Please Welcome Andrew Ferraro to Hockey Wilderness

In our final installment of Building the Wilderness for the day, we address something that many of you have been asking about: Who will be covering the Aeros for Hockey Wilderness?

When Ms.Conduct took the job as the Aeros beat writer for the Houston Chronicle, we knew we needed to seek help to take the heat off of her. Covering the same team for three or more different sites is not easy. I know, I tried once or twice to do it. We immediately considered asking Andrew, whose position Heather took over, but figured maybe he was trying to back away from the grind.

We put out a call on the Twitters, and sure enough, who came to the rescue? Andrew.

We could not have asked for anyone better to take on the bulk of the load for our Aeros coverage. We love that Ms. C is sticking around to occasionally pop in and offer a take when she finds the time. We are ecstatic that Andrew has joined our team, and truly hope that you will all enjoy his work. We already do, so we figure you will, too.

If not, well, tough. Andrew's the man.

Here is his self-introduction:

Greetings and Salutations from the Tropics!

OK, so Houston isn't all that tropical, but it is warm today - even for fall - so I thought I would throw that in there. Needless to say, it is always humid down here and that affects our hockey team (your future Minnesota Wild) in more ways that you might think.

Moving on ...

Some of you may already know me. I work with Ms. Conduct - aka Heather Galindo - and until this year I covered the Aeros for the Houston Chronicle. I retired (somewhat reluctantly because of real job responsibilities). But I have been covering and writing about Wild prospects since the Aeros joined the AHL in 2001.

Here is a little more about me:

I live in a Houston suburb, and I work downtown for a major law firm. I have been going to Aeros games since 1994 and even interned for the team in Media Relations during the 1997-98 season. Mike Yeo was the team's captain then, and he was one of my all-time favorites. Still is.

Unlike Heather, I do not play hockey and never will. I am more of a storyteller, so from me you'll get more of what is going on, but less of the Xs and Os. I have a good repoire with John Torchetti, so I think you'll be happy with the information I provide.

Like Heather, there is no place I'd rather be than at Toyota Center for an Aeros game. There is just something magical about game nights and the anticipation that you're probably going to see something you'll never seen before.

Even though, I am retired from the newspaper business for now, my colleague John Royal and I update a fun Aeros blog called The Third Intermission. We cover game nights, breaking Aeros news, Minnesota Wild news when it pertains to the Aeros and some other AHL happenings.

If you are a hard core Wild fan and want to know what is going on with the farm team, The Third Intermission (www.t3i.info) is a must stop for you. Maybe not daily, but please try to stop by 2-3 times a week for a download.

On a more personal note, I have a lovely wife and three of the best kids on the planet. One of them is an all-star baseball player, one of them loves to sing and dance and the other, well, he is just a year old, so defending himself from his sister is just about all he's good at other than being cute.

I have never lived outside of Texas, but I spent the first 15 years of my professional career working for a major airline, so I have traveled all over the place, and have been to many, many stadiums and ballparks to see the Wild, Astros, Aeros and another NHL team that shall remain un-named. I can also bake 20-minute brownies in 18 minutes.

That's it for now. Let me know in the comments if you have questions I can answer for your about the Aeros. We also have a T3I Twitter @3rdIntermission you can follow to get in game tweets. Or just follow me on Twitter @andrewjferraro if you want my day-to-day nonsense.

Please continue your welcoming words for the man, the myth, the legend, Mr. Andrew Ferraro. We are honored to have his presence here at the Wilderness, and greatly anticipate his work gracing our pages.