Aeros look for revenge on Barons as Snoopy looks on

October 23, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Five things you need to know
· Houston is 1-5-0-0 in its last six meetings with Cleveland since winning five straight from January 10, 2002-January 10, 2003.
· Dan Cavanaugh is set to play in his 224th game, which will tie Frederic Chabot for seventh place on the Aeros' all-time list. Mark Freer leads the way with 469 games played.
· Last night Houston became the last AHL team to allow a third-period goal.
· The Aeros are playing just their second stretch of three home games in three nights in franchise history before playing 13 of 15 games on the road.
· Cleveland's Marcel Goc has a team-best five goals, and only one of them has come even strength. Goc has two power play goals and two shorthanded tallies.

Barons at Aeros (Aeros lead all-time series 7-6-0-0, Aeros are 4-3-0-0 at home)
· Tonight is the 14th all-time meeting between the teams - eighth in Houston.
· The Aeros won five straight versus the Barons from January 10, 2002-January 10, 2003, but are 1-5-0-0 since then.
· The Barons won three of the four meetings last season, including a sweep of Houston at home January 21 and 23. Cleveland also handed the Aeros a 5-2 loss in the Toyota Center opener October 24, 2003, but Houston responded with a 5-1 win behind a Kyle Wanvig hat trick four nights later.
· The winning team in this series has scored at least four goals in nine of the 13 matchups.
· Aeros head coach Todd McLellan began his pro coaching career in 2000-01 with Cleveland, then in the IHL, leading the Barons to a 43-32-7 record.
· Only one of the teams' 12 meetings has been decided by one goal - a 3-2 Houston win at Cleveland on October 23, 2002.

Scouting the Aeros Third-year Aero Mark Cullen leads the Aeros in scoring through four games with four points (1-3=4), including a pair of assists last night...Kirby Law, the Aeros' captain, has three points (2-1=3), as does Matt Foy (1-2=3)...Houston has only two players above the break even point in plus-minus - Law (+2) and Zbynek Michalek (+1)...The Aeros return eight of their top 11 scorers from a year ago, including leading point-getter Kyle Wanvig (25-16=41)...Talented newcomers include a trio of first-round draft picks - 2004 World Cup player Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard...Also new is rookie netminder Josh Harding, and several Dallas Stars prospects, including Hobey Baker winner Junior Lessard and goalie Mike Smith.

Scouting the Barons Cleveland notched its first win of the season (1-1-1-1) last night, racing to a four-goal lead and beating Houston 5-2...The Barons' defense was ranked in the bottom six of the AHL prior to last night, when Dmitri Patzold stopped 34 of Houston's 36 shots...Cleveland is led by last night's hero Marcel Goc with seven points (5-2=7)...Goc had two goals and an assist last night...Patzold is 1-0-1 with a 1.92 gaa...Nolan Schaefer is 0-2-0 with a 4.89 gaa.

2004-05 meetings (Second of four meetings, Aeros are 0-1-0-0 overall, Aeros are 0-1-0-0 at home) Last Night: Cleveland 5 at Houston 2 TONIGHT: Cleveland at Houston November 18: Houston at Cleveland November 23: Houston at Cleveland

Last Night Marcel Goc tallied two goals and an assist and Dmitri Patzold stopped 34 shots, as the Cleveland Barons beat the Aeros 5-2 at Toyota Center. Patrick Rissmiller, Scott Dobben and Aaron Gill also scored for Cleveland (1-1-1-1), which picked up its first win....Kyle Wanvig scored a shorthanded goal, Brent Burns scored on the power play and Mike Smith turned aside 8-of-12 shots before being replaced by Josh Harding for Houston

Opponents have four PPG in last two games The Aeros have allowed four power play goals over their last two games (two in each game). Houston didn't yield two straight games with multi power play goals at all in the 2003-04 season. The Aeros killed off their first six shorthanded chances this season in two games, but now rank 22nd at 80 percent on the penalty kill.

Erskine finds the net Houston defenseman John Erskine scored a goal Wednesday, just past the two year anniversary of his last AHL goal on October 18, 2002. Erskine, who has spent much of the past two seasons in the NHL with Dallas, had gone 56 AHL games without a goal. Erskine scored two NHL goals since his last AHL tally.

