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Aeros Game Day

January 31, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Tonight's broadcast from Winnipeg (minus-17 degrees this morning) will begin at 7:30 p.m. and can be heard on KBME 790 AM.

Houston Aeros at Manitoba Moose, 1/31

Aeros at Moose (Aeros lead series 35-14-10-0 all-time, 17-7-5-0 at Manitoba)

Tonight is the 60th all-time meeting between the teams, 30th for the Aeros on the road.

The teams split a two-game series in Houston in November, with the Aeros winning the first game 2-1 then falling in the second, 3-1.

In the last meeting in Houston, Fedor Fedorov's early third-period goal was the difference in a 3-1 Moose win November 4.

Houston has two wins in the last five meetings overall (2-2-1-0) and was winless in the last three trips to Manitoba (0-2-1-0) prior to last night, which was the Aeros' first win in Winnipeg since a 4-3 decision March 22, 2002.

The Aeros are 9-5-1-0 against the Moose, including a 4-2-1-0 mark in Manitoba, since moving to the AHL in 2001-02.

Since the Moose moved from Minnesota to Winnipeg, Houston is 27-12-8-0 versus the Moose.

Tonight will mark the Aeros' final regular season visit to Winnipeg Arena.

2003-04 meetings (Fourth of four meetings, Houston leads 2-1-0-0 overall, 1-0-0-0 at Manitoba)

November 2: Manitoba 1 at Houston 2

November 4: Manitoba 3 at Houston 1

Last Night: Houston 5 at Manitoba 2

Tonight: Houston at Manitoba

Last game – Darby Hendrickson, Christoph Brandner and Mika Hannula scored an Aeros-record 1:51 apart in the second period, as Houston rolled to a 5-2 victory over the Manitoba Moose at Winnipeg Arena. Marc Cavosie and Stephane Veilleux also scored and Johan Holmqvist turned aside 32 shots for Houston, which snapped a franchise-record seven-game road winless streak (0-4-3-0) and won for the second time in 16 games (2-6-7-1) overall. The Aeros (44 points), who are in a tie with fourth-place Cincinnati (idle tonight) in the West Division, visit the Moose again tonight at 7:30 p.m. Twelve of Houston's 17 skaters notched at least one point. Nolan Baumgartner and Jason King each scored for Manitoba, which is 1-5-1-1 in its last eight. Tyler Moss stopped 12-of-17 shots in 40 minutes before being replaced by Alex Auld, who made nine saves in the third. The Moose (43 points) fell into a sixth-place tie with Toronto, which earned a 3-3 tie with Hamilton.

Scouting the Aeros – day after getting their first road win of 2004, the Aeros will look for their first back-to-back wins since a three-game streak from December 20-26. Houston had been 0-4-2-0 on the road since January 1 prior to last night, which snapped a franchise-record seven-game road winless streak (0-4-3-0). The Aeros have two wins in their last 16 games (2-6-7-1). The Aeros' leading scorer is Stephane Veilleux (9+17=26), who moved past Kyle Wanvig (16+8=24) with a goal Tuesday against Cincinnati, then padded the lead last night with a goal. Dan Cavanaugh has two goals and an assist in five games and is tied with Wanvig with 24 points (9+15=24). Travis Roche, who has a goal and four assists in his last four games, leads the blueliners in points with 20 points (4+16=20), two better than Erik Reitz (3+15=18). Aeros captain Jason Marshall (5+10=15) and his 15 points are currently in Minnesota. Houston's leading rookie scorer is Mika Hannula (7+10=16) with 17 points, and Matt Foy (7+8=15) has 15 points. Last year's Calder Cup Most Valuable Player, goalie Johan Holmqvist, has started 38 of the team's first 48 games, going 14-18-5 with a 2.69 goals against average. Holmqvist is 2-5-3 in his last 10 decisions, and the Aeros have two wins in his last 11 starts. His backup is second-year netminder Kyle Kettles, who is 2-4-4 with a 2.19 goals against average. Kettles, who didn't dress in the last four games due to injury, has stopped 145 of 151 shots (96.0 percent) while going 2-0-4 in his last six starts. Kettles has just 10 goals of support in nine starts this season, and he has ties in each of his last four starts.

