Texas is no place for Bears

Well I am sure the Bears are happy to be on their way back from Texas today. They lost 3-0 on Thursday night and then rebounded (or failed to rebound) with a 6-1 loss suffered at the hands of the Houston Aeros last night.

Daren Machesney played solidly in goal until halfway through the 2nd period when the flood gates opened and Houston scored 5 goals in the period on 15 shots.

The defense wasn't exactly strong (or even decent) in front of Cheese. They routinely let open guys get shots from great locations on the ice and those players converted. Krys Kolanos did the most damage with 2 goals and an assist on the night.

Bobby Goepfert came in for Cheese in the 3rd period and stopped all 13 shots he faced. It appears all hell broke loose late in the period as there were 42 penalty minutes handed out over the final 9 minutes of the game including a couple fights and a misconduct period to Aucoin for abuse of officials.

And to add insult to injury (or injury to insult if you will) 3 players left the Capitals game against Montreal with injuries last night. Tyler Sloan, Sergei Federov, and Nicklas Backstrom all went out with injuries. Backstrom was suffering from a migraine headache but there is no word on the other two. Sean Collins was already on recall in case of a defenseman not being able to go so he will probably stay for Sloan if Sloaner can't go on Tuesday. Federov is the biggest concern because he missed so much time already due to an ankle injury. If he can't go Keith Aucoin will probably be recalled again or Oskar Osala might head back up. Either way it isn't good for the Bears. Hopefully Nicky's headache was just a headache and not a concussion symptom.

The good news for Hershey is Dean Arsene and Jay Beagle are expected back in the lineup next weekend. If the team loses a d-man and a center at least there are other players to jump in now.


My Three Stars of the Game:

1. Barry Brust - made 29 of 30 shots and really kept the Aeros in the game for the 1st period
2. Krys Kolanos - 2 goals (including the game winner) and an assist
3. Corey Locke - 1 goal and an assist and many other opportunities

Grading the Performance:

• Offense - B - Not bad actually. They just didn't get anything by Brust who is on a 6 game winning streak now. Many good opportunities in the first period and a half. After that it was a lost cause and the team played like it was.
• Defense - F - They were okay for the first period and then they just had a MASSIVE letdown. On many of the goals they weren't around at all. There were players open all around the goaltender all night and it shows up on the scoresheet.
• Goaltending - D - Like I said above, he had a good first period and a half. But then the whole team (including Cheese) stopped playing. Goepfert was solid in the third period though.
• Power Play - F - 6 opportunities and no goals means a bad performance. They had a tough time getting set up in the zone and didn't get any really good looks all night. They need to score more.
• Penalty Kill - F - They allowed goals on 25% of the Aeros chances. And they were allowing Aero players to stand around uncovered near the goal. Not good.
• Overall - F - If I was grading the first period I honestly would give them an A. The first period was great, they played physical and fast. And then the second period came and Houston took over the game.

News and notes:

• Simeon Varlamov won his first NHL game in his first NHL start last night in Montreal.
• More news on the injuries will probably come Monday.