Aeros back home today at 5:05

Published on November 7, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· Last night marked the first time in Josh Harding's seven starts that the Aeros have scored first. Harding, who became the first Aero rookie ever with two shutouts, had also yielded eight first-period goals, but he has now allowed none in the first period in his last three starts.
· An Aeros win today combined with a San Antonio victory over Milwaukee would put Houston in first place for the first time since the final day of the 2002-03 regular season.
· Houston finishes off a tough three-in-three stretch tonight. The Aeros are 4-1-0-0 this season when playing the second of third game of a back-to-back situation.
· The Aeros have played seven straight one-goal games, one off the franchise record, established twice previously, most recently 1/17-2/13/97.
· In just two other seasons have the Aeros emerged from a six-game or longer road trip with a winning record - 1998-99 and 2002-03, both championship campaigns. Houston just wrapped up a 4-1-0-1 road trip.

Crunch at Aeros (Aeros are 1-1-0-0 overall, Aeros are 1-0-0-0 at Houston)
· The teams split two games last season, with Syracuse rallying from four goals down for a 5-4 home win 11/28 and Houston beating the Crunch 4-1 at Toyota Center 1/24.
· In the Syracuse win, Houston built a 4-0 lead midway through the first period, only to see the Crunch score five unanswered goals. Darrell Scoville and Donald MacLean each scored two goals in the victory, while Karl Goehring stopped 23-of-24 shots in relief of Pascal Leclaire, who turned aside just two of five shots.
· In Houston's victory, Johan Holmqvist made 29 saves and the Aeros got goals from four different players, including Kevin Mitchell's game-winner on the power play with five seconds left in the first period.
· The teams meet again in 13 days in Syracuse in the middle game of Houston's upcoming five-game road trip.

Scouting the Aeros Pierre-Marc Bouchard (3-7=10) leads the Aeros with 10 points through 12 games, including his team's first two-goal game of the season Friday night...Mark Cullen (2-6=8) has seven points...Houston has 14 players with at least one goal, and none with more than three...Five players have three goals apiece...Veteran Ray Giroux (2-4=6) and 20-year-old Brent Burns (2-4=6) anchor the blueline...Rookie goalie Josh Harding is 3-4-1 with a 1.89 gaa, while Mike Smith is 3-1-0 with a 3.93 gaa.

Scouting the Crunch Syracuse, which is in the midst of a six-game road trip, is winless in three games (0-2-0-1) and has just one win in its last six games (1-2-1-2) after getting routed 5-0 in San Antonio on Friday...Alexander Svitov (3-3=6) and Brad Moran (1-5=6) are tied for the team lead in scoring...Pascal Leclaire is 4-2-2 with a 1.92 gaa, while Karl Goehring is 0-3-0 with a 3.92 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (First of 2 meetings, Aeros are 0-0-0-0 overall, Aeros are 0-0-0-0 at Houston) TONIGHT: Syracuse at Houston November 20: Houston at Syracuse

Saturday's game Rookie Josh Harding made 40 saves for his second shutout in three starts and Christoph Brandner scored in the first period, as the Houston Aeros ended their season-long six-game road trip with a 1-0 victory over the Grand Rapids Griffins at Van Andel Arena. Houston finishes the road trip 4-1-0-1 and with nine out of a possible 12 points.

Quick Hits
· Aeros defenseman Brent Burns has four assists, and three of them have come on a game-winning goal.
· Houston gave up a first-period goal in its first eight games, but the Aeros have held their opponents off the board in that opening period in three of the last four games. Houston has allowed an AHL-high 16 first-period goals.
· Houston's Pierre-Marc Bouchard has a hand in seven of the Aeros' 11 power play goals this season.
· Houston is 5-2-1-1 in one-goal games, tied with three other teams for the most one-goal wins. In 2003-04, the Aeros were 8-6-0-4 in such games.
· Syracuse has allowed a league-worst 26 goals on the road. The Crunch's minus-10 road goal differential is tied for fourth-worst in the AHL.
· Only Utah (one) and Hershey (two) has scored fewer first-period goals than Syracuse (five).
· Houston's Josh Harding and Syracuse's Pascal Leclaire are two of the four AHL goalies with two shutouts this season.

