Aeros Game Day, March 11: Aeros Vs. Griffins
March 11, 2012 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release
The Houston Aeros (28-19-3-9, 68 pts.) continue a six-game homestand on Sunday (5:05 p.m. CST) against the Grand Rapids Griffins (25-23-6-4, 60 pts.) at Toyota Center. The Aeros encourage fans to wear pink in support of breast cancer awareness.
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---Volunteers working with Will's Kids will place pink gloves, donated by Loco Concepts, on every seat of the arena to "paint the arena pink."
---The Aeros will attempt to set the record for the largest indoor pink glove dance today at Toyota Center.
---Houston just completed the longest road trip in franchise history (11 games, 4-7-0-0) and has alternated wins in the last five games (W, L, W, L, W).
---The Aeros hold the No. 9 spot in the eight-team Western Conference playoff race. Rochester and Peoria sit one point ahead of the Aeros in the No. 8 spot. A win tonight could push the team into the No. 7 position.
--- 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.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
Tuesday (March 6) --- at ABB (7-6 W)
Wednesday (March 7) --- at ABB (4-1 L)
Saturday (March 10) --- vs. GR (5-1 W)
Sunday (March 11) --- vs. GR (5:05 p.m. CST)
LAST GAME
Jeff Taffe scored a goal and dished out three assists and Jon DiSalvatore had two goals as the Houston Aeros beat the Grand Rapid Griffins 5-1 Saturday in front of a crowd of 8,816 at Toyota Center.
AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen on Smartphone including BlackBerry: 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/GRIFFINS HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the sixth of six meetings this season... HOU is 5-0-0-0 against the Griffins this season (2-0-0-0 at home, 3-0-0-0 on the road) ... HOU PP is 5/20... GR PP is 1/20... All-time HOU is 34-24-6-3 (18-8-4-3 home, 16-16-2-0 road).
RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---March 5: F Josh Lunden signed PTO
---March 5: G Matt Keeltey signed PTO
---March 4: F Chad Rau reassigned by MIN
---March 3: G Joe Fallon signed PTO
---March 2: G Matt Hackett recalled by MIN
AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 20 games... Mike McKenzie has missed the last 17 games... Darcy Kuemper has missed the last three games.
AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore's 20th goal (on March 5) 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.
---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.
AEROS PLAYER NOTES
---Kris Foucault has goals in two of the last three games and points in four of the last six (2-2=4).
---Jon DiSalvatore had his fourth goal in three games last night. He has points in seven of the last eight games (8-4=12) and 10 of the last 12 games (9-6=15). DiSalvatore has multi-point games in two of the last three games and 11 multi-point games this season.
--- Jeff Taffe has points in four of the last five games (3-5=8) and goals in two of the last five games. He has a team-leading 12 multi-point games.
---Chad Rau has points in four of his last five games (3-6=9). Last night, Rau had his third multi-point game in his last four outings and sixth multi-point game of the season.
---Justin Fontaine has a team-leading 30 assists and has assists in three straight games. Fontaine has points in eight of the last nine games (1-10=11).
---Chay Genoway has points in two of his last three games (1-1=2).
---Mike Montgomery scored his first AHL goal on March 10.
---The Aeros have been involved in 88 transactions since Jan. 1 involving 33 different players. Overall the Aeros have been involved in 154 transactions since the start of the season.
---A total of 48 different players have seen game action for Houston this season.
TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 20 of the 36 games (11-16-3-6) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 17-3-0-3 when scoring first.
---The Aeros finished February with 5-6-0-0 record.
---The Aeros netted two power play goals in the same period for the first time since scoring twice in the middle period against San Antonio on Jan. 8
---Out of 28 wins this season, 25 have come when the Aeros allow three or fewer goals and 20 have come when scoring four or more.
---Houston has played 30 games that have been decided by one goal (11-7-3-9).
---The Aeros edged Grand Rapids 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- The attendance of 13,390 on Feb. 5 was the largest crowd for the Aeros since moving to Toyota Center in the 2002-03 season. It was the largest Aeros crowd since 13,342 on Jan. 16, 2004.
AEROS GOALIES
KUEMPER --- Is 1-1-2 at home (2.01 GAA/.934 SV%) and 5-5-2 on the road (2.47 GAA/ .920 SV%)... Led the ECHL in both GAA (1.74) and save percentage (.941) at the time of his recall on Nov. 29 and posted a 7-1-0 record with the Ontario Reign... Recorded his first pro shutout with 1-0 win on Dec. 9 vs. SAN (33 saves).
FALLON --- Signed PTO on March 3... Appeared in 47 games with Las Vegas of the ECHL this season, posting a 30-10-1-3 record along with a 2.39 GAA and .912 SV%... Led the ECHL in wins (26) and minutes played (2739) and was tied for second in shutouts (3) when signed by HOU.
KEETLEY--- Signed PTO on March 5... Is 12-18-1-2 on the season with a 2.97 goals-against average (GAA) and a .910 SV% with Bakersfield (ECHL)... In his last nine decisions, posted a 6-2-0-1 record with a 2.30 GAA and a .926 SV%.
POWER PLAY
Is 4/10 in the last three games... 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 2/10 on the PP in the last three games... 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
14 - deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 - ROWH (like now)
22 - TAYF
26 - MACK-in-tyre
27 - mick-MILL-uhn
34 - KEET-lee
35 - KEM-per
39 - GEHN-oh-way
61 - KOOH-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT
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