Scouting the Moose – Last night, the Moose failed in an attempt to back-to-back wins for the first time in more than a month. Instead, Manitoba fell to 1-5-1-1 in its last eight, with the lone win coming against a Toronto team that Manitoba is tied for sixth place with. Manitoba is led in scoring by Brandon Reid with 34 points (10+24=34), while Pat Kavanagh is second with 25 (11+14=25). The Moose lost a strong punch from the blueline when Jaroslav Obsut (8+17=25) was recalled to the Canucks earlier this week, then came down with a blood infection in his leg. That leaves Kirill Koltsov (2+14=16) as the team's leading defensive scorer. Fedor Fedorov has a team-best 13 goals, including seven on the power play, and 24 points (13+11=24) in just 35 games. Tyler Moss and Alex Auld have split time in net this season, although Auld has spent much of the last two months in Vancouver. Moss is 10-13-5 with a 2.70 goals against average, while Auld is 6-9-1 with a 2.67 goals against average. Manitoba is one of five AHL teams with a losing record at home (9-11-3-0).

Aeros/Moose connections –

Manitoba's Dallas Eakins played two games with IHL Chicago in 1998-99. Aeros assistant coach Matt Shaw was an assistant on that team.

Houston's Michael Schutte was a teammate of the Moose's Martin Grenier in Springfield in 2002-03.

Manitoba's Pat Kavanagh played with Houston's Darby Hendrickson for a short period of time in 1999-2000 in Syracuse. The Moose's Ryan Ready was also on that Crunch team. Kavanagh, Ready, Rene Vydareny and David Ling were all Jan Vodrazka's teammates in 2000-01 in IHL Kansas City. Coaching both the 1999-2000 Syracuse team and the 2000-01 Kansas City squad was current Moose head coach Stan Smyl, who has been in the Vancouver organization as a coach or player since 1978-79.

The Aeros' Mark Cullen played three seasons with Manitoba's Justin Morrison at Colorado College. Aeros assistant coach Matt Shaw played for Colorado College in 1988-89 and was an assistant coach there from 1990-92.

Houston head coach Todd McLellan coached Manitoba's Jaroslav Obsut in 1995-96 in WHL Swift Current, and Nathan Smith from 1998-2000. Obsut is currently in Vancouver.

Manitoba's Sean Pronger was a teammate of Houston captain Jason Marshall in Anaheim from 1995-98. Marshall is currently with Minnesota. Pronger also played for the IHL Aeros in 1998-99 (16gp, 11g, 7a, 18 pts) along with Aeros assistant coach Cam Stewart.

The Aeros' Stephane Veilleux played with Manitoba's Brandon Reid in 2000-01 with QMJHL Val d-Or.

Aeros 2-6-7-1 in last 16 – Houston has one win in its last 16 games (2-6-7-1) but also only seven regulation losses in the last 26 games (11-7-7-1). The Aeros' snapped a franchise-record 13-game winless streak (0-5-7-1) January 24.

Houston hasn't won back-to-back games since a three-game winning streak from December 20-26, and the Aeros' last road win was December 23 in Utah.

The Aeros' 13-game winless streak (0-5-7-1) was five more than their previous franchise record eight-game streak (0-6-1-1), November 20-December 3 of this season.

Houston's 13-game winless streak was the longest in the AHL this season and was the longest in the league since Cleveland was winless in 13 straight from last March 15 through the end of the season.

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

The Aeros' six-game winning streak December 5-17 was tied for the second-longest in the AHL this season.

In the season's first 20 games, Houston allowed a league-worst 3.36 goals per game. In the last 28 games, the Aeros are yielding just 2.00 goals per game. That has helped Houston move out of the basement to 2.72 goals against per game, 19th in the AHL.

‘O' looking to regroup –

Houston has scored 13 goals in its last four games (3.25 average).

The Aeros have scored just 42 goals in 20 games (2.10 goals per game) since beating Norfolk 5-3 December 17.

Houston has been held to two goals or fewer in 14 of the last 20 games, including a scoreless streak of 178 minutes, 52 seconds that included back-to-back shutouts January 8-9.

In the last nine games prior to last night, Houston is averaging only 1.56 goals per game.

Offensively in the AHL, the Aeros have slipped to 23rd at 2.32 goals per game.

Houston has scored one goal or fewer in 14 of its 48 games this season (25.0 percent).

Aeros, Ducks tied for fourth – Houston has 44 points, tied with Cincinnati for fourth place in the West Division. The teams hold a two-point edge on sixth-place San Antonio, which has an important five games in hand on Houston. The Rampage lost at home last night to Chicago in its only game of the weekend and soon begins a month-long road trip due to the rodeo. Houston's highest position this season was tied for third on December 28-29.

