Aeros Now Unbeaten in Nine Straight

Published on January 6, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Houston rang in the New Year by continuing their unbeaten streak. The Aeros are currently on a nine-game unbeaten streak (8-0-1), their longest of the season. Houston began the season with eight consecutive wins. The team has outscored its opponents 37-14 in the past nine games.

THE WEEK THAT WAS:

DECEMBER 30: The Aeros defeated the Cincinnati Mighty Ducks by a score of 5-2 on Monday night in Houston. Houston struck for four goals in the third period to win. The Mighty Ducks opened the scoring in the first period before the Aeros answered on a second-period goal by Jeff Hoggan. In the third frame, Curtis Murphy scored, followed by Cory Larose who flicked a face-off win past a surprised Ilya Bryzgalov. In the final 1:19 of the game, Rastislav Pavlikovsky scored twice, and Cincinnati added a goal to complete the scoring in a crazy finish to the game. Dieter Kochan scored his 11th win of the year in making just 14 saves.

JANUARY 3: Houston extended its winning streak to seven games by defeating the Rochester Americans 5-1. The Aeros played outstanding defense, allowing the Amerks only 15 shots on goal. Jean-Guy Trudel scored for Houston in the first period. After Rochester tied the game on a fluky power play goal, the Aeros scored four unanswered goals. In the second, it was Cory Larose. Then in the third, Marc Cavosie, Curtis Murphy and Erik Reitz tallied for Houston. Mark Cullen and Rastislav Pavlikovsky both collected two assists. G Dieter Kochan stopped 14 of 15 shots for his fourth consecutive victory.

JANUARY 4: Houston traveled to San Antonio and came away with a 2-2 tie. The Rampage scored first midway through the opening period. Houston tied the game on a Cory Larose power play goal five minutes later. Then San Antonio regained the lead before the end of the period. Curtis Murphy tied the game 5:32 into the second as the teams skated four-on-four. After that, the goaltenders turned away all the shots through the third and overtime periods. Aeros G Derek Gustafson stopped 22 of 24 shots.

JANUARY 5: The Aeros defeated the Rochester Americans 2-0 behind the season's first shutout by G Dieter Kochan. The win increased the Aeros' unbeaten streak to nine games, the season's longest. Curtis Murphy scored at the 14:41 mark of the first to give Houston the lead. After that the goalies stayed strong, despite numerous penalties and 17 power play opportunities between the two teams. In the second period alone, the teams combined for 30 penalty minutes, all on minors. Lawrence Nycholat collected Houston's second goal while the team was shorthanded into Rochester's empty net. Kochan stopped all 21 shots he faced in earning his first shutout of the season.

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE ALL-STARS:

LW Jean-Guy Trudel and D Travis Roche were named to the Canadian AHL All-Star Team on Friday. For Trudel, this will be his third consecutive AHL All-Star appearance. This is Roche's first All-Star appearance. Trudel leads the Aeros with 15 goals and 38 points and ranks seventh in league points. He also is tied for first in Aeros' game-winning goals (4) and tied for second in power play goals (4). Roche is first on the Aeros in defenseman assists (14) and second in points (21). He leads the team with five power play goals and is tied for 13th in AHL defenseman scoring.

PUCK STOPPER INC.:

Houston Aeros goaltender Dieter Kochan has put together quite an impressive streak. He is unbeaten in five games, allowing only six goals during that time. On Sunday, he turned away all 21 Rochester shots for his first shutout of the season. His goals against average is 1.20 and he has 94.5 save percentage during his five-game win streak. Kochan ranks 13th in the league with an overall GAA of 2.45 and is tied for fourth in wins with 13.

DYNAMIC DUO:

The defensive pairing of Curtis Murphy and Lawrence Nycholat has been dynamic for Houston. Murphy collected his 15th goal last night, stretching his goal-scoring streak to four games. He is tied for first on the team in goals and third in points (25). He is the top blueline goal scorer in the AHL and ranks 6th in scoring. Nycholat has quietly put together a five-game point streak, his third point streak of the season. His 14 assists and 17 points are both career-highs. He leads the team in plus/minus at +20, and has only been minus in five games this season.

