DEC. 15, 2010: AEROS AT GRIFFINS
OVERVIEW
The Houston Aeros (16-11-1-2) visit the Grand Rapids Griffins (12-12-1-4) for the second time this season. The Aeros, who play the third game of five-in-a-row on the road tonight, rallied in the third period to hand the Hamilton Bulldogs a 3-1 defeat last night in Hamilton. The victory pushed the Aeros into sole possession of fourth place, one point ahead of Texas in the West Division standings. Houston is two points out of second place and six points behind Division leader San Antonio. The Griffins last played on Sunday, beating Texas 4-2 to end a two-game losing skid. Grand Rapids holds the No. 6 spot in the North Division.

UPCOMING GAMES

Dec. 15 at Grand Rapids	6:00 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM
Dec. 17 at Manitoba	7:30 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM
Dec. 18 at Manitoba	7:30 p.m. CST	News Talk 1070 KNTH/AHLLIVE.COM

CLICK HERE FOR FULL AEROS GAME NOTES

AEROS AT A GLANCE
RECORD: 16-11-1-2, 35 pts., 4th, West Division
HOME: 7-5-1-0
ROAD: 9-6-0-2
STREAK: WON 1   

NHL AFFILIATES
Houston Aeros (Minnesota Wild)
Grand Rapids Griffins(Detroit Red Wings)
 
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
WHAT HAPPENS AFTER --- The Aeros are 9-4-0-1 in games after a win this season…In games after  a loss they are 6-4-1-0…In the second game of back-to-back outings they are 8-6-0-1…In the third game of a 3-in-3 they are 3-2-0-0.

UPDATE THE RECORD BOOK --- Casey Wellman became just the third player in Aeros history to record four goals in a game and the first to bag a natural hat trick in the opening 20 minutes in Houston’s 5-3 win over San Antonio on Dec. 10. Wellman joins Dave Hymovitz (March 24, 200 at KC) and Roman Voloshenko (Oct. 21, 2005 vs. GR) in the select group…Chad Rau, who assisted on all three first period markers, tied a franchise-high watermark with the feat.

WESTWARD --- The Aeros are 13-9-1-0 against the West Division this season. A total of 13 of the team’s last 16 games have been against West rivals; Houston is 8-5-0-0 in those games.

WHEN IT’S CLOSE --- The Aeros are 7-3-1-2 in games decided by one goal.

HEATIN’ UP --- Robbie Earl has points in a team season-high seven straight games (5-5-10)…Casey Wellman has points in five of six games (4-4-8). He has points in seven of 10 (5-6-11) since being reassigned on Nov. 23.

FOUR-SCORE --- When scoring at least four goals the Aeros are undefeated (10-0-0-0).

STINGY D ON THE ROAD ---The Dec. 14 game at HAM game marked the seventh time Houston has held an opponent to one goal or less (6-0-1-0) and the fifth time on the road (5-0-0-0).
SCORE FIRST! --- The Aeros had scored the first goal in eight consecutive games (Nov. 26-Dec. 12, 5-3-0-0) until HAM drew first blood on Dec. 14. Houston leads the AHL in first goals (21) and is 15-4-0-2 when scoring first. The Aeros scored the first goal in seven straight games (Oct. 29-Nov. 8) and were 4-1-0-2 in that span.

SHOOTIN' --- The Aeros are 10-4-0-2 when being outshot and 6-6-1-0 when outshooting their opponents. The Nov. 14 win at PEO was the first time this season the Aeros out shot an opponent and won.

SCHEDULE NOTES --- Nine of the final 12 games of 2010 are on the road…A total of 18 of Houston’s final 27 games in the calendar year of 2010 are away from Toyota Center…The team plays five games in seven days from Dec. 12-18.

MOVIN' ON UP --- The Aeros have had 12 call-ups to Minnesota (Gillies, Wellman, Kassian-3x, Almond-2x, Scandella, Earl, Falk, Spurgeon, Peters).

RECENT ROSTER MOVES --- F Warren Peters was reassigned by MIN on Dec. 13…F Warren Peters was recalled by MIN on Dec. 11…Jamie Fraser was reassigned to Elmira (ECHL) on Dec. 10…F Joel Broda and F Peter Zingoni were reassigned to Bakersfield (ECHL) on Dec. 9.

LAST GAME QUICK RECAP
Robbie Earl extended his team-high scoring streak to seven games, Brandon Buck bagged his first goal of the season and Matt Hackett made 34 saves as the Houston Aeros upended the Hamilton Bulldogs 3-1 Tuesday night at Copps Coliseum.
Buck’s goal 17 seconds into the third was the game-winner.