Ryan Stanzel
Director of Communications
Tuesday, December 27, 2005
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)

AEROS WEEKLY REPORT

Coming Attractions:

WED, vs. IOW, 7:05 p.m.
Buy tickets
Have extra family in town for the holidays? Treat them to an Aeros game! For Wednesday’s game, get a center ice seat for $20 (normally $28) or a corner seat for $15 (normally $20). Offer only good by calling the Aeros office at 713.974.PUCK or by ordering online. Username is Holiday, password is Specials.
Only one AHL team has a current winning streak longer than the Aeros’ five games. Iowa won its sixth straight Monday, 3-2 over Peoria. The Stars are 16-12-1-1 for 34 points, tied for third in the West Division. The Aeros and Stars have played just one of their 10 scheduled meetings, with Houston beating former Aeros goalie Mike Smith on November 3. Kurtis Foster and Erik Westrum each had a goal and an assist for Houston. In addition to Smith, the Stars feature 2004-05 Aeros Marius Holtet, Junior Lessard and Patrick Traverse, plus 1999 Turner Cup champion David Oliver.

SAT, at SAN, 7 p.m.
San Antonio entered Monday’s game against the Aeros having won five of seven to inch closer to moving out of last place in the West, but a 7-1 Houston win put a damper on the good feelings. The Aeros are 4-1-0-0 this season versus the Rampage. At San Antonio, Houston is 5-1-1-0 in the last seven meetings, with the Aeros’ lone loss coming 3-2 on October 8. Since starting off 2-2-1-0 at SBC Center, the Aeros have points in 13 of the last 15 meetings (8-2-3-2). Five of the last eight SBC meetings have been decided by one goal. Houston has points in all but six of its 41 meetings with San Antonio (28-6-5-2).

All Aeros games are broadcast live on KNTH 1070-AM and through aeros.com. For $6, you can also watch the game live via B2 Networks. Visit aeros.com 10 minutes prior to gametime to order.

All-Star voting underway – Aeros fans, no fewer than six Aeros are among the league leaders in several offensive and defensive categories. Do you think they deserve an appearance in the 2006 RBK Hockey AHL All-Star Classic in Winnipeg. Click here to vote your favorite Aero into the Game, and for a chance to win a team-autographed 2006 AHL All-Star Jersey.

Notables –

Aeros RW and captain Kirby Law is set to join some prestigious company Wednesday when he plays in his 500th American Hockey League game. Law will become just the 11th player currently in the AHL with 500 games played in the league. The active leader in AHL games played is Dennis Bonvie (717). Former Aero Steve Bancroft, now in Omaha, is also on the list with 502. Law’s teammate, Scott Ferguson, has played 492 games in the AHL. Law has 372 points (178-194) and 929 penalty minutes in 499 career AHL games.

LW Roman Voloshenko is currently in British Columbia with Team Russia for the 2006 World Junior Championships. Voloshenko scored a goal in Russia’s first game Monday, a 5-1 victory over Sweden.

The Aeros have won six straight at Toyota Center since a 3-0 loss to Milwaukee on November 30. The six-game home winning streak is tied for the second-longest in team history, and the Aeros have outscored their opponents by a whopping 35-13 margin in that span. The longest home winning streak in franchise history is eight games, set from November 6-December 11, 1998, during the team’s Calder Cup season.

Houston’s five-game overall winning streak has tied a season-high. The last six-game run was from December 5-17, 2003.

Houston is 14-2-1-1 at Toyota Center this season, and 20-2-1-3 in the last 26 regular-season games there and 28-4-1-3 in the last 36. The Aeros’ .833 home winning percentage in 2005-06 trails only Manchester (.846) for the league lead. Houston is on pace for 31 home wins, which is one behind the team record set in 1998-99.

The Aeros (23-8-1-1) have won 23 of their first 33 games for the first time in team history.

C Erik Westrum (13-33=46) and RW Kirby Law (20-24=44) continue to rank first and second in the AHL in scoring. LW Roman Voloshenko (19-11=30) and C Patrick O’Sullivan (15-15=30) are tied for 13th and give the Aeros four of the league’s top 20 point getters. Law also paces all players with 20 goals.

C Erik Westrum has 14 points (1-11=14) in a nine-game point streak. It’s the longest point streak by an Aero since Rastislav Pavlikovsky from February 1-March 11, 2003, and it is tied for the sixth-longest run in the AHL this season.

RW Kirby Law has 11 points (6-5=11) in a five-game point streak, a new season-high. Law has 10 goals in his last nine games.

D Curtis Murphy has six assists in a five-game point streak, tying a season-high, and he has nine assists overall in his last nine games. His five-game assist streak ties Erik Westrum’s team season-high. Murphy has 127 points with Houston, tied with Mike Yeo and David Oliver for seventh place on the team’s all-time list. Murphy ranks third among all AHL defensemen in points this season (3-23=26), and his 23 assists put him tied for sixth among all players.

LW Josh Olson has 11 points (4-7=11) in his last 12 games. His five-game point streak (2-4=6) is a career-high.

RW Matt Foy has eight points (2-6=8) in a four-game point streak.

D Dustin Wood snapped an 84-game goal-less streak Monday. It marked his first goal since December 18, 2004, against Milwaukee.

LW Roman Voloshenko (19-11=30) and C Patrick O’Sullivan (15-15=30) are tied for second in the AHL in rookie scoring, trailing only Hershey’s Eric Fehr (14-19=33).

G Josh Harding has won four straight starts overall and six in a row at home. He leads the league in wins (18), is third in save percentage (.924) and is 11th in gaa (2.52).

The Aeros are 15-1-0-0 when scoring more than one power play goal. They have at least two man advantage goals in each of the last four games, going 9-for-28 (32.1 percent) in that span. Houston has moved into a tie for third in the AHL with a 21.0 power play percentage. The Aeros have scored 51 power play goals in 33 games, well ahead of the pace for the team record of 94, set in 1998-99.

Houston has scored in 14 straight regulation periods, including seven periods with two or more goals. The Aeros have scored four goals in a period in two of their last three games.

Aeros continue wild ride through West
HOU 4, OMA 3 (OT); HOU 7, SAN 1

Houston’s five-game winning streak has its West Division lead up to 48 points over Milwaukee, which has two games in hand on the Aeros, who are 23-8-1-1.

Friday: Kirby Law scored on a power play with 20.9 seconds left in overtime after Matt Foy’s second goal tied the game with 7:10 remaining in regulation, as the Houston Aeros rallied from a two-goal deficit for a 4-3 victory over the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights at Toyota Center. Erik Reitz also scored and Josh Harding made 38 stops, including a third-period penalty shot, for the Aeros.

Monday: Law scored two goals to take over the AHL goal lead with 20, Erik Westrum added three assists to pad his advantage in the AHL points race, and former Phoenix prospect Dustin Wood snapped an 84-game goal-less streak, as the Houston Aeros rolled to a 7-1 victory over the San Antonio Rampage at Toyota Center. Former Rampage forward Petr Taticek added a goal and two assists, Patrick O’Sullivan and Joel Ward also scored and Bryan Lundbohm and Curtis Murphy each supplied two assists for Houston, which got 27 saves from Harding.

Aeros’ Practice schedule:
Tuesday – 1-2 p.m., Sugar Land
Wednesday – 10-11, pre-game skate, vs. IOW, 7:05 p.m.
Thursday – 1-2 p.m., Sugar Land
Friday – 10-11:30, Sugar Land
Saturday – at SAN, 7 p.m.
Sunday – Off
Aeros non game-day practices are at Sugar Land Ice & Sports Center, the Official Training Facility of the Houston Aeros.


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