Sports stats



Aeros Game Day

January 4, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


It's Trading Card Night at Toyota Center, as former Aeros David Cullen and Tom Askey lead the Rochester Americans into town at 5 p.m. The first 2,500 fans will receive the second set of Aeros trading cards. You can hear today's live broadcast on KBME 790 or on the Internet at www.aeros.com. The website will also have full period-by-period recaps throughout the evening.

Also don't forget that fan voting for the AHL All-Star Game ends TODAY. Vote for your favorite Aero by visiting www.theahl.com.

Going to Toyota Center tonight and want to follow along? To print out a PDF version of these notes, click here.

Houston Aeros vs. Rochester Americans, 1/4

Americans at Aeros (Aeros lead 3-0-2 overall, 2-0-0 in Houston)

· The teams meet for the sixth time in history tonight – the third meeting in Houston. Rochester has never beaten Houston in the previous five meetings.

· Last season, the Aeros went 2-0-0 at home versus Rochester en route to a 3-0-1 overall mark against the Americans.

· Rickard Wallin scored twice to rally Houston from a two-goal deficit to a 2-2 tie in Rochester November 26.

· The Aeros won last year's two home meetings by a combined 7-1 margin.

· The last two meetings were each ties – 4-4 in Rochester January 31, 2003, and November 26.

2003-04 meetings (Series tied 0-0-1-0, first meeting in Houston) November 26: Houston 2 at Rochester 2 (OT) Tonight: Rochester at Houston

Last game – Steve Maltais broke a tie with 9:46 left in regulation, as the Chicago Wolves rallied from two goals down for a 4-2 victory over the Houston Aeros at Allstate Arena. Mike Weaver, Kurtis Foster and Derek MacKenzie also scored and Frederic Cassivi made 31 saves to snap a personal six-game winless streak for Chicago, which extended its unbeaten streak to six games (4-0-2). Johan Holmqvist stopped 31 shots, Stephane Veilleux picked up a goal and an assist and Kyle Wanvig scored his ninth goal in 10 games for Houston, but the Aeros had their season-high seven-game unbeaten streak (3-0-4) snapped and are now winless in five games (0-1-4). Houston fell for just the second time in 15 games (9-2-4), and is now four points behind third-place Milwaukee and five behind second-place Chicago.

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 two losses in its last 15 games (9-2-4) since a franchise-record eight-game (0-6-1-1) winless streak. The Aeros skated to four straight ties before dropping a 4-2 decision at second-place Chicago last night 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 nine goals and two assists in his last 10 games. That streak has helped Wanvig take over the team lead in points with 23 (15g, 8a). Rickard Wallin (10g, 11a) is tied for second on the team in points with Stephane Veilleux (6g, 15a). Dan Cavanaugh, whose six-game point streak in December had catapulted him to the team lead in points, is fourth with 20 (7g, 13a). Cavanaugh is without a point in eight straight games. 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. Young defenseman Erik Reitz has 13 points (2g, 11a), and both of his goals have been power-play game winners. Fellow blueliners Travis Roche (2g, 11a) has also reached the double-digit plateau in points, and he has five helpers in the last four games. Last year's Calder Cup Most Valuable Player, goalie Johan Holmqvist, has started 30 of the team's first 37 games, going 12-14-4 with a 2.65 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 Americans – Rochester enters tonight's game red hot, going 6-1-0 in its last seven and 7-2-0 in its last nine. The Americans' only two losses in the last nine games have been shutout defeats. The second-place Amerks (41 points) have drawn within seven points of first-place Hamilton in the North Division, but with six games in hand. The Americans actually lead the Bulldogs in winning percentage. Rochester enters off a 4-3 win in San Antonio on Friday, followed by an off day yesterday. Milan Bartovic picked up his second straight game-winner and fifth of the season for the Americans, while Tom Askey made 18 saves with Ryan Miller up in Buffalo. The Amerks rallied from a goal down in the final seven minutes of the game. Rochester is led in goals and points by Jason Pominville (14g, 16a), whose numbers earned him a brief call-up to the Sabres around New Year's. Pominville has 10 of his team's 29 power play tallies. Domenic Pittis is second with 25 points, including a team-best 20 assists. The Amerks' blueline is manned by former Aero David Cullen, who was a part of last season's Calder Cup championship team. Cullen, who scored against Houston back on November 26, has 18 points (4g, 14a). One of the main keys to Rochester's recent runs has been Jason Dawe, who spent much of the 1990's with the team. Dawe, who Rochester claimed off waivers from Houston in December, came back from Finland to play in the States. With Miller in Buffalo, Askey – a former Aero – has started the last two games and has gone 6-5-0 with a 2.26 goals against average this season. He is backed up by Greg Gardner, who has had a pair of recalls to Rochester this season from ECHL Mississippi but has yet to get any action in between the pipes. Gardner does have AHL experience with Syracuse.

