Aeros Game Day

January 9, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Tonight's broadcast will be on KBME 790 AM and www.aeros.com. Ryan Stanzel will again bring you the action.

Going to Toyota Center and want to follow along? Print off the game notes here.

Houston Aeros vs. Worcester IceCats, 1/9

IceCats at Aeros (Aeros lead 3-1-0-0 overall, 2-0-0-0 in Houston)

· The teams meet for the fifth time tonight – third in Houston.

· Houston's 4-2 loss in Worcester February 9 snapped a three-game Aeros winning streak in the series.

· The Aeros have outscored the IceCats 15-10 in the four meetings, including 10-6 in Houston.

· Worcester makes its first visit to Houston since the Aeros' Kevin Bolibruk gave his team a 5-4 overtime decision October 27, 2001.

· The teams meet again March 27 in Worcester.

2003-04 meetings (First meeting) Tonight: Worcester at Houston March 17: Houston at Worcester

Last game – Ken Gernander scored the game's lone goal with 12 seconds left in overtime and Jason Labarbera made 31 saves for his second straight shutout of Houston, as the Hartford Wolf Pack handed the Aeros a 1-0 defeat at Toyota Center. Hartford has won three straight after a franchise-record five-game losing streak. Johan Holmqvist turned aside the first 28 shots he faced against his former team but let Gernander's in the net. Houston, which is winless in its last seven games (0-1-5-1), has picked up points in six of those contests. Holmqvist spent three seasons in Hartford, before a trade for Lawrence Nycholat brought him to Houston last March. Holmqvist was the Calder Cup playoff MVP for Houston.

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 regulation losses in its last 17 games (9-2-5-1) since a franchise-record eight-game (0-6-1-1) winless streak. The Aeros, who hit the 40-game, midway point of the season tonight, have skated to five ties and an overtime loss and a regulation loss (0-1-5-1) without a win in their last seven games. The Aeros have a balanced offensive attack that has seen 13 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 12 games. That streak helped Wanvig take over the team lead in points with 23 (15g, 8a). Rickard Wallin (10g, 13a) moved back into a tie with Wanvig with a pair of assists Sunday. Stephane Veilleux (6g, 15a) and Dan Cavanaugh (7g, 14a) are tied for third on the team in points with 21, and Cavanaugh snapped an eight-game streak without a point with an assist Sunday. Houston's blueline is really chipping in lately. Jason Marshall, who took over the Aeros' captaincy in December, has 15 points, including a team-best five goals from the blueline. Travis Roche (2g, 12a) has six assists in the last five games, while Erik Reitz has 13 points (2g, 11a). Both of Reitz' goals have been power-play game-winners. Last year's Calder Cup Most Valuable Player, goalie Johan Holmqvist, has started 32 of the team's first 39 games, going 12-15-5 with a 2.63 goals against average Holmqvist is winless (0-3-2) in his last five starts, one shy of his longest streak of the season and three shy of his career mark. 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 IceCats – Worcester has points in three of four (2-1-0-1) since a rough 1-3-2 stretch, with the only regulation loss in its last four games coming via shutout New Year's Eve in Portland. The IceCats also dropped an overtime heartbreaker last night, 3-2 in San Antonio. Johnny Pohl sent the game to overtime with 3:57 left, but San Antonio's leading scorer, Eric Beaudoin, tallied 60 seconds into the extra session. Worcester's leading scorer, diminutive (5-foot-7, 170-pound) centerman Jeff Panzer, who has a team-best 25 points and 16 assists, is out due to injury. Mike Glumac (12g, 13a) has actually tied Panzer for the team lead in points after an assist last night, while Ernie Hartlieb (10g, 14a) is third with 24 points. Glumac and Hartlieb each played in the ECHL last season. The most experienced IceCat is Scott Pellerin, a former Minnesota Wild player. Pellerin has 15 points (4g, 11a) in 22 games and has also been up with the Blues. Worcester is also getting production from 2003 Hobey Baker winner Peter Sejna since he was sent down from St. Louis. Sejna has nine points (3g, 6a) in 17 games with Worcester. The IceCats' blueline is manned by Jame Pollack (5g, 10a) and Jon Coleman (0g, 12a). Goalie Reinhard Divis has been a workhorse in net for Worcester, starting in 18 straight games before a recall to St. Louis that led to five consecutive games for Curtis Sanford. Divis, back from the Blues last night, stopped 18 shots against San Antonio and is 12-10-7 with a 2.30 goals against average, while Sanford is 4-4-0 with a 2.57 goals against average.

