Fri., April 13, 2012

The Houston Aeros (33-24-5-11, 82 pts.) begin the final three-game set of the regular season on Friday (7:00 p.m. CST) against the OKC Barons (43-21-4-5, 95 pts.) at Cox Convention Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
NOTE: EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF TONIGHT’S GAME IS ON 97.5 FM
Radio: ESPN Radio 97.5 FM
Listen online: USTREAM
Watch online: www.ahllive.com

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 (33-24-5-11, 82 pts.) begin the final three-game set of the regular season on Friday (7:00 p.m. CST) against the OKC Barons (43-21-4-5, 95 pts.) at Cox Convention Center.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros are battling for a spot in the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. Entering Friday, Houston is tied with four other teams (Milwaukee, Lake Erie, Peoria and Rochester) with 82 points while Charlotte is on the cusp with 81 points.
---The Aeros need five points to qualify for the playoffs. They will likely need to win two of three games, if not all three, this weekend. The first tiebreaker is regulation/overtime wins if teams are deadlocked in points, and Houston would currently lose that tiebreaker to all the teams they are tied with except for Rochester (28 each, RCH owns tiebreaker due to goal differential, 9-7).
---OKC is tied for the No. 1 spot in the Western Conference with Toronto.
---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
Friday --- at OKC (7 p.m. CST)
Saturday --- vs. SA (7:35 p.m. CST)
Sunday --- vs. TEX (5:05 p.m. CST)

LAST GAME
Brett Bulmer scored and Matt Hackett made 31 saves for the Houston Aeros in a 2-1 shootout loss to the Milwaukee Admirals Sunday night at Toyota Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
NOTE: EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF TONIGHT’S GAME IS ON 97.5 FM
Radio: ESPN Radio 97.5 FM
Listen online: USTREAM
Watch online: www.ahllive.com

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

AEROS/BARONS HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the eighth of eight meetings this season…  HOU is 1-3-0-3 against the Barons this season (1-1-0-2 at home, 0-2-0-1 on the road) … HOU PP is 3/36… OKC PP is 10/26… All-time HOU is 10-4-0-3 (5-2-0-2 home, 5-2-0-1 road).

RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---April 11: G Joe Fallon released from PTO
---April 11: D Benn Olson recalled from Ontario (ECHL)
---April 10: D Steven Kampfer reassigned by MIN
---April 8: D Chay Genoway and D Kris Fredheim reassigned by MIN
---April 7: D Chay Genoway and D Kris Fredheim recalled by MIN

AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 34 games… Darcy Kuemper is out for the remainder of the season with an upper body injury… Sean Lorenz is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury…Jarod Palmer is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore’s 20th goal (on March 3 at SA) 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. He is the Aeros AHL goal-scoring leader.
---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. He set a career-high for points with an assist on April 7.

AEROS PLAYER NOTES
---Brett Bulmer has points in two of the last three games (1-1=2).
---Nick Palmieri has points in four of the last five games (3-2=5).
---Jon DiSalvatore's 27 goals are one shy of tying his career-high of 28 goals set last season. DiSalvatore has two multi-point games in his last four and 13 multi-point games this season.
---Chay Genoway was named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Houston community during the 2011-12 season.
---The Minnesota Wild made 54 recalls from Houston this season involving 22 different players.
---The Aeros have made 186 transactions since opening day, involving 56 different players, both new team records.
---A total of 50 different players have seen ice time with the Aeros this season.
 
TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 22 of the 39 games (11-17-3-8) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 22-7-2-3 when scoring first.
---Houston has played 38 games that have been decided by one goal (14-8-5-11).
---The Aeros had won four straight shootouts after losing nine of the first 10 this season. The winning streak ended on March 29 vs. LE. The Aeros edged GR 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- Houston's 46 shots on April 7 were the most since 45 shots against Texas on February 25, 2011.
---Houston did not have a power play for the first time this season on April 7. It was the first time in franchise history that Houston did not have a power play at home and first time since March 13, 2010, at Chicago that Houston did not have a power play.

AEROS GOALIES
BRODEUR --- Has a 40-37-6 record in 102 AHL games with four shutouts, a 2.85 GAA and a .907 SV%. He also has appeared in seven NHL games, all with the Ottawa Senators, posting a 3-1-0 record with one shutout and 2.17 GAA and .922 SV%. The 6-foot-2, 186-pound Calgary native was selected to the Canadian all-star team for the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic, and joins the Aeros from the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. Brodeur was a seventh-round selection (211th overall) of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

HACKETT – Is 7-10-5 (2.57 GAA/.908 SV%) at home and 11-6-1 (2.31, .925) on the road… Won six-straight road starts from Oct. 28-Dec. 30…  Is 3-5-0 with a 2.30 goals against average (GAA) and a .927 save percentage (SV%) in 11 games with the Wild this season… Hackett moved into a tie for third place on April 8 for the most games played by a goalie in Houston's AHL history, tying Barry Brust with 86 games played... Hackett is second on the all-time saves list in Houston's AHL history with 2,147 saves, trailing Josh Harding's 3,270 saves... Hackett is also third in wins with 41, fifth in minutes and second in total shots… Last Game: Stopped 31/32 in a 2-1 SOL vs. MIL on April 8.

POWER PLAY
Is 0/4 in the last three games… Went 6/44 (13.6%) in games 61-70… 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 1/7 on the PP in the last three games… Stopped 31/39 in games 61-70 (79.5%)… 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
13 – FOO-koh
14 – deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 – ROWH (like now)
21 – JOB-kee
22 – TAYF
26 – MACK-in-tyre
27 – mick-MILL-uhn
35 – KEHM-puhr
39 – GEHN-oh-way
44 – pawl-MAIR-ee
61 – KOO-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT