good.

Anyway, here's my latest ProHockeyNews.com piece.

I had some good photos lined up but due to the density of the Aeros schedule, we just had to get it published before the stats got outdated. I'll save them for next time, I guess.

Lots of great stuff from Constantine in this one. I could listen to him talk about hockey all day. After one game, when I asked him how a team achieves consistency (more on that below), he apologized for being "long winded" as he answered my question. Are you kidding me? I'm always a little sad when our interview time is over.

That said, I have several pages of quotes from him that didn't get into the piece, so I figured I'd share a few that stood out to me here:

On the bottom line:

All you want from your athletes from a coaching standpoint is that we keep acknowledging the issues and keep moving forward and keep working on what we need to work on and just concentrate on our next day and improving in the next day. Honestly, I'm not looking too far in the future at anything other than just keep addressing the issues.

On comparing seasons:

I think we're way further along than we were at this point last year. It took us at least 20 games before we were remotely close. I think we understand more now than we did a year ago. It's hard to judge. You're always trying to compare sometimes but your only reference point is where you've been, and we don't always want to look back at where we were last year. We have to find an identity that works for the team and they have to get together as a team and decide as a team what they want to be, so those are all works in process for any team.

On what kind of road team the Aeros are:

I don't even know how to judge our road trips yet, because of, you know, two in Manitoba and then travel to Toronto on game day in a different time zone. Then the last time on the road, we played 4 in 5 nights and one at 3 on a Sunday afternoon and then another game at noon on a Tuesday.

I don't really pass judgment yet on such a small window, especially when our road trips have been so challenging from a fatigue standpoint. I think if we spread some of those games out, I think I'd understand our team more, but I know so far we're not a very consistent team from period to period, from game to game, and even on an individual basis we don't get a ton of consistency yet, and that's something we have to continue to strive for is just a little more consistency.

On how to get consistency out of a team:

I think consistency comes from the effort you put into preparing. Your preparation the 48 hours before a game, into the game, and even your ability to handle the ups and downs of a game, because a game might have fatigue factor, might have a criticism factor, might have a "you've made a mistake" factor, it might have a physical intimidation factor, it might have "we're up by a couple" like tonight.

The only way to beat all of those adversities to consistency is to have a pre-game plan and a during game plan that puts you back on track as quick as possible, and that's part of becoming a good professional, is to develop those plans. So we have to help the players work on that.

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Lemaire on Kolanos

I wasn't going to post about Kolanos' reassignment to Houston because it was such a quick turnaround and the reason for the call-up (Olden Nolan's bum "lower body") is still in effect, I don't quite believe it will stick.

But Good King Stensaaslas had a quote from Lemaire in his article today talking about Kolanos:

"He's got some offensive skills," Lemaire said of Kolanos this weekend. "I just wish that his game would be more focused on the concept: how we play, how we support. All this."

Presumably he's speaking to a lack of defensive attention and kind of a cherry-picking style of play. Now I thought that was going to be a problem in Houston, but Constantine has let him play his game in exchange for ridiculous goal scoring. I'm not sure what kind of message that sends to guys who may feel like if they didn't have to be so responsible in their zone, they'd score more.

Here's my silly theory: In one of either Andrew or John's articles a few games back, Constantine praised these top scorers (presumably Kolanos and Locke in particular) for adjusting their games the way the coaches have asked them to. And looking back with that in mind, it does seem like lately Kolanos is doing more passing, keeping his linemates involved in the play, not just charging the net every time (unless it's a clear breakaway opportunity).

The guy has fantastic hockey sense and vision on the ice, so his strengths really should include a little more playmaking for his line than it did. And it's reflected on the score sheet: Kolanos has 13 goals and 5 assists, and three of those 5 assists were earned in the last 3 games. Maybe that's not enough evidence to point to a clear priority shift for him on the ice, but it's something to keep an eye on.

So, this behavior modification is keeping him on Constantine's good side. But perhaps he's working so hard to prove himself to Lemaire that he's reverting to a more selfish, independent style of play to show off his offensive prowess when he's with the big club. And homey don't play that, of course. But surely he's smarter than that. It's not like it's a secret what a "Jacques Lemaire Player" looks like.


Good Lord. *catches breath*

Anyway, like I said, this is pure conjecture, haven't asked KC about it, but there you have it anyway.

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Sunday night

Novice hockey was fun tonight, in spite of a couple of things that pissed me off. But I tried to play a slightly less sissified game so Scott TCG wouldn't have as much to yell at me aboot. ;)

One of my linemates, and I've bitched about him before, doesn't seem to understand that this is a developmental league and swooped in to steal the puck from me on a nice opportunity for me to a) move the puck up the ice on my own which I don't get often and I like to do because it makes me feel like a hockey player, and b) if he'd just positioned himself nicely, I'd have passed it to him. I'll always go for the high percentage option if I can find it. And the high percentage option around the net certainly isn't me.

Anyway, my ass was chapped a bit after that (only a minute or so left in the game) and I did the uncool teammate thing and just kinda let him hang himself when he was fighting for the puck. If you want to be Mr. Macho Hockey Man, you're not getting any help from me when you need it. *middle finger*

Okay. I feel better.

Oh! And I finally got a good poke check on Joe, who is the red team's coach and the bane of my existance. I've been on a mission to beat him for a couple of months now and finally did it. It was as awesome as I thought it would be.

I definitely play better when it's only once a week. I just have trouble working up the fire in the belly necessary to play more than that... at least with any guts. But knowing that I'll get to play goal soon motivates me. It made me a little sad to leave my goalie gear at home tonight. It called to me from its tidy little pile in the office as I was walking out the door, "Take us! We wanna play hockey, eh! This carpet is itchy! We need some ice!" But alas, Müller and Co. stayed home.

Though I did almost take a puck in the cage when a shot down the boards went right past me into the bench. Whoa Nelly, did I ever flinch! Heh.

Anyway, I think my teammate, Michelle, and I are gonna hit a stick and puck this week so she can get some practice shooting and I can get some practice flopping. Hopefully we can do that a few times during December so I can get used to things and won't be blindsided by any unexpected craziness either with my gear or my play. Rock on.

*Note to self: Call tomorrow to see if pro shop has suspenders in stock.* ETA: The answer is yes. Bueno!

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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!

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