Ryan Stanzel
Director of Communications
Saturday, December 10, 2005
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)

Bulldogs 7, Aeros 1
Official Box Score


HAMILTON, Ont. – Marc-Antoine Pouliot, Francis Lemieux, Maxim Lapierre and Corey Locke each posted a goal and an assist, as the Hamilton Bulldogs erased a first-intermission deficit for a big 7-1 win over the Houston Aeros at Copps Coliseum in a rematch of the 2003 Calder Cup Finals, won by Houston in seven games. Yann Danis made 16 saves, and Duncan Milroy, Michael Lambert and James Sanford also scored for Hamilton, which has won two straight after notching just a single win in its previous 12 games. Peter Vandermeer, Andrei Kostitsyn and Danny Syvret each chipped in two assists as 13 different Bulldogs found the scoresheet.



Roman Voloshenko scored his team-leading 17th goal – 10th on the power play – and Josh Harding made 20 saves for Houston, which surrendered a season-high seven goals while having its three-game winning streak snapped.



The Aeros finish off their three-in-three road trip in Cleveland on Sunday at 4 p.m. before returning home for a five-game holiday homestand beginning December 16 and 17 versus Peoria.



Danis left an apparent open net for Houston’s Matt Foy on the power play with nine minutes remaining in the first, but Danis somehow ranged far back to his right to get the puck with his pad.



On the same power play, Voloshenko’s team-best 17th goal of the season gave Houston the lead. Patrick O’Sullivan feathered a pass from the left wing through defenders to Voloshenko just inside the right point. Voloshenko took two strides and roofed the puck short side by Danis for his 10th power play goal and fourth goal overall in the last three games.



Hamilton outshot Houston 13-6 and scored three times in the second to assume control.



Lapierre’s fourth of the season evened things up at 9:15 of the second, while also sending teddy bears onto the ice. Lapierre skated in over the blueline on the left wing side and put a quick shot blocker side by Harding.



Just 1:34 later, Pouliot put the Bulldogs on top 2-1. In transition, two Aeros defenders converged on Kostitsyn in the right circle, but the Bulldog was able to get a pass off to a streaking Pouliot in the left circle. The rookie ripped the puck under Harding for his seventh of the season.



Locke made it 3-1 Hamilton with his ninth of the year, on the power play, with 3:57 remaining in the second. Syvret’s shot from the left circle was deflected right to Lemieux at the right doorstep, and Locke easily found the open net.



Houston failed to score in the second period, snapping its streak of consecutive periods with at least one goal at 10.



Hamilton continued to dominate in the third period, scoring the stanza’s only four goals while outshooting Houston by a whopping 16-2 margin.



The Bulldogs extended to a three-goal lead with their third attempt at a rebound, 3:15 into the third. Lemieux put the puck home for his seventh of the season.



Hamilton scored three times in a span of 57 seconds to push the lead to 7-1 midway through the third.



Milroy scored with 11:04 left, a hard slapper from a bad angle along the left wing boards, to make it 5-1. Seamus Kotyk relieved Harding, but Lambert scored 43 seconds later with 10:21 remaining. Only 14 ticks after that, Sanford beat Kotyk for the final six-goal advantage.



Each team finished 1-for-5 on the power play.



Notes:

The Aeros scratched Colin Peters, Petr Taticek, Joey Tetarenko and Andrei Nazarov.

Houston’s Erik Westrum, the AHL’s leading scorer, assisted on Voloshenko’s goal to move to 38 points (12-26=38).

Houston lost for the first time when Voloshenko scored a goal (9-1-0-0) or got at least one point (13-1-0-0).

The Aeros fell to 14-2-0-1 when O’Sullivan notches a point.

Houston allowed four goals in the third, the first time the Aeros have yielded four goals in one period since October 7 versus San Antonio.

Every Aero was on the ice for at least one Hamilton goal but Peter Olvecky and Bill Kinkel. Westrum, Voloshenko, Kirby Law, Curtis Murphy and Clayton Stoner were each minus-three.

Lapierre was a team-best plus-four for Hamilton.

Kinkel picked up a third-period roughing minor to become the first Aero this season to go over the 100 penalty minute mark (101).

Kotyk finished with seven saves on nine shots.

Houston’s 17 shots marked a season-low.