Aeros Happy Hour kicks off tonight versus Americans

Published on December 2, 2004 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· Aeros center Mark Cullen's three-point (2-1=3) game 11/26 helped him become the 18th player in team history to reach the 100-point plateau. Cullen, who notched his fourth career multi-goal game, now has 101 points, is tied with Shawn Carter and Curtis Murphy for 16th on the team's all-time list and one behind Michael Maurice for 15th. Left winger Stephane Veilleux needs one point to become the 19th at the century mark.
· Houston, which is fifth in the AHL on the power play at 20.0 percent, went 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) in its two-game series last week versus Utah. The Aeros, who had a franchise-record-trying four PPG 11/20 in Syracuse, are 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) over their last five games and 13-for-46 (28.3 percent) in their last nine games, a span that has seen them outscore their opponents 13-6 on their respective man advantages.
· The Aeros, who are playing game three of a season-long eight-game homestand, are 4-4-0-0 at home. The Aeros are in a stretch where they play 13 of 16 games and 20 of 25 at Toyota Center.
· The first and last two minutes of a period can be huge for momentum. Houston has scored five goals in the first or last two minutes of a period this season. The Aeros' opponents, meanwhile, have 17 goals in this crucial time, including three goals over the last two games.
· Monday, the Aeros recalled goalie Kyle Kettles from ECHL Louisiana. Kettles takes the place of 20-year-old Josh Harding, who suffered a concussion Sunday with five seconds left versus Utah.

Americans at Aeros (Aeros are 4-0-3-0 overall, Aeros are 2-0-1-0 at Houston)
· The teams meet for the eighth time tonight - the fourth game in Houston. The Americans are looking for their first ever win against the Aeros.
· In the last meeting 11/19 in Rochester, Dan Cavanaugh and Pierre-Marc Bouchard scored in the first period, as the Aeros rallied from an early deficit to earn a 2-1 victory in Rochester to snap the Americans' six-game winning streak. Mike Smith turned aside 25 shots for Houston, while Geoff Peters scored and Ryan Miller made 29 saves for Rochester.
· In Rochester's last trip to Houston 1/4, Darby Hendrickson's two goals helped the Aeros skate off with a 4-4 tie.
· Last season, the teams met twice and tied on both occasions, including a 4-4 game 1/4 in Houston and a 2-2 deadlock 11/26 at War Memorial.

Scouting the Aeros
Houston is 11-6-0-1 in its last 18 games and snapped a two-game skid with a 5-2 rout of Utah on Sunday...Mark Cullen (6-11=17) is the Aeros' leading scorer, just ahead of Pierre-Marc Bouchard (5-11=16) and Stephane Veilleux (6-8=14)...Houston has 18 players with at least one goal...Nineteen-year-old Brent Burns (4-7=11) and Erik Reitz (0-9=9) anchor the blueline...Mike Smith is 7-3-0 with a 2.94 gaa, while Kyle Kettles (0-0-0, 0.00 gaa) will back him up with Josh Harding (5-7-1, 2.01 gaa) out with a concussion.

Scouting the Americans
Rochester has won two straight one-goal decisions and is 9-2-1-0 since a 2-4-2-1 start...The Amerks have won four straight away from War Memorial...Rochester has two players averaging more than a point per game - Derek Roy (6-17=23) and Chris Taylor (6-15=21)...Winger Thomas Vanek has 13 points (8-5=13) and is the reigning AHL Player of the Week...Former Aero David Cullen leads all Amerks blueliners with 11 points, all assists...Ryan Miller is 8-8-0 with a 2.73 gaa, while former Aero Tom Askey is 2-1-1 with a 2.23 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (Second of two meetings, Aeros are 1-0-0-0 overall, First meeting in Houston)
November 19: Houston 2 at Rochester 1
TONIGHT: Rochester at Houston

Sunday's game
Rickard Wallin tied a career high with four points (1-3=4) and Mikko Koivu collected two goals and an assist, as the Houston Aeros defeated the Utah Grizzlies 5-2 at Toyota Center. Wallin, Kyle Wanvig and Zbynek Michalek each scored on the red hot Houston power play and Josh Harding made 22 saves before being taken to the hospital after an elbow to the head by Jeff Taffe with less than five seconds left.

