Wolves split weekend games

The Chicago Wolves split their games this weekend, with a road win Saturday at the Carver Center in Peoria and a road loss at the Toyota Center in Houston.

In the win over the Peoria Rivermen, Spencer Machacek had a three point night, including a power play goal, with eight shots on goal. Chicago stopped a Riverman 5:3 advantage for a minute in the second frame and led in shots on goal in each period of play to win the game 4-1. The win went to Robert Gherson with 20 saves, Manny Legace received the loss with 31 saves.

On Sunday afternoon, in Houston, Machacek had a two goal night and Mike Hamilton had five shots on goal. But Houston dominated the first tow periods of play, racking a 3-1 goal advantage. Going into the final period of play, the Wolves scored once on 16 shots on goal. But the Aeros, with just five shots on goal, scored again, to stay ahead.

Corey Locke of the Aeros was credited with a goal and an assist in the game. Kurtis Foster was credited with two points. Ondrej Pavelec received the loss with 29 saves. Barry Brust received the win with 30 saves.

It was a split decision weekend for the Rockford IceHogs also. They played both games at home.

In a Saturday night game at the MetroCentre, the Rochester Americans gave the Hogs a 4-3 win. The Amerks and the IceHogs are both near the bottom of the league with regard to their net special teams goals, from the table I'm presenting at the Chitowndailynews site (Blogger doesn't like tables):



Rockford gave the Amerks two 5:3 opportunities in this game, and the Amerks were unable to score on either. The Amerks dominated in shots on goal until the third period of play, but it was the Hogs who found the back of the net. Mike Brodeur started in net for the Americans, he was drilled out of the net at 1:38 in the second period on the third unanswered goal by the IceHogs. His nine saves were marked for the loss. Tyler Plante took over from there for the Rochester team, with 17 saves. The win went to Corey Crawford with 33 saves.

It seems odd to me that a team floundering in the offense would blame their loss on a goalie, as the Amerks implicitly did on Saturday when they replaced Brodeur. Clearly there is more going wrong, from shots on goal (defense) to a terrible offense. That's all clear in the table above. A goalie isn't going to stand a chance if no one is standing out front with him, throwing their body in front of shots.

Danny Groulx was credited with two points on the night. Pascal Pelletier had six shots on goal, but no points and Jack Skille had five shots on goal but no points.

In the Monday matinée game, the San Antonio Rampage took the IceHogs 4-3 in a hard fought battle. Two fights between bruisers Sean McMorrow and Francis Lessard marked the game. San Antonio took a 3-0 lead in the first frame with two goals by Kyle Turris and a goal by Dylan Reese.

The Hogs came back with a goal by Groulx. But it was answered by Kevin Porter in the early third frame. Rockford pressured the Rampage, putting 13 shots on net in the final 20 minutes, and scoring two goals in the process. But the Rampage were able to hold the Hogs scoreless for the final eleven minutes to win. Crawford was credited with 20 saves in the loss. Josh Tordjman, the game winner, was credited with 27 saves.

Skille racked up seven shots on goal, but came away pointless again. Tim Brent had a three point night with two goals and an assist. Petri Kontiola had two points. Turris had three points for the night, adding an assist to his first period blowout. Porter and Reese had two point nights with a goal and an assist each. David Spina also had a two points for the night.

There were a few other notes from around the league this weekend. Houston went 4/4 on the power play in a game against the Iowa Chops Saturday at the Wells Fargo Arena in Des Moines. Matt Beaudoin had a hat trick in the game, with four shots on goal.

But even more spectacular was the weekend of Tim Kennedy. He was named the player of the week for his performance. On Saturday, in a wild game between the Providence Bruins and the Portland Pirates, the Baby Bruins accumulated a 4-2 lead at the end of the second period in a game at the Portland County Civic Center of Portland, Maine. The Pirates tied it up with three goals in the period, the last goal with just 1:10 to go. At that point Kennedy, on the Pirates side, had a point in each of the third period goals, a total of four points in the game based on seven shots on goal. AND, on the Baby Bruin side Mikko Lehtonen also had a four point night that included a hat trick with six shots on goal.

Portland was able to go 3/7 on the power play, that and Kennedy brought them back into the game. During the over time, Brad Marchand was called for boarding. The notes for the game say it was a two minute penalty, but most of these penalties are actually a minute in O/T. Portland was unable to use the resulting 4:3 to gain a goal. For Portland 39 shots on goal, for Providence, 35 shots on goal and a tied game after OT of 5-5.

