Sun., April 15, 2012

The Houston Aeros (34-25-5-11, 84 pts.) close out the regular season on Sunday (5:05 p.m. CST) against the Texas Stars (31-39-3-2, 67 pts.) at Toyota Center.

GAME DAY TRAFFIC ADVISORY

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 (34-25-5-11, 84 pts.) close out the regular season on Sunday (5:05 p.m. CST) against the Texas Stars (31-39-3-2, 67 pts.) at Toyota Center.

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
---The Aeros are battling for a spot in the AHL Calder Cup playoffs. Entering Sunday, Houston is on the outside looking in and sits in the No. 10 spot.

Too Close to Call ---The Aeros need to win Sunday’s game in order to have a chance at qualifying for the playoffs. In addition, the Aeros will be hoping for the following…
A) a Milwaukee win in regulation (or)
C) a Charlotte win in regulation (or)
D) an Oklahoma City win in regulation.

---Houston clinches a playoff berth on Sunday with:
(a) a win by 9 or more goals vs. Texas, OR
(b) a win by 8 goals or fewer vs. Texas AND either a San Antonio regulation loss vs. Oklahoma City or a regulation decision in the Charlotte-Milwaukee game

---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
Friday --- at OKC (2-1 L)
Saturday --- vs. SA (5-2 W)
Sunday --- vs. TEX (5:05 p.m. CST)

LAST GAME
Jeff Taffe and Kris Foucault each had a goal and an assist to lead the Houston Aeros in a 5-3 win over the San Antonio Rampage Saturday night at the Toyota Center in front of a sellout crowd of 9,006.

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.

AEROS/STARS HEAD-TO-HEAD
This is the 12th of 12 meetings this season…  HOU is 6-2-2-1 against the Stars (2-1-2-0 at home, 4-1-0-1 on the road)… All-time HOU is 19-12-1-1 (10-5-2-0, 9-7-1-1 road)… HOU PP is 7/39… TEX PP is 9/42.

RECENT AEROS TRANSACTIONS
---April 11: G Joe Fallon released from PTO
---April 11: D Benn Olson recalled from Ontario (ECHL)
---April 10: D Steven Kampfer reassigned by MIN
---April 8: D Chay Genoway and D Kris Fredheim reassigned by MIN
---April 7: D Chay Genoway and D Kris Fredheim recalled by MIN

AEROS INJURIES
Jeff Penner has missed the last 36 games… Darcy Kuemper is out for the remainder of the season with an upper body injury… Sean Lorenz is day-to-day with an undisclosed injury… Jarod Palmer 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. He is the Aeros AHL goal-scoring leader. He tied a career-high with his 28th goal on April 13 at OKC.
---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. He set a career-high for points with an assist on April 7.

AEROS PLAYER NOTES
---Justin Fontaine has points in five of his last seven games (1-5=6). His totals place him in the top-5 in Aeros rookie seasons scoring.
---Jon DiSalvatore has points in three of the last four games (2-2=4). He was named an AHL Second Team All-Star.
---Chay Genoway was named the team’s winner of the IOA/American Specialty AHL Man of the Year award for his outstanding contributions to the Houston community during the 2011-12 season. Genoway has assists in four of the last five games and points in five of the last seven games (1-5=6)
---Nick Palmieri has assists in two of the last three games and points in five of the last seven games (3-3=6).
---Drew Bagnall has assists in three of the last five games and four of the last seven games. His season assist and points totals are new career-highs.
---The Minnesota Wild made 54 recalls from Houston this season involving 22 different players.
---The Aeros have made 186 transactions since opening day, involving 56 different players, both new team records.
---A total of 52 different players have seen ice time with the Aeros this season.
 
TEAM NOTABLES
---Houston has earned at least a point in 22 of the 40 games (11-18-3-8) in which they have allowed the first goal. They are 23-7-2-3 when scoring first.
---Houston has played 39 games that have been decided by one goal (14-9-5-11).
---The Aeros had won four straight shootouts after losing nine of the first 10 this season. The winning streak ended on March 29 vs. LE. The Aeros edged GR 3-2 on Jan. 11 for their first shootout victory of the season.
--- Houston's 46 shots on April 7 were the most since 45 shots against Texas on February 25, 2011.
---Houston did not have a power play for the first time this season on April 7. It was the first time in franchise history that Houston did not have a power play at home and first time since March 13, 2010, at Chicago that Houston did not have a power play.

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.

HACKETT – Is 8-10-5 (2.58 GAA/.907 SV%) at home and 11-7-1 (2.29,/.925 SV%) 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… Hackett moved into a tie for third place on April 8 for the most games played by a goalie in Houston's AHL history, tying Barry Brust with 86 games played... Hackett is second on the all-time saves list in Houston's AHL history with 2,147 saves, trailing Josh Harding's 3,270 saves... Hackett is also third in wins with 41, fifth in minutes and second in total shots… Last Game: Stopped 31/32 in a 2-1 SOL vs. MIL on April 8.

POWER PLAY
Is 4/13 in the last three games… Went 6/44 (13.6%) in games 61-70… 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… Went 3/4 vs. SA on April 14.

PENALTY KILL
Opponents are 0/11 on the PP in the last three games… Stopped 31/39 in games 61-70 (79.5%)… 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)
21 – JOB-kee
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