Sat., March 31, 2012

The Houston Aeros (32-23-4-10, 78 pts.) continue a five-game homestand on Saturday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the Hamilton Bulldogs (31-31-2-5, 69 pts.) at Toyota Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
NOTE: EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF TONIGHT’S GAME IS ON 97.5 FM
Radio: ESPN Radio 97.5 FM
Listen online: USTREAM
Watch online: www.ahllive.com

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 (32-23-4-10, 78 pts.) continue a five-game homestand on Saturday (7:35 p.m. CST) against the Hamilton Bulldogs (31-31-2-5, 69 pts.) at Toyota Center.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros hold the No. 5 spot in the eight-team Western Conference playoff race. ---The Aeros are winless in five games (0-3-1-1). The longest winless streak this season is six games (0-3-1-2, Jan. 14-28).
---Hamilton entered the weekend 14th out 15 teams in the Western Conference.
---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
Wednesday (March 28) --- at MIL (3-2 OTL)
Thursday (March 29) --- vs.  LE (4-3 SOL)
Saturday (March 31) --- vs. HAM (7:35 p.m. CST)

LAST GAME
Jon DiSalvatore scored his 26th goal of the season and had an assist for the Houston Aeros in a 4-3 shootout loss to the Lake Erie Monsters Thursday at Toyota Center.

AEROS BROADCASTS
NOTE: EXCLUSIVE COVERAGE OF TONIGHT’S GAME IS ON 97.5 FM
Radio: ESPN Radio 97.5 FM
Listen online: USTREAM
Watch online: www.ahllive.com

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

AEROS/BULLDOGS HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the second of two meetings this season…  HOU is 1-0-0-0 against the Bulldogs this season (0-0-0-0 at home, 1-0-0-0 on the road) … HOU PP is 2/5… HAM PP is 2/4… All-time HOU is 9-4-0-0 (3-3-0-0 home, 5-2-0-0 road).

RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---March 30: F C.J.  Stretch released from PTO
---March 30: G Scott Greenham released from PTO
---March 28: F Chad Rau reassigned by MIN
---March 27: G Matt Hackett reassigned by MIN
---March 25: F Chad Rau recalled by MIN
---March 24: G Matt Hackett recalled by MIN

AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 30 games… Mike McKenzie has missed the last 27 games… Darcy Kuemper is out for the remainder of the season with an upper body injury… G Joe Fallon is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury.

AEROS MILESTONES
---Jon DiSalvatore’s 20th goal (on March 3 at SA) 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 eight of the last 13 games (4-8=12) and 13 of the last 19 games (5-15=20).
---Jeff Taffe leads the Aeros with 14 multi-point games, including a pair of four-point outings. He has goals in two of four games.
---Chad Rau has points in two of the last four games (1-1=2).
---Chay Genoway has points in two of the last four games (1-1=2).
---Jon DiSalvatore has assists in three of the last four games 11 multi-point games this season.
---The Minnesota Wild has made 49 recalls from Houston this season involving 20 different players.
---The Aeros have made 170 transactions since opening day, involving 52 different players, both new team records.
---A total of 50 different players have seen ice time with the Aeros this season.
 ---Roster players by season (01-02/36, 02-03/35, 03-04/41, 04-05/31, 05-06/35, 06-07/26, 07-08/32, 08-09/42, 09-10/38, 10-11/43).

TEAM NOTABLES
---The Aeros are 10-4-0-1 against North Division teams this season.
---Houston is 21-0-1-3 when leading after two periods.
---Houston has earned at least a point in 21 of the 38 games (11-17-3-7) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 21-6-1-3 when scoring first.
---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 32 wins this season, 29 have come when the Aeros allow three or fewer goals and 22 have come when scoring four or more.
---Houston has played 36 games that have been decided by one goal (14-8-4-10).
---The Aeros won four straight shootouts after losing nine of the first 10 this season until losing to LE on March 29. 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
BRODEUR --- Has a 40-37-6 record in 102 AHL games with four shutouts, a 2.85 GAA and a .907 SV%. He also has appeared in seven NHL games, all with the Ottawa Senators, posting a 3-1-0 record with one shutout and 2.17 GAA and .922 SV%. The 6-foot-2, 186-pound Calgary native was selected to the Canadian all-star team for the 2009 AHL All-Star Classic, and joins the Aeros from the Las Vegas Wranglers of the ECHL. Brodeur was a seventh-round selection (211th overall) of the Chicago Blackhawks in the 2003 NHL Entry Draft.

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… Stopped 29/30 in 5-1 W over GR on March 10 for his first Aeros win… Was selected as the Reebok/AHL Player of the Week for the period ending Mar. 18, 2012. Won all four starts, allowing just five goals on 125 shots (4-0-0, 1.20, .960) and stopping 11/13 in two shootouts.

HACKETT – Is 6-8-3 (2.58 GAA/.904 SV%) at home and 11-6-1 (2.31, .925) on the road… Won six-straight road starts from Oct. 28-Dec. 30…  Is 3-5-0 with a 2.30 goals against average (GAA) and a .927 save percentage (SV%) in 11 games with the Wild this season… Last Game: Stopped 25/28 in 4-3 OSOL vs. LE on March 29.

POWER PLAY
Is 2/17 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 4/14 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
13 – FOO-koh
14 – deh-SAL-vuh-tohr
20 – ROWH (like now)
22 – TAYF
26 – MACK-in-tyre
27 – mick-MILL-uhn
35 – KEHM-puhr
39 – GEHN-oh-way
44 – pawl-MAIR-ee
61 – KOO-muh
Torchetti --- TOHR-cheh-TEE
Van Ryn --- VAN-RIGHN
LaPlante --- luh-PLAHNT