So, the shootout; Portland shoots first and after the first set of skaters, no goals yet. Kennedy gets up and fails to score. But Lehtonen, after his hat trick, does score. After another score by Mark Mancari for the Pirates and Wacey Rabbit for the Bruins, it is a P-Bruins win.

On Sunday, the Pirates traveled to the Paul E Tsongas Arena to battle the Lowell Devils. It turns into another high scoring battle between the two teams. Portland enters the third frame with a 4-3 lead. Lowell has remained in the game on the strength of two power play goals. Although the Pirates had a series of power plays for the first ten minutes or so of the second period, they only came away with a single power play goal.

Lowell tied the game with a power play goal at 12:47 of the third period. Kennedy comes back with the Pirates to get a hat trick and put Portland back into the lead 1:06 later. But Lowell doesn't give up. They pull the goalie and Portland scores again on the empty net with a minute left. Now the lead is 6-4, Portland. Lowell still doesn't give up, scoring twice in the final minute of play to tie the game.

In total Lowell went 4/6 on the power play. Including the OT period, Jeff Frazee stopped 35 shots on goal for the Devils, John DeCaro stopped 44 for the Pirates. OT is scoreless but is dominated by the Pirates. Once again Kennedy isn't able to add to his stats a shootout goal, but the Pirates did win.

In total, among these two games, Kennedy had seven points and 15 shots on goal. In the second game with Lowell, not including Kennedy, there were five players credited with a three point night. Woah Baby!

Aeros double up on Wolves 6-3

The Houston Aeros doubled up on the Wolves, 6-3, at the Allstate Arena tonight. Backed by former Wolves Jesse Schultz and Kurtis Foster, the Aeros pounded the Wolves and took advantage of their brilliant penalty kill to dominate the game.

Wolves Wing Jeff Hamilton put eight shots on goal and was credited with a goal and an assist in the game. Brett Skinner was credited with two assists. But side to side movement of the puck totally defeated the Wolves defense. Ondrej Pavelec's speed in the side to side saves is not enough, as the Aeros took advantage of whatever is effecting the Atlanta prospect, to put it past him. He had just 20 saves on the night.

The winning goalie, Nolan Schaefer stopped several short handed breakaways and two 5:3 power plays by the Wolves, handily winning the game with 23 saves.

Foster, on a rehabilitation assignment to the Aeros after a well-publicized crash into the boards in March 2008, played a conservative game on the ice Sunday. It was his first appearance of the year. He was key to one of the Houston goals, but was not among those credited with an assist. His presence on the ice was felt, Wolves players gave him a lot of space and he controlled the puck effectively.

The game was officiated by four on-ice officials, an unusual situation in the American Hockey League.

In Milwaukee, Cal O'Reilly of the Milwaukee Admirals scored a hat trick, one of his goals interrupted by a goal by the other team. The MAds won the game 5-4 behind the four point O'Reilly effort and a two goal effort by Hugh Jessiman.

Krahn shutout 3-0

The Chicago Wolves played the best game of the season Saturday as they out fought and out played the Houston Aeros in a knuckle biter 3-0 shutout at the Allstate Arena Saturday night.

Mike Hoffman and Matt Kassian started the fireworks early with a bare knuckle fight less than 90 seconds into the game. On their next shift together the two heavy weights began jawing at each other and were sent back to the sin bin to cool themselves off for another two minutes.

After Krys Kolanos was added to the sin bin at 15:10, the Wolves, with the first power play of the game, passed the puck to Riley Hozapfel at the point. He fired a rocket past goalie Nolan Schaefer seconds into the power play, giving the Wolves a 1-0 lead.

Hoffman and Kassian celebrated the goal by having yet another fight and spending five more minutes in the sin bin. Although there were two Aeros power plays for most of the last five minutes of the period, it was the Wolves who dominated the first period. The Wolves put 11 shots on goal for just six for the Aeros.

In the second period Joey Crabb used a power play to do the same thing to Schaefer. At the point, a pass and a rocket into the net. He even used the same two players to set the shot up: Jamie Rivers and Grant Lewis. A two goal Wolves lead going into the final frame. This time the Wolves shots were eight compared to just seven for the Aeros.

