NFL, MLB, NHL, NBA, CFL stats



Aeros Gameday

March 2, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Eight things you need to know

- Houston veteran D Curtis Murphy is closing in on becoming just the fourth player - and first blueliner - in team history to reach 200 points in his career. Murphy enters play tonight with 199 points (55-144=199) in 298 career games. Murphy, who has not missed a game in his four seasons with the Aeros, ranks tied for seventh among AHL defensemen with 31 points (6-25=31). Murphy, though, is still looking for his first PPG of the season. Murphy is the Aeros' all-time AHL leader with 22 PPG, but hasn't scored one in the last 67 regular- and post-season games, dating back to 4/15/06 at Chicago.

- "Clear Day" was a busy day for the Aeros, who made transactions involving five players. RW Aaron Voros was acquired by the Minnesota Wild from the New Jersey Devils and assigned to the Aeros. Earlier in the day, the Wild recalled G Miroslav Kopriva from the Aeros to back up former Aeros G Josh Harding against Edmonton. G Tony Quesada was recalled from CHL Austin to replace Kopriva on the roster. Minnesota reassigned D Peter Ratchuk to the AHL's Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins, and the Aeros loaned C Alex Leavitt to the AHL's San Antonio Rampage. Leavitt was playing with ECHL Texas.

- Houston is 0-5-2-1 in its last eight road games since defeating Iowa 3-1 on 1/12. This marks the Aeros' second road winless streak of five or more games this season, having lost five in a row in regulation 11/18-12/3 to establish a new franchise record. The current eight-game slide is the longest since an 0-6-1-1 mark from 3/17-4/15/06, and just one shy of the franchise record, a 0-7-2-0 stretch from 1/31-2/26/04. Houston's winless slide is the second longest current run in the AHL behind Springfield (10). Portland's 11-game road winless slide is the longest in the AHL this season.

- Houston is 8-12-3-6 in one-goal games, but just 2-9-3-2 in its last 16 such games. The Aeros have only two non shootout one-goal wins, the last coming 3-2 at Iowa 11/9. Houston's 12 regulation losses and 21 total non-wins in one-goal games are the most in the AHL. Omaha is an impressive 17-5-1-3 in one-goal games.

- The Aeros have not held a scoring advantage in the third period in nine of their last 11 games. In their last seven games, the Aeros have been outscored 9-4 in the final 20 minutes. Houston has been outscored 59-50 in the third period this season.

- Aeros RW Matt Foy has team-best and career-highs in goals (23) and points (42). Foy's next goal will be his 62nd all-time with the Aeros, tying him with Brian Wiseman for fifth place on the franchise's all-time list. Only Kirby Law has more goals (68) among the Aeros' AHL players. Eighteen of Foy's 23 goals this season have come at Toyota Center. Foy also has a flare for the dramatic - 11 of his 23 goals have come in the third period. Foy has 382 career PIM to move into 10th place on the team's all-time list, becoming the second player player to be ranked in the top 10 of the Aeros' all-time lists in both points and PIM. Foy is seventh with 131 points. Mike Yeo is also in the top 10 on both lists, ranking tied for 10th in points and fourth in PIM's. Foy's 108 PIM this season two behind D Erik Reitz for the team lead. Foy is looking to become the first Aero in team history to lead the team in both scoring and PIM.

- Houston was shut out in each of the first three meetings with Omaha this season. Knights G Curtis McElhinney will look to join Milwaukee G Brian Finley as the lone netminders to shut out the Aeros three times in a single season. Omaha G Brent Krahn also has one shutout versus Houston. This is the third time in team history the same team has shut out the Aeros three times in one season. Grand Rapids did it in 2002-03, and Milwaukee followed in 2004-05. No team has ever earned four shutouts versus the Aeros in a single campaign. McElhinney is 5-2-1 with a 2.02 gaa and a .928 save pct. in his career against Houston, including a 5-0-1 mark, a 1.74 gaa and a .935 save pct. this season. Only Finley and Allan Bester have more than five wins against the Aeros in a single season. Finley posted seven victories in 2003-04 and 2004-05, and Bester was a perfect 6-0-0 for Orlando against the Aeros in 1995-96.

- The series between Houston and Omaha - although just 17 games old - has turned into one of the most exciting rivalries in the AHL. Eleven of the 17 all-time meetings between the teams have gone into OT or a shootout, including each of the last five. Four of those five contests were decided in a shootout.

Aeros at Knights (Aeros are 8-5-1-3 overall, Aeros are 2-3-1-2 at Omaha)

- Houston won the first five meetings of 2005-06, but the Aeros are just 3-3-2-4 since.

- Houston is looking for its first regulation win at Omaha in its ninth game. Both victories came in shootouts.

- The Aeros are 0-3-1-2 in their last six trips to Nebraska, after winning the first two. The six-game winless streak is its longest active slide in a visiting building.

- In the teams' last meeting, 2/8 in Houston, Omaha rookie C Dustin Boyd posted a goal and two assists as the Knights raced to a 4-1 lead and held on 4-3. RW Matt Foy scored twice for Houston.

- Aeros RW Matt Foy has eight goals in nine career games versus the Knights.

