Click here or call 1.866.GO.AEROS to buy tickets to Thursday's game.

Rick the Equipment Guy Blog

Aeros equipment manager and comedian extraordinaire Rick Bronwell has agreed to share his expertise and insights into the world of hockey and the Aeros in a new Aeros.com blog.

I’d probably say the craziest thing I had to go through on this last road trip was the whole day, going from Omaha, where we slept at the rink Saturday…Got up at 3 a.m., packed the gear to get to the airport by 4 a.m., then having problems with skycaps as usual…Get the gear on the plane, land in Peoria, driving three hours in the snow, setting up all the gear. There were trucks all over the road there too. I wouldn’t say it was too crazy other than the whole team getting maybe three hours of sleep combined over a span of 48 hours.

I was awful at the golf tournament. But my team was awesome. We finished in second place. We had an unbelievable team. Guys were hitting it like six inches from the cup. I had a couple of sick chips though. I actually had to fix one of the guy’s cleats. He fell on his butt at the long drive contest. I used a popsicle stick. It worked out ok.

Our family got the Christmas tree up. We have already broken five ornaments in 3 ½ days. It’s record time for us.

It’s a busy week for us. This week, we’ll move into Toyota Center on Wednesday afternoon, play the game Thursday, bring Omaha and us back to Sugar Land. Both teams will skate Friday out here. After practice we’ll pack up stuff, throw it on the truck, wait until 1:30 or 2 a.m. to unload because of the Manheim Steamroller concert at Toyota Center. We’ll sleep at the rink that night and play the game Saturday. After the game, we’ll pack the gear on the truck – ours goes back to Sugar Land, and Omaha’s to the airport Sunday morning. Home games are always easier than road games because you have your family at home and you can sleep in your own bed. Although some hotels have really nice beds. That sleep number bed in Chicago at the Radisson…I’m No. 70 or 75. I like it kind of firm. I’m a big guy.

We’re home the whole month. It’ll be nice. But it’s also tougher to be at home because it seems you’re at the rink more often, taking care of the visitors and all. You’re not able to go out and pound McDonald’s all day long. You do that here, the wife yells at you…Honey how come you didn’t come home with $50 per diem? I have needs on the road.

In Peoria, there’s this guy that sits next to the bench where I stand. He’s kind of crazy, always chirps the players and bangs on the glass. He’s been nice to me though, until last weekend. But there’s a picture on the far boards that’s a hamburger. I guess he feels he has to chirp the equipment guy, too. He looks at me, points at the burger and makes a biting motion with his hands and points to me like “Hey, you want some of that”? I’m like “Hey, that’s funny”.

The horn in Peoria rattles your ears. You may watch on B2 and think you understand, but when they score, that horn is the loudest I’ve ever heard. It rattles your insides. Last year they had seven goals up there, and I was gonna’ throw up it was that bad.

My Chiefs lost to the Browns Sunday and I’m pretty upset. We have a football pool, for entertainment only of course, just for fun. I always go with the Chiefs, but two weeks ago I went with Denver, and the Chiefs ended up beating them. Now I picked KC over Cleveland and I lost. That’s what I get for going against my team.

I gotta’ chirp Leavitt. He needs to at least grow a couple of inches before he starts chirping other people. You can just step on him.

Me, Irmen and Harding have some Madden NFL Football competitions on PSP on the planes. Harding is sick, he always wins. He’s got three or four plays he uses and you can’t stop him. Of course, I am the Chiefs…

---HOUSTON AEROS---