Sat., March 17, 2012

The Houston Aeros (30-20-3-9, 72 pts.) continue a six-game homestand on Saturday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the Abbotsford Heat (33-25-3-3, 72 pts.) at Toyota Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen via Smartphone: Download the TuneIn Radio app; search Houston, then KNTH.

LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.

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OVERVIEW
The Houston Aeros (30-20-3-9, 72 pts.) continue a six-game homestand on Saturday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the Abbotsford Heat (33-25-3-3, 72 pts.) at Toyota Center.

 WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros hold the No. 5 spot in the eight-team Western Conference playoff race. A win tonight could move the club into the No. 4 spot. Abbotsford is tied in points with Houston, but the Aeros have a better winning percentage and two games in hand on the Heat.
 --- Eight teams in each conference qualify for the playoffs: the three division winners will be seeded first through third in order of points, and the next five teams in order of points will be seeded fourth through eighth.

THIS WEEK’S GAMES
Tuesday (March 13) --- vs. ABB (4-1 W)
Friday (March 16) --- vs. RFD (4-3 W)
Saturday (March 17) --- vs. ABB (7:35p.m. CST)
Sunday (March 18) --- vs. OKC (5:05 p.m. CST)

LAST GAME
Justin Fontaine had two goals and an assist for the first three-point game of his career to lead the Houston Aeros to a 4-3 over the Rockford IceHogs Friday at Toyota Center in front of a sellout crowd of 11,373.

AEROS BROADCASTS
Radio: 1070 KNTH-AM
Listen online: www.aeros.com
Watch online: www.ahllive.com
Listen on Smartphone including BlackBerry: Download the TuneIn Radio App; search Houston, then KNTH.

LIVE SCORING AND STATS
The AHL provides live scoring and stats via the GameCenter tab at www.theahl.com.

AEROS/HEAT HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the eighth of eight meetings this season…  HOU is 2-4-0-1 against the Heat (1-1-0-1 at home, 1-3-0-0 on the road) … HOU PP is 6/34… ABB PP is 6/27… All-time HOU is 6-5-1-3 (3-2-0-1 home, 3-3-0-2 road).

RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---March 12: F Josh Lunden released from PTO
---March 12: D Jamie Fritsch signed PTO
---March 5: F Josh Lunden signed PTO

AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 23 games… Mike McKenzie has missed the last 20 games… Darcy Kuemper has missed the last six games.

AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore’s 20th goal (on March 5) was his 69th as an Aero, placing him first in franchise history (AHL only, 4th AHL/IHL). His 41st game on Jan. 21 at TEX was his 200th as an Aero, placing him 10th all-time in Aeros (AHL) history.
---Jeff Taffe notched his 400th AHL point with an assist on Jon DiSalvatore's goal on Jan. 8 at SA. Taffe had two assists while skating in his 500th AHL game on Jan. 21 at TEX.
---Drew Bagnall played in his 300th AHL game at TEX on Jan. 21.

AEROS PLAYER NOTES
--- Justin Fontaine has points in his last six games (4-5=9) and has points in 11 of the last 12 games (5-12=17). Fontaine also has five multi-point games in the last 12 and ten multi-point games total this season. March 16 was the second straight game Fontaine has scored twice.
---Jeff Taffe has three goals in the last four games, points in three of the last four games (3-6=9) and six of the last eight games (5-8=13).
---Kris Fredheim has points in two straight games and three of the last four games (1-2=3).
---David McIntyre registered his sixth two-point game of the season on March 16.
---Jon DiSalvatore has points in four straight games (4-1=5); points in nine of the last ten games (10-5=15); and 12 of the last 14 (11-7=18).
---Chad Rau has an assist in two of the last four games and points in five of his last eight games (3-7=10).
---Chay Genoway has assists in four straight games.
---The Aeros have been involved in 90 transactions since Jan. 1 involving 33 different players. Overall the Aeros have been involved in 156 transactions since the start of the season.
---A total of 48 different players have seen game action for Houston this season.

TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 20 of the 36 games (11-16-3-6) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 19-4-0-3 when scoring first.
---The Aeros finished February with 5-6-0-0 record.
---The Aeros netted two power play goals in the same period for the first time since scoring twice in the middle period against San Antonio on Jan. 8
---Out of 30 wins this season, 27 have come when the Aeros allow three or fewer goals and 22 have come when scoring four or more.
---Houston has played 31 games that have been decided by one goal (12-7-3-9).
---The Aeros edged Grand Rapids 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- The attendance of 13,390 on Feb. 5 was the largest crowd for the Aeros since moving to Toyota Center in the 2002-03 season. It was the largest Aeros crowd since 13,342 on Jan. 16, 2004.  The crowd of 11,373 was the second largest crowd for the Aeros this season.

AEROS GOALIES
KUEMPER --- Is 1-1-2 at home (2.01 GAA/.934 SV%) and 5-5-2 on the road (2.47 GAA/ .920 SV%)… Led the ECHL in both GAA (1.74) and save percentage (.941) at the time of his recall on Nov. 29 and posted a 7-1-0 record with the Ontario Reign… Recorded his first pro shutout with 1-0 win on Dec. 9 vs. SAN (33 saves).

FALLON --- Signed PTO on March 3… Appeared in 47 games with Las Vegas of the ECHL this season, posting a 30-10-1-3 record along with a 2.39 GAA and .912 SV%...  Led the ECHL in wins (26) and minutes played (2739) and was tied for second in shutouts (3) when signed by HOU.

KEETLEY--- Signed PTO on March 5… Is 12-18-1-2 on the season with a 2.97 goals-against average (GAA) and a .910 SV% with Bakersfield (ECHL)… In his last nine decisions, posted a 6-2-0-1 record with a 2.30 GAA and a .926 SV%.

POWER PLAY
Is 4/11 in the last three games… Went 8/38 in games 51-60 (21.1 %)… Went 8/43 in games 41-50 (18.6%)… Went 7/38 (18.4%) in games 31-40…  Went 5/37 (13.5%) in games 21-30… Went 20/106 (18/9%) in games 1-20… Set a season-high going 3/5 in a 4-2 win at SAN on Oct. 28… Tied the 3/5 mark on March 10 vs. GR.

PENALTY KILL
Opponents are 1/10 on the PP in the last three games… Stopped 6/34 in games 51-60 (82.4%)… Stopped 30/39 (76.9 %) in games 41-50… Stopped 28/36 (77.7%) in games 31-40… Stopped 20/27 (74.0%) in games 21-30… Stopped 80/97 (82.4%) in games 1-20.

AEROS PRONUNCIATION GUIDE
4 – BAGH-nawl
7 – FRED-haym
8 – MED-vekh
14 – deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 – ROWH (like now)
22 – TAYF
26 – MACK-in-tyre
27 – mick-MILL-uhn
34 – KEET-lee
35 – KEM-per
39 – GEHN-oh-way
61 – KOOH-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT