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February 3, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


The Aeros wrapped up their seven-game Eastern road trip with a record of 5-1-1. Houston leads the Western Conference, and ranks second overall, with 18 road wins. Five of the next nine games are on the road. Houston has been hard to beat in the past 23 games with a record of 18-2-3.

THE WEEK THAT WAS:

JANUARY 28: Houston visited conference rival Grand Rapids and left with their worst defeat of the season, 7-0. The Griffins opened the scoring with a shorthanded goal by Travis Richards 2:10 into the game. Midway through the second period, former Aero Philippe Plante scored and then with just 11 seconds left in the period, Michel Picard collected a goal. Grand Rapids scored four times in the third. First, Tomas Kopecky 52 seconds in and then Stacy Roest. Picard's second goal of the night was scored at 3:01 and Kopecky finished the game with his second. G Marc Lamothe stopped 32 shots to earn his second shutout over the Aeros.

JANUARY 29: The Aeros rebounded from their worst loss of the season to defeat the Rochester Americans 5-2 behind a hat trick by Hnat Domenichelli. Domenichelli opened the scoring midway through the first period. Rochester tied the game on a power play goal early in the second. Houston then scored three goals in the middle frame to take command of the game. First, Tony Tuzzolino scored 26 seconds after Rochester's goal. Lawrence Nycholat tallied a 5-on-3 power play goal midway through the period. Domenichelli's second goal of the night came on the power play just nine seconds later. In the third, Rochester scored then Domenichelli's third sealed the game. Frederic Cloutier stopped 20 of 22 shots for his fourth consecutive win. Amerks G Mika Noronen was peppered with 41 shots.

JANUARY 31: Houston tied the Rochester Americans 4-4. Rochester opened the scoring with a power play goal 2:09 into the game. Houston then scored the next four goals. First Lawrence Nycholat tallied a power play goal, and then Jean-Guy Trudel converted with the man-advantage. In the second, Cory Larose collected Houston's third power play goal. Stephane Veilleux scored his first of the season for Houston just 26 seconds later. Rochester took advantage of Houston's travel-weary legs with three goals in the third. Aeros G Frederic Cloutier stopped 32 of 36 shots, half of them came in the third and overtime periods. Houston was 3 for 9 on the power play while allowing Rochester one goal on six chances.

FEBRUARY 1: The Aeros wrapped up their seven-game Eastern swing with a victory at Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Penguins scored first, just 29 seconds into the game. Houston then rattled off four straight goals. Rastislav Pavlikovsky, Travis Roche and Curtis Murphy tallied before Hnat Domenichelli collected his 4th shorthanded goal of the season. Then to wrap up the scoring in a wild first period, Wilkes-Barre scored on the power play. The Penguins scored first in the second period, before Roche scored his second goal of the night. Wilkes-Barre tied the game early in the third before Domenichelli's second goal gave Houston the win. G Dieter Kochan stopped 29 of 34 shots.

WILD, WILD WEST: The Aeros lead the tough West Division by 19 points. Utah and San Antonio are tied for second at 54 points. Chicago ranks fourth at 53 and Milwaukee trails with 51. The West Division's five teams have records of .520 or better, making it the only division comprised of all winning teams. Houston is the top team in the Western Conference, leading Grand Rapids by eight points. Overall, Houston trails only Hamilton, (37-8-4-4, 82 points). Houston has 29 games remaining and 22 are against division rivals. The Aeros are 12-6-2 against their division and 22-6-3 against the rest of the AHL.

WHAT A GUY!: All-Star LW Jean-Guy Trudel continues to lead the Aeros offensively. He ranks first in goals (22), points (57), and power play goals (8). He is also tied for the team lead in assists (35) and plus/minus (+19). Trudel ranks second in the league in points and is tied for fourth in assists. Dating back to Dec. 21, a stretch of 23 games, he has collected 10-21-31 and has more multi-point games (11) than games without a point (7). He currently has points in three straight games (1-6-7).

(LA)ROSE COLORED GLASSES: C Cory Larose has been racking up the points since late December with 10-16-26 in the past 23 games, including 1-5-6 in the past three games. He leads the Aeros in assists (35) and game-winning goals (5). All of his game-winning goals have come since Dec. 26. He is second on the team in points (49) and second in power play points (4-16-20). Larose is tied for 8th in league scoring and tied with teammate Jean-Guy Trudel for fourth in AHL assists. The Campbellton, New Brunswick-native is one of only two Aeros (D Curtis Murphy) to play in every game this season.

BALANCING ACT: The Aeros' success so far this season has come from a balanced attack. For the season, LW Jean-Guy Trudel and RW Hnat Domenichelli are tied for the lead in goals (22). Four other players are in double digits: D Curtis Murphy (18), C Cory Larose (14), C Mark Cullen (12) and RW Kyle Wanvig (12). Larose and Trudel are tied for first with 35 assists. D Travis Roche is third on the team with 26 helpers. Trudel leads in points (57) and Larose is second with 49. The team has 12 players with at least 14 points. All 20 skaters currently on the roster have at least one point.