Home unbeaten streak at eight – Houston's tie with Chicago Tuesday ran the Aeros' home unbeaten streak to a current AHL-high eight games (6-0-2). Houston was last unbeaten in eight straight at home during an 11-game (9-0-2) run last season at Compaq Center from December 21-February 12. Houston started off its first season in Toyota Center just 2-6-1-1 but hasn't lost since a 3-1 decision to Milwaukee December 1. The longest home unbeaten streak in the AHL this season is held by Bridgeport, which went 10 games without a loss at home October 25-December 17.

A little ‘O' please – The Aeros have scored just 18 goals in nine games (2.0 goals per game) since beating Norfolk 5-3 December 17. Houston has scored three goals just once during the last nine games – a 3-3 tie versus Chicago Sunday. Overall, the Aeros are averaging 2.36 goals per game, 19th in the AHL. Houston scored two goals in the first period last night, the first time the Aeros have notched two in a single stanza since December 20 at Cincinnati.

No one hotter than Wanvig –

· Houston's Kyle Wanvig has nine goals and two assists in his last 10 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 has goals in each of his last six home games (seven goals), the longest such streak in the AHL this season.

· 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.

· 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 15 goals are a new career-high. He had 13 with the Aeros plus one with Minnesota last season.

· The Aeros are 8-1-2-0 this season when Wanvig has a goal and 9-3-3-1 when he notches a point.

Aeros in fourth place – The Aeros (36 points) could move within two points of idle third-place Milwaukee with a victory tonight. Houston trails second-place Chicago by five points and is within eight points of first-place Grand Rapids. Houston's highest position this season was tied for third prior to Tuesday's game versus Chicago.

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. Rochester has 18 points since December 5, tied with several teams for the third most in the AHL.

Aeros 9-2-4 in last 15 – Houston had its seven-game unbeaten streak (3-0-4) snapped last night, while also failing to win for the fifth straight game (0-1-4). Houston is 9-2-4 in its last 15. 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 seven-game unbeaten streak (3-0-4), snapped last night, was one off Portland for the active AHL lead. The seven-game unbeaten streak was Houston's longest since a 13-game run (11-0-2) from December 21-January 15 of last season.

· The Aeros are currently winless in five games (0-1-4), the longest stretch since their franchise-record eight-game winless streak (0-6-1-1) earlier this season.

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

· 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 15 games, the Aeros are yielding just 1.67 goals per game. That has helped Houston move out of the basement to 2.68 goals against per game, 18th in the AHL.

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 going unbeaten (2-0-2) his last four starts.

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.

· 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.

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 104 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 13 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.

Penalty kill update –

· Houston killed off its first 31 shorthanded chances this season. Since then, opponents are 20-for-138 (14.5 percent) on the power play.

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

· The Aeros have allowed four power plays or fewer in 11 of 13 games.

· Houston has been shorthanded just 37 times in the last 11 games, while going on 61 power plays.

· Rochester's power play is seventh in the AHL at 15.7 percent, including 16.0 percent on the road – fifth in the league. The Amerks have yielded just one shorthanded goal, second in the AHL.

Power play update –

· Houston enters tonight's game 26 of 228 on the power play (11.4 percent), 25th among 28 AHL teams.

· The Aeros have gone 14-for-84 (16.7 percent) since Matt Foy snapped a streak of 37 straight unsuccessful power plays December 5, raising their percentage from 8.3 to 11.4.

