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Aeros continue road trip tonight in Worcester

November 3, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know

Houston's Junior Lessard (2004) and Worcester's Mike Mottau (1999) and Peter Sejna (2003) all won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player.
Worcester's Jeff Hoggan compiled 47 points (27-20=47) over two seasons with Houston in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Hoggan was a member of the Aeros' 2003 Calder Cup championship squad. This marks his first game versus his former team.
The Aeros already have as many one-goal victories on the road (two) as they had during the entire 2003-04 regular season. Houston is 2-1-1-1 on the road this season in one-goal situations. Last season, the Aeros were 2-4-0-2.
Aeros defenseman Ray Giroux enters tonight's game with 199 AHL points.
The Aeros have a point in four straight road games (2-0-1-1), something they did once last season (2-0-2-0 from 12/20-1/2).

Aeros at IceCats (Aeros lead all-time series 3-2-1-0, Aeros are 1-2-0-0 at Worcester)
Tonight is the seventh all-time meeting between the teams - fourth in Worcester.
Last season, the Aeros went 0-1-1 against Worcester. The teams skated to a 0-0 tie at Toyota Center 1/9, and the IceCats rallied from an early deficit with five goals in the second period of a 5-2 home win 3/17. Mike Glumac tallied a goal and two assists for Worcester.
Houston is winless in the last three meetings (0-2-1) after winning the first three.
Houston is 3-0-0 when scoring three or more goals against Worcester, but 0-2-1 when scoring two or fewer.
The Aeros won their first game in Worcester, a 3-0 blanking 2/6/02, but have been outscored 9-4 in losing their last two games there.

Scouting the Aeros
Pierre-Marc Bouchard (1-6=7) leads the Aeros with seven points through nine games...Mark Cullen (2-4=6) has six points, including his second two-point game Saturday...Houston has 14 players with at least one goal, and none with more than three...Brent Burns (2-3=5) and veteran Ray Giroux (2-2=4) anchor the blueline...Rookie goalie Josh Harding is 1-3-0 with a 2.67 gaa, while Mike Smith is 3-1-0 with a 3.28 gaa.

Scouting the IceCats
Worcester has won four straight since a 1-2-0-0 beginning, and the stretch started with a 9-0 spanking at Springfield...The IceCats swept Providence and Lowell over the weekend to open up its five-game homestand...Former Hobey Baker winner Peter Sejna (2-6=8) shares the team scoring lead with defenseman Dennis Wideman (2-6=8)...Mike Glumac tops the goal department with four...Curtis Sanford is 5-1-0 with a 1.50 gaa, while backup Jason Bacashihua has played only one period, giving up four goals for a 12.00 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (First of 2 meetings, Aeros are 0-0-0-0 overall, Aeros are 0-0-0-0 at Worcester)
TONIGHT: Houston at Worcester
January 9: Worcester at Houston

Monday's game
Jason LaBarbera made 35 saves for his third straight shutout of Houston and Chad Wiseman scored in the shootout to ruin Josh Harding's perfect 27-save day, as the Hartford Wolf Pack beat the Aeros 1-0 in a goaltenders' duel at Hartford Civic Center. Harding was still credited with his first career shutout for Houston, which has points in four straight games overall (3-0-0-1) and four straight on the road (2-0-1-1).

Quite the "trip"
For the fourth time in as many games on this road trip, the Aeros will face a red-hot team. Edmonton, which Houston played twice, was unbeaten in regulation in five games, Hartford was perfect in six games and now Worcester carries a four-game winning streak. It doesn't get any easier with two games in Grand Rapids. The Griffins have lost two straight after going 5-0-0-0 to start the season.

It's all about support
With his 2.15 gaa, Houston rookie goalie Josh Harding seemingly deserves better than his 1-3-1 record. The Aeros are averaging 1.80 goals per game when Harding gets the start. The 20-year-old has allowed two goals or less in four of his five starts. Mike Smith, meanwhile, has a 3.28 gaa, but his record is 3-1-0 largely because Houston scores 3.50 goals per game when he starts.

