HOUSTON, Texas – After starting the season looking like a budding juggernaut, the Houston Aeros’ new scoring prowess has fizzled, leaving the coaching staff searching for answers. More than looking to the rash of injuries, NHL call-ups, and a grinding road schedule, Coach Kevin Constantine has made it clear that the overarching need is for the team to find its “personality.”
Coming off a 4-0 season start, the team’s journey toward that goal took a sharp turn with three losses on the road in three days to the Manitoba Moose (twice) and Toronto Marlies. Assessing the situation prior to the Marlies game, Coach Kevin Constantine said that his biggest concern for the team was more mental than physical.
“It takes a while for every team to develop its personality. Our new group of guys is a little more offensively capable and our D is still a work in progress. Our team personality hasn’t really formed yet,” Constantine told
Photo courtesy of the Jason Villanueva.
Upon returning home for three games, it seemed the lessons of the road had sunk in. The Aeros played the Iowa Chops and Providence Bruins with clarity of purpose and focus not seen so far in the season, and the Aeros entered into November with a 7-game home win streak.
But as streaks tend to do, this one came to an end when the Aeros lost at home to the Calder Cup finalist Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins two days later.
The game left Constantine disappointed for his players. “I thought we played good in the second period, to be honest with you,” Constantine said after the game. “It’s just frustrating, and frustrating for the players. I think they felt like they were working and getting scoring chances, but I was looking up at the scoreboard and seeing us behind.”
Constantine said it also left him questioning his own coaching decisions: “Their top line scored all their goals. A little bit of that is my fault. I should have found players to play against those guys rather than letting our team style try to work against them.”
“I’d like to just trust our system, played with discipline,” he later told the Houston Chronicle. “But maybe it is my job to just put certain people out there.”
On the Road Again
The Aeros had four non-game days to let the loss simmer, during which time forward Krys Kolanos was recalled for the second time this season by the parent club Minnesota Wild.
In spite of losing a major offensive threat (Kolanos was on a 5 game goal streak), the team came together in Hamilton to beat the Bulldogs in game one of a weekend that would have them playing 3 games in 3 cities in less than 48 hours.
In spite of the Aeros 3-1 win, the signs of trouble were there in what Constantine called the worst start of the season, and a game that included plenty of turnovers, bad passes, and numerous stick infractions. “I’m just glad our team was able to hang in there and make adjustments and play better as the game went on,” he told Aeros broadcaster O’Donnell. “We were extremely lucky.”
The luck didn’t travel to Rochester the following night, where the Aeros lost 3-2 to the Americans, who were at the bottom of the AHL with one win in 11 games prior to playing the Aeros.
Constantine, however, found a silver lining, telling O’Donnell that he and his staff had set a goal during a 10-game “check-up” a few days earlier:
Photo courtesy of the Jason Villanueva.
The team plodded along to Syracuse to face the fast and physically punishing Crunch in a Sunday matinee game. It was a heartbreaker for the Aeros, as the team stayed in the game and matched the physicality of Syracuse, including a long, hard fought tilt between veteran enforcer John Mirasty and Aeros’ second year pro winger Matt Kassian. But couldn’t get the puck again in the net after scoring first in the middle frame and the Crunch scored twice in the closing minutes of the game.
A similar fate befell the team during a weekday matinee game in Grand Rapids, where the team lost 1-0. The team got better in all areas as each period progressed, but the strong puck possession of the Griffins was too much early on. The first period ended with only 3 shots on goal for the Aeros and 11 shots for the Griffins. But in the third, the Aeros found their stride and got 6 shots while strengthening defensively to hold the Griffins to 6.
Homebound
After wrapping up the current road trip with one game against the Lake Erie Monsters, the Aeros will return to a busy four weeks at home with 11 of 12 games on Toyota Center ice (and the away game just a bus ride away in San Antonio).
With the season still young, the Aeros will have to take advantage being on home ice for an extended period to find their rhythm, get healthy, and maybe even nail down that personality that Constantine is hoping will be one of a champion.
Contact the author at heather.galindo@prohockeynews.com.
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