Showing posts with label Houston Aeros. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Houston Aeros. Show all posts

Sunday, April 10, 2011

Oklahoma City Barons First Round Playoffs Set


The Oklahoma City Barons have clawed their way through a lot to get themselves into the Calder Cup Playoffs. Fighting through call-ups, other teams peaking, and their own scoring slumps, the Barons finish the 2010-11 regular season in 5th place of the Western Division. With the offset divisions, the AHL has it where the division with the 8 teams get an extra chance at a playoff spot. If the 5th place team in the bigger division finishes with more points than the 4th place team in the smaller division, they cross over and play within the smaller division. This was the case this year as the Barons finished with 91 points and the Abbotsford Heat(the Calgary Flames affiliate) finished in 4th place in the Northern Division with 86 points.

The final weekend was a big one for the Barons though. They started the weekend needing 2 out of 3 wins to virtually guarantee themselves a playoff berth. The game on Friday against San Antonio was the biggest to start. A win would put them in a great position to clinch on Saturday. The Barons came out hard and strong and got a tally on the board early with a goal from Ben Ondrus from a nice pass by rookie Tanner House. San Antonio would answer minutes later on a PP goal by Alex Picard. Colin McDonald would continue his hunt for the scoring title, scoring number 37 six minutes later and the teams headed to the locker room with the Barons leading 2-1. The 2nd period was all Colin McDonald as he would complete a natural hat trick, scoring at 2:45 and 18:34, his 38th and 39th goals. After 40 minutes the Barons lead by a score of 4-1. In the 3rd, Milan Kytnar would make it 5-1, picking up a Tanner House rebound. San Antonio would get one back as they break up a pass during a Barons PP and get a 2 on 0 rush, putting it past Jeff Deslauriers. The Barons would get it back 46 seconds later into the PP from Mark Arcobello, making it 6-2. Then just 2 minutes later, Colin McDonald would get his 4th of the night, number 40 on the season, and put the Barons up 7-2, which would be the final score. Brad Moran and Alexandre Giroux assisted on all 4 of McDonald's goals, JDD would make it 3 wins in a row.


Photo © Candace Riley


The next night, the Barons traveled to Cedar Park, Texas to take on the Texas Stars. After the win the night before, the Barons just needed a single point to clinch their playoff berth. The Barons wouldn't be content with just one point though, as Milan Kytnar and Colin McDonald would both score in the 2nd period and Jeff Deslauriers would pick up his 3rd shutout in 4 games as the Barons grabbed 2 points and a playoff berth. Colin McDonald's goal would be his 41st and the other player he was battling with, Nigel Dawes, would be held scoreless in his last season game, sending both players tied at 41 goals heading into Sunday.

The Barons headed to Houston to finish up the regular season. With the playoffs guaranteed, the team would sit 4 veterans, and allow the rookies a chance to play. Brad Moran, Bryan Helmer, and Alexandre Giroux would all sit in the press box for the game as Jake Taylor headed back to OKC to be with his wife as they celebrated the birth of their daughter. Martin Gerber would make his long awaited return, his first game after suffering a neck injury back in March against Grand Rapids. The Barons would start out well, taking a 1-0 lead into the 1st intermission with a goal by Mark Arcobello. The Aeros would storm back though, scoring 4 goals in the 2nd to the Barons 1 by Milan Kytnar. The 2nd period would end with the Aeros up 4-2. The Aeros would score twice more in the 3rd to make it 6-2 until the Barons' Colin McDonald would make it 6-3 with his 42nd goal of the season, clinching him the AHL Goal Scoring Title, the Willie Marshall award. 6-3 would be the final score though, to end the Barons regular season.

The Barons loss guaranteed them the 5th spot in the Western Division, crossing them over to the Northern Division. The Barons will take on the Northern Division champions, the Hamilton Bulldogs(Montreal Canadiens affiliate) in the 1st round. Credit to Patrick Williams of The Hockey News for this stat, this is the 4th time since 1987 that the AHL affiliates of the Canadiens and the Oilers will meet in the playoffs. They also shared an affiliation in the 2003 playoffs.


Photo © Candace Riley


The Barons season series was only 2 games, which the teams split. The Barons won the first meeting between the two, Oct 24th, which came at the end of rough 3 in 3 weekend, winning 3-2 in OT. The 2nd meeting came on Dec 17th, in which the Bulldogs handed the Barons their first shutout in franchise history, beating the Barons 3-0.

