From: Patrick Armstrong, Director of Communications
713.361.7920 (Direct Line)
Scott Henninger, Communications Manager
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)
November 16, 2007

AEROS DEFEAT RIVERMEN 3-1

HOUSTON, Texas – Barry Brust stopped 43 of 44 shots as the Houston Aeros won their second straight game 3-1 Friday night against the Peoria Rivermen at Carver Arena. Defenseman Paul Albers scored his first professional goal and had a three-point (1-2=3) night for the Aeros. Martin Kariya scored the lone goal for the Rivermen and the season series is now tied at one game each. The Aeros will head to Chicago tomorrow night to take on the Wolves at 7:00 PM at Allstate Arena.

Official Boxscore

Only 2:59 into the game, Rivermen right wing Ryan Reaves charged Aeros’ defenseman Clayton Stoner who was injured and had to be taken off the ice in a stretcher. Aeros’ C Serge Payer, in his first game back from injury, squared off with Reaves following the play. Reaves received a game misconduct and a five-minute major for charging and Payer was sent to the box for a two-minute instigating penalty. After the teams skated four-on-four, the Aeros’ received a three-minute power play. At the 5:59 mark, D Paul Albers scored his first professional goal, a power play goal, when he jammed in a rebound off a shot by D Brandon Rogers. C Morten Madsen also assisted on the play.

On just their second shot of the game, the Aeros took a 2-0 lead when C Adrian Foster took a centering pass from RW Joel Ward and beat Rivermen goaltender Marek Schwarz. It marked Foster’s third goal of the season. Albers also assisted on the play marking the first multi-point game of his career.

The teams skated to the end of the period with the Aeros holding a 2-0 lead on just five shots on goal. Peoria finished the period with 11 shots but Aeros’ G Barry Brust stopped all 11 and took the lead to the locker room.

Houston received two power plays in the first 10 minutes of the second period, but was unable to convert. Foster went to the penalty box at the 10:53 mark of the period, but Houston killed the penalty. RW Martin Kariya cut the lead in half just after the penalty when he carried the puck in on the right wing side and lifted a backhand past Brust. Mike Glumac and Alexander Hellstrom assisted on the play. The teams each had eight shots in the second period, and the Aeros held on to the 2-1 lead.

Again, the Aeros were forced to kill penalties in the third period. Houston killed a five-on-three for 53 seconds after D Shawn Belle and D John Scott went to the penalty box. C Troy Riddle scored his first goal of the season to give Houston a 3-1 lead with under 10 minutes remaining in the games. He was assisted by Albers and LW Peter Olvecky. The Rivermen continued the pressure, but couldn’t beat Brust. Peoria had 20 shots in the third period, but none found the back of the net.

The Aeros will head to Chicago and the Allstate Arena Saturday night to take on their West Division rival. Game time is set for 7:00 PM. Tune into Jason Shaver’s internet only broadcast courtesy of B2 Network by logging on to www.aeros.com.

Notes: - The Aeros scored just five goals on 81 power play opportunities (.062) in their first 12 games. In their last two games the Aeros are four for their last 14 tries (.286).
- Defenseman Paul Albers scored his first professional goal and had his first multi-point game of his career (1-2=3).
- Goaltender Barry Brust is 4-1-0 in his last five starts stopping 162 of 170 shots for a save percentage of .953 and goals-against average of 1.60 in those five games.
- Houston had allowed at least one power play goal in every game this season until tonight. The Aeros were 7-7 on the penalty kill tonight.
- The penalty kill unit allowed eight goals in the first five games on 29 chances for a .724 kill percentage. In the last nine games, Houston has allowed eight power play goals for a .887 kill percentage.

-- HOUSTON AEROS --