Aeros defeat defending Calder Cup Champion Chicago Wolves 2-1 in OT

Published on October 11, 2008 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


HOUSTON, Texas - The Houston Aeros started their 15th Anniversary Season with a 2-1 overtime victory against Chicago in front of 7,380 fans at Toyota Center Saturday night. The opening night victory marked the first such win in three seasons after losing the prior to openers two Chicago (2007) and Grand Rapids (2006), both at Toyota Center.

The win tied the Aeros with Milwaukee for second place in the West Division, both with a record of 1-0. Chicago is currently in sixth with one point in the overtime loss. Houston goaltender Nolan Schaefer (1-0-0) stopped 27 of 28 shots and improved to 2-1-0 all-time against Chicago. Wolves net-minder Ondrej Pavelec (0-1-0) blocked 25 of 27 shots and fell to 2-3-0 against Houston.

The Aeros first goal of their 15th season was a bit lucky. Rookie defenseman Dane Crowley skated past the middle red line and dumped the puck to the corner, it ricocheted off a partition and went into the back of the net as Pavelec was skating behind the net to play the puck. Forwards Danny Irmen and Petr Kalus earned assists on the goal. After one period the Aeros had killed two penalties and taken a one-goal lead into the intermission.

Chicago bounced back in the second period with a power-play goal at the 14:16 mark when Joe Motzko made a backdoor pass to Colin Stuart and he one-timed the puck into the open net. The goal came on the Wolves' fourth power play of the game, and the teams ended the period tied.

Chicago's Jeff Hamilton took a break-away shot that got past Schaefer but found the right post with 3:03 remaining, preventing the Wolves from taking the late lead. The teams remained scoreless during the third period forcing an overtime in the first game of the season.

The game entered the overtime period with a 1-1 tie. The action lasted just over half of the extra session with Chicago only putting two shots on net. Houston controlled the puck in the offensive zone totaling five shots on net including the last two that set up the game-winning-goal. Houston center Morten Madsen took a hard shot from the left side of Pavelec and left wing Krys Kolanos tapped the puck in the wide open net as the Chicago net-minder was recovering from the initial shot. Defenseman Clayton Stoner earned the second-assist on the goal coming at 2:37 in the extra session.

- The win increased Houston's overall record against the Wolves to 45-34-14-4 and home record versus Chicago to 27-12-8-2. - Kolanos' game-winning goal marked his 96th professional marker, 67 in the AHL. - Rookie Dane Crowley netted his first professional goal in his sixth AHL game. Crowley played in five games with Norfolk last season tallying one assist. - In 2007-08 Houston finished 6-2 in games decided in overtime and started 1-0 in their first game of the 2008-09 season.

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American Hockey League Stories from October 11, 2008


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