
Aeros Game Day, April 14: Aeros Vs. Rampage
April 14, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release
The Houston Aeros (33-25-5-11, 82 pts.) continue the final three-game set of the regular season on Saturday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the San Antonio Rampage (40-29-3-2, 85 pts.) at Toyota Center.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros are battling for a spot in the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. Entering Saturday, Houston is on the outside looking in and sits in the No. 11 spot, tied with Peoria with 82 points.
---The Aeros need to win their remaining two games in order to have a chance at qualifying for the playoffs. From there, tiebreakers come in to play, and Houston is on the wrong side of most tiebreakers. Winning both games does not guarantee a playoff spot but puts the team in the best scenario to achieve the goal.
---San Antonio enters the game in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference.
---Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs: the three division winners will be seeded first through third in order of points, and the next five teams in order of points will be seeded fourth through eighth.
---Much will be determined by the time the teams finish up Saturday night's action.
---San Antonio enters the game in the No. 5 spot in the Western Conference.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Friday --- at OKC (2-1 L)
Saturday --- vs. SA (7:35 p.m. CST)
Sunday --- vs. TEX (5:05 p.m. CST)
LAST GAME
Jon DiSalvatore scored his team-leading 28th goal of the season and Matt Hackett made 25 saves in a 2-1 loss to the Oklahoma City Barons Friday night at the Cox Convention Center.
AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen via Smartphone: Download the TuneIn Radio app; search Houston, then KNTH.
LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.
AEROS/RAMPAGE HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the 12th of 12 meetings this season... HOU is 6-2-1-2 against the Rampage (2-0-1-2 at home, 4-2-0-0 on the road) ... HOU PP is 14/44... SA PP is 7/30... All-time HOU is 67-29-9-6 (39-10-4-2 home, 28-19-5-4 road).
RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---April 11: G Joe Fallon released from PTO
---April 11: D Benn Olson recalled from Ontario (ECHL)
---April 10: D Steven Kampfer reassigned by MIN
---April 8: D Chay Genoway and D Kris Fredheim reassigned by MIN
---April 7: D Chay Genoway and D Kris Fredheim recalled by MIN
AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 35 games... Darcy Kuemper is out for the remainder of the season with an upper body injury... Sean Lorenz is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury...Jarod Palmer is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.
AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore's 20th goal (on March 3 at SA) was his 69th as an Aero, placing him first in franchise history (AHL only, 4th AHL/IHL). His 41st game on Jan. 21 at TEX was his 200th as an Aero, placing him 10th all-time in Aeros (AHL) history. He is the Aeros AHL goal-scoring leader. He tied a career-high with his 28th goal on April 13 at OKC.
---Jeff Taffe notched his 400th AHL point with an assist on Jon DiSalvatore's goal on Jan. 8 at SA. Taffe had two assists while skating in his 500th AHL game on Jan. 21 at TEX.
---Drew Bagnall played in his 300th AHL game at TEX on Jan. 21. He set a career-high for points with an assist on April 7.
AEROS PLAYER NOTES
---Justin Fontaine has assists in three of the last four games and four of the last six games. His totals place him in the top-5 in Aeros rookie seasons scoring.
---Jon DiSalvatore has goals in two of the last three games. DiSalvatore also has points in two of the last three games (2-1=3). He was named an AHL's Second Team All-Star.
---Chay Genoway was named the team's winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Houston community during the 2011-12 season. Genoway has assists in three of his last four games played and points in four of the last six games (1-3=4).
---The Minnesota Wild made 54 recalls from Houston this season involving 22 different players.
---The Aeros have made 186 transactions since opening day, involving 56 different players, both new team records.
---A total of 52 different players have seen ice time with the Aeros this season.
TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 22 of the 40 games (11-18-3-8) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 22-7-2-3 when scoring first.
---Houston has played 39 games that have been decided by one goal (14-9-5-11).
---The Aeros had won four straight shootouts after losing nine of the first 10 this season. The winning streak ended on March 29 vs. LE. The Aeros edged GR 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- Houston's 46 shots on April 7 were the most since 45 shots against Texas on February 25, 2011.
---Houston did not have a power play for the first time this season on April 7. It was the first time in franchise history that Houston did not have a power play at home and first time since March 13, 2010, at Chicago that Houston did not have a power play.
AEROS GOALIES
BRODEUR --- Has a 40-37-6 record in 102 AHL games with four shutouts, a 2.85 GAA and a .907 SV%. He also has appeared in seven NHL games, all with the Ottawa Senators, posting a 3-1-0 record with one shutout and 2.17 GAA and .922 SV%. The 6-foot-2, 186-pound Calgary native was selected to the Canadian all-star team for the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic, and joins the Aeros from the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. Brodeur was a seventh-round selection (211th overall) of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.
HACKETT - Is 7-10-5 (2.57 GAA/.908 SV%) at home and 11-7-1 (2.29,/.925 SV%) on the road... Won six-straight road starts from Oct. 28-Dec. 30... Is 3-5-0 with a 2.30 goals against average (GAA) and a .927 save percentage (SV%) in 11 games with the Wild this season... Hackett moved into a tie for third place on April 8 for the most games played by a goalie in Houston's AHL history, tying Barry Brust with 86 games played... Hackett is second on the all-time saves list in Houston's AHL history with 2,147 saves, trailing Josh Harding's 3,270 saves... Hackett is also third in wins with 41, fifth in minutes and second in total shots... Last Game: Stopped 31/32 in a 2-1 SOL vs. MIL on April 8.
POWER PLAY
Is 1/9 in the last three games... Went 6/44 (13.6%) in games 61-70... Went 8/38 in games 51-60 (21.1 %)... Went 8/43 in games 41-50 (18.6%)... Went 7/38 (18.4%) in games 31-40... Went 5/37 (13.5%) in games 21-30... Went 20/106 (18/9%) in games 1-20... Set a season-high going 3/5 in a 4-2 win at SAN on Oct. 28... Tied the 3/5 mark on March 10 vs. GR.
PENALTY KILL
Opponents are 0/8 on the PP in the last three games... Stopped 31/39 in games 61-70 (79.5%)... Stopped 6/34 in games 51-60 (82.4%)... Stopped 30/39 (76.9 %) in games 41-50... Stopped 28/36 (77.7%) in games 31-40... Stopped 20/27 (74.0%) in games 21-30... Stopped 80/97 (82.4%) in games 1-20.
AEROS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
4 - BAGH-nawl
7 - FRED-haym
8 - MED-vekh
13 - FOO-koh
14 - deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 - ROWH (like now)
21 - JOB-kee
22 - TAYF
26 - MACK-in-tyre
27 - mick-MILL-uhn
35 - KEHM-puhr
39 - GEHN-oh-way
44 - pawl-MAIR-ee
61 - KOO-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT
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