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Aeros Gameday

April 7, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Ten things you need to know

- The series between Houston and Omaha - although just 19 games old - has turned into one of the most exciting rivalries in the AHL. Eleven of the 19 all-time meetings between the teams have gone into OT or a shootout, including five of the last seven. Four of those six one-goal games were decided in a shootout, although Omaha routed Houston 10-2 in the last meeting, 3/24.

- The Aeros haven't outshot any of their last 11 opponents, since holding a 29-28 edge 3/10 versus Peoria. Houston has been outshot 76-38 in its last two games, allowing exactly twice as many shots as it has taken. Other than LW Mattias Weinhandl (four) and C Bryan Lundbohm (two), no other Aero had more than one shot last night. Omaha, meanwhile, outshot San Antonio 33-12 last night.

- Houston veteran C Jason Morgan celebrated his 500th career AHL game last night with a third-period assis. Morgan has 278 points (93-185=27u8) in 500 career AHL games. Morgan has points in five of his last seven games, with seven points (3-4=7) in that span.

- Aeros rookie D John Scott had one assist in the season's first 55 games, but in four games since, he has posted five points (1-4=5), including his first pro goal last night in Peoria. Scott, who began the season on the blueline, was converted to forward and then switched back, is a team-best plus-seven over the last seven games.

- The Aeros established a new team record Tuesday with their 16th SHG of the season - scored by RW Joel Ward. The original mark was set in the inaugural 1994-95 campaign. Ward, RW Danny Irmen and D Erik Reitz have three SHG apiece - one off the team's individual SHG mark, set three times - most recently by Stephane Veilleux in 2003-04. C Bryan Lundbohm 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.

- Aeros D Curtis Murphy had his six-game point streak (2-5=7) snapped Tuesday against Peoria. The run had tied a career-best. Murphy had four previous six-game point streaks, the last from 1/5-1/15/06. The run matched RW Matt Foy's team-best six-game point streak, established 2/2-2/17. Murphy ranks tied for seventh among AHL defensemen in scoring with 38 points (8-30=38).

- Aeros rookie RW Danny Irmen posted an assist for the second straight game last night, giving him points in five of his last seven games. Irmen has six points (1-5=6) in that span, and he is a plus-two over his last four games. Irmen, the lone Aero to play in each of the team's 74 games, has 37 points (17-20=37) to lead the team's rookie scorers.

- The Aeros have not held a scoring advantage in the third period in 21 of their last 27 games. In their last 16 games, the Aeros have been outscored 22-9 in the final 20 minutes, and in their last 23 games, it has been a 32-12 deficit. Houston has been outscored 81-59 in the third period this season.

- Houston is 9-13-4-6 in one-goal games, and just 3-10-4-2 in its last 19 such games. The Aeros have only two non shootout one-goal wins, the last coming 3-2 at Iowa 11/9. Only Syracuse (8-8-3-8) has fewer one-goal wins than the Aeros. Omaha is 21-9-4-1 in one-goal games.

- Houston was shut out in each of the first three meetings with Omaha this season. Knights G Curtis McElhinney will look to join Milwaukee G Brian Finley as the lone netminders to shut out the Aeros three times in a single season. Omaha G Brent Krahn also has one shutout versus Houston. This is the third time in team history the same team has shut out the Aeros three times in one season. Grand Rapids did it in 2002-03, and Milwaukee followed in 2004-05. No team has ever earned four shutouts versus the Aeros in a single campaign. McElhinney is 6-2-1 with a 1.91 gaa and a .931 save pct. in his career against Houston, including a 6-0-1 mark, a 1.64 gaa and a .938 save pct. this season. Only Finley and Allan Bester also have six or more wins against the Aeros in a single season. Finley posted seven victories in 2003-04 and 2004-05, and Bester was a perfect 6-0-0 for Orlando against the Aeros in 1995-96.

Aeros at Knights (Aeros are 8-6-1-4 overall, Aeros are 2-4-1-2 at Omaha)

- Houston won the first five meetings of 2005-06, but the Aeros are just 3-5-2-4 since.

- Houston is looking for its first regulation win at Omaha in its 10 game. Both victories came in shootouts.

- The Aeros are 0-4-1-2 in their last seven trips to Nebraska, after winning the first two. The seven-game winless streak is its longest active slide in a visiting building.

- In the teams' last meeting in Nebraska, 3/2, Cam Cunning and Warren Peters scored in the final four minutes to give Omaha a 3-1 win.

- The Knights defeated the Aeros 10-2 at Toyota Center 3/24, behind two goals from Dustin Boyd and four-point performances from Carsen Germyn, Brad Ference and Andrei Taratukhin.

Scouting the Aeros

The Aeros (25-39-4-6) play game two of a three-game road trip tonight, finishing Tuesday in Milwaukee...Team scoring leader RW Matt Foy has 50 points (27-23=50) but was recalled by the NHL's Minnesota Wild on Wednesday...Next are veteran LW Mattias Weinhandl (18-20=38), veteran D Curtis Murphy (8-29=37), rookie RW Danny Irmen (17-20=37) and rookie LW Benoit Pouliot (19-17=36)...D Dieter Kochan is 6-14-1 with a 3.28 gaa and a .903 save pct...G Miroslav Kopriva is 2-5-1 with a 3.88 gaa and a .894 save pct....G Tony Quesada is 0-8-0 with a 5.06 gaa and a .855 save pct.