Scouting the Aeros

The Aeros (21-28-3-6) have 51 points, three points behind sixth-place San Antonio with five games in hand...Houston begins March by playing nine of 10 games on the road starting with this four-game road trip...Team scoring leader RW Matt Foy has 42 points (23-19=42)...Next are veteran D Curtis Murphy (6-25=31), LW Mattias Weinhandl (13-16=29) and rookie LW Benoit Pouliot (17-12=29)...G Josh Harding is 17-16-4 with a 2.48 gaa and a .920 save pct., but is on recall to NHL Minnesota...D Dieter Kochan is 2-9-1 with a 3.33 gaa and a .900 save pct...Kochan has played in eight straight games...G Miroslav Kopriva is 2-2-1 with a 3.15 gaa and a .915 save pct. and is also on recall to NHL Minnesota...G Tony Quesada is 0-4-0 with a 4.62 gaa and a .881 save pct.

Scouting the Knights

Omaha (36-19-3-1), AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, can take over sole possession of first place in the West Division with a win tonight...The Knights, winners of five straight, are a point behind idle Chicago with two games in hand...C Andrei Taratukhin leads the Knights with 46 points (14-32=46), ahead of rookie C Dustin Boyd (21-22=23)...Veteran D Brad Ference (2-15=17) and D Tim Hambly (2-14=14) pace the blueline...G Curtis McElhinney 25-13-1 with a 2.17 gaa, ranking tied for first among active AHL'ers...G Brent Krahn is 11-8-0 with a 2.64 gaa and has won both his starts since missing six weeks due to injury.

2006-07 meetings (8th of 10 meetings, Aeros are 1-3-0-3 overall, Aeros are 0-2-0-1 at Omaha)

November 18 Houston 0 at Omaha 3

December 2 Houston 0 at Omaha 4

December 7 Omaha 1 at Houston 0 (SO)

December 9 Omaha 4 at Houston 3 (SO)

January 13 Houston 4 at Omaha 5 (SO)

February 6 Omaha 1 at Houston 2 (SO)

February 8 Omaha 4 at Houston 3

Tonight Houston at Omaha

March 24 Omaha at Houston

April 7 Houston at Omaha

Quick Hits

- Ten of the Aeros' 21 victories have been in come-from-behind fashion, including five of their last eight. On 2/1 against Milwaukee, the Aeros trailed 2-1 with seven minutes remaining, but won 3-2 in a shootout. The Aeros have trailed in 17 of their last 19 games.

- The Aeros are winless (0-17-1-4) when allowing four goals or more.

- Houston is 0-3 in OT and 6-6 in shootouts. The Aeros' 12 shootouts are a league-high. Only Milwaukee (21) and Bridgeport (16) have played more extra session games than Houston. Omaha has played just 11 OT/SO games - four against Houston. The Knights are 1-3 in OT but 6-1 in shootouts. Omaha's six shootout wins are tied for the most in the AHL.

- The Aeros are 19-9-1-4 when scoring three or more times. Houston is just 2-19-2-2 when scoring two or fewer goals.

- Only three AHL defenseman have more than one SHG this season. Two of them are Aeros - Erik Reitz and Curtis Murphy.

- C Bryan Lundbohm has a hand in six (2-4=6) of the Aeros' 13 SHG. Lundbohm, RW Joel Ward, RW Danny Irmen, D Erik Reitz and D Curtis Murphy each have two SHG this season. This is the first time since 2000-01 that the Aeros have five players with at least two SHG. The Aeros' 13 SHG are two shy of the team record, set in 1994-95.

- Houston has allowed 181 goals in 58 games for a 3.12 team gaa. The Aeros are on pace to allow 250 goals - the most since yielding a franchise-record 328 in 1995-96, the only season in team history they didn't make the playoffs.

Sunday's game

Rich Peverley notched a goal and an assist and Pekka Rinne made 31 saves, as the Milwaukee Admirals defeated the Houston Aeros 3-1 at Toyota Center. Bracken Kearns and Ville Koistinen also scored for Milwaukee. Jason Morgan scored a goal and Dieter Kochan made 23 saves for Houston.

Power play update

- Houston is 25th in the AHL with the man advantage at 14.2 percent.

- The Aeros are 0-for-18 on the power play in their last four games after scoring a PPG in a season-high six straight games. Houston does, however, have a PPG in four straight road games (4-for-16, 25.0 percent).

- Omaha is third in the AHL on the penalty kill at 86.1 percent.

- The Knights have killed off 23-of-25 shorthanded chances (92.0 percent) during their five-game winning streak.

- The Aeros are 5-for-42 (11.9 percent) on the power play against Omaha, but just 1-for-13 (7.7 percent) on the road.

Penalty kill update

- Houston is sixth in the AHL on the PK at 85.4 percent.

- Opponents are 11-for-59 (18.6 percent) on the man advantage in the last eight games.

- Omaha is 23rd in the AHL on the power play at 14.8 percent.

- The Knights are an impressive 7-for-24 (29.2 percent) with the man advantage during their five-game winning streak.

- Omaha is 5-for-44 (11.4 percent) on the power play against Houston, but just 1-for-15 (6.7 percent) at home.

Aeros/Knights connections

- Aeros RW Danny Irmen played alongside Omaha RW Kris Chucko at the University of Minnesota from 2004-06.

- Houston RW Joey Tetarenko and Omaha D Brad Ference were both in the Florida Panthers organization together from 1999-2003. Godard was also Tetarenko's teammate briefly from 1999-2001 in the Panthers organization.

- Omaha assistant coach Scott Allen coached both Aeros RW Joey Tetarenko and LW Josh Olson in AHL San Antonio.

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from March 2, 2007


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Houston Aeros Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central