Houston Aeros open up road portion of the season tonight in Iowa
October 12, 2007 - American Hockey League (AHL)
Houston Aeros News Release
HOUSTON, Texas - The Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League take on the Iowa Stars tonight at 7:07 p.m. in Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. This will be the teams' first meeting of the season and both are looking for their first win of the season after dropping their respective openers. Houston returns home tomorrow night to take on the Peoria Rivermen at 7:35 p.m. at Toyota Center and tickets are still available. The first 5,000 fans through the doors get a Houston Aeros magnet schedule so don't be late!
Five things you need to know about tonight's game in Iowa
- Last weeks loss to Chicago was only the 12th regulation loss to the Wolves at home in 45 meetings in Houston. The Aeros are now on a three-game losing skid to the Wolves. Houston has now lost five of their last six overall games played dating back to 4/10/07 of last season.
- Houston last defeated Iowa on 1/12/07 but enters tonight's game on a four game winless streak (0-3-0-1) dating back to 2/22/07. The Aeros lead the all-time series 10-9-0-1 and are 6-4-0-0 in Des Moines.
- Only twice in team history has Houston started the season without a point after two-games played. Last year earning only one point (game five of the season, a shootout loss at SAN) in first six games.
- Cal Clutterbuck notched a goal in his first professional game. Morten Madsen, the only other Aeros rookie to see time on the ice, tallied two PIM on opening night. Maxim Noreau and Matt Kassian, the other two rookies, did not dress.
- After Saturday's opener, Houston D Erik Reitz has played in 315 games with the Aeros since the team joined the AHL which ties him with former Aero Curtis Murphy for the all-time team lead in games played with the Aeros. Reitz is also the Aeros' all-time leader in PIM with 622 since the team joined the AHL. Only two Aeros have more PIM than Reitz - Trent Cull (724), and Steve Jaques (634).
Aeros at Stars (Aeros are 10-9-0-1 all-time, Aeros are 6-4-0-0 at Iowa)
- Tonight is the 21st all-time meeting between the teams - 11th for Houston on the road.
- Houston took three of the ten regular season meetings in 2006-07. They were 3-2 at the Wells Fargo Arena, and Houston went 0-4-0-1 in the five games at Toyota Center in Houston.
- The Stars defeated the Aeros in three straight games, the Aeros second through fourth games of last season, tieing the Aeros record for worst start to a season through four games.
- The past two seasons each team has won seven games, Houston going 7-3-0-0 in 2005-06 and 3-6-0-1 last season. All but one game between the two teams has been decided in regulation play.
- Houston last defeated the Stars on 1/12/07, 3-1 and hasn't lost in Iowa since 10/14/06. The Aeros have won the past three games while visiting the Stars, the last coming in the 1/12/07 victory.
- The winning team scored three or more goals in all ten games played last season.
Scouting the Aeros
The Aeros embark on their seventh American Hockey League season and 14th overall...D Erik Reitz leads the Aeros in scoring with two points (1-1=2) and rookie RW Cal Clutterbuck (one goal), LW Ryan Hamilton (one assist), RW Danny Irmen (one assist) and C Serge Payer (one assist) have contributed one point each...Four returning Aeros had 30+ point seasons last year, RW Danny Irmen (17-20=37), LW Benoit Pouliot (19-17=36), Reitz (9-25=34) and LW Roman Voloshenko who followed his 60 point rookie season with a 30 point (11-19=30) sophmore season...The Aeros have two new netminders this season, G Nolan Schaefer comes to Houston after splitting time with three AHL teams last year (WOR, HER, WBS), and G Barry Brust begins his first season with the team having splitting time with AHL Manchester and NHL Los Angeles last year...The Aeros also picked up two veterans, C Steve Kelly played his last three seasons over seas, but had a 70 point (21-49=70) year in his last AHL campaign with Manchester in 2003-04, and Payer who played 43 games with Binghamton last year and finished with 18 points (6-12=18)
Scouting the Stars
Iowa (0-1-0-0) and Houston play the second game of the season against each other, as the teams did last year as part of three straight games together...While the Aeros retained 12 players for this season, Iowa is returning 15...RW Junior Lessard, last year's leading Stars scorer with 52 points (27-25=52), scored the team's lone goal in the season opener...LW Chris Conner tallied nine points (6-3=9) in nine games against the Aeros last season including five PPG and three GWG...Conner also led last year's Iowa rookies, fifth on team, with 37 points (19-18=37)...Iowa's current goalies tallied a record of 2-2-0-0 versus the Aeros last season, Tobias Stephan (1-1-0-0) and Steve Silverthorn (0-1-0-0) with Iowa and Philippe Sauve (1-0-0-0) with San Antonio.