Outshooting streak over – Houston enters tonight's game second in the AHL with 33.52 shots per game, and the Aeros have outshot each of their last nine opponents prior to last night. Other than Manitoba, the last team to outshoot Houston was Rochester (38-36) on January 4. The Moose rank 14th in the AHL in shots against (29.08 per game)

Six straight regulation games an irregularity – The Aeros haven't gone to overtime in any of their past six games, which is a story because from December 27-January 17, eight of 10 games went into the extra session. The Aeros, winless at 0-3-9 in overtime, are one of just three AHL teams without an extra session win. Houston's 12 OT non-wins are the most of those three teams. The Aeros went 8-3-7 in overtime last season, second in the league in extra session wins (Chicago, 11). Houston's 12 overtime games this season are still not even halfway to the franchise record of 26 shootout games in the 1998-99 season. The AHL record for overtime games is also 26, set in 2001-02 by both Albany and Rochester. The Aeros' nine ties are still nine short of the AHL/overtime era record, set in 1997-98 by St. John's. New Haven played to 20 ties in 1972-73, but that was before the AHL played overtime periods.

Holmqvist 2-5-3 in last 10 – Last Saturday, Aeros netminder Johan Holmqvist picked up his first win since December 26 and came within 1:02 of his third shutout of the season. Holmqvist, who was the 2003 Butterfield Trophy winner as the playoff Most Valuable Player, then stopped 16 shots in a 3-1 loss to Cincinnati Tuesday.

From December 28-January 21, Holmqvist went 0-4-3 with a no decision and a 3.01 goals against average. His seven-decision winless streak was one more than his season-high, an 0-5-1 run from November 20-December 3, and one shy of his career-worst eight-game winless streak, an 0-5-3 span from December 6, 2002, to January 3, 2003.

Holmqvist went 6-0-0 with a 1.00 goals against average and a .963 save percentage during a six-game winning streak December 5-17. The six-game winning streak set a new career-high.

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.

In his 14 wins this season, Holmqvist is allowing 1.07 goals per game and sports a .962 save percentage. In his 23 non-wins, Holmqvist sports a 3.67 goals against average and a .870 save percentage. Holmqvist and the Aeros have just two wins (including one last night) this season when yielding more than one goal.

Kettles unbeaten in last six starts – Rookie goalie Kyle Kettles is unbeaten in his last six starts (2-0-4) and has recorded a tie in each of his last four starts. Kettles was tagged with the loss in relief January 16 versus San Antonio, stopping eight of 11 shots in the third period of a 6-3 loss to the Rampage. Kettles, who has turned aside 145 of 151 shots (96.0 percent) in his last six starts, has lowered his goals against average from 3.65 to 2.19. The netminder picked up his first AHL shutout by making 20 saves in a January 9 game versus Worcester. Unfortunately for Kettles, his team didn't score either and he had to settle for a tie. Kettles is 2-4-4 this season but seemingly deserves a better fate. In his nine starts, the Aeros have scored just 10 goals and have been shut out twice. Kettles hasn't lost a game he started since falling 3-1 to Milwaukee on December 1.

Holmqvist 4-2-0 versus Moose – Houston goalie Johan Holmqvist is 4-2-0 with a no decision in seven career games against Manitoba. Holmqvist's goals against average against the Moose is 2.53, and he sports a .913 save percentage. Kyle Kettles hasn't yet faced Manitoba.

Both Moose goalies have losing records vs. Aeros - Manitoba goalie Alex Auld is 2-3-0 with a 3.01 goals against average and a .892 save percentage versus Houston. Tyler Moss is 3-6-2 with a 3.65 goals against average and a .868 save percentage against the Aeros. Auld owns a win this season against Houston, making 27 saves in a 3-1 Moose win in Houston November 4. Moss made 28 stops in a 2-1 Aeros' win two days prior.

Penalty kill update –

Houston killed off its first 31 shorthanded chances this season. Since then, opponents are 27-for-187 (14.4 percent) on the power play.

The Aeros' overall 87.6 percent penalty kill rate (191-218) ranks seventh in the AHL.

Houston has allowed three power play goals on 21 chances in the last four games (14.3 percent) after yielding four on 17 chances (23.5 percent) January 16-18.

Houston is winless (0-6-1-0) when yielding two or more PPG.

The Aeros have yielded no power play goals in 29 of their 48 games, and have points in all but eight of those games (10-8-8-3).

Manitoba is 34-for-261 (13.0 percent) on the power play, and its 262 chances trail only Houston's 283 for the AHL lead. Manitoba has yielded eight shorthanded goals, tied for the league high.

Manitoba is 1-for-23 (4.3 percent) on the power play over the last five games, and last night the Moose scored a man-advantage goal for the first time since January 14 against Grand Rapids. The Moose is 1-for-28 (3.6 percent) over its last six home games.

