AEROS DEFEAT SAN ANTONIO 5-1 AT TOYOTA CENTER

HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Aeros gave up the first goal of the game, but netted five unanswered goals for a 5-1 win over the San Antonio Rampage (11-6-1-3) in front of 3,785 fans at Toyota Center, Tuesday night.  Houston (7-8-1-0) allowed the first goal which had been a bad sign for the club, going 1-5-1-0 prior to Tuesday's game.

C Steve Kelly (0-2=2) and RW Joel Ward (1-1=2) led the Aeros with two points each. Five separate Aeros scored during the contest including C Marco Rosa and LW Peter Olvecky with unassisted markers. D Travis Roche tallied the lone Rampage goal of the night with LW David Spina and RW Bill Thomas marking the assists. Houston’s G Nolan Schaefer (3-4-0) stopped 19 of 20 shots on net in the win and Rampage goalie David LeNeveu (2-2-2) blocked 21 of 25 Aeros’ shots plus one empty net marker. The Aeros killed off all seven power-play opportunities against, the second time this season not allowing a man-advantage marker. The Aeros capitalized on one of eight chances.

Box Score

Houston controlled the puck for the first few minutes of the game but San Antonio’s Roche placed a hard slap shot just over the glove hand of Schaefer at 5:17 in the first period for the early lead. The Aeros tied things back up as LW Ryan Hamilton chipped in a pass from Kelly after he snuck through traffic and to the side of the net. C Morten Madsen also earned an assist on the power-play marker. The Aeros out-shot the rampage 12-7 in the opening period.

After failing to convert on a 91 second 5 on 3 power-play, the Aeros followed up with an even-strength marker as Kalus chipped the puck over the stick hand of the Rampage net minder. Ward centered the puck blindly from the corner and C Adrian Foster also earned the assist. In the final minute of the period, Rosa just set-skate on the ice as the play was heading into the Aeros defensive zone. After a blocked shot bounced right to Rosa, he took it straight to the offensive zone, and beat LeNeveu over the stick-side with a hard wrist shot at 19:59 in the second period. The Aeros took the 3-1 lead into the second intermission as both teams had seven shots in the period.

After mostly even play, including a pair of penalties each, Houston ended the third-period silence as Olvecky took a rebound coast-to-coast in a 3 on 1 breakaway and fired the puck over the glove hand and in the net for an Aeros 4-1 lead. After the Rampage pulled their goalie Ward took control of the puck and finished the scoring for the night to take the 5-1 win.

Game Notes
• Hamilton recorded his fifth goal in 12 games vs. Rampage having scored a total of eight points (5-3=8) against San Antonio
• The Aeros improved to 4-0-0-0 at home when RW Petr Kalus records a goal
• Ten Aeros have recorded multi-point games this season with tonight’s addition of C Steve Kelly. This was RW Joel Ward’s second such game.

Houston will host the Milwaukee Admirals Friday and Sunday during this Thanksgiving week home-stand. The Aeros are having a Thanksgiving special for two more games in which center ice club seats are just $20 and corner seats are just $15. Sunday, November 25th is also a Family Day at Toyota Center in which fans can purchase four seats, four Aeros pucks, $20 in Toyota Bucks and a parking pass, all for one low price (starting at $67). Call (713) 974-PUCK for tickets.