Aeros/IceCats connections –

· Worcester centerman Greg Black played with Houston's Jason Beckett in WHL Seattle in the 1998-99 and 1999-2000 seasons. Beckett also played with Worcester's Jame Pollack with the Thunderbirds from 1997-99.

· IceCats defenseman Aris Brimanis was Jan Vodrazka's teammate in 1999-2000 with IHL Kansas City. Brimanis also played for the New York Islanders in 2000-01 alongside Houston's Bill Muckalt.

· Houston's Travis Roche played with Worcester's Jeff Panzer at North Dakota in 1999-2000 and 2000-01, and the pair helped the Fighting Sioux win the NCAA title in 2000-01.

· Worcester's Scott Pellerin played for the Minnesota Wild in 2000-01, with current Aeros Darby Hendrickson and Jason Marshall.

· Aeros goalie Kyle Kettles played two-plus seasons with Brett Scheffelmaier in WHL Medicine Hat from 1999-2001.

· Worcester's Peter Sejna, the 2002 Hobey Baker winner, played with Houston's Mark Cullen in 2000-01 and 2001-02 with Colorado College. Cullen played all four collegiate seasons with the IceCats' Mike Stuart. Aeros assistant coach Matt Shaw is also a former Colorado College player and assistant coach.

· IceCats winger Igor Valeev played for Houston head coach Todd McLellan in 1999-00 with WHL Swift Current, while teammate Sergei Varlamov played three seasons for McLellan from 1995-1998.

· Houston goalie Johan Holmqvist played nearly two full seasons in Hartford with Terry Virtue.

· Worcester's Jim Henkel has played in ECHL Atlantic City this season with Eric Cavosie, the brother of Houston's Marc Cavosie.

Home points streak at 10 – Houston's overtime loss to Hartford last night technically snapped the Aeros' home unbeaten streak at nine games (6-0-3), but Houston still has a 10-game home points streak (6-0-3-1). Houston's nine-game home unbeaten streak was the second longest in the AHL this season, trailing only Bridgeport's 10-game run from October 25-December 17. Houston had last been unbeaten in nine 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 in regulation since a 3-1 decision to Milwaukee December 1, improving to 8-6-4-2. Each of Houston's last four home games have gone to overtime (0-1-3).

A little ‘O' please – The Aeros have scored just 22 goals in 11 games (2.0 goals per game) since beating Norfolk 5-3 December 17. Houston has scored three or more goals twice during the last 10 games – including a 4-4 tie versus Rochester Sunday. Overall, the Aeros are averaging 2.33 goals per game, 22nd in the AHL. Houston hasn't scored a goal in 89 minutes, 53 seconds, since Darby Hendrickson's power play tally late in the second period Sunday against Rochester. Last night was the first time the Aeros have been shut out at home since Grand Rapids' Joey MacDonald did the trick with 28 saves last February 23 in a 6-0 victory.

No one hotter than Wanvig –

· Houston's Kyle Wanvig has nine goals and two assists in his last 12 games.

· Wanvig had his career-best five-game goal and point streak snapped December 27, following 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 injured 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 (38 points) could move into a tie for third place with idle Milwaukee with a victory tonight. The Admirals lost 3-2 at home last night to Cincinnati. Houston trails second-place Chicago, a 5-0 home victor over Utah Wednesday, by five points and is within six points of first-place Grand Rapids. Houston's highest position this season was tied for third prior to a December 30 game versus Chicago. The Admirals will have seven games in hand, though, on Houston after tonight's game, and the Aeros don't play again until next Friday.

