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Houston Aeros Weekly: February 9th

February 9, 2009 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


THIS WEEK'S GAMES

The Aeros will spend the week practicing in Minnesota at the parent club's home arena, Xcel Energy Center, and will also catch a Wild game against Colorado Wednesday night. Houston (23-21-1-8) stands tied for fourth place with the Chicago Wolves at 55 points in the West Division. Houston is only three points behind second-place Rockford IceHogs and two behind the Iowa Chops. At the end of the week the Aeros will head to Iowa for a pair of games Friday and Saturday and return home Sunday to host the Wolves at 5:05 p.m.

So far this season Houston has split the first two games with Iowa with each team winning on home ice. The Aeros will play back-to-back 7:05 p.m. games this Friday and Saturday in Des Moines. The Chops defeated the Aeros 4-3 after falling behind 2-0 on a pair of Krys Kolanos goals this past Friday night. Houston converted on 2-of-4 power plays in the game and 3-of-10 in the first pairing of the season for an overall conversion of nearly 36% against the Chops. In the two games, goaltender Nolan Schaefer has stopped 40-of-45 shots faced for an .889 save percentage. After this weekend the clubs will meet four more times in 2008-09.

Sunday's 5:05 p.m. game against the Wolves in Houston will be the third consecutive weekend the clubs have met. Houston is 3-1 against Chicago this season after winning the 100th all-time meeting this past Sunday by a score of 6-3, a plateau reached after 15 years of playing the club. Houston holds a record of 47-35-14-4 all-time over the Wolves. Houston will host Chicago one more time after this weekend to round out the season series.

WEEK IN REVIEW

The Houston Aeros earned three of six possible points this past weekend in a three-in-three with a shootout loss in Quad City Saturday and a dominant win in Chicago on Sunday. Kolanos led the way with seven points (3 goals, 4 assists) in the three games including two goals in Friday's loss at Iowa.

Kolanos had his best three-game stretch with the Aeros and marked the second time this season that Kolanos recorded multiple points in three straight games. His three assists in Sunday's game was a career high. The assists came on Houston's second, third and fourth goals which included Corey Locke's game winner. Saturday, while trailing 2-0, Kolanos netted the Aeros first goal and assisted on the game tying goal to force the eventual shootout and earning the club a point against a West Division foe. Kolanos netted the first two goals, both with a man advantage, in Friday's loss for his fifth multiple-goal game this season.

The Iowa Chops came back from a two-goal deficit to beat the Houston Aeros 4-3 Friday night at Wells Fargo Arena. Aeros' forward Krys Kolanos tallied the first two goals of the game, but Houston couldn't hold on to the victory. Four different Chops scored goals, including one on the power play and one shorthanded, and David LeNeveu stopped 27 of 30 shots for his 14th win of the season.

The Houston Aeros came back from a two-goal deficit only to lose in a shootout 3-2 Saturday night at i wireless Center. Houston has now lost eight shootouts this season, at least three more than any other team in the American Hockey League (AHL). Krys Kolanos and Matt Beaudoin scored the goals for Houston, but the visiting team never had a lead in the game.

After being tied 2-2 heading into the third period the Houston Aeros took the game out of the Chicago Wolves' reach with four goals and a 6-3 win Sunday night at Allstate Arena. Nolan Schaefer stopped 23 of 26 shots for the win as his counterpart Ondrej Pavelec blocked 20 of 26.

WEEKLY SCHEDULE

(subject to change)

2/9 - Practice 3 p.m. (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul)

2/10 - Practice 2 p.m. (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul)

2/11 - Practice 1:30 p.m. (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul)

2/12 - Practice 12 p.m. (Xcel Energy Center, St. Paul)

2/13 - 7:05 p.m. at Iowa Chops (Wells Fargo Arena)

2/14 - 7:05 p.m. at Iowa Chops (Wells Fargo Arena)

2/15 - 5:05 p.m. vs. Chicago Wolves (Toyota Center)

WEST DIVISION STANDINGS

GP W L OTL SOL Pts

Milwaukee 50 33 13 2 2 70

Rockford 52 27 21 0 4 58

Iowa 50 25 18 2 5 57

Houston 53 23 21 1 8 55

Chicago 53 26 24 2 1 55

Peoria 50 25 23 1 1 52

SanAntonio 55 22 30 1 2 47

Quad City 51 18 23 5 5 46

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