I meant to crank out a blog earlier in the road trip, but as usual, I forgot.  And for the record, I just got reminded to blog because I was reading “Russo’s Rants” – a blog by Wild beat writer Michael Russo.  On an aside, I don’t read his stuff nearly enough and I need to do a better job – after all, I think I can just have all of his postings sent right to my phone if I wanted which would make things a lot easier.  His blog postings from today also made me realize I don’t have a very “typical” blog.  In fact, the way some people blog, I’d be wrapping this thing up already and then blogging again three hours from now.  Anyway, I digress.  But it should be pointed out that I’m extremely tired right now, so this thing might be all over the map   Anyway, here goes an attempt at a coherent stream of thoughts at 2:20 am EST.  .

We just crossed the border back into Canada after the Aeros 4-3 shootout loss to the Syracuse Crunch.  The bus we are on is pretty sweet – as sweet as a coach bus can be that is.  This is a NY Trails bus and it’s got a little more legroom than usual, plus wifi and power outlets at every seat.  These are all rare treats and they are coming in huge right now amidst a four-plus hour ride.

I got to see my family yesterday and today for Thanksgiving which was really nice.  My parents and sister made the trek up from the suburbs of Philly; we got a good turkey dinner yesterday at a restaurant outside of Syracuse and then they took in tonight’s contest against the Crunch.  I am grateful for several things this Thanksgiving and their visit to see me is certainly one of them.

The Aeros play the Marlies in Toronto today (Saturday) and then the team will begin heading back to Houston on Sunday afternoon.  We are going to stay in Detroit overnight on Sunday, so the team won’t actually arrive back in Texas until Monday afternoon.  I’m hoping to get to the Hockey Hall of Fame on Sunday morning before we leave Toronto, and if I can make it for a quick tour, I’ll snap some photos and be sure to post them.

One quick little road story to share which got some laughs on this trip…on Wednesday following the Aeros’ morning skate in Hamilton, some of the players lathered up a towel with shaving cream and put it back in the stack of towels and Duncan Milroy (who played several years in Hamilton) grabbed it from the stack to dry himself off only to find out he had just covered himself in shaving cream.  The boys were howling as Milroy had shaving cream on his face and chest…he laughed it off and took it like a good sport.  For the record, it’s not too often you see a veteran get pranked like that.  It was definitely worth a good chuckle, especially when Milroy stormed out into the hallway and jokingly yelled down towards the equipment / training staff of the Bulldogs about how they had some “cheap” towels and how things have changed since he left the Bulldogs’ organization two years ago.

We should be in Toronto at about 4 am, so it’ll be interesting to see what the Aeros have left in the tank since they’ll be playing 12 hours later.

Hope everyone had a Happy Thanksgiving!

-       Aero Joe

P.S. Brandon Buck wanted me to mention how brutal the Canadian National Anthem was in Hamilton on Wednesday…it was awful as the poor girl self-restarted (does that make sense?) after her first “Oh Canada” was off-key and embarrassing.  Nothing like starting, stopping, restarting and then not even doing a good job on top of all that.