From: Patrick Armstrong, Director of Communications
713.361.7920 (Direct Line)
Scott Henninger, Communications Manager
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)
Monday, March 17, 2008

HOUSTON AEROS WEEKLY UPDATE: MARCH 17

HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Aeros finished last week with a 1-1-0-0 record in two games against the Rockford IceHogs. Houston lost on Thursday to end a season long seven-game winning streak, but they rebounded on Saturday and skated to a 3-2 win over the IceHogs.

Saturday’s win kept the club in fifth-place in the tight West Division. The Aeros (35-23-2-3) have 75 points and are just four points below the Milwaukee Admirals. Houston has four games in-hand on Milwaukee and they lead the Peoria Rivermen by just one point. The Aeros will play their busiest home week of the season with four games in the next five days starting tonight against the Quad City Flames. Thursday’s game against the Chicago Wolves is the annual bikini contest, so don’t miss out on your chance to be a part of the action. Call 713.974.PUCK to learn more about special offers for Aeros games.

LAST WEEK
3/13 – HOU 0 vs. RFD 4 – L, 3/15– HOU 3 vs. RFD 2 – W

Thursday, March 13:
The Rockford IceHogs netted two goals in each of the first two periods and kept Houston from scoring as the Aeros lost 4-0 in front of 3,566 fans at Toyota Center on Thursday night. The loss was the sixth time Houston was shutout this season, marking the first loss in eight games for the Aeros.

Saturday, March 15:
Houston Aeros defenseman Brandon Rogers netted a career-high two goals in a game en route to a 3-2 victory over the Rockford IceHogs in front of 6,566 fans at Toyota Center Saturday night. The Aeros’ (35-23-2-3) victory over the IceHogs (36-22-4-6) evened the season-series at three games apiece. Aeros’ goaltender Barry Brust stopped 25 of 27 shots in his 17th win of the season, tying injured Nolan Schaefer’s total for the team-high. Along with Rogers, C Marco Rosa and RW Joel Ward each recorded two points on two assists each. Rockford net-minder Wade Flaherty was chased from the net after allowing two goals on four shots in the first 4:09 of game time. Backup Mike Brodeur got the loss after stopping 19 of 20 shots.

THIS WEEK
MON. vs. QCY, 7:05 p.m. CST
WED. vs. QCY, 7:05 p.m. CST THR. vs. CHI, 7:05 p.m. CST
FRI. vs. CHI, 7:35 p.m. CST SUN. at SAN, 5:00 p.m. CST

Monday, March 17 and Wednesday, March 19
The Aeros take on the Quad City Flames in a pair of games at the Toyota Center. In five games this season, the teams have needed a shootout three times to determine a winner. Houston is 2-1 in the shootouts and 3-1-0-1 overall against the Flames this season. The teams will play twice this week in Houston and again on April 9 in Moline, Illinois to close out the season series. Paul Albers, Erik Reitz, Ryan Hamilton, Peter Olvecky and Serge Payer all are tied for the team lead with three points each against the Flames. Carsen Germyn leads all Flames scorers against the Aeros with 27 points (10-17=27) in 29 games.

Thursday, March 20 and Friday, March 21
The Aeros take on the Chicago Wolves for two straight at the Toyota Center on Thursday and Friday to close out the series in Houston. They will play one more game in Chicago on March 29. Chicago has won the first three games by a combined score of 14-3. They defeated Houston 4-2 on opening night and won a pair of games in Chicago, 4-0 and 6-1. The Aeros have played the Wolves more than any other team in their history (93 games) and they have accumulated a 41-34-14-4 record all-time. Thursday’s game against the Wolves is the Aeros annual bikini contest. Call (713) 974-PUCK to order your tickets today.

Sunday, March 23
The Aeros will face off against the San Antonio Rampage at the AT&T Center on Sunday in their final game of the season series.  In nine games this season, the Aeros are 5-4-0-0 against San Antonio.  The first of 10 games this season was the only game that needed extra time to decide a winner and only one other game has been decided by one goal.  The Aeros are 43-17-6-3 all-time against the Rampage.

