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Aeros Game Day

January 2, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Tonight's game is an Internet only broadcast, beginning at 6:30 p.m. in Cincinnati. You can follow all the action, both on the audio feed and with complete period-by-period recaps, on www.aeros.com. The Aeros return home Sunday at 5 p.m. to face Rochester.

Houston Aeros at Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, 1/2 Aeros at Ducks (Aeros lead series 7-2-1-1 all-time, 3-2-0-1 at Cincinnati)

Tonight is the 12th all-time meeting between the teams, seventh in Cincinnati.

The Aeros are 2-1-0 this season against Cincinnati and 7-1-1 in the last nine meetings overall.

Houston swept last season's four-game series. Cincinnati has two regulation wins in 11 games against Houston – a 5-1 decision in the first ever meeting on January 20, 2002, and a 4-2 Ducks win December 29.

The Aeros are 3-2-0-1 at Cincinnati, winning three of the last four meetings.

Tonight is the fourth of eight meetings this season. The next meeting is January 27 in Houston.

2003-04 meetings (Fourth of eight meetings, Aeros lead 2-1-0-0 overall, series tied 1-1-0-0 at Cincinnati)

December 5: Cincinnati 1 at Houston 3
December 19: Houston 2 at Cincinnati 4
December 20: Houston 2 at Cincinnati 1
Tonight: Houston at Cincinnati
January 27: Cincinnati at Houston
April 1: Cincinnati at Houston
April 2: Cincinnati at Houston
April 9: Houston at Cincinnati

Last game – Houston's Kyle Wanvig scored his eighth goal in as many games and assisted another tally, but Chicago's Tommi Santala knotted the game with 3:14 left in regulation, as the Aeros and Wolves skated to their second straight tie, a 2-2 game at Toyota Center. Rickard Wallin also scored and Johan Holmqvist made 26 saves for Houston, which ran its unbeaten streak to six games (3-0-3) but has played three straight ties. The Aeros, 9-1-3 in their last 13, fell into fourth place in the West Division with 35 points, one behind third-place Milwaukee and two behind the second-place Wolves. Houston also extended its home unbeaten streak to eight games (6-0-2-0). Kurtis Foster also scored and Kari Lehtonen turned aside 32 shots for Chicago, which is unbeaten in its last four (2-0-2).

Scouting the Aeros – Despite a flu-bug of epidemic proportions that has run through the Aeros' locker room in the last two weeks, Houston is the AHL's hottest team, with just one loss in its last 13 games (9-1-3) since a franchise-record eight-game (0-6-1-1) winless streak. The Aeros have skated to three straight ties – 2-2 versus Chicago Tuesday, 3-3 against Chicago Sunday, 1-1 at San Antonio last Saturday. The Aeros have a balanced offensive attack that has seen 12 players reach the double-digit plateau in points. The hottest Aero of them all, however, is winger Kyle Wanvig, who has posted eight goals and two assists in his last 10 games. That streak, which includes points in seven of eight games, has helped Wanvig take over the team lead in points with 22 (14g, 8a). Rickard Wallin, who had a goal Tuesday, is tied for second with Dan Cavanaugh for 20 points. Wallin has 10 goals and 10 assists, while Cavanaugh, who is without a point in six straight games, has seven goals and 13 assists. Houston's blueline is really chipping in lately. Jason Marshall, who took over the Aeros' captaincy earlier this month, has 15 points, including a team-best five goals from the blueline, and he has points in six of the last eight games. Young defenseman Erik Reitz has 12 points (2g, 10a), and both of his goals have been power-play game winners. Fellow blueliners Zbynek Michalek (3g, 7a) and Travis Roche (2g, 8a) have also reached the double-digit plateau in points. Last year's Calder Cup Most Valuable Player, goalie Johan Holmqvist, has started 29 of the team's first 35 games, going 12-13-4 with a 2.64 goals against average. His backup is second-year netminder Kyle Kettles, who is 2-3-1 with a 2.46 goals against average. Kettles has stopped 69 of 72 shots (95.8 percent) while going 2-0-1 in his last three games. Kettles has just seven goals of support in six starts this season.

Scouting the Mighty Ducks – Houston's 2-1 win at Cincinnati December 30 sent the Ducks on a three-game losing streak after a four-game unbeaten streak (3-0-1). Overall in its last 16 games, Cincinnati is 4-11-1. Scoring has been the problem for the Ducks, who totaled 18 goals in their four-game unbeaten streak but have scored just 11 goals in their last 12 losses. Cincinnati's leading scorer is Tony Martensson, with 23 points (5g, 18a), who is without a point in three games since posting a pair of assists against Houston December 19. Rookie Chris Kunitz has contributed 21 points, including a team-best 10 goals. Cincinnati's blueline is manned by Chris Armstrong, a former Minnesota Wild defenseman. Armstrong's 16 points and 12 assists lead the corps. Ilya Bryzgalov is the main man in goal, having gone 11-12-2 with a 2.11 goals against average. Four of his 11 wins have come via a shutout. Bryzgalov's numbers are vastly improved from last season's 12-26-9, 2.82 goals against average campaign. Bryzgalov was Cincinnati's second-round pick in the 2000 NHL Entry Draft. The Russian's backup is Eddy Ferhi, who is 1-4-2 with a 3.51 goals against average in this, his rookie season out of Sacred Heart University.

