From: Ryan Stanzel
Director of Communications
Monday, November 15, 2004
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)

Aeros Weekly Release

Coming attractions:

THU, at CLE, 6 p.m.
Kicking off a five-game road trip, the Aeros will try to avenge a pair of three-goal losses at home in October. Houston is 3-3-0-0 in Cleveland, but the Aeros dropped a pair of games there last season. Houston is 7-7-0-0 all-time versus the Barons, but the Aeros have lost four straight and six of seven in the series since a 6-1-0-0 start. Cleveland has won two straight overall but is just 1-3-1-0 at home.

FRI, at ROC, 6:35 p.m.
The Aeros haven’t lost to the Americans in any of their six meetings (3-0-3-0), although the last three meetings have all ended in ties. Last season, the teams skated to a 2-2 tie in Rochester and a 4-4 deadlock in Houston. The Amerks have won six straight after a 1-4-2-1 start to move into third place in a contentious North Division.

SAT, at SYR, 6:30 p.m.
Houston dominated the Crunch 3-0 at Toyota Center November 7 in the teams’ first meeting of the season. After losing a four-goal lead and falling 5-4 in Syracuse last November 28, the Aeros have outscored the Crunch 7-1 in winning the last two meetings. Syracuse enters this week on a seven-game winless streak (0-4-1-2), longest in the AHL.

Don’t forget!
The Aeros return home to kick off an eight-game homestand November 26 and 28 versus Utah. Both games are part of the Aeros’ “Home for the Holidays” package, a five-game pack of November and December game tickets. November 26, the Aeros will give away $2,500 cash! Envelopes will be handed to the first 3,000 fans, and prizes range from $1 to $100 in cash and gift certificates. November 28 is another Aeros Family Day.

Aeros knotted for first heading into next long road trip
GR 1, HOU 0; HOU 5, MIL 2; EDM 6, HOU 4
The Aeros went 1-2-0-0 when playing three games in three nights this past weekend, a performance that moved them into a first-place tie with Milwaukee. The Admirals, however, have five games in hand on Houston.
Friday: Joey MacDonald made 13 of his 23 saves in the third period for his third career shutout versus Houston, and he and the Grand Rapids Griffins outdueled rookie Josh Harding and the Aeros 1-0 at Van Andel Arena. Darryl Bootland scored the lone goal 7:23 into the game for Grand Rapids, which snapped a four-game winless streak (0-3-1-0).
Harding stopped 18 shots, just missing his second straight shutout of the Griffins. Harding and the Aeros bested MacDonald 1-0 last Saturday in Grand Rapids. The Aeros rookie lowered his goals against average to 1.80.

Saturday: Mikko Koivu and Brent Burns scored 26 seconds apart on Houston’s first two shots of the game and Marius Holtet added a goal and an assist, as the Aeros handed the defending Calder Cup champion Milwaukee Admirals their first regulation loss in 18 games with a 5-2 victory at Bradley Center.
Marc Cavosie and Mark Cullen also scored and Mike Smith made 20 saves for Houston, which moved into a first-place tie with Milwaukee with 18 points. The Aeros, who hadn’t held a share of first since the final day of the 2002-03 season, snapped a nine-game winless streak (0-7-1-1) against the Admirals in a matchup of the last two Calder Cup champions.

Sunday: Dan Baum snapped a tie midway through the third period and Raffi Torres scored twice late in the second period and added an assist, as the Edmonton Road Runners defeated the Houston Aeros 6-4 at Toyota Center. Dan Smith, Joe Cullen and Rick Mrozik also scored and Jeff Drouin-Deslauriers made 35 saves for Edmonton, which has just one road loss in regulation this season (5-1-2-0). The Road Runners won despite being outshot 39-21.
Mark Cullen, Pierre-Marc Bouchard and Junior Lessard scored 3:58 apart midway through the first period for Houston.

West Standings - The Aeros have a share of first place for the first time since the final day of the 2002-03 regular season. Milwaukee also has 18 points but has five games in hand on the Aeros.
West Division Standings, 11/15
Milwaukee 8-1-1-1=18
Houston 8-6-1-1=18
Grand Rapids 7-3-1-0=15
San Antonio 6-6-2-0=14
Cincinnati 5-7-0-0=10
Chicago 4-5-1-1=10
Utah 1-8-0-1=3

This week on aeros.com – This week’s aeros.com Q&A session will feature Rickard Wallin. Please send questions to qanda@aeros.com by 12 p.m. Tuesday and include name and hometown. Not all questions can be used. Also, be sure to bookmark www.aeros.com and www.aeros.com/gameday for in-depth information of each and every Aeros home game. Aeros.com is the official home of all 80 Houston Aeros broadcasts.

