Aeros in matinee action in Milwaukee

Published on January 8, 2005 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· The Aeros have won seven of 11 on the road to improve to 9-6-1-1 away from Houston this season. The Aeros won only 10 road games all of last season (10-22-6-2).
· Houston stretched its power play goal streak to a franchise-best 10 straight games 12/31. The Aeros are 14-for-60 (23.3 percent) in that span, but are only 3-for-24 (12.5 percent) in the last three games. Houston's run puts the Aeros third in the AHL with the man advantage at 19.8 percent. In their last 17 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 22-8 on the power play. The penalty kill unit has also been vastly improved, as the Aeros have killed off 24 of their last 25 shorthanded chances over the last seven games for a 96.0 percent kill rate.
· Milwaukee netminder Brian Finley owns more wins against the Aeros than any active AHL netminder. Finley is 9-4-1 with a 2.45 gaa versus Houston, including a stellar 8-1-0 mark in 2003-04. Milwaukee's Simon Gamache has 27 points (12-15=27) in 21 career games versus the Aeros, including four assists 12/29. Since 2002-03, Gamache has points in 13 of his 18 games against Houston, and his teams (Chicago/Milwaukee) are 11-1-1-0 when he has a point, 8-1-1-0 when he scores a goal but a winless 0-3-2-0 when he's held off the scoresheet.
· In the Aeros' last five games, the line of Mikko Koivu (2-3=5), Rickard Wallin (2-3=5) and Junior Lessard (1-3=4) has combined for 14 points (5-9=14), and three of the five goals have come on the power play. Wallin has two goals and three assists in a four-game point streak, which ties both his season high and the season high for an Aero this season. Wallin's career-best, six-game point streak came in his first six contests in North America in 2002.
· Aeros winger Stephane Veilleux has six goals over his last eight games. Veilleux had five PPG in his first three seasons in Houston, and he has six already this season. His 12 AHL goals are one off his career-high set last season, and eight of his tallies have been Houston's first goal.

Aeros at Admirals (Aeros are 27-28-6-1 overall, Aeros are 13-15-2-0 at Milwaukee)
· Houston and Milwaukee, the last two Calder Cup champions, meet for the 63rd time today - 31st in Milwaukee.
· The Aeros are in a stretch of playing three of six games versus Milwaukee, with a Tuesday meeting in Houston next on the agenda.
· Houston snapped an 0-7-1-1 winless streak versus Milwaukee with a 5-2 win at Bradley Center 11/13 behind a goal and an assist from Marius Holtet, snapping the Admirals' 17-game regulation unbeaten streak. Milwaukee rebounded with a 4-1 win 12/29 at Toyota Center thanks to a goal and three assists by Darren Haydar, four helpers from Simon Gamache and two goals from Andrew Hutchinson.
· The Aeros' 11/13 win at Bradley Center snapped a four-game winless skid (0-3-1-0) in Milwaukee. Despite the recent speed bump, the Aeros are 12-5-1-0 in their last 18 trips to Milwaukee after a 1-10-1-0 start there.

Scouting the Aeros
Houston is 1-1-0-0 on a three-game road trip that ends this afternoon...Stephane Veilleux (12-9=21) is the Aeros' leading scorer, just ahead of Mark Cullen (6-14=20)...Veilleux has a team-best 12 goals, including six in the last eight games...Houston has 19 players with at least one goal...Nineteen-year-old Brent Burns (5-8=13), Erik Reitz (0-11=11) and Zbynek Michalek (2-9=11) anchor the blueline...Mike Smith is 11-6-0 with a 2.65 gaa, while Josh Harding (5-7-1, 2.01 gaa) has missed the last eight games with a concussion...Following today's game the Aeros return home for a five-game homestand beginning tomorrow versus Worcester.

Scouting the Admirals
Milwaukee won its third straight last night, 3-2 at home versus Chicago, to move past the Wolves and back into first place in the West Division...Milwaukee is led by Simon Gamache (17-29=46), who notched four assists 12/29 versus Houston...Andrew Hutchinson is Milwaukee's leading defensive scorer with 26 points (7=19=26), including two goals 12/29...Brian Finley is 15-8-1 with a 2.25 gaa, while backup Seamus Kotyk is 6-3-0 with a 3.15 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (Third of 10 meetings, Aeros are 1-1-0-0 overall, Aeros are 1-0-0-0 at Milwaukee)
November 13: Houston 5 at Milwaukee 2
December 29: Milwaukee 4 at Houston 1
Today: Houston at Milwaukee
Tuesday: Milwaukee at Houston
January 25: Milwaukee at Houston
February 4: Milwaukee at Houston
February 5: Milwaukee at Houston
February 10: Houston at Milwaukee
March 10: Houston at Milwaukee
April 5: Houston at Milwaukee

Last game
Mike Smith made 14 of his 33 saves in the third period, and defenseman Patrick Traverse snapped a tie with 3:49 remaining in regulation, as the Houston Aeros beat the Norfolk Admirals 3-1 at The Scope. Blueliner Ray Giroux scored a power play goal and Rickard Wallin also scored for Houston,

Quick Hits
· Houston is just 8-11-2-1 when outshooting an opponent, but it is 8-1-0-0 when getting outshot or the shots are even.
· Aeros defenseman Ray Giroux has three goals this season - all on the power play - and 34 of his 63 career goals have come with the man advantage.
· Dan Cavanaugh will become the sixth player in Aeros history to play 250 games today.