Scouting the Knights

Omaha (46-24-4-1), AHL affiliate of the Calgary Flames, won its third straight last night, 1-0 over San Antonio, while outshooting the Rampage 33-12...The win was Omaha's seventh in nine games and kept the Knights two points up on second-place Chicago, a 5-4 victor in Milwaukee...Omaha has one game in hand...Rookie C Andrei Taratukhin paces the Knights with 60 points (17-43=60), followed by rookie C Dustin Boyd (26-33=59), who has played in just 62 games...D Brad Ference leads the blueline corps with 26 points (3-23=26) and has a team-best 210 PIM's...G Curtis McElhinney, named earlier this week to the AHL's Second All-Star Team, is 32-16-1 with a 2.19 gaa, a .917 save pct., and seven shutouts...G Brent Krahn, a former first-round pick, is 14-11-0 with a 2.39 gaa and a .906 save pct.

2006-07 meetings (10th of 10 meetings, Aeros are 1-5-0-3 overall, Aeros are 0-3-0-1 at Omaha)

November 18 Houston 0 at Omaha 3

December 2 Houston 0 at Omaha 4

December 7 Omaha 1 at Houston 0 (SO)

December 9 Omaha 4 at Houston 3 (SO)

January 13 Houston 4 at Omaha 5 (SO)

February 6 Omaha 1 at Houston 2 (SO)

February 8 Omaha 4 at Houston 3

March 2 Houston 1 at Omaha 3

March 24 Omaha 10 at Houston 2

Tonight Houston at Omaha

Friday's game

Mike Glumac's second goal of the game forced overtime with 1:24 left in regulation and Trent Whitfield won it with a breakaway goal 55 seconds into the extra session, as the Peoria Rivermen defeated the Houston Aeros 4-3 at Carver Arena to move within two points of Iowa for the fourth and final playoff spot in the West Division. Jon DiSalvatore also scored and Marek Schwarz stopped 12 shots for Peoria. Mattias Weinhandl scored a pair of third-period goals, John Scott added his first pro tally and Miroslav Kopriva made 31 stops for Houston.

Quick Hits

- Ten of the Aeros' 25 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 29 of their last 33 games.

- The Aeros are winless (0-26-2-4) when allowing four goals or more.

- Houston is 0-4 in OT and 7-6 in shootouts. The Aeros have lost three of their four OT decisions in the opening minute, including last night. Omaha is 1-4 in OT but 7-1 in shootouts.

- The Aeros are 22-12-2-4 when scoring three or more times, but just 3-27-2-2 when scoring two or fewer goals.

- Houston has allowed 251 goals in 74 games for a 3.39 team gaa. The Aeros are on pace to allow 271 goals - the most since yielding a franchise-record 328 in 1995-96, the only other season in team history they didn't make the playoffs.

- The Aeros have scored 195 goals in 74 games for an average of 2.64 gpg. That's on pace for 211 goals scored, which would trail only the 2003-04 campaign (197) for the fewest in team history.

- Wild and Aeros prospect D Paul Albers was named to the ECHL's All-Rookie team earlier this week, just before being recalled to Houston. Playing for the Texas Wildcatters, Albers is second among ECHL rookie defensemen with 12 goals, while his six power-play goals are third and his 30 assists and 42 points are fourth. Albers is tied for seventh overall among league rookies in assists and is tied for 14th in power-play goals. He is tied for ninth among all ECHL defensemen in goals and is tied for 12th in points. He was selected to play in the Rbk Hockey ECHL All-Star Game and was recalled by the Aeros on Thursday.

- Since its game Tuesday against Peoria, Houston has made six player transactions - adding three players while subtracting three. Wednesday morning, leading scorer RW Matt Foy was recalled by the Minnesota Wild, along with former first-round pick D Shawn Belle. To take those roster spots, the Aeros recalled D Mike Madill and RW Ben Thomson from ECHL Texas. Thursday, Houston recalled D Paul Albers from the Wildcatters, while reassigning D Chris Ovington there. Madill notched his first career AHL point - an assist - yesterday.

Power play update

- Houston is 25th in the AHL with the man advantage at 13.9 percent.

- The Aeros are 8-for-92 (8.7 percent) on the power play in their last 20 games.

- Omaha is second in the AHL on the penalty kill at 86.5 percent.

- The Knights have killed off 15-of-19 shorthanded chances (78.9 percent) in the last five games.

- Houston is 5-for-46 (10.9 percent) on the power play against Omaha this season.

Penalty kill update

- Houston is tied for 11th in the AHL on the PK at 83.4 percent.

- After killing off 19 straight shorthanded chances over a four-game stretch, the Aeros have allowed 11 goals on 25 chances in the last four games for a 56.0 percent PK rate.

- Omaha is 22nd in the AHL on the power play at 15.3 percent.

- The Knights are 4-for-21 (19.0 percent) with the man advantage in the last five games.

- Omaha is 11-for-56 (19.6 percent) on the power play against Houston this season, including 8-for-23 (34.8 percent) in the last three games and 5-for-8 (62.5 percent) in the last meeting, 3/24.

Aeros/Knights connections

- Aeros RW Danny Irmen played alongside Omaha RW Kris Chucko at the University of Minnesota from 2004-06.

- Houston RW Joey Tetarenko and Omaha D Brad Ference were both in the Florida Panthers organization together from 1999-2003.

- Omaha assistant coach Scott Allen coached both Aeros RW Joey Tetarenko and LW Josh Olson in AHL San Antonio.

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