The final period of play. With 5:57 left to play, Kevin Constantine pulls Aeros goalie Schaefer, giving the man advantage to the Aeros on the attack. The shots on goal begin to pile up and the pressure on the Wolves is made worse when Brett Sterling is called for a hooking penalty.

With 6:4, Brent Krahn became a wall. It really reminded me of a playoff game from two years ago, the grace and pressure that he was under as he stopped everything. Yes there were pucks that the Wolves cleared towards the empty Aeros net, but it was relentless pressure. Arturs Kulda, with 1:07 remaining in the period and the power play ended, cleared the puck and raced in with the puck to put the puck in the net.

An empty net goal, it brought Schaefer back on the ice. The Aeros had admitted they lost.

This was the first shutout for Krahn since the 2007 season. In the third period he stopped 17 shots on goal. In fact, during that period, only two shots were credited to the Wolves, and of course one of those scored. The Aeros dominated the third period. Krahn was a wall.

Krahn's win was 30 shots stopped. Schaefer stopped 18 shots for the loss. Three points were awarded to Grant Lewis for assists. Two points were awarded to Rivers for his assists. This was a game in which the defense and the offense played well and they were backed by a solid goalie. It was a great turnaround from the disappointment in Milwaukee on Friday night.

For the Aeros, mention must be made of Krys Kolanos, who put five shots on the goal. And, of course Hoffman and Kassian were each awarded 12 penalty minutes for their pugilism.

Wolves chalk up another loss; 4-1 to Aeros. Now 8 L in 9 Games

The Chicago Wolves made it eight losses in nine games as the Houston Aeros took the Wolves down 4-1 at the Allstate Arena Sunday evening. Aeros goalie Nolan Schaefer kept the Aeros in the game with 24 saves while the Aeros offense took the Wolves apart on the other side of the rink. Although Dan Turple stopped 22 shots on goal, it wasn't enough as the firepower of the Aeros overwhelmed the Chicago defense.

Chicago's power play continued to sputter this evening, with only one power play goal following a 5:3 advantage late in the first period. As the power play continued, 5:4, two Aeros defenders lost their sticks as the Wolves puttered in the neutral zone. When the attack finally came, it fizzled out.

Spencer Machacek for the Wolves, Corey Locke and Matt Beaudoin for the Aeros each put five shots on goal and were credited with a goal each. Beaudoin's goal being an empty net effort. The Aeros Peter Olvecky was credited with three assists on the night.

IceHogs shut out Aeros 4-0

The Rockford IceHogs shutout the Houston Aeros in a game at the Toyota Center tonight. Wade Flaherty turned aside 23 shots. Four Rockford players had goals. Martin St. Pierre, Troy Brouwer and Jim Fahey each had two point nights.

The IceHogs have 80 points, tied with the San Antonio Rampage. However, the Rampage have three games in hand on the IceHogs. The Aeros loss is a cloud in a surge by the Texan team. The two teams play again on Friday.

Rivermen hurt by 2-1 loss Sunday v Wolves

The Chicago Wolves defeated the Peoria Rivermen 2-1, Sunday, in a contest at the Carver Arena. It was the first time the two American Hockey League West Division foes had met since December 19th and marked the seventh game this season between the two teams.

The Rivermen, in sixth place in the West Division, were dealt a blow, today, when the St. Louis Blues assigned goalie Chris Beckford-Tseu to the Alaska Aces of the ECHL. The hopes of the team now rest with a rookie, up from the University of Maine, Ben Bishop and also Marek Schwarz.

Bishop had a 13-18 record with the Black Bears this season, with a 92.3 save percentage, which was the third best in a season for the team. His 819 season saves were fifth in Maine’s history.

Schwarz has a save percentage of 89.5, and a record of 12-11-2.

The two teams meet three more times in the next month. The Rivermen have edged the Quad City Flames for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference, probably a North Division spot due to weakness in that division. Although the Rivermen lead the fourth place North Division Hamilton Bulldogs by three points with a game in hand, two surging teams are ahead of the Rivermen.

The Milwaukee Admirals, with a 7-3 record in the last ten games, have 75 points, or a three point lead, with the Rivermen having a game in hand. While the Houston Aeros, technically in fifth place, have a one-point lead and three games in hand over the Rivermen. The Aeros are also 7-3 in their last ten games.

The Rivermen play the Admirals twice in the next week, the Aeros three games in the next three weeks.

Wolves win, .1 second left, 3-2 over Bulldogs

Time expired as a puck slipped past Hamilton Bulldogs goalie Yann Danis, putting the Chicago Wolves ahead 3-2 in a contest at the Allstate Arena Wednesday. The power play goal, off the stick of Darren Haydar, marked the Wolves’ 45th win of the season, putting them in first place in the American Hockey League.

The fourth game in the current win streak, the Wolves have won 16 points in their last ten contests, which is the best current record in the Western Conference. Ondrej Pavelec goes from strength to strength. His last regulation loss was February 1 against the Milwaukee Admirals, 5-4. Pavelec who took a shot to the mask, blocked another shot with an unusual jump, and nabbed a third shot while airborne Wednesday, has shown a masterful streak and new confidence in the past month. His puck handling is in the zone.

At his back is Boris Valabik. Valabik single-handedly ate a large part of a power play against the Wolves by freezing the puck against the boards behind the opposing net for upwards of 20 seconds in a recent contest against the Iowa Stars. Two, then three opposition players ganged up on the tall 6’7” Slovakian. But Valabik was able to hold the puck against their efforts. He is having the best month since November, with +4 and a goal.

His fight with Greg Stewart, Wednesday, arranged during the intermission as Stewart and Valabik skated to their bench, showed that although he is physical, he is not a player who will depend only on his physical menace. Don’t get me wrong. Valabik held his own against Stewart. But Stewart, who is smaller and lighter than Valabik, was able to get under the big mans arms and within reach very fast. It made for a great fight. Valabik eventually was able to get a handle on Stewart, but ended up beneath him at the end.

The Wolves, with 17 games remaining in the season, need to come out strong. They need to scare every other team off the ice when the season ends in a month. And, the teams they will face in the playoffs are eager to knock them from their perch atop the standings now. Every remaining game in the Western Conference seems to hold importance to at least one team. Hamilton, for example, is in fourth place of the North Division. With an eight-point lead against the Grand Rapids Griffins and 15 games to go, that would seem to be relatively safe.

However a West Division team can take the last playoff spot provided it has more points than the fourth place North Division team at the end of the season. So, Hamilton is actually in a run against the fifth place West Division team, currently the Houston Aeros. The Aeros have 73 points and four games in hand over the Bulldogs. So, the Aeros are in a comfortable lead over the Bulldogs and may even take the fourth or third place West Division spot by the end of the season.

Skille's OT hat trick beats Iowa 4-3

Jack Skille’s overtime goal, a hat trick, Sunday only gave the Rockford IceHogs a 4-3 win over the Iowa Stars. The IceHogs drilled Iowa goalie Tobias Stephan from the net, scoring two unanswered goals in the first period and change. He was replaced by Steve Silverthorn. Skille’s overtime hat trick was the first professional hat trick for the club this season and also for Skille.

The Rockford club seemed to find its feet, winning three of the last five games, although it is five in the last ten. A key game for the IceHogs is scheduled tonight when they face the surging Houston Aeros, 7-3 in the last ten games. Although the Aeros trail the third place IceHogs by seven points, the Texans have five games in hand.

Wolves v Rampage; Hogs v MAds

The Houston Aeros, in fourth place in the West Division of the American Hockey League, are in a tight race with four teams fighting for the last two play-off spots, one in the West and one in the North Division.

They were helped by Wednesday’s win by the Wilkes-Barre/ Scranton Penguins over the fourth place North Division team, the Syracuse Crunch. And, they were helped by their own efforts too, a win Wednesday night, 1-0 over the North Division Lake Erie Monsters of Cleveland.

Although I’d earlier forecast that Syracuse was out of the hunt for the post season, due to it being so far behind the four West Division teams fighting for fourth and fifth place, there is another possibility for the team, it could catch the third place Manitoba Moose or even the second place Hamilton Bulldogs. The Bulldogs, the Calder Cup winner last season, have 67 points in 58 games. The Moose have chalked up 66 points in 59 games and the fourth place Crunch have 61 points in 60 games.

So it is tight for the Crunch. They are in a hard spot. But it will be easier to beat two teams than to go on a run that beats four.