No one hotter than Wanvig –

Houston's Kyle Wanvig has eight goals and two assists in his last eight games. Wanvig had his career-best five-game goal and point streak snapped December 27, but he rebounded with a pair of power-play goals the next night against Chicago. Wanvig's streak followed a span of 11 games without a goal.

Wanvig leads the team with six game-winning goals, including four straight December 16-26. His six game-winners are second in the AHL, trailing Bridgeport's Jeff Hamilton (nine). The AHL record is 13, set by Hershey's Dunc Fisher in 1953-54 in a 70-game season.

Wanvig's five-game goal streak was the longest by an Aero this season and was the longest by an Aero since Curtis Murphy had a six-game streak last season.

The Calgary native is just one game-winning goal from the franchise record of seven, set three times –most recently by Jeff Christian in 1998-99.

Wanvig's 14 goals are one better than his previous career high with the Aeros, set last season in 57 games. Wanvig also had one goal in seven games with Minnesota in 2002-03 for a total of 14.

The Aeros are 8-0-2 this season when Wanvig has a goal and 9-2-3-1 when he notches a point. Wanvig is the only Aero with more than one goal in the last five games, and he has five in that span.

Marshall has points in six of eight – Houston captain Jason Marshall has not let the flu slow him down. The veteran defenseman has a point in six of his last eight games, with two goals and four assists in that span. Marshall had a career-best five-game point streak snapped December 26, but he notched an assist on a Kyle Wanvig goal the next night. Marshall's 10 assists this season with the Aeros are the most he has had in a single season since 1995-96, when he combined for 14 with AHL Baltimore (13) and NHL Anaheim (1). That season also marked the last time Marshall had 15 points in a single campaign.

Aeros could be tied for second with a win tonight – The Aeros (35 points) dropped into fourth place after Tuesday's 2-2 tie with Chicago, but the Aeros could move into a tie for second tonight with a win and some help. Houston trails third-place Milwaukee by one point. The Admirals play at Cleveland. The Aeros are two points behind second-place Chicago, which plays host to division-leading Grand Rapids tonight. Houston was tied for third prior to Tuesday's game, the highest the Aeros had been all season. Tying Chicago for second tonight would be quite the accomplishment. Houston trailed Chicago by a whopping 13 points on December 6, the day before the Aeros' 3-1 win over the Wolves – the second of six straight wins.

Aeros tied for league's best record since December 5 – Houston entered its December 5 home game with Cincinnati with an eight game-winless streak and a league-low 14 points. Since that game, which the Aeros won 3-1, Houston has 21 points, tied with Bridgeport for the most in the AHL. No other West Division team other than Grand Rapids (14) has more than 10 points since that date, which has helped the Aeros climb out of last place and into fourth. The Ducks have just seven points since December 5, two of them coming in a 4-2 win over the Aeros December 19.

Three straight OT games – The Aeros have played three straight overtime contests, one shy of their franchise record for extra session or shootout games. Houston played in four straight shootout games twice, most recently from October 10-19, 1999. This marks the second time since entry into the shootout-less AHL that the Aeros have played three straight OT games (October 27-November 4, 2001).

Aeros 9-1-3 in last 13 – Houston is unbeaten in six straight (3-0-3), tying a season-high, and is 9-1-3 in its last 13, with the lone loss coming December 19 in Cincinnati, a 4-2 decision. Prior to this run, Houston hadn't won back-to-back games all season, and had gone back-to-back games picking up a point just twice.

The Aeros started the streak by snapping a franchise-record eight-game winless streak with a 3-1 win over Cincinnati December 5.

Houston's current six-game unbeaten streak (3-0-3) is the second longest active streak in the league. Portland is unbeaten in seven straight (5-0-2) and has points in eight straight (5-0-2-1).

Kyle Wanvig has recorded four of the team's last nine game-winning goals.

In the last eight games, Houston is 13-for-85 (15.3 percent) on the power play and has killed off 43-of-49 (87.8 percent) shorthanded chances. The Aeros' six-game winning streak was tied for the second-longest in the AHL this season. Only Bridgeport's nine-game streak from November 9-29 was longer.

In the season's first 22 games, Houston allowed a league-worst 3.36 goals per game. In the last 13 games, the Aeros are yielding just 1.46 goals per game. That has helped Houston move out of the basement to 2.66 goals against per game, tied with Manitoba for 18th in the AHL.