No way to treat a rookie
Neither of the only two Aeros rookie goalies to record shutouts – Josh Harding and Kyle Kettles – has gotten a victory in the game. Kettles fought Worcester's Reinhard Divis to a scoreless tie 1/9/04, and Harding lost 1-0 in a shootout to reigning AHL MVP Jason LaBarbera Monday.

Quick Hits
The Aeros are 6-for-27 (22.2 percent) on the power play over their four-game points streak. Houston is 4-1-1-0 when scoring a PPG and 0-2-0-1 when not.
Houston has allowed 12 first-period goals, tying the AHL high. But the Aeros have scored 10 goals in the opening 20 minutes, just one off the league lead.
Last season, Houston had 10 road wins and just three against teams above the .500 mark. Already, the Aeros have two wins against a first-place team on the road.
Worcester, 3-0-0-0 at Centrum Centre, is one of six AHL teams with a perfect home record.
The IceCats' plus-15 goal margin is second-best in the AHL. Amazingly, from the second period on, Worcester has outscored its opponents 21-3.

What's on tap
Tonight the Aeros play game four of a six-game road trip that kicks off a grueling stretch of 13 out of 15 on the road. Five of the six games come versus teams that were in first place when the trek began.
The six-game road trip, which ends with back-to-back games Friday and Saturday in Grand Rapids, is the longest for the team since an eight-game trip in January and February of 2003. The Aeros will travel a grand total of 7,318 miles before their next home game, Sunday vs. Syracuse.

Getting better as they go
Houston has allowed an AHL-high 12 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 four goals on 92 shots (.957 save percentage). Opponents do have two empty-net goals.

Aeros went winless against Atlantic in 2003-04
Houston is 0-0-0-1 this season against the Atlantic Division after Monday's 1-0 shootout loss in Hartford. The Aeros were a winless 0-2-1-1 versus the Atlantic Division last year, having played both Hartford and Worcester. Providence and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton are the only other Atlantic teams the Aeros have played since joining the AHL in 2001-02.

Boogaard in the box
Houston's Derek Boogaard has a penalty in each of his first eight games, tied for the AHL lead. Boogaard has 36 penalty minutes, second on the team behind John Erskine (39). In his AHL rookie season in 2003-04, Boogaard had 207 penalty minutes, the most for an Aero since 2000-01.

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 have 11 who played in NHL in 2003-04
Eleven Aeros played a total of 250 games in the NHL in 2003-04, and including Patrick Traverse, who has 278 games of NHL experience but none last season, 12 Aeros have 884 games of NHL experience.
Another two Aeros - Mike Smith and Erik Reitz - were recalled to Dallas and Minnesota, respectively, last season but didn't see action in a game.

Aeros/IceCats connections
Worcester's Jeff Hoggan compiled 47 points (27-20=47) over two seasons with Houston in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Hoggan was a member of the Aeros' 2003 Calder Cup championship squad.
Houston's Junior Lessard (2004) and Worcester's Mike Mottau (1999) and Peter Sejna (2003) all won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player.
Worcester goalie Jason Bacashihua was a teammate of Houston's John Erskine in Utah in 2002-03 and 2003-04. Bacashihua's goaltending-mate in Utah was the Aeros' Mike Smith.
Houston's Todd Reirden and Worcester's Aris Brimanis were teammates at Bowling Green State in 1990-91 and 1991-92.
Worcester's Brendan Brooks and Brendan Buckley teamed with Aeros assistant coach Matt Shaw, then Quad Cities' head coach, to win the UHL's regular-season title with the Mallards in the 1999-2000 season.
Houston's Brent Burns and Worcester's Jay McClement were teammates with OHL Brampton in 2002-03.
Houston's Mark Cullen and Worcester's Mike Stuart were teammates for four seasons at Colorado College. Peter Sejna was on that team for two seasons.

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