Power play update –

Houston enters tonight's game 32 of 282 on the power play (11.4 percent), 26th among 28 AHL teams.

The Aeros have gone 20-for-139 (14.4 percent) since Matt Foy snapped a streak of 37 straight unsuccessful power plays December 5, raising their percentage from 8.3 to 11.4.

Prior to going 2-for-8 (25 percent) last night, Houston was 3-for-44 (6.8 percent) on the power play over its last nine games, and 1-for-32 (3.1 percent) in the last six games. That one goal was a 5-on-3 tally by Kevin Mitchell January 24 versus Syracuse. Christoph Brandner added a two-man advantage goal last night.

Houston's 282 power plays are the most in the AHL. In order to put the Aeros' power-play totals in perspective, realize that they have an astounding 107 more power plays than in-state rival San Antonio, which has the fewest in the league.

The Aeros have just four wins in 23 games (4-12-6-1) when not scoring a power-play goal.

Manitoba ranks 24th among 28 AHL teams with an 82.4 percent kill percentage. At home, the Moose increase to 83.1 percent, 22nd in the AHL.

Manitoba has allowed five power play goals on 20 chances (75.0 percent kill rate) over its last five games.

Houston has two wins when allowing more than one goal - The Aeros are an unbeaten in regulation 14-0-3-1 when allowing one goal or fewer this season, and December 17 and last night were their only wins (2-20-6-2) when yielding two or more.

Aeros have first goal in 16 of 24 games – Houston has scored first in 16 of its last 24 games, but in only four of the last 10 games. January 24 marked the first time in eight games the Aeros scored first and won. Houston had been 0-3-4-0 in its last seven chances when taking a 1-0 lead. Houston is 8-3-5-0 in the last 16 when scoring first and 13-4-5-1 overall when scoring first. January 16 marked the Aeros' only home loss when scoring first (5-1-3-0).

But when not scoring first... - The Aeros are 3-16-3-2 when allowing the game's first goal, including a winless 0-9-2-0 mark on the road. By rallying for a 1-1 tie January 17 in San Antonio, Houston picked up just its second road point when allowing the first goal.

Aeros notch point when trailing after two – Houston rallied in the third period January 17 to force a 1-1 tie, marking the Aeros sixth point – third on the road – when trailing after two. The Aeros, who have yet to win when trailing after 40 minutes, are 0-17-5-1 overall in such situations and 0-9-3-0 away from Toyota Center. Houston is one of five AHL teams without a win when trailing after two periods, but its six points are the most among those five teams. Last season, the Aeros were second in the AHL with six wins when trailing after two periods. Grand Rapids led the circuit with seven.

Hoggan, Veilleux ironmen – Houston sports just two players who have played in each of the team's first 48 games – Stephane Veilleux and Jeff Hoggan. Veilleux's consecutive game streak is at 54 games dating back to last season, while Hoggan has played in 51 straight games.

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 194 points (97g, 97a) in his 613-game pro career. Hendrickson is three goals and three assists shy of 100 in his pro career in both those categories. Hendrickson played in his 100th AHL game December 27. He has 69 points (33g, 36a) in 115 career AHL contests.

All Mitchell does is score power play goals; also has team-best four-game assist streak – Defenseman Kevin Mitchell's first goal in an Aeros uniform came last Saturday on the power play, but that shouldn't be a surprise. In his three-year pro career, including ECHL totals, Mitchell has 19 goals - and an eye-popping 15 have come on the power play. Each of Mitchell's four AHL goals have been on the power play. Mitchell's last non power play goal came 13 months ago - on December 7, 2002, with ECHL Louisiana against Arkansas. Last season with the IceGators, Mitchell had 23 of his 34 points on the power play. With the Aeros, four of his eight points have come on the power play. Mitchell also has points in four straight games (1g, 4a) for the first time in his AHL career, and his two-point (1g, 1a) game January 24 versus Syracuse was the second of his AHL career. The other time was with Cleveland, versus Worcester, on March 16, 2003. Mitchell's four-game assist streak is an Aeros season-high.

Roche gets 100, twice - Houston defenseman Travis Roche has two goals and 10 assists in the last 13 games, and he reached a pair of milestones January 24. Roche's assist on Kevin Mitchell's 5-on-3 game-winning goal in the second period was his 100th point as a pro, while his helper on Kyle Wanvig's third-period goal was his 100th point as an Aero. Roche has 103 points (31g, 72a) in 169 pro games, while he has 102 points (31g, 71a) in 159 Aeros games. Roche has one assist in 10 career games with the Minnesota Wild.

