On the Road Again

January 27, 2003 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release


The Aeros are midway through their season-high seven game road trip and are off to a great start with three wins in three games. The team has been nearly unbeatable in its last 19 games, going 16-1-2, including five straight wins.

THE WEEK THAT WAS:

JANUARY 22: The Aeros downed the Hartford Wolf Pack by a score of 6-0 behind a hat trick by LW Hnat Domenichelli and G Derek Gustafson's first shutout of the year. The Aeros scored early in the first on rookie Zbynek Michalek's second pro goal. Domenichelli then tallied his first of the night shorthanded midway through the period. Aeros leading scorer LW Jean-Guy Trudel added a power play goal at the 14:32 mark of the first. In the second, Domenichelli struck at the 2:28 mark then RW Jeff Hoggan scored six minutes later. Domenichelli wrapped the game up with his third goal late in the second period. Gustafson turned away 19 shots in recording his first shutout of the season. Houston was 1 for 9 on the power play and stopped all five of Hartford's chances.

JANUARY 24: Houston fought back to defeat the Bridgeport Sound Tigers 3-2 in overtime. Houston struck first, just 1:56 into the game when LW Rastislav Pavlikovsky scored. C Cory Larose collected the lone assist. In the second period, Bridgeport took advantage of Houston miscues to score two goals 38 seconds apart. After that Houston turned up the pressure, getting 14 shots in the third but G David St. Germain turned them all away until Larose tied the game at the 18:18 mark. D Travis Roche and Pavlikovsky collected the assists. In overtime, Pavlikovsky gave the Aeros the win with his second goal of the night, 29 seconds into the extra frame. Larose and D Curtis Murphy assisted. G Derek Gustafson stopped 26 of 28 shots to record his 16th win for Houston.

JANUARY 25: The Aeros defeated the Sound Tigers 2-1 to sweep the two-game series. After a scoreless first period, RW Kyle Wanvig put the Aeros on top with his goal at the 9:01 mark of the second. D Travis Roche collected the lone assist. Late in the second period, C Cory Larose gave Houston a 2-0 lead off assists from LW Rastislav Pavlikovsky and RW Jeff Hoggan. Bridgeport peppered G Frederic Cloutier with 14 shots in the third and Alain Nasreddine got one past to ruin Cloutier's shutout bid. Cloutier turned away 34 of 35 shots in collecting his third win in three AHL games. His 34 saves are the most by an Aeros goaltender this season. Houston went 0 for 6 on the power play and blanked Bridgeport on all eight of their chances.

WILD, WILD WEST: The Aeros lead the tough West Division by 16 points over Utah and Chicago (52 points). Milwaukee is fourth with 51 and San Antonio is fifth with 48. The West Division's five teams have records of .500 or better, making it the only division comprised of all winning teams. Houston is the top team in the Western Conference, leading Grand Rapids and Norfolk by seven points. Overall, Houston trails only Hamilton, (36-8-4-3, 79 points). Houston plays 22 of its last 29 games against division opponents. So far this season, the Aeros are 12-6-2 against their division and 20-5-2 against the rest of the AHL.

GO, GO GOALIES: Houston's goaltending has paved the way for the Aeros strong play over the last month. Derek Gustafson has posted a record of 8-1-2 in his last 11 games. "Gus" has held his opponents to two goals or less in seven of the 11 outings and reduced his goals against average to 2.38, which is tied for 9th in the AHL. His 16 wins are tied for second in the league. Frederic Cloutier has played extremely well since being recalled from Louisiana (ECHL). In three AHL starts, he has recorded three wins and registered a 1.33 GAA and .951 save percentage. He has kicked aside 78 of 82 shots in the three games.

SCORING FIRST IS GOAL ONE: Scoring first is very important to the Aeros as the team is 21-1-1 when striking first. Houston is 11-10-3 in the 24 games their opponent has scored first. Once Houston gets the lead, they are hard to beat. The Aeros are 19-0-0 when leading after one period, and an impressive 22-1-2 when leading after two. On the rare occasions Houston falls behind, they are the comeback kids. The Aeros are 5-10-1 when trailing after two periods of play.

FRONT TO BACK, TOP TO BOTTOM: The Aeros' success so far this season has come from a balanced attack. For the season, LW Jean-Guy Trudel leads the way in goals (21) with D Curtis Murphy and LW Hnat Domenichelli tied for second at 17. There are three other players in double digits, C Cory Larose (13), C Mark Cullen (12) and RW Kyle Wanvig (12). Larose leads with 30 assists and Trudel has 29. Trudel leads in points (50) and the team has 13 players with at least 14 points. All 20 skaters on the Aeros roster boast an even or plus rating in plus/minus led by D Lawrence Nycholat at +23.