Quick Hits
- Houston enters tonight's game having scored 3,205 regular season goals in 1054 games in franchise history. The Aeros have accumulated a 532-369-108-27 mark in over 13 seasons.
- The Aeros went 2-0-0 in two pre-season games against San Antonio. - The Aeros and Stars finished with exactly the same special teams numbers after their first game. Both teams were 1-8 on the power play, 4-6 on the penalty kill and each team was penalized eight times for 19 minutes respectively.
From here to there
- The Aeros had six representatives on the Minnesota Wild's 20-man Opening Night roster, including RW Pierre-Marc Bouchard, C Mikko Koivu, LW Derek Boogaard and G Josh Harding.
- Other notable Aeros alumni in the NHL this season are Colorado C Brett McLean, Dallas G Mike Smith and Phoenix D Zbynek Michalek.
October struggles at home
- October is historically the Aeros' worst month at home. They are 26-26-7-1 for a .500 points percentage in October.
- Since moving to Toyota Center in 2003, Houston is 7-8-2-0 at home in October.
Draft Notes
- The Aeros feature 17 draft picks on their 24-man roster, including four first-rounders, three second-rounders and five third-rounders.
- Houston's first-round picks are LW Benoit Pouliot (No. 4 overall by Minnesota in 2005), C Adrian Foster (No. 28 overall by New Jersey in 2001), C Steve Kelly (No. 6 overall by Edmonton in 1995) and D Shawn Belle (No. 30 overall by Dallas in 2003).
Not short on experience
- The Aeros have nine players who have a combined 309 games of NHL experience.
- Those with NHL time range from C Steve Kelly with 147 games to LW Benoit Pouliot with three.
- Four of Houston's nine with NHL experience have played with the Wild - D Shawn Belle, D Erik Reitz, LW Benoit Pouliot and RW Joel Ward.
Power play update
- Houston finished 1-8 on the power play in their first game against Chicago.
- Iowa was also 1-8 on the power play in their first game against San Antonio.
Penalty kill update
- Houston killed four of six power play opportunities in their first game.
- Iowa also killed four of six power play opportunites in their first game.
• Discuss this story on the American Hockey League message board...
American Hockey League Stories from October 12, 2007
- Sound Tigers Shut Out Norfolk 2-0 - Bridgeport Islanders
- Americans end record night with 5-4 win over Bulldogs - Hamilton Bulldogs
- Rampage move into first with 2-1 win over Peoria - San Antonio Rampage
- Sound Tigers shut out Norfolk 2-0 - Norfolk Admirals
- Lambert Gets First Win As Admirals Coach - Milwaukee Admirals
- Stars Down Aeros In OT 4-3 - Houston Aeros
- Monarchs get first win in shootout - Manchester Monarchs
- Phantoms Take 3-0 Win Over Albany - Adirondack Phantoms
- Admirals Shut Out by Sound Tigers - Norfolk Admirals
- Houston Aeros open up road portion of the season tonight in Iowa - Houston Aeros
- Moose release two; Assign Coulombe & Rahimi to Victoria - Manitoba Moose
- Kings Assign Buckley To Germany - Manchester Monarchs
- Lake Erie Monsters and FSN Ohio complete deal to televise 20 games - Cleveland Monsters
- Wolf Pack Sign Defenseman Clayton Barthel - Connecticut Whale
- Bridgeport Wins Season Opener Against Hartford - Bridgeport Islanders
- Columbus Reassigns Starkov and Pohl to Elmira - Syracuse Crunch
- Canucks Recall Rypien from Moose - Manitoba Moose
- AHL Quick Hits - AHL
- Stars Make Roster Moves - Iowa Chops
- Falcons Host Pirates Tonight - Springfield Falcons
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