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 24 points, one more than Bridgeport for the most in the AHL. The run has helped the Aeros, who have eight more points during that span than any other West Division team, climb out of last place and into fourth. Worcester has 15 points since December 5.

Aeros 9-2-5-1 in last 17 – Houston is 9-2-5-1 in its last 17 games, but is also winless in seven games (0-1-5-1), although the Aeros have picked up points in six of those seven games. The Aeros began this 17-game streak by snapping a franchise-record eight-game winless streak with a 3-1 win over Cincinnati December 5.

· Houston ran off seven straight games without a loss (3-0-4) December 20-January 2, including four straight ties December 27-January 2.

· The Aeros are currently winless in seven games (0-1-5-1), one game away from tying the franchise record eight-game streak (0-6-1-1) November 20-December 3 of 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.

· In the season's first 22 games, Houston allowed a league-worst 3.36 goals per game. In the last 17 games, the Aeros are yielding just 1.77 goals per game. That has helped Houston move out of the basement to 2.67 goals against per game, good for 17th in the AHL.

Hoggan enjoys new linemates – 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 18, including career-bests in goals (10) and assists (eight). Hoggan has been particularly hot lately, especially since he has been paired with a pair of Swedes – Rickard Wallin and Mika Hannula. Hoggan has 11 points (6g, 5a) in the last 15 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 9-1-3-2 when Hoggan has a point, including a 5-1-2-2 mark when he has a goal and an unbeaten 6-0-2-0 record when he notches an assist. Hoggan has a trio of three-point games this season. Wallin has nine points (3g, 6a) and Hannula seven (3g, 4a) since the pairing. Wallin (flu) missed three games during that span and Hannula four (wrist, flu).

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 notch 75.

· Holmqvist is winless in his last five games (0-2-2-1), one shy of his season mark of six.

Hendrickson plays in 600th pro game, closing in on other milestones – Aeros centerman Darby Hendrickson played in his 600th professional game December 30. Hendrickson, who spent eight full seasons in the NHL, has 191 points (96g, 95a) in his pro career after two goals Sunday. Hendrickson is four goals and five assists shy of 100 in his pro career in both those categories. Hendrickson played in his 100th AHL game December 27. He has 66 points (32g, 34a) in 106 career AHL contests.

Penalty kill update –

· Houston killed off its first 31 shorthanded chances this season. Since then, opponents are 20-for-140 (14.3 percent) on the power play.

· The Aeros' overall 88.8 percent penalty kill rate ranks fifth in the AHL.

· The Aeros have allowed four power plays or fewer in 13 of 15 games and are yielding just 3.4 power plays per game during that span.

· Houston has allowed its opponents just one power play goal on 18 chances (5.6 percent) over the last five games, since Chicago went 2-for-8 December 28.

· Worcester's power play ranks 15th in the AHL at 14.5 percent. On the road, the IceCats are ranked 24th at 11.5 percent.

· The IceCats went 0-for-4 last night on the power play. Worcester is 0-for-14 since a 3-for-4 performance versus Hartford, and 3-for-34 in its last seven games.

· Each West Division team is ranked in the top 13 of the AHL on the penalty kill, and all but Milwaukee (13th) are ranked in the top nine.

Power play update –

· Houston enters tonight's game 27 of 236 on the power play (11.4 percent), 26th among 28 AHL teams.

· The Aeros have gone 15-for-92 (16.3 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 13 of its last 17 games.

· Houston's 236 power plays are the most in the AHL by a considerable margin (Manitoba, 220). 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 and 57 more than tonight's opponent.

· Tonight, the Aeros will face a penalty kill unit ranked 18th overall at 85.4 percent and 20th on the road at 82.5 percent.

· The IceCats had killed off 13 of 14 power plays until San Antonio went 1-for-5 last night.