FOUR OF AN ALL-STAR KIND: D Curtis Murphy was announced as the newest Aeros All-Star on Friday. He'll play for the Canadian All-Star Team along with fellow blueliner Travis Roche and LW Jean-Guy Trudel. Aeros Head Coach Todd McLellan was named the Head Coach of the AHL's PlanetUSA All-Star Team last Saturday. He replaced Claude Julien, the former coach of the Hamilton Bulldogs who was hired as the Montreal Canadiens' head coach. For Murphy, who replaces the injured Brian Chapman of Manitoba, this will be his fifth All-Star appearance in five pro seasons. Last year he also played for the Canadian AHL All-Star Team. In his first three years pro, he was an International Hockey League All-Star with the Orlando Solar Bears.

A HELPING HAND: All-Star D Travis Roche has contributed a helping hand on the ice recently. In his past seven games, he has 10 assists, including eight in the past five games. He leads Aeros defensemen with 24 assists and ranks fifth on the team in points (30). He is sixth in defenseman scoring in the AHL and tied for fifth in assists. His helping hand extends off the ice as well. For the second consecutive season, Roche is personally donating money to Kids Unlimited, a non-profit organization created to benefit children with cancer and their families. He pledged $100 per goal, $50 per assist and $5 for each penalty minute. Based on his 7-24-31 and 12 penalty minutes, Roche's donation is up to $1960.

RECENT TRANSACTIONS: 1/26: Wild assigned LW Stephane Veilleux.

NEWS AND NOTES:

* LW Jean-Guy Trudel leads Houston in goals (21), points (50), and power play goals (7). He ranks second in assists (29), game-winning goals (4), and plus/minus (+22). He is third in the league in scoring;

* C Cory Larose is first in assists on the Aeros with 30 and leads with five game-winning goals. He is second in points (43) and fourth in goals. He is tied for 11th in league scoring;

* RW Rastislav Pavlikovsky has 3-2-5 in his last four games;

* D Curtis Murphy ranks third in defenseman scoring with 17-15-32 and leads blueliners in goals; * D Lawrence Nycholat is tied for third in the league in plus/minus at +23 and is tied for 19th in d-men scoring (6-16-22);

* C Mark Cullen is sixth on the Aeros in points (12-15-27) and is tied for 19th in rookie scoring;

* G Frederic Cloutier won both of his AHL starts, turning away a total of 44 of 47 shots (.936 save percentage);

* The Power Play struggled against Bridgeport with no goals on eight chances. Overall, it's 47 of 310/15.2%, ranking 18th;

* The Penalty Kill has allowed only three goals in the last 12 games (49-52, 94.2%) & now is 217 of 253/85.8%, ranking 10th.

WILD WATCH: Minnesota currently has a record of 25-17-7-1 for 58 points. They are second in the Northwest Division. The Wild continue on their western road trip with games in Vancouver on Tuesday and Edmonton on Wednesday. They take the remainder of the week off for Sunday's All-Star Game. RW Marian Gaborik represents the Wild in the game and D Nick Schultz will play in the YoungStars Game.

ICEGATORS REPORT: Louisiana leads the ECHL's Southwest Division by four points with a record of 26-11-8 for 60 points. They lead the Southern Conference by one point over Pee Dee. This week the IceGators host the Florida Everblades on Friday and Saturday then the Baton Rouge Kingfish visit on Sunday.

UPCOMING GAMES

TUESDAY 1/28 AT GRAND RAPIDS

After taking a couple days off to watch some football, the Aeros are back on the ice. This is Houston's third visit to Grand Rapids this season, and are 2-0 so far.

WEDNESDAY 1/29 AT ROCHESTER

Houston visits Rochester for the first time. The second game is on Friday night. The Aeros defeated the Americans in two games at Compaq Center earlier this month.

FRIDAY 1/30 AT ROCHESTER

The Aeros face-off against the Americans for the final time this season. Rochester currently is in second place in the West's Central Division.

SATURDAY 2/1 AT WILKES-BARRE

Houston wraps up the long road trip with its only visit to Wilkes-Barre/Scranton. The Penguins defeated the Aeros in Houston 6-5 in December.

FRIDAY 2/7 AT CHICAGO

The Aeros finish their eight-games away from Compaq Center with a match against division rivals 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.

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. The first three games this week will be joined-in-progress at 7:00 PM Central. Saturday's game from Wilkes/Barre will be televised on KTBU-55 at 6:00 PM.



American Hockey League Stories from January 27, 2003


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