From: Patrick Armstrong, Director of Communications
713.361.7920 (Direct Line)
Scott Henninger, Communications Manager
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)
Monday, November 05, 2007

AEROS WEEKLY: THREE GAMES, TWO ON THE ROAD

HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Aeros (4-5-0-1) are on its first winning streak of the season with two victories over the Lake Erie Monsters this past Friday and Sunday nights. These two wins, including a shootout on Sunday, completed the four game home stretch covering the last eight days. The team takes to the road again visiting Milwaukee Thursday night and Quad City on Friday. The Aeros play on Toyota Center ice this Saturday against the Worcester Sharks for Houston’s third game in as many days.

THUR, at MIL, 7:00 p.m.
Since joining the AHL the Aeros have a record of 25-26-5-2 against the Milwaukee Admirals, 36-39-9-2 including IHL games prior to joining the AHL in 2001. The AHL record puts the Aeros points-percentage at .491 against the Admirals. Last year the Aeros were 3-3-2-0 against the Admirals and 1-2-1-0 in Milwaukee. Houston is currently riding a four-game winless streak (0-3-1-0) against the Admirals. D Erik Reitz leads the Aeros with 12 career points (3-9=12) in 38 games against Milwaukee and G Nolan Shaefer has posted a career mark of 2-2-1 with a 2.88 goals-against average (GAA) and a .901 save percentage in his five games against the team.

The Aeros will not be broadcast live on KNTH for Thursday night’s game only. Jason Shaver will be calling the game available on the B2 Network and can also be heard for free online through the B2 feed. Friday and Saturday night the games will be back on KNTH 1070 AM.

FRI, at QCY, 7:05 p.m.
This marks the first time Houston will face the Quad City Flames. The Flames will be the third team the Aeros has played who are new to the league. So far this season the Aeros are 2-1-0-0 versus such opponents, defeating Lake Erie twice this past week and losing to Rockford on October 17. The Aeros will play a total of eight times this season against Quad City, four on the road.

SAT, vs. WOR, 7:35 p.m.
The first 3,000 fans entering Toyota Center for Saturday night’s game will receive a mini helmet in recognition of Military Night! Last season was the first time in team history the Aeros have met up with the Worcester Sharks and Houston lost both meetings, one at home (3-7) the other in Worcester (2-3). RW Petr Kalus leads the Aeros with eight career-points (4-4=8) in nine games against the Sharks, all coming last season. G Barry Brust has a 2-1-0 mark in three games versus Worcester marking a 1.34 GAA and a .955 save percentage including one shutout.

Practice Schedule
05-Nov-07 Monday SLICE 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
06-Nov-07 Tuesday SLICE 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
07-NOV-07 Wednesday SLICE 10:30 a.m. 12:30 p.m.
08-Nov-07 Thursday at Milwaukee 7:00 p.m. at Milwaukee
09-Nov-07 Friday at Quad City 7:05 p.m. at Quad City
10-Nov-07 Saturday Toyota Center 7:35 p.m. vs. Worcester
11-Nov-07 Sunday No Practice

Player of the Week: D Erik Reitz

10/30 vs. SYR, 1-1=2, Marked a point on both of the Aeros 2 PPG
11/2 vs. LEM, 0-2=2, Assisted on team’s first two goals in the 3-2 win
11/4 vs. LEM 0-0=0
Defenseman Erik Reitz leads the Aeros in scoring with 12 points (4-8=12). He is tied for first in the league among defensemen with Toronto Marlies’ d-man Derrick Walsner. Reitz has marked five multi-point games this season and has tallied a point in six of the ten games he’s played in.

TEAM NOTES
• After starting the season 1-4-1-0 after six games, the Aeros have won three of their last four contests and are nearly back to the .500 mark.
• The Aeros competed in their second shootout of the season against Lake Erie on Sunday. G Nolan Schaefer stopped four of five shots, D Shawn Belle scored the Aeros lone goal and LW Aaron Voros netted the shootout-winner to give the Aeros a 2-1 victory over the Monsters. Houston is now 2-0 this season in shootouts and Schaefer has stopped nine of 10 tries in net.
• Houston is still trying to get their power play unit on track. The Aeros have scored just four goals on 69 chances this season with the man advantage for an AHL-low 5.8% conversion rate. Although the Aeros have allowed a power play goal in every game this season, the penalty kill has steadily improved. In the first five games of the season, the Aeros had killed 72.5% of their penalties. In the last five games, Houston has killed 88.9% of their penalties.
• This past week, RW Cal Clutterbuck and G Nolan Schaefer each came back to the Aeros after spending time with their National Hockey League (NHL) affiliate, the Minnesota Wild. Schaefer backed up Wild G Josh Harding for two games and Clutterbuck saw action against the Pittsburgh Penguins and the Colorado Avalanche averaging 7:05 of ice time. LW Benoit Pouliot was called up on November 1st and has played in two games.