Holmqvist familiar with Worcester – Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist has played 12 games in his career versus Worcester, going 5-5-1 with a no decision. Holmqvist sports a 4.05 goals against average, a .883 save percentage and one shutout against the IceCats. Holmqvist's 4.05 gaa against Worcester is his second highest of any team, with at least three games played. Holmqvist has his worst goals against average versus his current team, Houston (4.57, with an 0-3-0 record). Backup Kyle Kettles has never faced the IceCats.

Divis 0-1-0 versus Aeros – Worcester netminder is 0-1-0 with a 7.50 goals against average and a .800 save percentage versus the Aeros. The Austrian lasted just two periods, surrendering five goals on 25 shots, in a 5-2 loss at Compaq Center October 26, 2001. Backup Curtis Sanford has never faced the Aeros. Houston has one win when allowing more than one goal - The Aeros are an unbeaten in regulation 13-0-1-1 when allowing one goal or fewer this season, and December 17 was their only win (1-15-6-2) when yielding two or more, a 5-3 home win over Norfolk.

Aeros have first goal in 12 of 15 games – Houston has scored first in 12 of its last 15 games, but the Aeros haven't won any of the last five games when scoring first (0-1-4). Houston is 6-1-5-0 in the last 12 when scoring first and 11-2-5-1 overall when scoring first.

Worcester has pair of Hobey Baker winners – Worcester's lineup features former Hobey Baker winners Scott Pellerin (1992) and Peter Sejna (2003), meaning the Aeros will face a total of five Hobey Baker winners this season, including three of the last four. In addition to Pellerin and Sejna, Tony Hrkac (Milwaukee, 1987), Mike Mottau (Cincinnati, 2000) and Ryan Miller (Rochester, 2001) each won collegiate hockey's top honor. Houston also saw Cincinnati's Chris Kunitz, who lost out to Sejna last season. The Aeros have a pair of former Hobey Baker finalists on their team – Marc Cavosie, who saw current Calgary Flame Jordan Leopold get the honor in 2002, and Bill Muckalt, who was a finalist in 1998, when Buffalo's Chris Drury took home the hardware.

Quick hits

· The Aeros, 0-3-7 in overtime, are one of five AHL teams without an extra session win. Houston's 10 OT non-wins are the most of those five teams. The Aeros went 8-3-7 in overtime last season, second in the league in extra session wins (Chicago, 11).

· Houston's 10-game overtime winless streak is its longest since a span of 12 games (0-4-8) from December 29, 2001, to March 29, 2002.

· The Aeros have seven ties, already tied with last season's total. Since entering the AHL, Houston's 10 ties in the 2001-02 campaign are the team mark.

· Houston has just one win this season when allowing a goal in the third period. The Aeros are 13-2-4-2 when keeping their opponents off the board in the third, including an unbeaten in regulation 12-0-4-2 the last 18 times.

· The Aeros' Jason Marshall needs two points for 100 in his AHL/IHL career.

· Worcester is one of two AHL teams (Cleveland being the other) with a winning record on the road (9-5-4-1) and a losing record at home (7-8-3-0).

· Last night was the first time the Aeros went into overtime in a scoreless game since March 6, 2002, against Grand Rapids, in a game that ended in a tie.

· The last time the Aeros were shut out in back-to-back games was November 14 (Milwaukee) and November 15 (Grand Rapids), 2002.

· Last night was Houston's first 1-0 loss at home since February 6, 2001, versus Kansas City, when Corey Schwab turned aside 28 shots and Sean Tallaire scored.

· Hartford's Jason Labarbera is the second netminder in as many seasons to pitch a pair of shutouts versus the Aeros in the same season. Grand Rapids' Marc Lamothe had two blankings en route to a 4-2-1 record against Houston in 2002-03.

· The Aeros had led in each of their last nine games prior to last night, and they failed to lead for just the second time in the last 17 contests.



American Hockey League Stories from January 9, 2004


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