Aeros Player of the Week: D Brandon Rogers

Day Opponent G A PTS Notes
Thu. vs. Rockford 0 0 0
Sat. vs. Rochester 2 0 2 career high in goals, tied career high in points.
Totals 2 0 2

Aeros defenseman Brandon Rogers finished the week with two goals in two games. Both goals came in the Aeros 3-2 win over the Rockford IceHogs on Saturday including the game-winning goal. The two goals marked a career high for Rogers. He had just one goal prior to Saturday’s contest and now has three this season to go along with 17 assists.  He is tied for fourth on the team with those 17 assists.

TEAM NOTES
• Seven of the last nine games have been against non-divisional opponents. Houston is 17-5-1-1 against teams outside of their division and 18-18-1-2 against teams within their division this season. Only two games left on the schedule are against non-divisional opponents.
• The Aeros had a season-high seven straight wins which ended at the hands of the IceHogs on Thursday. A record of 8-2 in the last ten games has returned the Aeros to the logjam in the West Division. Houston is currently in fifth place in the West but is only four points behind fourth place Milwaukee and one point ahead of Peoria. Houston has played four fewer games than both Milwaukee and Peoria. Only eight points separates second from sixth place in the West Division.
• G Barry Brust was named the RBK/AHL Player of the Week (3/3-3/9) for his 3-0-0 performance in which he beat Providence 3-2 saving 32 shots, Hartford saving all 23 shots for his third shutout of the season and he saved 28 shots in a 3-2 win over Rochester. In total, Brust stopped 81 of 85 shots in his award-winning week for a .953 save percentage and 1.28 goals-against average. The Aeros netminder has won eight of the last nine games allowing 13 goals and has won 11 of his last 13 decisions. He is 17-11-3 on the season and ranks among the AHL’s leaders with a 2.27 GAA (seventh) and a .923 save pct. (fifth).
• The Aeros second ranked penalty kill unit had not allowed a power play goal in nine straight games prior to Thursday going 43-43 in that time and they had killed 46 straight penalties. The Aeros allowed three PPGs in their two-game set against Rockford last week. Overall, the Aeros have killed 289 of 334 penalties this season for a .865 percentage (2nd overall in AHL).
• Seven of the Aeros last eight wins have been decided by one goal. Three have been decided in overtime and one in shootout. The Aeros are 12-5 this season when games are decided after regulation time, they are 6-2 in overtime and 6-3 in shootouts.
• The game on Saturday against the IceHogs marked the first time this season that three goals were scored by defenseman. Houston has two-goal games from defenseman three times this season. Houston has won every game.
• Brandon Rogers became the second defenseman this season to have a two-goal game in the Aeros 3-2 win over Rockford on Saturday. It also marked a career-high in goals in a game and tied a career-high for points. Erik Reitz marked two goals on December 12, 2007 against Hartford in a 6-1 win.

Affiliation News
The Minnesota Wild (38-26-8, 84pts) is in a three-way tie for first place in the Northwest Division with Calgary and Colorado. Vancouver is just two points below. The Wild had lost three straight games in shootouts before defeating the Los Angeles Kings 2-0 on Sunday br>
Marian Gaborik leads the team with 71 points and 36 goals and Pierre-Marc Bouchard leads the club with 47 assists. Minnesota hosts the Colorado Avalanche tonight in a pivotal division match-up at 6:00 p.m.<

The ECHL’s Texas Wildcatters (49-6-3-7) have already clinched a playoff birth and the division. The 108 points for the team leads the league by ten points and tops the South Division by 25. John McNabb leads the team with 72 points (27-45=72) and has recorded 85 PIM in 64 games. The Wildcatters head to Mississippi for three straight against the Sea Wolves and they have just seven games left on the regular season schedule.

---HOUSTON AEROS---