The Houston Aeros wrap up the first half of their season tonight, and they open the second half of the season on Sunday. They will be hosting the Rockford IceHogs at the Toyota Center, and in doing so, the Aeros will be facing a team directly in front of them in the playoff chase.
For the Aeros to make a move and pull out of a tight grouping of teams aiming for the playoffs, then they’re going to have to start winning games, starting this weekend.
With game 40 set to play tonight, the Aeros have a record of 18-15-5-1 (42 points), and they’re in a tie for the fourth and final West Division playoff spot with the Peoria Rivermen who are 19-13-1-3 (42 points). On the plus side for the Aeros is Peoria having just lost their head coach to the St. Louis Blues. On the minus side, Peoria has played fewer games, and thus has some more margin of error.
The Aeros are just behind this weekend’s competition, the IceHogs who,
along with playing the Aeros on Friday and Sunday, will be playing in
San Antonio on Saturday. The Aeros are also behind Milwaukee, and while
the first-place Texas Stars have been slumping recently, the Aeros just
can’t seem to gain much ground on them.
The Aeros last played hockey on Wednesday night, and for the second
game in a row, the Aeros sprinted out to a two-goal lead only to lose
in overtime, this time losing to the Stars 3-2 in Austin. The good news
is that the Aeros have lost only one of their last five games. The bad
news is, the Aeros have won only one of their last five games.
They’re getting points and staying in the playoff race by getting games
into overtime, but at some point, they’ve got to find a way to actually
start winning those games so that they can actually gain some ground on
their division opponents.
Once again, goalie Anton Khudobin, who will be an all-star in the
upcoming AHL All-Star game, failed to get the win. And once again, he
gave up two goals after getting the lead.
Sunday’s loss couldn’t be entirely blamed on Khudobin as the team was
exhausted — they were playing for the fifth time in seven nights —
and, at one point in the third period, the Aeros were being outshot 36
to 12. And on Wednesday, the Stars got their first two goals while on
the power play, which is a bad sign as it appears that the Aeros
penalty kill, which was excelling earlier in the season, appears to be
slowly falling apart at the seams.
But that’s not the only problem. The team is currently carrying three
goalies as management in Houston and Minnesota appear to be figuring
out who loses the lottery and has to return to the lower level ECHL.
Khudobin is currently seen as the future goalie of the Wild, so despite
the slump he’s been in the past month, his position on the team appears
to be secure.
There appears to be an internal management struggle brewing however.
The guys in Houston are pushing to keep Barry Brust, who was one of the
team’s two goalies during Kevin Constantine’s two years in charge in
Houston. But he was injured coming into the start of the season, and he
lost the number-two spot to Wade Dubielewicz who was signed by the new
management in Minnesota. The thoughts over the summer were that either
Brust or Dubielewicz would be the backup this season in Minnesota since
it was believed that Josh Harding would be traded. But Harding’s still
in Minnesota and there’s no room in Houston for both Brust and
Dubielewicz.
The comfort factor with Brust is high in Houston, and they have an
extreme amount of trust in him, but the comfort and trust in Brust
probably won’t be enough for Minnesota management.
But enough of the negative thoughts. Despite injuries and the constant
call-up of key players to Minnesota — it looks like Clayton Stoner
might be staying with the Wild for awhile, and Robbie Earl was just
sent back to the Wild — the Aeros are still in the heart of the
playoff chase.
And in hockey, it’s all about making the playoffs. Because once a team
is in the playoffs, it’s an all new season where anything can happen,
as evidenced by the playoff run the Aeros went on last season.
This article appears in Jan 7-13, 2010.