Here's the regular season stats for the teams.

The Barons and Bulldogs will open the series at Hamilton on Thursday at 6:30CDT/5:30MDT.

All Times Central
Game 1 - Thursday @Hamilton, 6:30
Game 2 - Saturday @Hamilton, 3:00
Game 3 - Tuesday, April 19 @OKC, 7:05
Game 4 - Wednesday, April 20 @OKC, 7:05
Game 5 - Friday, April 22 @OKC, 7:05*
Game 6 - Sunday, April 24 @Hamilton, 3:00*
Game 7 - Monday, April 25 @Hamilton, 6:30*
*-if necessary

----

Just some final thoughts, the Barons have peaked at the right time. They look like they're in playoff form.... Their defense in the crease and slot has gotten 10 times better from a few weeks ago, which has helped their cause tremendously.... The Oilers officially sent down Linus Omark, Ryan O'Marra, Teemu Hartikainen, Jeff Petry, and Chris VandeVelde today, further bolstering the Barons lineup.... Milan Kytnar ends the season with a 7 game point streak with 6 goals and 4 assists....

The Barons are going to be a very formidable team in the playoffs, and I'm looking very much forward to the next month and hopefully 2.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Tuesday, December 7, 2010

OKC Barons vs Aeros & Oilers vs Ducks / A LIVE TweetCast


Welcome to the Double Game Day, LIVE TweetCast of the
Edmonton Oilers vs Anaheim Ducks 
and
Oklahoma City Barons vs Houston Aeros.

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OKC Barons vs Houston Aeros
6:00pm MT Start

GAME STATS

GAME PREVIEW

BARONS ROSTER

MEDIA KIT

Listen to game HERE!

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Edmonton Oilers vs Anaheim Ducks
7:30pm MT Start

GAME PREVIEW

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Houston Aeros (13-10-1-2) at Oklahoma City Barons (14-8-1-2)
&
Anaheim Ducks (13-13-3) at Edmonton Oilers (10-12-4) 


This LIVE TweetCast is brought to you by

Saturday, November 6, 2010

Barons Game 14 Preview; Houston Who?

Away: Houston Aeros (5-5-1); Last game: 3-2 SO Win vs. Toronto
Home: Oklahoma City Barons (8-4-1); Last game: 6-1 Win vs. Texas


Quick news and notes
-This is the fourth of 10 meetings between the teams.
-The Aeros lead the series 2-1-0 while the Barons are 1-1-1.
-In the last game between the teams, the Barons won 8-2.
-The Aeros are on a 3 game win streak. The Barons are on a 5 game win streak.
-Now that the opening weekend games are out of the range, the Barons are 8-2-0 in their last 10.
-The Aeros are 4-5-1 in their last 10.
-The Barons are 3rd in the league in Goals For with 42.
-Jacques probably will not be playing tonight as he works his way back in. After last night's game though, I think that it'll be a tough decision not to play him.
-VandeVelde had two goals last night(almost three), Omark, Motin, McDonald, and Moran all added one.
-Deslauriers will be getting the start tonight in goal.
-Omark is on a 4 game point streak, scoring 2 goals and adding 3 assists in that time.
-Giroux continues to lead the team in points with 13. Omark and Belle are next with 12, and Moran behind them with 11.
-Reddox and Omark both lead the team with 5 even strength goals apiece.
-Barons PP: 17th in the league - 13/81 (16%); Aeros PP: 30th in the league - 4/57 (7%)
-Barons PK: 1st in the league - 59/63 (93.7%); Aeros PK: 6th in the league - 55/62 (88.7%)

Players to watch
OKC: JDD starting in net tonight. This will be his first game this season. We'll have to see if JFJ gets a start tonight or not after how much of a presence he had last night.
HOU: LW Robbie Earl(17) and D Marco Scandella(6) lead the team with 6 points apiece. After getting completely lit up in the last game against the Barons, it'll be interesting to see if Hackett gets the start again.

