Monday, October 19, 2009

Houston Aeros Hockey

The Idle Monkey Trainer and a couple of associates (also idle, but not monkey trainers) headed to the Toyota Center Saturday night to catch the third game of the season between the Texas Stars and the Houston Aeros.

To be honest, I have no idea where these two teams sit in relation to others in the AHL. (Since it is the Stars inaugural season, it would seem likely there is not much rivalry established yet. At least not between the teams. There might be some between their home cities.) It doesn't really matter to me. It was just good to see some live hockey.

The crowd looked sparse at the arena, despite having the nose-bleed sections covered to make the place look and feel smaller. Still, the small crowd was dedicated to the home team and had the cowbells to prove it. (The team has a promotional night on which the first three thousand fans get a free team cowbell.) Regrettably, we missed the Micheal Jackson Tribute night on Friday, when the first three thousand fans got one white sequined glove. All I got was a team calender.

Our seats on the Aeros' attack end ensured that we got to see every goal. Sadly for the home crowd, four of those came in the second period for the Stars, chasing the Aeros' starting goalie. We also got to see the Aeros' only goal in the third, and the glass pushed out of the corner when the Aeros' defenseman rode a Stars' forward hard into the corner. Sadly for us, that was the most inspirational thing we witnessed from the Aeros, who seemed more content to pass than shoot (getting out shot 11 to 23 by the end of the second). They turned it up in the third, pulling their goalie with seven minutes left, only putting him back in after the empty-netter the Stars posted with about four minutes left.

(Photographs may be posted later. There is some sort of technical issue that is currently preventing it.)