From: Patrick Armstrong, Director of Communications
713.361.7920 (Direct Line)
Scott Henninger, Communications Manager
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)
February 12, 2008

AEROS RATTLE RIVERMEN 7-1, GAIN GROUND IN WEST DIVISION

HOUSTON, Texas – The Houston Aeros scored a season high seven goals in a 7-1 thumping over the Peoria Rivermen Tuesday night at Carver Arena. With the win the Aeros (27-19-2-3) move within five points of both Peoria (28-19-4-4) and San Antonio who are tied for the third spot.

Box Score

Less than two minutes into the game, Aeros’ goaltender Nolan Schaefer was injured and replaced by Barry Brust. The Rivermen opened the scoring five seconds into their first power-play when Nikolay Lemtyugov buried a shot past Brust at the 8:59 mark. He took a feed from Micki DuPont and lifted it over the glove of Brust with the face-off winner Trent Whitfield earning the second assist. The teams were even in shots in the first period however Peoria controlled the pace throughout.

Right off the opening faceoff of the second period, the Aeros pressured Peoria and scored their first of four goals in the period just 16 seconds in. Right wing Cal Clutterbuck scored his eighth goal of the season when he tipped an Erik Reitz pass from the slot into the back of the net. Center Marco Rosa wristed a loose puck past goaltender Hannu Toivonen to give the Aeros a 2-1 lead at the 1:06 mark on assists from Adrian Foster and Maxim Noreau.

The Aeros third goal of the period came on a nice move by Peter Olvecky. He took a pass from Foster and skated in one-on-one, faked to his forehand and went to his backhand around the defenseman before he slid it under the padding of Toivonen. The three goals came in the first 3:16 of the period and were the fastest three goals of the season. The Aeros scored their final goal of the period at the 17:18 mark when Joel Ward banged in a rebound off a shot by Reitz as he was rushing the net.

Foster marked his fourth point of the night, setting a personal-best, when he netted the Aeros’ fifth goal of the game at 1:02 in the final session with an assist going to Brandon Rogers. As Houston was shorthanded Steve Kelly won a faceoff and Olvecky quickly put the puck in the back of the net for the team’s fifth short-handed marker at 8:35 in the third. Despite being up 6-1 Houston wasn’t finished scoring as Danny Irmen netted the game’s final marker with Ward and Benoit Pouliot earning the assists. The goal marked seven unanswered tallies for the Aeros after Peoria scored the game’s first goal for a 7-1 final.

The Aeros return home Friday to face Iowa and don’t forget, the Aeros have a Sweetheart of a Deal going on throughout the Valentines time of year. Click here to learn more about the Sweetheart of a Deal presented by McDonald’s. Call (713) 974-PUCK for more information.

Notes:
- The Aeros first three goals set a season record for fastest three goals. The goals by Clutterbuck, Rosa and Olvecky came in a span of 3:00 beating the record of 3:59 set earlier this season against Worcester.
- Houston has played four of their five games in the state of Illinois. They have won all four games, two against Rockford and one over the Quad City Flames and Peoria Rivermen. The only game they lost was in Toronto against the Marlies. The sixth and final game of the road trip is against the division-leading Chicago Wolves who also reside in Illinois.
- The seven goals were the most in a game this season for Houston. The all-time record of eight goals has been reached seven times before, the last on March 12, 2005.
- Goaltender Barry Brust has stopped 70 of 72 in two games in Peoria this season for a save percentage of .972.

-- HOUSTON AEROS --