Staying Strong

            Well it’s been a few days since the goodbye party for the Aeros faithful and, to get away from the depressing tone of my older Aeros posts, hopefully this will be easier to read. I won’t deny that the move is certainly hard to deal with, but after Saturday’s meet-up at the Maple Leaf Pub, it’s easy to see that my fellow Aeros fans are staying strong. After shedding our final tears, let’s truly begin to move on and figure out what us hockey fans have to look forward to as we keep our spirits high so that Les can’t step on us like Matt Cooke stepped on Erik Karlsson’s leg…yes, that was dark, but so is Les killing twenty years of hockey. So, jokes aside, let’s get serious and take a look at what’s coming for our Houston hockey fans in the seasons to come.

            When the playoffs end sometime in June, it’ll be time to start looking at flight routes to middle-of-nowhere Des Moines, Iowa or planning family road trips to San Antonio, Austin, and even Oklahoma City for those willing to make the eight hour drive. But even with our extended travel plans, we all know that won’t be enough and many of us will be making multiple trips to the Maple Leaf Pub for watch parties centered around the – and it hurts to say this – Iowa Wild. But don’t worry my fellow Aeros fans you can still wear your Houston Aeros jerseys, because we know that’s who we’re really cheering on as we try to replace our depression with an alcohol problem equivalent to Patrick Kane…he handles it well, so it can’t be too bad, right? But I digress. I’m game for Maple Leaf hockey watch parties, so who else is in? Let’s make it a monthly get together! We can give ourselves hockey hugs with each goal and give a stick tap to each other for every awesome save made by whatever goalie we may or may not have at the time (c’mon guys, we’re a goalie curse and you know it). Like season-ticket-holders sitting next to each other, we’ll make lasting friendships and eventually plan group trips to see our beloved Aeros play live hockey in front of us again. Until hockey comes back to us, we’ll just have to bring ourselves to hockey, and don’t worry, I’m sure we can bring our chants with us.

            Now, being optimistic, hopefully a few seasons along the line we won’t have to put as many miles on our cars and down as many beers to be able to see hockey back here in the city of Houston. With a city that’s always under construction, surely a new ice rink can be built to give our Aeros a home again. And here’s to hoping they don’t come back as an NHL team. I know, I know, “Why would you say that? We would love NHL hockey!” and trust me when I say, no you wouldn’t. Already many fans, including myself, complained about the “absurd” ticket prices at Toyota Center, the highest in the AHL, so can you imagine NHL tickets? Hoping they don’t go back to back-stabbing Toyota Center, even any other rink built for our Aeros would charge an amount many of us common fans would not be able to pay for an NHL game. And ticket prices aside, we sort of reveled in the idea of dedication to our minor-league team, so why not have another one again? You won’t break your budget, you won’t worry about being that “bandwagon fan,” and fans get a level of player/staff interaction that they just wouldn’t get with most NHL teams. They let us keep our name, so let us keep our atmosphere when we welcome our Aeros back into our arms…all 13,506 of them.

            Wrapping up this post, I give my fellow fans a nod, knowing this won’t be the last time we hear about the Aeros. We’ll be drawing up our own game-plans to see our team, and we’ll be waiting to see the only ice Houston has year round – or at all for that matter – until hockey returns. So let’s occupy ourselves until we can chant our infamous chants and give one last “huzzah!” to the Aeros and sing in tune!

            99 BOTTLES OF BEER ON THE WALL! 99 BOTTLES OF BEER! TAKE ONE DOWN! PASS IT AROUND! LET’S ALL HOPE LES CHOKES!