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Aeros Gameday

March 16, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Nine things you need to know

- D Curtis Murphy became the fourth player - and first defenseman - in team history to reach 200 career points 3/7 in Chicago. He followed that up with a power play goal on Saturday versus Peoria, his first PPG in 72 regular- and post-season games dating back to April 15, 2006, in Chicago. Murphy's goal was his 56th with the Aeros, moving into the top 10 on the team's all-time list. Murphy is tied for ninth place with Rob Valicevic, one behind Kyle Wanvig for eighth. Teammate D Erik Reitz will soon join Murphy on the 300-games played list. He is currently at 298, so he should hit the 300-game mark Saturday in Syracuse.

- Aeros LW Peter Olvecky, who had one goal in 10 games since 1/23 entering play Saturday, notched his third career two-goal game in a 4-3 shootout win over Peoria. He also scored the deciding shootout goal. It marked Olvecky's first two-goal outing since 3/17/06, at Milwaukee. Olvecky's only other two-goal home game had come 10/21/05, versus Grand Rapids.

- Aeros RW Matt Foy has team-best and career-highs in goals (24) and points (44). Foy has 62 career goals with the Aeros, tying him with Brian Wiseman for fifth place on the franchise's all-time list. Only Kirby Law has more goals (68) among the Aeros' AHL players. Eighteen of Foy's 24 goals this season have come at Toyota Center. Foy also has a flare for the dramatic - 11 of his 24 goals have come in the third period. However, Foy has only one goal in the last nine games after scoring five times in a four-game stretch. Foy has 382 career PIM to move into 10th place on the team's all-time list, becoming the second player player to be ranked in the top 10 of the Aeros' all-time lists in both points and PIM. Foy is seventh with 133 points. Mike Yeo is also in the top 10 on both lists, ranking tied for 10th in points and fourth in PIM's.

- Toronto C Erik Westrum ranked second in the AHL last season in scoring while playing for the Aeros. Westrum totaled 98 points (34-64=98) while playing on a line with Aeros LW Roman Voloshenko.

- Houston is 0-9-2-1 in its last 12 road games since defeating Iowa 3-1 on 1/12. The 12-game slide is a new franchise record. Houston was 0-7-2-0 from 1/31-2/26/04. The Aeros' six straight road regulation losses are also a new team record, eclipsing the old record of five, set earlier this season. Houston's winless slide is the longest in a single season since Springfield went winless in 16 games from 12/31/04-4/3/05.

- Houston is 9-12-3-6 in one-goal games, but just 3-9-3-2 in its last 17 such games. The Aeros have only two non shootout one-goal wins, the last coming 3-2 at Iowa 11/9. Toronto is 16-7-2-4 in one-goal games, but just 8-27-0-0 in games decided by two goals or more.

- Slow starts are one of the main causes of the Aeros' recent woes. The Aeros have allowed the game's first goal in seven of their last nine games, and haven't led after one period in any of those nine games. Not surprisingly, Houston is just 1-7-0-1 in that stretch. The Aeros did snap a streak of five consecutive games without a first-period goal Saturday against Peoria.

- The Aeros have not held a scoring advantage in the third period in 13 of their last 16 games. In their last five games, the Aeros have been outscored 8-1 in the final 20 minutes, and in their last 12 games, it has been an 18-4 deficit. Houston has been outscored 67-51 in the third period this season.

- Tonight's game features the AHL's worst home team - Toronto at 10-20-2-1, against the league's second-worst road team - Houston at 9-18-2-2. Only Binghamton (7-22-2-3) has a lower road points percentage than the Aeros.

Aeros at Marlies (Aeros are 1-2-0-0 overall, Aeros are 0-1-0-0 at Toronto)

- Tonight is the fourth all-time meeting between the teams.

- Houston and Toronto split their two meetings in 2006-07, each winning 4-2 on home ice.

- The Aeros' home win 1/10/06 featured a franchise-record 56 saves from G Josh Harding.

- Toronto got 36 saves from G Justin Pogge and a goal apiece from LW Colin Murphy and RW Jeremy Williams in a 2-1 win at Houston 11/3. RW Matt Foy scored the Aeros' goal.

Scouting the Aeros

The Aeros (22-32-3-6) have 53 points, seven points behind sixth-place San Antonio with four games in hand...Houston begins March by playing nine of 10 games on the road, with tonight's tilt kicking off a five-game road trip through the North Division...Team scoring leader RW Matt Foy has 44 points (24-20=44)...Next are veteran D Curtis Murphy (7-26=33), rookie RW Danny Irmen (15-15=30), LW Mattias Weinhandl (13-16=29) and rookie LW Benoit Pouliot (17-12=29)...G Josh Harding is 17-16-4 with a 2.48 gaa and a .920 save pct., but is on recall to NHL Minnesota...The Aeros are 4-17-2-2 this season in games in which Harding does not appear...D Dieter Kochan is 3-11-1 with a 3.23 gaa and a .900 save pct...G Tony Quesada is 0-5-0 with a 4.59 gaa and a .879 save pct.

