Mitch Love/Photo Courtesy: Fred Trask

Last Monday I chatted with you all from Des Moines, IA getting prepared for our huge divisional showdown with the Iowa Chops. Tuesday was our 4th game in 5 nights and we came out with the desperation we needed to get the job done and walked away with a 6-2 win. After the game, we got on the bus and drove to Omaha, NE (which was 2 hours away) for our early 7am flight back to Houston on Wednesday morning.

We were only home long enough Thursday for a home cooked meal, a sleep in our own beds and a rematch against the Chops. Playing for their playoff lives, with only 6 games left, the Chops handed us a 5-3 loss on home ice.

Mitch Love/Photo Courtesy: Fred Trask

Things weren't going to get any easier for us on Friday with a 2nd place showdown with the Peoria Rivermen. Friday morning we had a 5:30am bus from our team's apartment to Houston's other airport, Hobby International. With a 7am flight to Chicago and then a 170 mile bus trip to Peoria, Il...it was definitely a long day. Friday didn't quite turn out the way we had envisioned it to with a 3-1 loss and a slip in the standings down to 3rd place.

After the game, we headed back to Chicago for a 9:30am flight Saturday morning to Cleveland, OH for our 3rd game in 3 nights against the Lake Erie Monsters (Colorado Avalanche farm team), an organization that I spent 3 years with before moving onto the Aeros/Wild organization. I have to say that it s always great to go back and play in the cities that I've played in before. Cleveland is a great sports town and the people involved with the Monsters have done a great job reviving the sport in a city that has a great hockey tradition.

With a great crowd on hand at the Q, which is also home to Lebron James and the NBA leading Cavaliers, we got out worked by the pesky Monsters to a final score of 3-0.

We headed home Sunday morning, back to some warm weather and fresh off a stretch in which we played 7 games in 9 nights. This will be a great time for us to regroup, heal up, and prepare for the last 3 games of the regular season all against our I-10 rivals the San Antonio Rampage.

As we enter the final week of the regular season we sit in 4th spot and have yet to officially clinch a playoff spot. We've definitely got our work cut out for us to get that final playoff spot in the conference. We will really find out what kind of character this Aeros hockey club has at the end of the day.

Thank you so much hockey fans and friends for checking in again this week and look forward to wrapping up the regular season with you all next Monday....hopefully with news of a playoff berth (keep those fingers crossed).

Mitch Love