Fri. March 16, 2012

The Houston Aeros (29-20-3-9, 70 pts.) continue a six-game homestand on Friday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the Rockford IceHogs (28-27-2-5, 63 pts.) at Toyota Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen via Smartphone: Download the TuneIn Radio app; search Houston, then KNTH.

LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.

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OVERVIEW
The Houston Aeros (29-20-3-9, 70 pts.) continue a six-game homestand on Friday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the Rockford IceHogs (28-27-2-5, 63 pts.) at Toyota Center.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros hold the No. 7 spot in the eight-team Western Conference playoff race. A win tonight could move the club into the No. 5 spot. Rockford sits seven points out of the final spot in the West.
 --- Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs: the three division winners will be seeded first through third in order of points, and the next five teams in order of points will be seeded fourth through eighth.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Tuesday (March 13) --- vs. ABB (4-1 W)
Friday (March 16) --- vs. RFD (7:35 p.m. CST)
Saturday (March 17) --- vs. ABB (7:35p.m. CST)
Sunday (March 18) --- vs. OKC (5:05 p.m. CST)

LAST GAME
Jeff Taffe had a goal and three assists and Justin Fontaine scored two goals to lead the Houston Aeros to a 4-1 win over the Abbotsford Heat Tuesday at Toyota Center. Jon DiSalvatore added a goal, and Chay Genoway had two assists for the Aeros. Joe Fallon made 26 saves for Houston.

AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen on Smartphone including BlackBerry: Download the TuneIn Radio App; search Houston, then KNTH.

LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.

AEROS/ICEHOGS HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the seventh of eight meetings this season…  HOU is 0-1-0-0 against the Hogs this season (0-1-0-0 at home, 0-0-0-0 on the road) … HOU PP is 0/3… RFD PP is 0/1… All-time HOU is 13-12-3-1 (6-6-2-1 home, 7-5-2-0 road).

RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---March 12: F Josh Lunden released from PTO
---March 12: D Jamie Fritsch signed PTO
---March 5: F Josh Lunden signed PTO
---March 5: G Matt Keeltey signed PTO
---March 4: F Chad Rau reassigned by MIN

AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 22 games… Mike McKenzie has missed the last 19 games… Darcy Kuemper has missed the last five games.

AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore’s 20th goal (on March 5) was his 69th as an Aero, placing him first in franchise history (AHL only, 4th AHL/IHL). His 41st game on Jan. 21 at TEX was his 200th as an Aero, placing him 10th all-time in Aeros (AHL) history.
---Jeff Taffe notched his 400th AHL point with an assist on Jon DiSalvatore's goal on Jan. 8 at SA. Taffe had two assists while skating in his 500th AHL game on Jan. 21 at TEX.
---Drew Bagnall played in his 300th AHL game at TEX on Jan. 21.

AEROS PLAYER NOTES
---Jeff Taffe has eight points in his last three games (2-6=8), with two multi-point games in his last three outings and a team-high 13 multi-point games this season. Taffe has two four-point games in his last three games for the first time since December 6, 2008, through December 27, 2008, when he had three four-point games in a five-game span.
---Kris Fredheim has assists in two of the last three games.
---Chay Genoway has points in three straight games (0-4=4) and four of the last five games (1-4=5). Genoway registred his fourth two-point game of the season on March 13 vs. ABB.
---Jon DiSalvatore has goals in three straight games, points in nine of the last 10 games (10-4=14) and 12 of the last 14 games (11-6=17).
---Drew Bagnall notched his first assist since Feb. 11 at Grand Rapids in Tuesday’s 4-1 win over ABB
---Justin Fontaine has 13 goals this season and has 13 points in his last 11 games (2-11=13) with points in five straight games (2-4=6).
---The Aeros have been involved in 90 transactions since Jan. 1 involving 33 different players. Overall the Aeros have been involved in 156 transactions since the start of the season.
---A total of 48 different players have seen game action for Houston this season.

TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 20 of the 36 games (11-16-3-6) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 18-4-0-3 when scoring first.
---The Aeros finished February with 5-6-0-0 record.
---The Aeros netted two power play goals in the same period for the first time since scoring twice in the middle period against San Antonio on Jan. 8
---Out of 29 wins this season, 26 have come when the Aeros allow three or fewer goals and 21 have come when scoring four or more.
---Houston has played 30 games that have been decided by one goal (11-7-3-9).
---The Aeros edged Grand Rapids 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- The attendance of 13,390 on Feb. 5 was the largest crowd for the Aeros since moving to Toyota Center in the 2002-03 season. It was the largest Aeros crowd since 13,342 on Jan. 16, 2004.

AEROS GOALIES
KUEMPER --- Is 1-1-2 at home (2.01 GAA/.934 SV%) and 5-5-2 on the road (2.47 GAA/ .920 SV%)… Led the ECHL in both GAA (1.74) and save percentage (.941) at the time of his recall on Nov. 29 and posted a 7-1-0 record with the Ontario Reign… Recorded his first pro shutout with 1-0 win on Dec. 9 vs. SAN (33 saves).

FALLON --- Signed PTO on March 3… Appeared in 47 games with Las Vegas of the ECHL this season, posting a 30-10-1-3 record along with a 2.39 GAA and .912 SV%...  Led the ECHL in wins (26) and minutes played (2739) and was tied for second in shutouts (3) when signed by HOU.

KEETLEY--- Signed PTO on March 5… Is 12-18-1-2 on the season with a 2.97 goals-against average (GAA) and a .910 SV% with Bakersfield (ECHL)… In his last nine decisions, posted a 6-2-0-1 record with a 2.30 GAA and a .926 SV%.

POWER PLAY
Is 6/13 in the last three games… Went 8/38 in games 51-60 (21.1 %)… Went 8/43 in games 41-50 (18.6%)… Went 7/38 (18.4%) in games 31-40…  Went 5/37 (13.5%) in games 21-30… Went 20/106 (18/9%) in games 1-20… Set a season-high going 3/5 in a 4-2 win at SAN on Oct. 28… Tied the 3/5 mark on March 10 vs. GR.

PENALTY KILL
Opponents are 0/9 on the PP in the last three games… Stopped 6/34 in games 51-60 (82.4%)… Stopped 30/39 (76.9 %) in games 41-50… Stopped 28/36 (77.7%) in games 31-40… Stopped 20/27 (74.0%) in games 21-30… Stopped 80/97 (82.4%) in games 1-20.

AEROS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
4 – BAGH-nawl
7 – FRED-haym
8 – MED-vekh
14 – deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 – ROWH (like now)
22 – TAYF
26 – MACK-in-tyre
27 – mick-MILL-uhn
34 – KEET-lee
35 – KEM-per
39 – GEHN-oh-way
61 – KOOH-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT