Aeros Game Day

Published on January 3, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Aeros at Wolves (Aeros lead all-time series 28-16-11-4, Aeros are 12-10-3-2 at Chicago)

Tonight is the 60th all-time meeting between the Wolves and Aeros.

Since joining the AHL, Houston is 10-7-6-4 versus Chicago, including a 4-4-1-2 road mark.

Aeros have just three wins but only two regulation losses in the last 11 matchups (3-2-3-3).

Amazingly, nine of the last 13 meetings have gone into overtime.

Aeros were 4-2-1-3 against Chicago in 2002-03, including a 1-2-0-2 mark on the road.

Houston has outscored the Wolves 7-3 in the third period of their five meetings this season.

Tonight marks the first of Houston's five trips to Chicago this season. The teams have wrapped up their season series in Houston.

2003-04 meetings (Sixth of 10 meetings, Aeros are 1-1-3-0 overall, first meeting in Chicago) October 31: Chicago 2 at Houston 2 (OT)

November 22: Chicago 4 at Houston 3

December 7: Chicago 1 at Houston 3

Sunday: Chicago 3 at Houston 3 (OT)

December 30: Chicago 2 at Houston 2 (OT)

Tonight: Houston at Chicago

January 18: Houston at Chicago

February 7: Houston at Chicago

February 11: Houston at Chicago

February 21: Houston at Chicago

Last game – Stephane Veilleux scored shorthanded in the third period and Kyle Kettles turned aside a season-high 33 shots, helping the Houston Aeros tie the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks, 2-2, at Cincinnati Gardens. Jeff Hoggan scored in the first period for Houston, which has only one loss (9-1-4) in its last 14 and extended its unbeaten streak to a season-high seven games (3-0-4). The Aeros have tied four straight contests and fell two points behind third-place Milwaukee in the West Division. Brian Gornick and Chris Armstrong scored for Cincinnati, which is winless (0-3-1) in its last four. Ilya Bryzgalov made 31 saves for the Ducks.

Scouting the Aeros – Despite a flu-bug of epidemic proportions that has run through the Aeros' locker room in the last two weeks, Houston has just one loss in its last 14 games (9-1-4) since a franchise-record eight-game (0-6-1-1) winless streak. The Aeros have skated to four straight ties – 2-2 in Cincinnati last night, 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 nine games. That streak, which includes points in seven of nine 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 seven 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, 11a), 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 36 games, going 12-13-4 with a 2.64 goals against average. His backup is second-year netminder Kyle Kettles, who is 2-3-2 with a 2.37 goals against average. Kettles has stopped 102 of 107 shots (95.3 percent) while going 2-0-2 in his last four games. Kettles has just nine goals of support in seven starts this season.

Scouting the Wolves – Chicago is unbeaten in five straight (3-0-2) for the first time since a five-game winning streak from October 16-26. The Wolves had lost seven of nine since Atlanta traded Chicago's Simon Gamache to the Nashville organization, but Chicago has rebounded with the recent streak. Chicago is led by Wolves mainstay Steve Maltais (10g, 13a). With Zdenek Blatny (6g, 13a) up with Atlanta for much of the past two weeks, Derek MacKenzie (10g, 10a) has moved into a tie for second place in points with 20. Chicago's Eric Healey, who led the AHL with 42 goals last season, has a goal and an assist in the last two games after nine games without a point. Healey's 20 points (11g, 9a) are tied with MacKenzie for second. The Wolves blueline is manned by former Aero Greg Hawgood, who has three goals and 10 assists, and Shawn Heins (5g, 8a), who had a pair of helpers versus Houston on Sunday. Kari Lehtonen, Atlanta's first pick (No. 2 overall) in 2002, is 12-9-1 with a 2.32 gaa. Lehtonen and Frederic Cassivi split time early, but Lehtonen is seeing more action lately. Cassivi is 4-5-4 with a 3.00 gaa, and is winless (0-3-3) in his last six decisions.

Running out of sisters to kiss – Houston has played in four straight overtime games, tying a franchise record. The Aeros had never before tied four straight games, prior to its recent streak. Houston played in four straight shootout games twice, most recently from October 10-19, 1999. Betting men would say the odds were good for a franchise-record fifth straight overtime affair tonight – Chicago and Houston have gone into an extra session in nine of their last 13 regular-season meetings.

No one hotter than Wanvig –

Houston's Kyle Wanvig has eight goals and two assists in his last nine 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 8-0-2-0 this season when Wanvig has a goal and 9-2-3-1 when he notches a point.

Marshall has points in six of nine – Houston captain Jason Marshall has not let the flu slow him down. The veteran defenseman has a point in six of his last nine 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 third with a win tonight – The Aeros (36 points) actually lost one point in the standings last night, as both second-place Chicago (39 points) and third-place Milwaukee (38 points) won. With a win tonight, combined with a loss by Milwaukee at home versus division-leading Grand Rapids, the Aeros could move into a tie for third with the Admirals and climb within a point of the second-place Wolves. Houston was tied for third prior to Tuesday's game versus Chicago, the highest the Aeros had been all season. 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 have 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 22 points, one better than Bridgeport for the most in the AHL. The run has helped the Aeros climb out of last place and into fourth.

Aeros 9-1-4 in last 14 – Houston is unbeaten in a season-high seven straight (3-0-4), and is 9-1-4 in its last 14, 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 seven-game unbeaten streak (3-0-4) is tied with Portland for the longest active streak in the league and is tied for the fifth-longest streak in the AHL this season.

