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Top-Flight Aeros Taking Wing

Published on February 18, 2003 under American Hockey League (AHL) News Release


SPRINGFIELD, MA ... Looking to take the next step a year after their trip to the conference finals, the Houston Aeros are establishing themselves as one of the league's top contenders for the Calder Cup 2003 championship.

Under head coach Todd McLellan, Houston is 37-13-6-1 (.711) on the season, with a mark of 21-3-4-1 since Dec. 21, and 18 points clear of the rest of the West Division entering the final seven weeks of the 2002-03 regular season. The Aeros lead the 14-team Western Conference with 188 goals scored and control their own destiny in their pursuit of a top seed in the Calder Cup 2003 Playoffs; beginning Feb. 22, Houston plays all of its final 21 games against conference foes.

The Aeros have been led on the ice by perennial AHL All-Star Jean-Guy Trudel (24+42=66 pts.), a First Team selection in 2001 and a Second Team pick in 2000 and 2002 who trails the league's scoring race by one point. Cory Larose, a member of the 2002 AHL All-Rookie Team, is second in team scoring with 56 points this season, while Hnat Domenichelli, a veteran of 267 NHL games, is tied for the Aeros' goal-scoring lead with 24 tallies. Forwards Kyle Wanvig and Rickard Wallin, who both made their NHL debuts this season, are among the nine Aeros to be recalled by the Minnesota Wild in 2002-03.

Curtis Murphy and Travis Roche, two of the top-scoring defensemen in the entire AHL, lead the Aeros' unit of blueliners, along with Lawrence Nycholat, whose plus-23 rating is tops on the team. Houston's last line of defense is solid as well, with the twosome of All-Star Derek Gustafson (18-7-2) and Dieter Kochan (15-6-3) recently joined by 21-year-old rookie Frederic Cloutier, who is 4-1-1 with a 1.91 goals against average in his first seven AHL appearances.

The Aeros organization is also an important part of the Houston community, as evidenced by the successful efforts of the Houston Aeros Charities program. Last week, the Aeros announced they will be making a donation to the Columbia Scholarship Fund, and for the remainder of the season, the team's jerseys will include the official flight patch from the space shuttle Columbia, honoring the seven astronauts who were lost on Feb. 1. Houston is home to the Johnson Space Center and NASA's Mission Control.

As a new downtown arena is set to open in 2003-04, the Aeros are hoping to close down the Compaq Center with the franchise's first AHL championship.

HATS OFF FOR HEALEY ... Three years after a potentially career-ending injury, Manchester forward Eric Healey has found a place in the AHL's record book.

Healey scored three goals on Saturday to help the Monarchs to a 5-1 victory over the Saint John Flames, then followed with another hat trick on Monday as Manchester defeated the St. John's Maple Leafs, 6-2. Healey is the first player to score three goals in consecutive games since Portland's Martin Gendron in 1995. No AHL player in the league's 67-year history has ever recorded three straight hat tricks. The Monarchs are back in action on Wednesday night in Lowell.

Healey, an AHL All-Star in 2002, has rebounded from a serious injury suffered when a skate blade sliced through his left wrist in January 2000. He has set a career high this season with 29 goals.

ROAD WARRIORS ... The San Antonio Rampage close out a 12-game, 28-day road trip on Tuesday when they visit the Bridgeport Sound Tigers. The Rampage took off on their journey with a road record of 4-13-3-2, but have climbed into fifth place in the Western Conference by posting a mark of 7-3-1-0 through the first 11 games of the trip. San Antonio, which owns the conference's best home record at 15-5-4-0, returns to the SBC Center to host Chicago on Friday night.

OFF THE ICE ... The Worcester IceCats have teamed up with the Molly Bish Foundation to allow kids at IceCats games to join the KidCare child identification program, which includes a photo, a fingerprint card and safety information... Winnipeg native Cindy Klassen, the new all-round world speed skating champion and 2002 Olympic medallist, will drop the ceremonial first puck prior to Wednesday's Manitoba Moose game... To commemorate the 30th anniversary of the Cincinnati Swords' 1973 Calder Cup championship, the Mighty Ducks wore throwback jerseys on Saturday and raised more than $7,000 for the Anthony Munoz Foundation and Habitat for Humanity... During the first intermission of the Utah-Chicago game on Valentine's Day, 93 couples were united in My Big Fat Utah Wedding.

ETC. ... With close to 100 family and friends in attendance, Troy, N.Y., native and RPI alumnus Matt Murley recorded a goal and three assists in his return to Albany, a 5-3 Wilkes-Barre/Scranton victory over the River Rats on Saturday afternoon... Jason Williams, an AHL All-Star and Stanley Cup champion in 2002, has scored 12 goals in his last nine games with Grand Rapids... John Tripp scored twice in 44 seconds late in the third period of Hartford's 4-3 victory over Worcester, capping his fourth hat trick of the season... Trailing by three goals with less than six minutes remaining on Friday night, Philadelphia scored four times to defeat Rochester, 5-4; by the end of the week, the Amerks' home winless streak had reached 12 games (0-7-5-0)... After spotting Hershey a 4-1 lead, Portland scored five times in the first 8:35 of the second period en route to an 8-4 victory on Sunday... Seven of Manchester rookie Scott Barney's 12 goals this year have been game-winners... In its last seven games, Syracuse has scored as many shorthanded goals as even-strength goals (five)... Binghamton's Dennis Bonvie (2,891) trails Springfield's Rob Murray (2,897) by three minors for the AHL's all-time lead in career penalty minutes; Murray played in his 996th career AHL game on Monday, Bonvie has played 535... All nine teams in the West and South Divisions currently own points percentages of .500 or better.

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American Hockey League Stories from February 18, 2003


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