Aeros Weekly Report

October 25, 2004 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


Coming attractions:

FRI, at EDM, 8 p.m.
The Aeros make their first ever trip to Edmonton to take on the relocated Road Runners in the opener of a season-long six-game road trip. Several of these players know each other, however. Four Road Runners played for the 2002-03 Hamilton Bulldogs team that fell to the Aeros in the Calder Cup Finals. Edmonton also features former San Antonio toughman Rocky Thompson. The Road Runners are the AHL affiliate of the Edmonton Oilers, and they drew 16,000-plus for their home opener earlier this month. Counting this game, the Aeros will play 13 of 15 away from Toyota Center.

SAT, at EDM, 8 p.m.
The Aeros and Road Runners face off for the second of four meetings this season. Edmonton makes two separate trips to Toyota Center - November 14 and January 19.

MON, 11/1, at HAR, 10:05 a.m.
The Aeros will get next week off to an early start, with a morning game against the Wolf Pack after a full day of travel from Edmonton Sunday. Hartford blanked Houston in two victories last year, with Jason LaBarbera tending the nets in both contests. LaBarbera is 4-1-0 with a 2.10 goals against average in his career versus the Aeros. LaBarbera went 124:48 last season without allowing a goal to Houston, and the shutout streak is at 146:55 dating back to Hnat Domenichelli's power play goal January 22, 2003. Former Aeros defenseman Lawrence Nycholat plays for Hartford, which is loaded with the likes of reigning AHL leading scorer Jeff Hamilton, longtime captain Ken Gernander and top Rangers prospects Fedor Tyutin and Jozef Balej.

Aeros head into long road trip on winning note
CHI 5, HOU 4 (OT); CLE 5, HOU 2; CLE 4, HOU 1; HOU 4, CHI 3 (OT)

The Aeros' 4-3 overtime win over Chicago Sunday gave the team three out of eight points last week, and sent Houston into a season-long six-game road trip on a winning note.
Sunday: Kyle Wanvig's power play goal 3:07 into overtime lifted the Aeros to the 4-3 victory over the Wolves at Toyota Center. Pierre-Marc Bouchard added a goal and two assists, Ray Giroux and Matt Foy also scored and Brent Burns and Zbynek Michalek had two assists apiece for Houston. Mike Smith made 23 saves.
Kip Brennan scored twice for Chicago, which got a goal and an assist from Steve Maltais and 43 saves from Kari Lehtonen.
Saturday: Grant Stevenson snapped a tie 29 seconds into the second period and Dmitri Patzold made 39 saves, as the Cleveland Barons defeated the Aeros 4-1 at Toyota Center. Shane Joseph also scored, and Josh Prudden and Nick Bootland each added empty net goals for Cleveland, which swept the two-game series from Houston.
Junior Lessard had his first pro goal and Josh Harding turned aside 22 shots for the Aeros.
Friday: Marcel Goc tallied two goals and an assist and Dmitri Patzold stopped 34 shots, as the Barons beat the Aeros 5-2 at Toyota Center. Patrick Rissmiller, Scott Dobben and Aaron Gill also scored for Cleveland, which picked up its first win of the season.
Wanvig scored a shorthanded goal, Burns scored on the power play and Smith turned aside 8-of-12 shots before being replaced by Harding for Houston.
Wednesday: Former Aero Cory Larose scored on a breakaway 3:27 into overtime, lifting the Chicago Wolves to a 5-4 victory over the Houston Aeros at Allstate Arena. Maltais added two power play goals, both assisted by former Aero Travis Roche, and picked up an assist of his own on the game-winner.

Tuesday is Aeros Community Day – Tuesday is the Aeros' first "Community Day", where the team puts an emphasis on placing as many players as possible in the community. Players will be participating in a Teen Game Day at Ronald McDonald House, at the After School All Stars Program at John Marshall Middle School as well as a blood drive at Memorial City Mall from 2:30-4:30. Those donating blood Tuesday will receive a buy one, get one free coupon for the Aeros' November 7 game.