The seven-game unbeaten streak is Houston's longest since a 13-game run (11-0-2) from December 21-January 15 of last season.

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

In the last eight games, Houston is 13-for-87 (14.9 percent) on the power play and has killed off 46-of-52 (88.5 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 14 games, the Aeros are yielding just 1.50 goals per game. That has helped Houston move out of the basement to 2.64 goals against per game, 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 accomplish the feat.

Kettles unbeaten in four – 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 has earned ties in each of his last two games, including a season-high 33 saves in a 2-2 game versus Cincinnati last night. Kettles has lowered his goals against average from 3.65 to 2.37 in the last four games. It shouldn't come as a surprise that Kettles – who has received just nine goals of support in his seven 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. Kettles has turned aside 102 of 107 shots (95.3 percent) in his last four starts.

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 103 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 16, including career-bests in goals (nine) 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 nine points (5g, 4a) in the last 12 games. 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 9-1-2-2 when Hoggan has a point, including a 5-1-1-2 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.

A little ‘O' please – The Aeros have scored just 16 goals in eight games (2.0 goals per game) since beating Norfolk 5-3 December 17. Houston has scored three goals just once during the last eight games – a 3-3 tie versus Chicago Sunday. Overall, the Aeros are averaging 2.36 goals per game, 19th in the AHL.

Penalty kill update –

Houston killed off its first 31 shorthanded chances this season. Since then, opponents are 19-for-133 (14.3 percent) on the power play.

The Aeros' overall 88.6 percent penalty kill rate ranks fifth 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 11 of 12 games.

Houston has been shorthanded just 32 times in the last 10 games, while going on 58 power plays.

Chicago's power play unit is 13th in the AHL at 14.5 percent.

Power play update –

Houston enters tonight's game 25 of 225 on the power play (11.1 percent), 27th among 28 AHL teams.

The Aeros have gone 13-for-81 (16.1 percent) since Matt Foy snapped a streak of 37 straight unsuccessful power plays December 5, raising their percentage from 8.3 to 11.1.

Houston has at least one power-play goal in 11 of its last 14 games.

Houston's 225 power plays are the most in the AHL by a considerable margin (Manitoba, 199). In order to put the Aeros' power-play totals in perspective, realize that they have an astounding 110 more power plays than in-state rival San Antonio.

Tonight, the Aeros will face a penalty kill unit ranked ninth in the AHL at 87.4 percent.

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 at .500 mark against Chicago – Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist sports a 2-2-3 mark with a 2.91 goals against average and a .906 save percentage against Chicago. This season, Holmqvist is 1-1-3 with a 2.30 goals against average and a .917 save percentage versus the Wolves. Kyle Kettles has yet to face Chicago.

Wolves netminders vs. Aeros – Chicago's Frederic Cassivi is 3-3-2 with a 2.83 goals against average in 10 career games against Houston. Cassivi is 0-0-2 with a 2.31 goals against average against Houston this season. Kari Lehtonen is 1-1-1 with a 2.59 goals against average against the Aeros, with all three games coming this season.

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 (1-14-5-2) when yielding two or more, a 5-3 home win over Norfolk.

Aeros have first goal in 10 of 12 games – Houston has scored first in 10 of its last 12 games, going 6-0-4 in games when scoring first. Overall this season, the Aeros are 11-1-4-1 when scoring the game's first goal, but have failed to win the last three games when scoring first (0-0-3).

Houston notches win No. 400 – The Aeros picked up their 400th win in franchise history December 23 in Utah. Houston now sports a 401-271-87-10 record. They have 212 wins at home and 189 on the road.

Aeros/Wolves connections –

Wolves defenseman Greg Hawgood played two full seasons for the Aeros from 1997-99. Hawgood totaled 145 points (36g, 109a) in 157 games with Houston.

Chicago centerman Brendan Yarema had 31 points (18g, 13a) in 77 games with the Aeros in 2001-02.

Chicago's Brian Swanson was a senior at Colorado College when the Aeros' Mark Cullen was a freshman.

Chicago's Brad Tapper was the leading scorer at RPI (51 points) during Marc Cavosie's freshman year of 1999-2000.

Wolves assistant coach Marty Howe won a pair of AVCO Cups with the WHA Houston Aeros in 1974-75.

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 100-63-23-10 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 143-95-30-10 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 2-0-2 in last four road games – Houston is unbeaten in four games (2-0-2) since its last road loss, December 19 in Cincinnati. The Aeros' last 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 six chances to move over the .500 mark, and have gone 0-2-4 in those games.

The Aeros have picked up four points when trailing after two periods (0-12-4-1), twice against Chicago. Houston rallied for a 3-3 tie Sunday, and also for a 2-2 deadlock October 31 against the Wolves.

The Aeros, 0-2-6 in overtime, are one of five AHL teams without an extra session win. Parent club Minnesota is 0-0-10 in OT games this season.

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

Houston has just one win this season when allowing a goal in the third period. The Aeros are 13-2-4-1 when keeping their opponents off the board in the third, including an unbeaten in regulation 12-0-4-1 the last 16 times.

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.

Houston has outshot Chicago 133-84 over the final two periods this season.

The Aeros' Marc Cavosie has six points (1g, 5a) in his last 10 games.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 3, 2004


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