· Houston has at least one power-play goal in 12 of its last 15 games.

· The Aeros have had only three power-play opportunities in three times this season – including the last two games.

· Houston's 228 power plays are the most in the AHL by a considerable margin (Manitoba, 203). 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.

· Tonight, the Aeros will face a penalty kill unit ranked seventh in the AHL at 87.9 percent.

Holmqvist 0-1-1 against Rochester – Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist sports an 0-1-1 mark and a 2.37 goals against average in two career games against Rochester. Holmqvist made 30 saves in a 2-2 tie at Rochester November 26 in his only appearance of the season versus the Americans.

Askey 0-1-1 vs. Aeros – Rochester's Tom Askey, a former Aero, is 0-1-1 with a 2.41 goals against average in two career games against Houston. He backed up Ryan Miller in the teams' meeting November 26.

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 (1-15-5-2) when yielding two or more, a 5-3 home win over Norfolk.

Aeros have first goal in 11 of 13 games – Houston has scored first in 11 of its last 13 games, and last night was the first time the Aeros didn't win in those 11 games (6-1-4). Overall this season, the Aeros are 11-2-4-1 when scoring the game's first goal, but have failed to win the last four games when scoring first (0-1-3).

Houston notches win No. 400 – The Aeros picked up their 400th win in franchise history December 23 in Utah. Houston now sports a 401-272-87-10 record. They have 212 wins at home and 189 on the road.

Aeros/Americans connections –

· Rochester goalie Tom Askey played 13 games with Houston in 1999-2000, going 4-7-1 with a 2.72 goals against average.

· David Cullen was an Aero in the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons, helping the team win the Calder Cup last spring.

· Rochester's Pete Gardiner was teammates with Houston's Marc Cavosie at RPI in 1999-2000.

· Houston defenseman Jan Vodrazka played with AHL Saint John last season with Rochester's Rick Mrozik.

· The Amerks' Nathan Paetsch was teammates with Houston goalie Kyle Kettles in Moose Jaw in 2001-02.

· Houston's Kyle Wanvig and Rochester's Domenic Pittis each hail from Calgary, Alberta.

· Had Rochester not claimed right wing Jason Dawe off waivers, he would currently be in an Aeros uniform.

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 100-64-23-10 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 143-96-30-10 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 outshot in two straight – Houston, which leads the AHL in shots per game at 33.5, has been outshot in back-to-back games for the first time since a stretch of three games November 29-December 3. The Aeros are 0-1-1 in the last two games when being outshot and just 3-7-1-0 overall in such situations, including a 2-5-1-0 road mark.

Houston wraps up third three-in-three – The Aeros finish off their third set of three-in-three situations this evening. In the prior two finales, Houston is 1-0-1, including a 3-3 tie last Sunday versus Chicago. Houston is 5-4-1-0 in the first night and 3-5-1-1 in the second night of such situations.

Quick hits

· Last night was the Aeros' seventh chance to move above the .500 mark since opening night. Houston has gone 0-3-4 in those games.

· The Aeros have picked up five points when trailing after two periods (0-12-4-1).

· The Aeros, 0-2-6 in overtime, are one of five AHL teams without an extra session win. Cleveland is tied with Houston for the lead with eight OT non-wins. 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.

· Last night marked the first time in 15 games that the Aeros had allowed two or more goals in the third period, since yielding a pair in a 3-1 loss in Utah December 3.

· Last night was the first time in 16 games that Houston was "out power played" (5-3), since a 3-1 loss to Milwaukee December 1. The Admirals had 10 power plays in that game to Houston's seven.

· The Aeros' Marc Cavosie has six points (1g, 5a) in his last 11 games.

· Rochester is just 5-6-2-3 on the road but is 12-4-2-0 at home.

· The Amerks have outscored their opponents 28-18 in the first period this season.

· Rochester is an impressive 7-1-0-3 in one-goal games. Houston is 6-3-0-2 in such situations.

• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...

American Hockey League Stories from January 4, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

Other Recent Houston Aeros Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central