From: Patrick Armstrong, Director of Communications
713.361.7920 (Direct Line)
Scott Henninger, Communications Manager
713.361.7930 (Direct Line)
April 2, 2008

AEROS MARK TEAM RECORD 10th SHUTOUT MOVE INTO THREE-WAY TIE FOR THIRD PLACE

CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Houston Aeros and Barry Brust shutout the Lake Erie Monsters for the second straight time with a 2-0 win Wednesday night at the Quicken Loans Arena. The shutout marked Brust’s fourth of the year and the 10th this season for Houston breaking the team record for shutouts in a season. Ryan Hamilton and Joel Ward provided the offense for Houston as they improved their record to 41-26-2-4 and into a three-way tie for third place in the West Division with seven games left on the schedule.

Box Score

Houston, San Antonio and Milwaukee are all tied for third place in the Division with 88 points each. The Aeros play Milwaukee four more times in their final six games, including the final two games of the season at Toyota Center. Buy tickets.

Hamilton tipped a one-timer off the stick of Jon Awe slapshot on a five-on-three power play to give the Aeros all the offense they would need. The goal came at the 6:04 mark of the first period and Serge Payer earned the second assist. Hamilton continues to lead the Aeros with 18 goals, 10 of those goals have come in his last 14 games.

Houston outshot the Monsters 15-11 after the first two periods, but Brust was tested more in the third period than the first two combined. He stopped a handful of quality scoring chances including one with six minutes remaining in the game when he stopped a two-on-one blocking a backdoor shot with his left leg pad. He made 14 saves in total in the third period.

At the 16:13 mark of the third, Joel Ward stole the puck in the Monsters’ zone and buried his shot past Monsters goaltender Tyler Weiman short side to give the Aeros a 2-0 lead. It marked Ward’s 17th goal of the season and fifth unassisted giving the Aeros the insurance that they needed.

Eric Healey was whistled for the only penalty in the third period with just 30 seconds remaining to end the Monsters chances. Houston swept the season series going 4-0 while the Monsters earned just one point against the Aeros in the series with a shootout loss on November 4th.

Notes:
- The Aeros earned two points in the victory and now have recorded points in eight straight road games, just one game shy of the team record set in the 1996-97 season when they recorded points in nine straight road games.
- The win also marked the first win in the last 11 victories that the Aeros have won by more than one goal. The previous 10 wins were all by just one goal and the last victory that was by more than one goal was a 4-0 win over the Rochester Americans nearly five weeks ago on February 24.
- Houston’s shutout streak against Lake Erie sits at 158:30 and counting. The Aeros have not allowed a goal in seven plus periods including an overtime against the Monsters.
- The Aeros improved to 31-3-1-2 when scoring the first goal.
- Houston is now 13-3-1-0 against North Division opponents. They have one more game against the North, this Friday against the Grand Rapids Griffins.

-- HOUSTON AEROS --