Déjà vu for Holmqvist – Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist is reminding fans – and opponents – of the run he went on during last season's Calder Cup Playoffs that helped his team win the title. Holmqvist, the 2003 Butterfield Trophy winner as the playoff Most Valuable Player, was the catalyst in the recent six-game winning streak.

Holmqvist went 6-0-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and a .963 save percentage during the streak and is 7-1-2 with a 1.57 goals against average in the last nine games (16 goals allowed in 610 minutes).

Holmqvist's six-game winning streak set a new career high. Holmqvist had won five in a row with Hartford from February 18-27, 2002. That streak was part of a career-best 7-0-2 unbeaten streak February 16-March 8.

The Aeros' netminder had a shutout streak of 189 minutes, seven seconds snapped December 17, just missing Frederic Chabot's 1996 team record mark of 193 minutes, 37 seconds.

Holmqvist has 76 AHL wins, one of just nine active goalies in the league to notch 75.

Kettles not shabby either – It took goalie Kyle Kettles just more than two months to pick up his first AHL win December 20, but he wasted little time with win No. 2. He made 26 saves at Utah December 23, his second straight gutsy 2-1 road victory. Kettles then stopped 19-of-20 shots Saturday night in a 1-1 tie at San Antonio to run his unbeaten streak to three games. Kettles has lowered his goals against average from 3.65 to 2.46 in the last three games. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Kettles – who has received just seven goals of support in his six starts – was successful in one-goal games. Last season in ECHL Louisiana, Kettles (21-12-7 with the IceGators) saw 21 of his 41 starts decided by one goal.

Hendrickson plays in 600th pro game –Aeros centerman Darby Hendrickson played in his 600th professional game Tuesday. Hendrickson, who spent eight full seasons in the NHL, has 189 points (94g, 95a) in his pro career. Hendrickson played in his 100th AHL game December 27. He has 64 points (30g, 34a) in 102 career AHL contests.

Hoggan stepping it up – Aeros right winger Jeff Hoggan played mostly a checking line role in his rookie campaign of 2002-03, but he has already set his career-high in points this season with 15, including career-bests in goals (eight) and assists (seven). Hoggan has been particularly hot lately, especially since he has been paired with a pair of Swedes – Rickard Wallin and Mika Hannula. Hoggan has eight points (4g, 4a) in the last 12. Getting Hoggan on the scoresheet is very important to the Aeros, who have just one loss in regulation when he has a point. Houston is 9-1-1-2 when Hoggan has a point, including a 5-1-0-2 mark when he has a goal and an unbeaten 6-0-1-0 record when he notches an assist. Hoggan has a pair of two-point games this season.

Bala hitting his stride – Aeros winger Chris Bala is starting to show the stuff that earned him an AHL All-Star nod in his rookie season of 2001-02. After recording just a goal and an assist in his first 17 games this season, Bala has seven points (5g, 2a) in the last 15 contests. Bala has scored his goals in bunches – a goal apiece in back-to-back games December 1-5, and three goals over three games December 16-19.

Penalty kill update –

Houston killed off its first 31 shorthanded chances this season. Since then, opponents are 19-for-130 (14.6 percent) on the power play.

The Aeros' overall 88.4 percent penalty kill rate ranks fourth in the AHL.

Opponents were 1-for-22 on the power play over an eight-game stretch until Chicago went 2-for-8 Sunday. It marked the first time in 14 games the Aeros had given up more than one power-play goal.

The Aeros have allowed four power plays or fewer in 10 of 11 games.

Houston has been shorthanded just 29 times in the last nine games, while going on 55 power plays. Cincinnati's power play unit is 23rd in the AHL at 12.1 percent.

Power play update –

Houston enters tonight's game 25 of 222 on the power play (11.3 percent), 25th among 28 AHL teams.

The Aeros have gone 13-for-78 (16.7 percent) since Matt Foy snapped a streak of 37 straight unsuccessful power plays December 5, raising their percentage from 8.3 to 11.3.

Houston is 9-for-49 (18.4 percent) with the man advantage in the past eight games.

Houston has at least one power-play goal in 11 of its last 13 games.

Houston's 222 power plays are the most in the AHL by a considerable margin (St. John's, 191). In order to put the Aeros' power-play totals in perspective, realize that they have an astounding 108 more power plays than in-state rival San Antonio. Houston has 50 more power plays than 21 of the other 27 AHL teams.

Tonight, the Aeros will face a penalty kill unit second in the AHL at 89.7 percent. Cincinnati has, however, yielded a league-high seven shorthanded goals.

Surprisingly, the Aeros are winless this season (0-2-1-0) in three games when going on 10 or more power plays. The last time it happened was a 2-for-12 performance versus Chicago on Sunday. Holmqvist 1-2-0 against Ducks – Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist is 1-2-0 with a no decision in four career games against Cincinnati. Holmqvist's goals against average versus the Ducks is 3.14, and his save percentage is .880. Holmqvist made 22 saves in a 3-1 win over Cincinnati December 5 for his only victory over the Ducks.

Bryzgalov 1-6-0 versus Aeros – Mighty Ducks netminder Ilya Bryzgalov has not fared well against Houston in his career. The Russia native is 1-6-0 with a 3.15 goals against average in seven career games versus the Aeros. Bryzgalov snapped a five-game losing streak against Houston by making 22 saves in a 4-2 win December 19.

Houston has one win when allowing more than one goal - The Aeros are an unbeaten 13-0-1-0 when allowing one goal or fewer this season, and December 17 was their only win (1-14-4-2) when yielding two or more, a 5-3 home win over Norfolk.

Aeros have first goal in nine of 11 games –Houston has scored first in nine of its last 11 games, going 6-0-3 in games when scoring first. Overall this season, the Aeros are 11-1-3-1 when scoring the game's first goal, but have failed to win the last two games when scoring first (0-0-2).

Houston notches win No. 400 – The Aeros picked up their 400th win in franchise history December 23 in Utah. Houston now sports a 401-271-86-10 record. They have 212 wins at home and 189 on the road. Aeros/Ducks connections –

Houston president Tom Garrity served in the same capacity with Cincinnati prior to this season. Cincinnati's Mike Mottau was a teammate of Houston goalie Johan Holmqvist for most of three seasons, from 2000-2003, in Hartford. Mottau also spent time in Saint John last season alongside current Aero Jan Vodrazka.

Mighty Duck Cam Severson played 65 games with Hartford in 2001-02, alongside Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist.

Mighty Ducks defenseman Chris Armstrong spent one season in the Wild organization. He played 77 games with Cleveland in 2000-01, and also saw action in three games with Minnesota that season, his only three NHL games.

Aeros head coach Todd McLellan coached Cam Severson for 15 games in Swift Current in 1994-95.

McLellan gets No. 100 – December 26, Houston head coach Todd McLellan joined current Dallas Stars coach Dave Tippett as the only coaches in team history with 100 victories. McClellan is now 100-63-22-10 in his 2 ½-season reign with the club. McLellan will have to keep at it to top Tippett's 165-win total. Tippett coached the Aeros for 3 ½ seasons and - like McLellan - led his team to a championship, the 1999 Turner Cup. McLellan's overall pro coaching record is 143-95-29-10 in 3 ½ seasons. He coached IHL Cleveland in 2000-01 before coming to Houston. McLellan picked up his 100th victory in his 192nd game with the team, just five more games than it took Tippett to reach the plateau. McLellan is the seventh current AHL coach to notch 100 wins with his team.

Aeros 2-0-1 in last three road games – Houston is unbeaten in three games (2-0-1) since its last road loss, December 19 in Cincinnati. The streak is the Aeros' longest road unbeaten streak since the same run last January 29-February 1. Houston actually picked up points in four straight during that streak (2-0-1-1). The Aeros' last true four-game unbeaten streak was during a five-game (4-0-1) run December 26, 2002, through January 15, 2003.

Quick hits

A victory tonight would put Houston over the .500 mark for the first time since October 17 – its first game of the season, which it won 5-1 in Milwaukee. Since then, the Aeros have had five chances to move over the .500 mark, and have gone 0-2-3 in those games.

The Aeros have picked up four points when trailing after two periods (0-12-3-1).

The Aeros, 0-2-5 in overtime, are one of six AHL teams without an extra session win. Parent club Minnesota is 0-0-10 in OT games this season. Cincinnati is also winless but also without a loss in overtime (0-0-4). The Ducks are one of four teams without an overtime loss.

Houston's seven-game overtime winless streak is the longest since a span of 12 games (0-4-8) from December 29, 2001, to March 29, 2002.

A victory tonight would be the Aeros' third of the season over Cincinnati, which would make the Ducks Houston's first three-time victim this season.

Houston has just one win this season when allowing a goal in the third period. The Aeros are 13-2-3-1 when keeping their opponents off the board in the third, including an unbeaten in regulation 12-0-3-1 the last 16 times.

Aeros netminder Kyle Kettles' next appearance will be the 50th of his pro career.

Sunday's tie marked the second time this season that Houston has failed to win when holding a lead with five minutes left. The other time was a 5-4 overtime loss to San Antonio November 23.

The Ducks have scored a total of 11 goals in their last 12 losses and have been shut out five times overall. It's been 30 days since a team other than Cincinnati beat the Aeros. Utah earned a 3-1 win December 3.

Houston's Chris Bala has both of his team's game-winning goals versus the Ducks this season.

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