It's not "Hard" to figure out his talent with these stats
· Aeros rookie netminder Josh Harding made 40 saves last night for his second shutout in three starts. He joined Frederic Chabot as the lone Aeros goalies with 1-0 road wins, and his 40 saves trail only Chabot's 43 on February 15, 1997, versus Long Beach for most in a shutout.
· Since falling to 0-3-0 October 23, the 20-year-old Harding is 3-1-1 with a 1.20 gaa and a .947 save percentage. His one loss in that stretch was when he gave up only one goal in 53 minutes of relief.
· Harding, the second youngest goalie in the AHL behind Wilkes-Barre/Scranton's Marc-Andre Fleury, has lowered his goals against average to 1.89, ninth best in the AHL. Harding, who made back-to-back starts Friday-Saturday for the first time in his pro career, is the first Aeros rookie netminder with two shutouts.
· Only Philadelphia Flyers goalie Robert Esche had two shutouts with the Aeros prior to November 6. Esche had two shutouts by November 4.
· Harding has stopped an eye-popping 84-of-87 shots in the third period for a .964 save percentage.

Aeros climbing the standings An Aeros win today combined with a San Antonio victory over Milwaukee would put Houston in first place for the first time since the final day of the 2002-03 regular season. Houston, which enters today with 14 points - one fewer than the defending Calder Cup champion Admirals - was five points back of first place October 28, just 10 days ago.

What's on tap
· The Aeros go back on the road for two games of their three games this week before kicking off a five-game road trip next week.
· Houston is back in Grand Rapids Friday for the third time in eight days, and is at Calder Cup champion Milwaukee for a 1:30 p.m. matinee Saturday. A week from today, the Aeros are back home to host the Edmonton Road Runners and Joe Cullen, brother of Mark Cullen.
· The Aeros are in a stretch of 13 road games out of 15 before an eight-game homestand beginning November 26.

Road trip notes
· The Aeros just wrapped up the ninth road trip of six or more games in Aeros history, and Houston finished above the .500 mark on the trek for just the fourth time.
· The previous long road trips with above .500 records were in the 1998-99 and 2002-03 seasons - both championship campaigns. Houston was 6-2-0 on an eight-game road trip and 3-1-3 on a seven-game trip in 1998-99, and 5-1-1-1 in eight games in 2002-03.

It's all about support With his 1.89 gaa, Houston rookie goalie Josh Harding seemingly deserves better than his 3-4-1 record. The Aeros are averaging 2.00 goals per game when Harding gets the start. The 20-year-old has allowed two goals or less in five of his seven starts. Mike Smith, meanwhile, has a 3.93 gaa, but his record is 3-1-0 largely because Houston scores 3.40 goals per game when he starts.

Getting better as they go Houston has allowed an AHL-high 16 first-period goals this season, but the goalies get downright stingy after that, especially in the final 20 minutes. In the third period, Aeros goalies have allowed only five goals on 123 shots (.959 save percentage). Opponents do have two empty-net goals.

Boogaard in the box
· Houston's Derek Boogaard had a penalty in each of his first 10 games, tied for the longest streak in the AHL this season. The streak was snapped last night.
· Boogaard has 42 penalty minutes, second on the team to John Erskine (50).
· In his AHL rookie season in 2003-04, Boogaard had 207 penalty minutes, the most for an Aero since 2000-01.
· With one more PIM, Boogaard will be just the 20th player in Aeros history to notch 250 with the team.

First and last two minutes are crucial Houston has scored just one goal in the first or last two minutes of a period this season, when John Erskine potted a goal at 18:13 of the second period 10/20 at Chicago. The Aeros' opponents, meanwhile, have nine goals in this crucial time, including Niklas Kronwall's extra attacker goal Friday night.

How the Aeros were built
· The Aeros have a franchise record three first-round picks, plus five second-rounders and four third rounders. Kyle Wanvig was drafted twice, once in the second round by Boston and again in the third by Minnesota. All but four of Houston's players were drafted.
· Five Aeros have their NHL rights owned by the Dallas Stars - Mike Smith, Junior Lessard, Patrick Traverse, Marius Holtet and John Erskine.
· Houston had 15 players from Canada on its Opening Night roster, five from the United States and one each from the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Austria. Marius Holtet, a second-round pick by Dallas, is the highest drafted Norwegian player in NHL history.

Aeros/Crunch connections
· Syracuse's Jeremy Reich played for Houston coach Todd McLellan for three seasons in WHL Swift Current from 1997-98 to 1999-2000.
· Houston's Dan Cavanaugh spent three seasons playing with Syracuse's Mike Pandolfo at Boston University from 1998-2001.
· Syracuse's Francois Beauchemin was part of the 2002-03 Hamilton team that lost the Calder Cup Finals to the Aeros in seven games.
· Houston's Christoph Brandner hails from Austria, as do Syracuse's Andre Lakos and Matthias Trattnig.
· The Aeros' Marius Holtet and Syracuse's Ole-Kristian Tollefsen are both from Norway. Holtet is the highest-drafted Norwegian ever.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Hockey League Stories from November 7, 2004


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.

OurSports Central