Scouting the Marlies

Toronto (24-34-2-4), AHL affiliate of the Toronto Maple Leafs, lost 7-4 at home to last-place Binghamton on Wednesday in its attempt to win back-to-back games for just the second time since mid-December...LW Alex Foster had two goals in a losing cause as the Marlies dropped 17 points behind fourth-place Grand Rapids with 16 games remaining...Former Aeros C Erik Westrum paces the Marlies in scoring with 55 points (22-33=55), ahead of LW Colin Murphy (16-28=44)...Rookie D Chris Harrington leads the blueline corps with 23 points (7-16=23)...Rookie G Justin Pogge is 12-21-1 with a 3.19 gaa and a .892 save pct., while G Jean-Francois Racine is 9-13-3 with a 3.46 gaa and a .883 save pct.

2006-07 meetings (2nd of 2 meetings)

November 3 Toronto 2 at Houston 1

Tonight Houston at Toronto

Quick Hits

Ten of the Aeros' 22 victories have been in come-from-behind fashion. On 2/1 against Milwaukee, the Aeros trailed 2-1 with seven minutes remaining, but won 3-2 in a shootout. The Aeros have trailed in 21 of their last 23 games.

The Aeros are winless (0-20-1-4) when allowing four goals or more.

Houston is 0-3 in OT and 6-6 in shootouts. The Aeros' 12 shootouts are a league-high. Toronto is 3-2 in OT and 4-4 in shootouts.

The Aeros are 20-9-1-4 when scoring three or more times, but just 2-23-2-2 when scoring two or fewer goals.

C Bryan Lundbohm has a hand in six (2-4=6) of the Aeros' 13 SHG. Lundbohm, RW Joel Ward, RW Danny Irmen, D Erik Reitz and D Curtis Murphy each have two SHG this season. This is the first time since 2000-01 that the Aeros have five players with at least two SHG. The Aeros' 13 SHG are two shy of the team record, set in 1994-95.

Houston has allowed 201 goals in 63 games for a 3.19 team gaa. The Aeros are on pace to allow 255 goals - the most since yielding a franchise-record 328 in 1995-96, the only season in team history they didn't make the playoffs.

The Aeros have scored 164 goals in 63 games for an average of 2.60 gpg. That's on pace for 208 goals scored, which would trail only the 2003-04 campaign (197) for the fewest in team history.

Saturday's game

Peter Olvecky scored two goals in regulation and the deciding shootout goal, as the Houston Aeros defeated the Peoria Rivermen 4-3 in front of 11,678 - the third largest crowd ever at Toyota Center. Curtis Murphy added a power play goal and Dieter Kochan made 27 saves for Houston, which was 0-7-0-1 in its last eight games. Mike Glumac had a hat trick and Chris Beckford-Tseu made 27 saves for Peoria.

Power play update

- Houston is tied for 25th in the AHL with the man advantage at 14.0 percent.

- The Aeros are 3-for-45 (6.7 percent) on the power play in their last nine games.

- Toronto is 23rd in the AHL on the penalty kill at 80.2 percent.

- The Marlies have killed off 25-of-29 shorthanded chances (86.2 percent) in the last five games.

Penalty kill update

- Houston is eighth in the AHL on the PK at 84.5 percent.

- Opponents are 19-for-89 (21.3 percent) on the man advantage in the last 13 games, and have scored at least one PPG in nine straight games.

- Toronto is 21st in the AHL on the power play at 15.0 percent.

- The Marlies are just 3-for-33 (9.1 percent) with the man advantage in the last five games.

Aeros/Marlies connections

- Toronto C Erik Westrum ranked second in the AHL last season in scoring while playing for the Aeros. Westrum totaled 98 points (34-64=98) while playing on a line with Aeros LW Roman Voloshenko. Westrum was named an All-Star Classic starter, and also First Team AHL.

- Marlies D Brad Brown was a part of the Minnesota Wild organization for three seasons, playing for the Wild from 2001-04.

- Aeros D Ryan Stokes played with Toronto D Dominic D'Amour in ECHL Pensacola in 2004-05.

- Aeros D John Scott played two seasons at Michigan Tech alongside Toronto RW Brett Engelhardt, and three seasons with Marlies LW Colin Murphy.

- Aeros RW Danny Irmen was teammates with Toronto D Chris Harrington at the University of Minnesota for three seasons, from 2003-06.

- Aeros RW Joel Ward and Marlies D Marc Moro both hail from Toronto, Ont.

- Aeros C Bryan Lundbohm played for AHL Milwaukee from 2001-05, and he played alongside Toronto D Marc Moro in that span.

- Marlies head coach Greg Gilbert coached Aeros D Ryan Stokes in OHL Mississauga in 2003-04.

- Aeros RW Aaron Voros played two seasons in AHL Albany alongside Marlies RW Alexander Suglobov.



American Hockey League Stories from March 16, 2007


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