Website enjoys record weekend – Last week, an average of 2,988 fans logged on to www.aeros.com, the highest weekly average in the team's history. Thus far in October, an average of 2,598 unique visitors have been to www.aeros.com per day, an increase of 21 percent over 2003. This week on aeros.com, Brent Burns will participate in a Q&A session. The deadline for questions has passed. Please watch Wednesday for the answers to be posted. Aeros.com users chose Burns for the first Q&A session. Check www.aeros.com soon for your chance to pick the next Q&A session subject.

First OT game-winner for Wanvig – Getting a game-winning goal is certainly nothing new to Kyle Wanvig, but Sunday marked his first career overtime game-winner. Wanvig's 10th career game-winning goal early in his fourth season moved him into a fifth-place tie with Shawn Carter on the all-time list. David Oliver is fourth with 12. Mark Freer is the franchise's all-time leader in that category with 21. In 2003-04, Wanvig led Houston with seven game-winners, including six before New Year's.

The streak is over, Part 1 - Sunday, the Aeros won their first overtime decision in 20 tries, dating back to March 20, 2003. Houston had been 0-5-14, including a loss last week to the Wolves, in overtime since Hnat Domenichelli helped the Aeros beat San Antonio 5-4 in overtime.

The streak is over, Part 2 - Houston had been winless in eight straight games versus the Wolves coming into Sunday, the longest streak against Chicago in team history. The Aeros were 0-4-4 in the last eight games, dating back to a 3-1 home win last December 7.

The streak is over, Part 3 - In 2003-04, the Aeros were one of three AHL teams without a win when trailing after two periods. Sunday, they accomplished the feat, the first time they did that since March 7, 2003, also a 4-3 home overtime decision over the Wolves. The Aeros have three points this season when trailing after two periods, an AHL high.

Special Teams Update - The Aeros, boosted by a 3-for-11 power play performance Sunday, are tied for 11th in the AHL at 16.7 percent on the man advantage. On the penalty kill, Houston is ranked 21st at 81.3 percent.

Boogaard in the box - Houston's Derek Boogaard has a penalty in each of his first six games, tying for the AHL lead in penalty minute streak. Boogaard has 29 penalty minutes, third on the team behind Kyle Wanvig (33) and John Erskine (30).

Team leaders - Matt Foy (2-3=5) and Pierre-Marc Bouchard (1-4=5) lead the Aeros with five points apiece. Foy is tied for the team lead with two goals with three other players.

Down on the farm - The CHL Austin Ice Bats are 4-1-0. F Dallas Anderson picked up 37 penalty minutes Sunday against Laredo, and he has 59 PIM's in three games. The ECHL's Pensacola Ice Pilots opened up 2004-05 with a 4-2 win at Mississippi. RW Jordan Krestanovich has three assists, while RW Jason Beckett had one helper. LW Bill Kinkel had 15 penalty minutes. ECHL Louisiana is 0-1-0, having lost 3-1 at Mississippi, and D Maxime Fortunus had an assist. Kyle Kettles stopped 23-of-26 shots. UHL Quad City is 1-3-0. C Mike Kompon has four points (1-3=4), tied for second on the Mallards. G Robert Gherson is 0-1-0 with a 2.66 gaa in two games.

Player of the week C Pierre-Marc Bouchard -
Bouchard posted five points (1-4=5) in four games last week as the Aeros went 1-2-1-0...Quebec native notched two assists in 5-4 overtime loss at Chicago Wednesday...Tallied a goal and two assists, including a helper on Kyle Wanvig's OT game winner, in Sunday's 4-3 win over Chicago...Three of his four assists have come on the power play...Bouchard led the Aeros in the pre-season with five helpers, all with the man advantage...Has team lead with four assists and is tied with Matt Foy for team lead with five points.

Bouchard this week...
10/20 at CHI - 0-2=2, E
10/22 vs. CLE - 0-0=0, -1
10/23 vs. CLE - 0-0=0, -1
10/24 vs. CHI - 1-2=3, +1
Totals: 4gp, 1-4=5, -1

Aeros' Practice schedule:
Monday - Off
Tuesday - 10-11:30, Sugar Land
Wednesday - 10-11:30, Sugar Land
Thursday - Travel Day
Friday - at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Saturday - at Edmonton, 8 p.m.
Sunday - Travel Day



American Hockey League Stories from October 25, 2004


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