What's on tap
· Tonight the Aeros play game two of just the second stretch of three home games in three nights in franchise history. After tomorrow, the Aeros play 13 of 15 games on the road. Houston also played three-in-three at home from December 7-9, 2001, going 1-1 versus Hartford and 1-0 against Manitoba.
· The road stretch starts with the Aeros first ever trek to Edmonton to face the Road Runners and Joe Cullen, Mark's brother, for two games next Friday and Saturday. Those games open a six-game road trip, the longest for the team since an eight-game trip in January and February of 2003.

Aeros have 19 straight OT non-wins Wednesday's 5-4 overtime loss in Chicago extended Houston's run of being winless in overtime to 19 games. The Aeros went 0-4-14 in overtime in 2003-04 after going second in the league in OT wins in 2002-03 with eight. Houston's last overtime win came in San Antonio 3/20/03, when Hnat Domenichelli scored 12 seconds into the extra session for a 5-4 victory.

A new era The AHL has instituted a shootout if the score is still tied after a five-minute overtime period. The Aeros last played a shootout game 4/13/01, a 3-2 win at Utah.

How the Aeros were built
· The Aeros have a franchise record three first-round picks, plus five second-rounders and four third rounders. Kyle Wanvig was drafted twice, once in the second round by Boston and again in the third by Minnesota. All but four of Houston's players were drafted.
· Five Aeros have their NHL rights owned by the Dallas Stars - Mike Smith, Junior Lessard, Patrick Traverse, Marius Holtet and John Erskine.
· Houston had 15 players from Canada on its Opening Night roster, five from the United States and one each from the Czech Republic, Finland, Norway, Sweden and Austria. Marius Holtet, a second-round pick by Dallas, is the highest drafted Norwegian player in NHL history.

Aeros have trio of first-round picks for first time ever
· The Aeros have three first-round draft picks (Mikko Koivu, Brent Burns and Pierre-Marc Bouchard) on their roster at one time for the first time in their 11-year history.
· Overall, Houston has now had 14 No. 1 picks wear its uniform. Two skated last season - Burns and Jason Marshall.
· Koivu, selected sixth overall by Minnesota in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, is the fourth highest draft pick ever to play for Houston. Only Sylvain Turgeon (No. 2, 1983), Neil Brady (No. 3, 1986) and Zarley Zalapski (No. 4, 1986) were higher picks.
· Burns and Bouchard are two of Minnesota's three first-round picks who played in the NHL the season immediately after being drafted. Burns, 19, was already the youngest player in Aeros history, as he played one game last season at the age of 18.

Harding is second-highest goalie draft pick to play for Houston Not only is Josh Harding the Aeros' youngest goalie in franchise history, but he's also the second highest drafted netminder to play for the team. Harding was picked by the Wild 38th overall in the 2002 NHL Entry Draft. Only Troy Gamble (No. 25, 1985) was a higher pick.

Aeros have 11 who played in NHL in 2003-04
· Eleven Aeros played a total of 250 games in the NHL in 2003-04, and including Patrick Traverse, who has 278 games of NHL experience but none last season, 12 Aeros have 884 games of NHL experience.
· Another two Aeros - Mike Smith and Erik Reitz - were recalled to Dallas and Minnesota, respectively, last season but didn't see action in a game.

Aeros/Barons connections
· Aeros head coach Todd McLellan began his pro coaching career in 2000-01 with Cleveland, then in the IHL, leading the Barons to a 43-32-7 record.
· Barons defenseman Greg Labenski played seven games for the Aeros in 2001-02, notching two points and 25 penalty minutes.
· Cleveland head coach Roy Sommer played for the CHL Houston Apollos in 1979-80, recording 55 points (24g, 31a) and 246 penalty minutes in 69 games.
· Houston's Christoph Brandner played alongside Cleveland's Christian Ehrhoff for three seasons with Krefeld of the German DEL.
· Cleveland defenseman Milan Michalek, 2003's No. 6 overall pick, is the younger brother of the Aeros' Zbynek Michalek. Milan Michalek is currently rehabbing an injury.



American Hockey League Stories from October 23, 2004


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