In front of a crowd of 5490 last night, the Barons put on an awesome show, destroying the Stars 6-1. Omark was Omark and had an awesome goal where he faked out a defender and the goalie. The team has already established a rivalry with the Aeros, so it should be a physical game. This is also the first time they have seen each other after Omark went and skated by the Aeros bench smiling after scoring in the last game. With JDD getting his first start this season, the defense will really have to step up to help JDD get back into the swing of things. The puck drop is at 7:05 CDT/6:05 MDT. The game will be broadcast on 96.1 KXY. As always, you can follow myself(@AHLBarons) and Scott(@OilFieldHockey) as we tweet from the game.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Sunday, October 17, 2010

OKC Barons vs Houston Aeros / LIVE TweetCast


Welcome to another fine TweetCast brought to you by OilersJambalaya.com.

Listen to the Live Broadcast here!

Barons Roster in PDF form

Game Preview CLICK HERE

GAME SHEET

GAME SUMMARY

OKC BARONS vs. HOUSTON AEROS

Barons Game 5 Preview; On The Road

Away: Oklahoma City Barons (1-2-1); Last game: 4-3 Win vs. Lake Erie
Home: Houston Aeros (2-1-0); Last game: 3-2 Loss vs. Peoria

Quick news and notes

-The Barons play on the road for the first time this season.
-This is the third meeting between the two teams.
-Houston leads the series 2-0-0.
-The Barons are 1 for 23 on the PP, and 14 for 16 on the PK.
-The Aeros are 2 for 12 on the PP, and 16 for 16 on the PK.
-Ben Ondrus was named the team captain and Alex Giroux and Shawn Belle the Assistants.
-After last night's game, Brad Moran is now the team points leader with 4(3G, 1A).

Players to watch:
OKC: Moran, obviously. Coming off of his pure hat trick, he's got to be determined to keep it up. Omark finally broke through and got his first of the season last night. He'd been frustrated after not getting one yet, and he's going to keep fighting to get more.
HOU: I'm sure Matt Hackett is starting. He had last night against Peoria off. Allowing one goal in each of the games against the Barons, he's going to look to keep that up. Jean-Michel Daoust(62) has a goal in each of his last two games.

Puck drops at 4:05. You can listen to the game on 96.1 KXY or watch the game on AHL Live. Be sure to follow myself (@AHLBarons) and Scott (@OilFieldHockey) as we tweet about the game.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Saturday, October 16, 2010

Barons Game 3 Recap; A Baron Net

Why, oh why, are we not able to get the puck into the net? So many chances in these games that have gone an inch or two the wrong way. This was a much better game than last weekend. The Barons were making the Aeros fight for the puck, and their first goal was a lucky one that just managed to get by Gerber after a scrum in front of the net. The Barons goal by Colin McDonald was a nice deflection off of a Petiot shot that floated over Matt Hackett's shoulder into the net. After a scoreless third, the game into OT where with 17.4 seconds left on the clock, Casey Wellman got the puck past Gerber to end the game. Definitely a heartbreak for a team that pretty much outplayed the Aeros for the majority of the game.

Highs

-Another 1 goal game, this time in OT. They've extended it all they can, it's time for a win.
-Colin McDonald getting his first goal of the season.
-I got to go on the ice during first intermission.
-Omark showed us he's got some mad stickhandling skills. Now we just need to see his shooting skills.
-The ref let the guys play, but there were some blatant calls that he let go.
-The defense looked good last night. Belle's a machine out there.
-Sound system was a little better.
-Outshot the Aeros 41-31. Now we just need those shots to make it INTO the net.
-Getting to see Bonk again was nice. You could tell he wanted to do something, but he just never got the chance to.
-Reddox was constantly attacking the net. Twice, he had awesome opportunities to get a goal.

Lows

-A heartbreak of a way to lose the game. 17 mother loving seconds left.
-The PP! 0 for 18! WTF?
-Plante and Ondrus need to take some fighting lessons from Belle.
-Sound system still sucked.
-Derrick is here why? I thought a mascot was supposed to pump up the crowd, not walk around it for photo ops. Anyone else find it sacrilegious that he wears #99?
-The prize I got during the first intermission was pretty lame($25 gift card to a restaurant), but hey, free food is free food.
-The etiquette videos. My first time getting to see them and my head wanted to explode. If they were going to do that, they should have ponied up and gotten Larry Hagman to be in it. That way, regardless of how bad they were, it's freaking Larry Hagman.
-They supposed STH-only entrance. I hadn't read the press release before I got there. According to the release, STH's got to enter through that entrance 15 minutes prior to everyone else. What ended up happening, the ushers let everyone in that corner entrance into the arena 15 minutes prior. Oops

Hopefully the team continues to improve, I'm ready for a win. Watch for my preview of tonight's game a little later.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Friday, October 15, 2010

OKC Barons vs Houston Aeros / A LIVE TweetCast


Welcome to the LIVE TweetCast of the Oklahoma City Barons vs the Houston Aeros. Follow along as Scott (@OilFieldHockey) and Eric (@AHLBarons) tweet the game.