Quick Hits
· Houston is 7-3-1-1 in one-goal games, two behind Grand Rapids (9-3-1-0) for the league lead in one-goal victories. The Aeros were 8-6-0-4 in such games last season.
· Rochester has three wins (3-6-0-0) when trailing after two periods, trailing only Bridgeport's league-best total of four. The Americans are 2-2-0-0 in that situation on the road, joining Manitoba (2-2-0-1) as the only AHL teams with more than one win in that category.
· Sunday's 5-2 win over Utah marked the first time the Aeros had outscored an opponent in the third period since a 4-3 OT win at Grand Rapids 11/5, a span of 12 games.
· Aeros defenseman John Erskine has 116 PIM's, tops among all AHL blueliners, in 23 games. That projects out to 403 PIM's for the entire season, a total that would smash Gord Donnelly's 1995-96 team record of 333. Erskine is closing in on the 1,000 career PIM mark. He's got 985 PIM's in 277 career games, including 175 in 81 NHL contests. Erskine will miss his first game of the season tonight due to a one-game AHL suspension.
· Houston has scored more goals in the first period at home (13) than it has in the other three periods plus overtime combined (12).

"Wanny" heating up
· Aeros winger Kyle Wanvig has three points (1-2=3) in his last four games and broke out of a 14-game goal-less streak Sunday against Utah.
· Wanvig's goal Sunday was his 48th in an Aeros uniform. He's two shy of becoming the 11th member of the Aeros 50-goal club. He would be just the second to accomplish the feat since the Aeros moved to the AHL - Cory Larose had 50 even.
· Wanvig has 49 pro goals overall, including one with the Minnesota Wild.

Smith has won six of eight
· Aeros goalie Mike Smith has won six of his last eight decisions.
· Smith's four straight wins 10/24-11/13 tied his career high, set 11/28-12/7/03.
· Smith is 7-1-0 when allowing zero or one goal in the first period, but he's 0-2-0 with a no decision when yielding two or more.
· Smith has never lost an overtime or regulation game in his AHL career. He's 3-0 in OT and 2-0 in shootouts.
· The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is 4-0-0 with a 2.77 gaa on the road but 3-3-0 with a 3.06 gaa at home.

PP unit clicks again
· Houston, which is fifth in the AHL on the power play at 20.0 percent, went 5-for-13 (38.5 percent) in its two-game series last week versus Utah. The Aeros, who had a franchise-record-trying four PPG 11/20 in Syracuse, are 9-for-27 (33.3 percent) over their last five games and 13-for-46 (28.3 percent) in their last nine games, a span that has seen them outscore their opponents 13-6 on their respective man advantages.
· The Aeros are 9-5-1-0 when scoring a PPG and 3-4-0-1 when not scoring a PPG.
· Houston has 13 players with at least one PPG, tops in the AHL, and its last five man-advantage goals have each been scored by a different player.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 24-13 on the power play.
· The Aeros have allowed six shorthanded goals, the last by Utah's Randall Gelech's 11/26. That total has them tied with Manchester for last in the league.
· Rochester is tied for seventh (with Houston) on the penalty kill at 87.2 percent.
· The Amerks have killed off 14-of-16 (87.5 percent) shorthanded chances over their last five games.

Houston tied for seventh on the PK
· Other than a 2-for-4 power play performance by Milwaukee 11/13, Houston has been rock solid to move into a tie for seventh in the AHL at 87.2 percent.
· The Aeros have killed off 63-of-69 (91.3 percent) shorthanded chances over the last 13 games.
· Houston is 6-5-0-1 when not allowing a PPG and 6-4-1-0 when allowing a PPG.
· The Aeros are tied for fourth in the AHL with four SHG.
· Rochester ranks ninth in the AHL at 16.9 percent on the power play.
· The Amerks are 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) on the power play over their last five games.

Attendance up 14 percent
Houston is averaging 4,889 fans per game through seven home games, a 13.8 percent increase over the same span in 2003-04, when the Aeros increased their average attendance for the first time in team history.

First and last two minutes are crucial
Houston has scored just five goals in the first or last two minutes of a period this season. The Aeros' opponents, meanwhile, have 17 goals in this crucial time. Houston is 1-5-0 this season when allowing a goal in the opening two minutes of a period.

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 in 2003.
· Houston's Junior Lessard (2004) and Rochester's Ryan Miller (2001) each won the Hobey Baker Award as college hockey's top player.
· Aeros winger Christoph Brandner and Rochester's Thomas Vanek each hail from Austria.

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American Hockey League Stories from December 2, 2004


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