AEROS ALL-STAR AFFAIR: Four Aeros are participating in the AHL All-Star Game tonight. G Derek Gustafson is tending goal for the PlanetUSA team. He'll be in familiar territory with Head Coach Todd McLellan behind the bench with him. Across the ice, LW Jean-Guy Trudel and D Curtis Murphy are playing for the Canadian All-Star team. D Travis Roche was originally part of this squad but will miss the game due to injury. This is the first All-Star Appearance for Gustafson and McLellan. Trudel is participating in his third All-Star game and Murphy is playing in his fifth.

OH, SO SPECIAL: The Aeros special teams have lead the way during the strong play of the last five weeks. Since Dec. 21 (23 games), the penalty killing has stopped 90 of 102 chances (88.2%). The penalty killers have allowed only four goals on 43 chances in the past nine games. For the past 23 games, the power play is firing at 18.4% (26-141). However, it's been streaky this season. The man-advantage had one stretch of nine goals in four games and then recently was blanked in three straight before collecting seven goals in the past three games. LW Jean-Guy Trudel leads the team with eight goals and 22 points on the power play.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS: 1/31: Wild reassigned G Dieter Kochan; 2/3: Minnesota reassigned RW Tony Virta to Sodertalje SK (Swedish Elite League).

NEWS AND NOTES:

* LW Hnat Domenichelli has recorded 5-1-6 in the past three games. He is tied for the Aeros lead in goals (22) and ranks third in points (39). He has four shorthanded goals, which ties the Aeros record for most in one season (Mario Chitaroni, 1994-95);

* D Travis Roche has collected 2-10-12 in the past nine games, including points in three straight (2-2-4). He leads Aeros defensemen in assists (26) and is tied for third in defensemen scoring in the league;

* D Curtis Murphy is tied for third in AHL defenseman scoring with 18-17-35 and leads blueliners in goals. He is third on the Aeros in goals and tied for fourth in points; * D Lawrence Nycholat is tied for 18th in d-men scoring (8-17-25) and leads the team in plus/minus (+19). He currently has a three-game point streak (2-1-3);

* G Dieter Kochan has recorded six straight wins for the Aeros. His 2.57 GAA ranks 15th in the AHL;

* G Derek Gustafson is 8-2-2 in his last 12 starts and has allowed two goals or less in seven of those games. His 2.58 GAA ranks 16th in the league and his 16 wins are tied for fourth;

* G Frederic Cloutier is 4-0-1 in five AHL starts, stopping a combined 131 of 141 shots for a 1.89 GAA and .929 save %;

* The Power Play collected two goals on four chances in Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. Overall, it's 54 of 335/16.1%, ranking 13th;

* The Penalty Kill has allowed only seven goals in the last 16 games (64-71, 90.1%) & now is 232 of 272/85.3%, ranking 11th.

WILD WATCH: Minnesota currently has a record of 25-18-8-1 for 59 points. They are third in the Northwest Division. The Wild took several days off for the All-Star Game. LW Marian Gaborik represented the Wild. Minnesota plays three games this week, hosting the Chicago Blackhawks on Wednesday and the San Jose Sharks on Friday before traveling to New Jersey to play the Devils on Sunday.

ICEGATORS REPORT: Louisiana leads the ECHL's Southwest Division and Southern Conference by four points with a record of 27-11-10 for 64 points. The IceGators play three games this weekend, starting at Baton Rouge on Friday, then in Pensacola on Saturday. The weekend wraps up with a game against Pensacola at home on Sunday.

UPCOMING GAMES

FRIDAY 2/7 AT CHICAGO

The Aeros finish their eight-games away from Compaq Center with a match against division rival Chicago. Houston is 2-1-1 against the Wolves this season.

SUNDAY 2/9 VS MILWAUKEE

Houston returns home to host division rival Milwaukee. The teams have played five times already and the Admirals lead with 3 wins.

TUESDAY 2/11 AT MILWAUKEE

The Aeros travel to Milwaukee to take on the Admirals. Earlier this month, Houston lost at the Bradley Center 3-0, the team's first loss there in 10 games.

THURSDAY 2/13 VS CLEVELAND

Houston hosts the Barons for the final time this season. The Aeros have won the other three match-ups by a combined 16 to 7 score.

SATURDAY 2/15 VS UTAH

The Aeros host the Utah Grizzlies for the first time since opening weekend. Houston has visited Utah three times this season. The teams also play on Sunday.

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. The games can also be heard at www.aeros.com.



American Hockey League Stories from February 3, 2003


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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