Community Update – Four Aeros visited the Houston VA Hospital for Veterans Day last week.

Dan Cavanaugh, Marius Holtet, Ray Giroux and Erik Reitz pose with a veteran at the Houston VA Hospital

Chilly and Aeros director of communications Ryan Stanzel will be live from Moody Gardens in Galveston on the Fox morning show Friday at 8:15 a.m. promoting the Aeros visits to the Moody Gardens Festival of Lights in December.

Ray Giroux, Todd Reidren, Patrick Traverse and John Erskine will serve food at the Open Door Mission on Tuesday, Nov. 30. That same day, four Aeros will attend MD Anderson Hospital.

Early woes - The Aeros yielded two first-period goals Sunday and have allowed an AHL-high 20 goals in the first period, one more than Springfield. Houston has, however, scored 18 goals in the first, second in the league.

Aeros tied for first with four SHG - Mark Cullen’s unassisted, shorthanded empty-net goal Saturday versus Milwaukee was Houston’s fourth shortie of the season. The Aeros are tied with Hamilton and Manchester for the AHL lead in that category.

Aeros perfect when scoring first - Houston, Hartford, Philadelphia and Worcester are the only AHL teams to win every game in which they have scored first. The Aeros are 6-0-0-0 when scoring first, and Sunday’s loss was their first of the season when holding a lead.

Houston has played 10 one-goal games - The Aeros are 5-3-1-1 in one-goal games, and only Edmonton (11) has played more one-goal games than Houston’s 10. Hartford has six one-goal wins, the only team with more wins in that category than Houston.

Erskine second among D-men in PIM’s - Aeros defenseman John Erskine had 73 penalty minutes, trailing only Springfield’s Mike Egner in PIM’s among blueliners.

Harding continues to climb the charts - Aeros rookie goaltender Josh Harding has a 3-5-1 record but has lowered his gaa to 1.80, eighth-best in the AHL. Only one rookie has a better gaa, as Hamilton’s Yann Denis is 6-1-1 with a 1.71 gaa.

Down on the farm - The CHL’s Austin Ice Bats are 5-5-0, good for the top spot in the Southeast Division...F Dallas Anderson has 88 PIM’s in five games and is currently suspended by the CHL...The ECHL’s Pensacola Ice Pilots have won three straight and are off to their best start in franchise history at 6-1-0, a point behind Gwinnett in the South Division with three games in hand...LW Jordan Krestanovich has 12 points (7-5=12), tied for eighth in the ECHL...RW Jason Beckett has four assists and is a plus-eight, tied for second in the league...LW Bill Kinkel has two goals and 47 PIM’s in five games...D Ryan Stokes is a plus-three with 19 PIM’s...ECHL Louisiana is 4-1-1 and in fourth place in the South Division...LW David Bararuk (2-3=5) and D Maxime Fortunus (1-4=5) are tied for third on the IceGators with five points apiece...RW Mark Rooneem has an assist and 10 PIM’s...G Kyle Kettles is 2-1-0 with a 3.00 gaa and a .903 save pct...UHL Quad City is 7-4-1, trailing Rockford by six points in the West...G Robert Gherson is 2-1-1 with a 1.45 gaa in five games, and he leads all UHL netminders in gaa...C Mike Kompon has a team-best 14 points (1-13=14)...Kompon is tied for first among all UHL players in assists, and he’s in second in points among rookies.

Support me - When rookie Josh Harding starts, the Aeros are scoring 1.75 goals per game. When Mike Smith is in net, the Aeros score more than double that at 3.63 goals per game.

Player of the week C Mikko Koivu -

Returned from a 12-game absence due to an appendectomy to record two points (1-1=2) in three games last week...Scored second goal as an Aero Saturday at MIL in 5-2 win...Tacked on an assist Sunday in 6-4 loss to EDM...Has three points (2-1=3) in four games with Houston in his first season in North America...The No. 6 overall pick in the 2001 NHL Entry Draft, Koivu is ranked the Minnesota Wild’s No. 1 prospect by The Hockey News.

Koivu this week...
11/12 at GR 0-0=0, -1
11/13 at MIL 1-0=1, +1
11/14 vs. EDM 0-1=1, -1
Totals: 3gp, 1-1=2, -1

Aeros’ Practice schedule:
Monday - Off
Tuesday - 10-11:30, Sugar Land
Wednesday - Travel Day
Thursday - at Cleveland 6 p.m.
Friday - at Rochester, 6:30 p.m.
Saturday - at Syracuse, 6:30 p.m.
Sunday - Off, in Cleveland


---HOUSTON AEROS, BE A FAN---