Cavosie betters rookie season numbers - Marc Cavosie just played in his 44th game of the season, in which he bettered last season's five-goal total. His 20 points are also one better than last season's rookie total, and his 14 assists are tied with that mark. Cavosie has a goal and five assists in the last eight games and he has three multi-point games, one better than his total from last season.

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 102-69-26-11 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 145-101-33-11 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 coached his 200th game with the Aeros January 9. McLellan missed five games due to illness January 16-23.

Houston past halfway point – The Aeros passed the official midway point of the season with a 14-15-8-3 mark and now sport a 16-20-9-3 mark. Below is a breakdown of Houston's season so far in 10-game segments.

Games 1-10 3-6-1-0, 7 points GF: 23 GA: 33 PP: 6-62 (9.7%) PK: 37-40 (92.5%)

Games 11-20 2-5-1-2, 7 points GF: 26 GA: 35 PP: 6-60 (10.0%) PK: 51-60 (85.0%)

Games 21-30 7-3-0-0, 14 points GF: 24 GA: 17 PP: 8-69 (11.6%) PK: 43-47 (91.5%)

Games 31-40 2-1-6-1, 11 points GF: 18 GA: 19 PP: 7-49 (14.3%) PK: 29-33 (87.9%)

Games 41-48 2-5-1-0, 5 points GF: 20 GA: 26 PP: 5-43 (11.6%) PK: 31-38 (81.6%)

Houston's home winless streak over – It's been feast or famine at home for the Aeros, who recently had a nine-game unbeaten Toyota Center streak (6-0-3-0) and an 11-game home points streak (6-0-4-1) snapped.

The Aeros' 4-1 win over Syracuse January 24 snapped a six-game home winless streak (0-1-4-1). That marked the Aeros' season high and was two short of the franchise record, set from December 5-31, 1995.

The Aeros went 29 days between home wins December 26 and January 24.

Houston's six-game home winless streak was one shy of the AHL season high of seven, set by Albany from November 19-December 12.

Houston's nine-game home unbeaten streak, snapped January 8 in a 1-0 overtime loss to Hartford, was the second longest in the AHL this season, trailing only Bridgeport's 10-game run from October 25-December 17.

Houston started off its first season in Toyota Center just 2-6-1-1 but has improved to 9-8-5-2 at its new home. In the last 15 Toyota Center games, the Aeros have just two regulation losses and are 7-2-4-1.

Aeros snap franchise-record seven-game winless streak –

Houston's win last night snapped a franchise-record seven-game road winless streak (0-4-3-0), which was one more than its previous season-high and franchise record-tying, 0-4-1-1 run from November 20-December 3.

Houston also went winless in six straight on the road from February 19-March 19, 2003 (0-4-1-1).

Prior to last night, the Aeros' last win away from Toyota Center was a 2-1 decision in Utah December 23.

Houston is now 7-12-4-1 on the road this season.

Houston's seven-game road winless streak was two shy of Albany's current AHL season-high.

Aeros try for third January win – The Aeros are 2-6-4-1 in January, and they have assured themselves of not recording the fewest wins in a month in team history (with a minimum of six games played). Even by winning tonight and sweeping the games against the Moose, Houston would tie several other Aeros squads with a three-win month, most recently November 2003 and October 2000.

Houston looks towards a West-laden schedule – After tonight's game, the Aeros will play 20 consecutive games against the West Division, including their entire February slate of 15 games. Houston, which has already wrapped up its home schedule against everybody but the West, is 10-14-6-2 against the West Division. The Aeros have three non division games left after this weekend, from March 17-21 (one against Worcester, two versus Norfolk). Tonight, Houston will look for its second straight road win against the North Division, after going 0-3-1-0 to open the season.

Quick hits

The Aeros have just two wins this season when allowing a goal in the third period. The Aeros are 14-3-6-2 when keeping their opponents off the board in the third, including an unbeaten in regulation 13-1-6-2 the last 22 times.

The Moose's Pat Kavanagh has 10 goals in 22 home games and just one in 25 road contests.

Manitoba has 29 fighting majors, third fewest in the AHL.

Manitoba has been outscored 45-32 in the first period, the second largest differential in the league. Houston is minus-seven (39-32) in the opening 20 minutes.

The Moose has won just four of its 14 one-goal games (4-8-0-2). Houston is 6-3-0-3 in such games.

Manitoba has led after one period at home just twice in 23 games.

Tonight, Houston's Jason Beckett will play in his 200th AHL game.

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