Affiliation News Last week the Minnesota Wild went 1-2-0-0 and snapped a five-game winless streak (0-4-0-1) Saturday night in a 4-1 win hosting the Calgary Flames. G Niklas Backstrom came back from an injury for the victory. His last game played prior to sitting out was in Calgary where he gave up five goals in the last two periods.

Minnesota has a division-leading record of 8-4-0-2, leading Colorado by two points in the Northwest. The 18 points puts the Wild at second in the conference with Detroit leading the way with 23 points.

Marian Gaborik leads the team with 13 points (4-9=13) in 12 games, averaging just over a point per game. Brian Rolston has netted seven goals this season to lead the Wild.

The Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL shut out the Mississippi Sea Wolves 4-0 Sunday night as Marco Rosa recorded a hat trick and Anton Khudobin blocked all 29 shots faced to improve the team's record to (5-1-0-1), good for second place in the South Division. The 'Catters also won 4-3 Friday night as John McNabb netted two goals late in the game. Last Tuesday night Texas didn't hold back, blanking the Pensacola Ice Pilots 7-0 on the road. Six different players netted the puck, Danick Bouchard tallyed a pair of goals including the game-winner, a mere 4:16 into the first period.

Three at home:
HOU 2 at SYR 3, HOU 3 vs. LEM 2, HOU 2 vs. LEM 1 SO

Tuesday: The Aeros scored first but couldn’t hold back the Syracuse Crunch the entire game, losing the contest 3-2 in front of 3,066 fans at Toyota Center. The Aeros marked its first multi-power-play-goal game of the season while Syracuse converted on one of ten chances.

Houston’s D Erik Reitz led the team with two points (1-1=2) and the Aeros’ other goal came from RW Danny Irmen, his first of the season. The Crunch’s C Derick Brassard and C Kris Beech each tallied two assists to lead the team. D Kyle Wharton notched the game-winning-goal late in the final period for his first point of the season. The Aeros have been outscored 13-7 in the final period. Houston’s G Barry Brust stopped 29 of 32 shots on net in the loss. The Crunch’s G Tomas Popperle blocked 15 of 17 shots to earn his fourth victory of the season.

Friday: The Houston Aeros tallied two goals in the third period to defeat the Lake Erie Monsters 3-2 in front of 5,129 fans at Toyota Center Friday night. The game marked the second time that Houston has out-scored its opponent in the third period, the first was a 4-3 overtime-loss at Iowa.

With two points a piece, Aeros’ RW Joel Ward (1-1=2), RW Aaron Voros (1-1=2) and D Erik Reitz (0-2=2) led Houston's scoring. RW Petr Kalus netted the game-winner for the Aeros for his second goal of the season. Monster’s C Cody McCormick and LW Eric Healey netted Lake Erie's only goals of the evening. Houston’s G Barry Brust stopped 19 of 21 shots for his second win of the season as Monsters’ G Tyler Weiman lost his fourth game this season stopping 28 of 31 shots on net. The Aeros finished 0-4 on the power-play and Lake Erie went 1-5 on the man-advantage.

Sunday: The Houston Aeros defeated the Lake Erie Monsters 2-1 by netting two goals in the shootout in front of 3,335 fans at Toyota. This marks the Aeros’ second win in shootout games this season.

Houston’s RW Petr Kalus scored the only regulation goal for the Aeros as RW Cal Clutterbuck and RW Danny Irmen marked the assists. RW Aaron Voros netted the shootout-winning marker as the last man shooting. Lake Erie’s (2-8-0-0) lone goal was netted by RW David Jones. Aeros’ G Nolan Schaefer stopped 25 of 26 shots plus four of five in the shootout for the win. Monster’s G Tyler Weiman stopped 21 of 22 shots and three of five in the shootout for his second loss against Houston. Lake Erie finished 1 for 10 on the power-play and Houston went 0 for 6.

-- HOUSTON AEROS --