THE GAME PREVIEW IS HERE

Game Summary Sheet CLICK HERE

Listen LIVE Here

GAME TIME: 6:05pm MDT

OKC Barons Game 3 Preview: vs. Houston, Take Two

Away: Houston Aeros (1-0-0) Last Game: 6-1 win vs. OKC
Home: Oklahoma City Barons( 0-2-0) Last Game: 2-1 loss vs. Chicago

Quick news and notes

-The Barons will play their first game after their inaugural weekend where they dropped both games.
-In the last meeting, the Aeros beat the Barons last Saturday 6-1 in the Barons inaugural game.
-Hartikainen has scored the only two Barons goals this season.
-Giroux leads the team in PIM with 16 minutes.
-The Barons are 0/15 on the PP and 12/14 on the PK.
-Projected Lines:

Giroux-Moran-McDonald
Reddox-O’Marra-Omark
Hartikainen-Kytnar-Ondrus
Cornet-Vande Velde-Marquardt
Goalie: Not positive, but I'm thinking Pitton will get the nod. He was getting a bit more work in practice on Thursday.

Players to watch:
OKC: Hartikainen, for obvious reasons. Remains to be seen if the first line is going to work well together.
HOU: Matt Hackett, if he starts in goal. Stopped 30 of 31 OKC shots last weekend. Petr Kalus(23) and Joel Broda(56) each scored twice last weekend.

After the blowout on Saturday, Todd Nelson adjusted the lines a little bit which seemed to help some, as the Barons looked a bit more in sync vs. Chicago. After a week of practice, hopefully things will turn out a lot better than last weekend’s game.

Puck drops at 7:05. You can listen to the game on 96.1 KXY or watch the game on AHL Live. Be sure to follow myself (@AHLBarons) and Scott (@OilFieldHockey) as we tweet from the game.

-Written by Eric Rodgers-

Sunday, October 10, 2010

Houston Beat the OKC Barons 6-1 / A Game Recap




(by Chris Wescott, )
 
The Houston Aeros spoiled Oklahoma City’s inaugural season opener, beating the Barons 6-1 at the Cox Convention Center in OKC. The Barons trailed early and could never catch up to Houston, despite out-shooting the visitors, 31-26.

The Aeros scored the first goal of the game at the 11:09 mark of the opening period. Colton Gilles was assisted on the play by Jared Surgeon. Houston went on to score two more un-answered goals before Oklahoma City would get on the board.

The crowd of over 9,800 fans went wild when Teemu Hartikainen scored the first goal in Barons’ franchise history at the 10:53 mark of the second period. Hartikainen took a long distance pass from Brad Moran and broke in on Aeros goaltender, Matt Hackett, putting the puck in the net and pulling the Barons within two.

Houston then went back on the offensive attack, scoring three more times and shutting down any hope of a Barons comeback.

The crowd did have something to cheer about in the third period, when OKC defenseman, Shawn Belle, engaged Jarod Palmer in the first fight in Barons’ history

Just moments later, Ben Ondrus would enter the penalty box for a fight of his own when he went toe-to-toe with Joel Broda of the Aeros.

Barons’ starting goaltender, Martin Gerber, faced all 26 of the Aero’s shots, making 20 saves.

Oklahoma City (0-1-0) looks to rebound from the loss quickly, as they host the Chicago Wolves tomorrow afternoon at 3:05 p.m. at the Cox Convention Center in OKC

-Written by Chris Wescott of the OKC Barons-

Saturday, October 9, 2010

Oklahoma City Barons vs Houston Aeros LIVE TweetCast


GAME DAY!!! Welcome to the 1st ever regular season game for the OKC Barons. We will follow the tweets of the OKC Barons, Eric, Scott and other great tweeters that will be at the game.

Follow along as the Barons make history. WOOOOOO!!

You can listen to the game here


Oklahoma City Barons vs Houston Aeros
6:05pm MDT Puck Drop


Two Guys & Hockey Talk NHL News (CLICK PIC FOR LINK)

The Faithful Followers

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