A (LA)ROSE BY ANY OTHER NAME:

C Cory Larose has turned his game up a notch in the team's nine game unbeaten streak. He has 6-4-10 in the past nine games, including a current five game point streak (5-2-7). He now has 10-23-33 on the season, second on the Aeros in points and first in assists. Last season as an AHL rookie, he rewrote the Aeros record books for rookies, setting new highs for goals, assists and points (32-32-64) and was the first rookie to lead the Aeros in goals and points.

ME FIRST! ME FIRST!:

Scoring first is very important to the Aeros as the team is 14-1-1 when striking first. In the 21 games this season that the opponent has scored first, Houston is 10-9-2. After not scoring the first goal in seven straight games (1-5-1), the Aeros have struck first in seven games in the current nine-game unbeaten streak. Houston is 13-0 when leading after one period, and an impressive 18-1-1 when leading after two.

NEW YEAR, NEW PLACES:

The Aeros have a busy January playing a total of 16 games, six at home and 10 on the road. Houston plays eight consecutive road games from January 22 to February 8, visiting Hartford, Bridgeport, Rochester and Wilkes-Barre/Scranton for the first time. Traveling in January is different for Houston as the team has traditionally had long-home stands in the first month of the year. Last season, nine of 12 were at home and in 2000-01, eight of 13 were at Compaq Center.

TRANSACTIONS:

1/4/03: Signed LW Dennis Shiryaev to PTO.

NEWS AND NOTES:

* LW Jean-Guy Trudel had 3-9-12 in his last nine games; he leads Houston in goals (tied) and points with 15-23-38 and is first (tied) with four game-winning goals. He ranks 7th in the league in scoring;

* C Cory Larose is second in points and first in assists on the Aeros with 10-23-33 and has a five-game point streak (5-2-7). He is tied for first with four game-winning goals;

* D Curtis Murphy has a four-game goal streak (4g). He leads all AHL defensemen with 15 goals and ranks 6th in scoring with 15-10-25. He is tied for first on the Aeros in goals and third in points;

* D Lawrence Nycholat has a five-game point streak (1-4-5). He leads the team in plus/minus at +20;

* G Dieter Kochan has won five consecutive games, allowing only six goals, to bring his GAA down to 2.45 which ranks 13th in the AHL and is tied for fourth with 13 wins;

* G Derek Gustafson has allowed eight goals in his last four starts, three wins and a tie, to reduce his goals against average to 2.50 which ranks 17th in the league;

* The Power Play has struggled recently with only one goal in the last five games. Overall, it's 36 of 253/14.2%, ranking 20th;

* The Penalty Kill has allowed 2 goals in the last 28 chances (92.9%) and now is 177 of 210 overall, 84.3%, ranking 15th.

WILD WATCH:

Minnesota currently has a record of 21-12-7-1 for 50 points. They trail Vancouver by three points for the Northwest Division lead. The Wild open a six-game homestand against the Los Angeles Kings on Monday, then host the Columbus Blue Jackets on Wednesday and end the week with a visit from the Phoenix Coyotes on Friday.

ICEGATORS REPORT:

Louisiana went 2-1-1 in a busy week last week, maintaining a two-point lead over Mississippi for the Southwest Division lead but falling one point behind Atlantic City for the overall ECHL points lead. This week their only game is on Thursday when they host the Columbus Cottonmouths.

UPCOMING GAMES

THURSDAY 1/9 VS CHICAGO

Division-rival Chicago makes its second visit to Houston this season. The Aeros downed the Wolves 4-1 in their previous visit after losing the first game in Chicago.

FRIDAY 1/10 VS CLEVELAND

The Barons make the first of two trips to Houston, with the other one coming in February. Houston has already visited Cleveland twice, winning both.

SUNDAY 1/12 AT MILWAUKEE

Houston hits the road for three games starting in Milwaukee. The Aeros were undefeated at the Bradley Center last year and won their first game there this year in late December.

WEDNESDAY 1/15 AT CHICAGO

The Aeros continue the three game road trip at the home of the defending Calder Cup Champions. Houston is 1-1 against the Wolves this season.

FRIDAY 1/17 AT MILWAUKEE

Houston returns to the Bradley Center for the second game in a week. The division rivals have only met in the playoffs once, in 1998, which Milwaukee won.

ON THE AIR:

Houston Aeros games can be heard on AM 700 "The Voice" KSEV this season with "The Voice of the Aeros" Ken Double providing the play-by-play.

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American Hockey League Stories from January 6, 2003


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