Smith 4-1-0 in last five decisions
· Aeros goalie Mike Smith is 4-1-0 with a 2.74 gaa over his last six appearances, but in those four wins he sports a 1.47 gaa.
· Smith is 11-3-0 when allowing zero or one goal in the first period, but he's 0-3-0 with a no decision when yielding two or more.
· Smith's OT loss to San Antonio 12/3 was his first ever in the AHL post-regulation. He is now 3-1 in OT and 3-0 in shootouts, and he went 3-1 in shootouts with ECHL Lexington in 2002-03.
· His three shootout wins are one off Jason LaBarbera's league-best total of four.
· The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder is a perfect 5-0-0 with a 2.48 gaa on the road but just 6-6-0 with a 2.74 at Toyota Center.

Aeros one off 2003-04's road win total
· The Aeros have won seven of 11 on the road to improve to 9-6-1-1 away from Houston this season.
· Houston won only 10 road games all of last season (10-22-6-2), and didn't record its ninth road victory until 3/21 at Norfolk in its 38th road game. Road win No. 10 came in the Aeros' 39th game), 3/26 at San Antonio.
· Each of Houston's first nine road games were decided by one goal, tying the franchise record originally set 1/27-3/1/97. The Aeros are 6-3-1-1 in one-goal road games, and their six one-goal road wins are just one off the league lead.
· The Aeros won three straight on the road 11/19-11/23, the first time they've done that since 1/22-1/25/03. The Aeros haven't won four straight road games since going 5-0-0-0 to open up the 2002-03 road slate (10/18-10/24/02).

PP unit keeps rolling
· Houston stretched its power play goal streak to a franchise-best 10 straight games 12/31. The Aeros are 14-for-60 (23.3 percent) in that span, but are only 3-for-24 (12.5 percent) in the last three games. Houston's run puts the Aeros third in the AHL with the man advantage at 19.8 percent. In their last 17 games, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 22-8 on the power play.
· The Aeros are 13-8-2-0 when scoring a PPG and 3-4-0-1 when not scoring a PPG.
· Overall, the Aeros have outscored their opponents 33-17 on the power play.
· The Aeros have allowed seven shorthanded goals, the last by Norfolk's Quintin Laing 12/18. That total has them three behind Manchester's league-high 10 SHG allowed.
· Milwaukee ranks ninth in the AHL on the penalty kill at 86.6 percent.
· The Admirals have killed off only 22-of-28 (78.6 percent) of their shorthanded chances over the last five games.

Houston fourth on PK
· The Aeros have killed off 24 of their last 25 shorthanded chances over the last seven games for a 96.0 percent rate, improving to fourth in the league at 88.4 percent.
· The Aeros have killed off 90-of-98 (91.8 percent) shorthanded chances over the last 21 games.
· Houston is 10-6-1-1 when not allowing a PPG and 6-6-1-0 when allowing a PPG.
· The Aeros are seventh in the AHL with five SHG.
· Milwaukee ranks fifth in the AHL on the power play at 19.2 percent.
· The Admirals are 6-for-28 (21.4 percent) with the man advantage over their last three games.
· Milwaukee is one of three teams (Cleveland, Chicago) to score more than one PPG in a game versus the Aeros this season.

First and last two minutes are crucial
Houston has scored just nine goals in the first or last two minutes of a period this season. The Aeros' opponents, meanwhile, have 20 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/Admirals connections
· Houston's Stephane Veilleux and the Admirals' Simon Gamache were two of the leading scorers for QMJHL Val d'Or from 1999-2001.
· Houston defenseman Erik Reitz played two seasons (1999-2001) with Milwaukee goalie Brian Finley at OHL Barrie.
· Milwaukee's Dan Hamhuis and Houston's Derek Boogaard were teammates for two seasons with WHL Prince George in 1999-2000 and 2000-01.
· Houston's Junior Lessard (2004) and Milwaukee's Tony Hrkac (1987) each won the Hobey Baker Award for being college hockey's top player, albeit 17 years apart. Hrkac and Houston's Todd Reirden were teammates with the Atlanta Thrashers in 2001-02.
· Milwaukee's Cam Severson played parts of two junior seasons for Houston head coach Todd McLellan in Swift Current. Severson was also teammates with Houston's Todd Reirden for the past two seasons in Cincinnati.
· Houston's captain Kirby Law was teammates with Milwaukee's Brad Tiley from 2000-2003 at AHL Philadelphia.
· Milwaukee's Jeremy Yablonski and Houston's Kyle Wanvig were junior teammates in WHL Kootenay in 1998-99.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 8, 2005


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