The Milwaukee Admirals, in fifth place in the West, beat the Rockford IceHogs 4-3. The IceHogs have been on a ride to nowhere lately, with only four points in ten games. Milwaukee, on the other hand has 13 points in ten games. The MAds are one of four teams in the West Division in a race for the two playoff spots, one in the West and one in the North, that seem up for grabs. The MAds are trailing the San Antonio Rampage in the standings by five points with the SAR having five games in hand.

The MAds have always been a hard-hitting team. But, I think they’ve met their match with the IceHogs, a physical team that is finishing its checks this year. The violence in hockey is usually confined to the ice surface and usually to the game. When it explodes outside of those limits, you have a problem defined outside the code. It would be fair to call it a personal problem.

The Hogs and the MAds had such a fight on Wednesday. Troy Brouwer, Colin Fraser, Kelsey Wilson and Alex Henry received a variety of penalties after the match. The two teams meet again on Saturday, March 8th at the Bradley Center. There should be fireworks.

I’m not a person to scream “fight, fight, fight” at games. But the Hogs need a boost. They need to regain their spirit. And a good scrum might help.

The Rampage hosted the Chicago Wolves for the first time this season. The Wolves, the number two team in the league, treated their hosts poorly, going ahead 5-0 at the end of the second period. But after putting 18 shots on the San Antonio goal in the first period, the Wolves seemed to relax: just 10 shots on goal for the remainder of the game.

San Antonio, on the other hand, put 40 shots on Ondrej Pavelec in the second and third frames. One of the things to look at in a team is the shots on goal. I remember games during the lockout when Kari Lehtonen was in net. The Wolves would typically give up 40, 50 and once I remember 60 shots on goal.

That’s poor defense. Have you ever heard people say it is hard to measure defense? There is a great measure of a team’s defense. I’ll put it this way: 40 shots on goal in two periods is equivalent to 60 shots on goal for 60 minutes. It is poor defense.

Visitors would complain that Kari’s numbers were inflated by off-ice officials in Chicago who favored him having a high save percentage. “They’ll give him a SOG for looking at a puck in the corner,” they said. Another way to look at it is that Lehtonen had a poor defense in front of him.

Forty shots on goal in two periods? Terrible defense. The Wolves are holding on by the grace of Pavelec. The Wolves are a good team and should be using this period leading up to the playoffs, not to rest, but to totally discourage every other team in this league. The defense needs to shut down the opposing offense. It can do it, the penalty kill numbers demonstrate it. Not only the penalty kill numbers, but in the one period the Wolves didn’t phone it in, SAR only had four shots on goal.

There’s another example of defense. Except this time it was clicking. Four shots on goal in 20 minutes of play.

These two teams meet again on Friday. Expect some fireworks. Whether true or not, a person purporting to be a former Wolves player went on a message board after the game to issue a challenge to the Wolves.

Icehogs shut down Mads 2-0

It was a quiet game, until the third period when four players were sent to the showers at the same time. The Rockford IceHogs, with Wade Flaherty in net, and Michael Brodeur backing, shut down the Milwaukee Admirals 2-0 at the Rockford MetroCentre today. Rockford put 22 shots on Pekka Rinne for the win, while the MAds only summed up 17 shots on goal for the game.

Matt Ellison and Nolan Yonkman for Milwaukee and Ryan Stokes and Kris Versteeg for Rockford were given fighting majors with just four and half minutes remaining in the game. Alex Henry was given a double minor in the same altercation.

The Quad City Flames beat up the visiting Grand Rapids Griffins 6-1 at the iWireless Center in Moline and the Houston Aeros shutout the Rochester Americans 4-0 at the War Memorial.

The Griffins are pretty much out of the hunt, now, for the final spot in the North Division, trailing even the last place West Division team for the fourth opening. The North Division fourth place team, the Syracuse Crunch, have 60 points in 59 contests while now three West Division teams are tied at 65 points, one has two games in hand over the Crunch, making it nearly impossible for the Crunch to take the last spot in their division.

The West Division race for the final playoff spot has the Quad City Flames, the Milwaukee Admirals and the Houston Aeros all tied at 65 points, meaning one of them will probably advance to play in the North Division playoffs. Each team has 59 games played, except the Aeros, who have two games in hand. In fourth place of the division is the Peoria Rivermen with 66 pointsd in 58 games. This is the tightest race in the American Hockey League currently.

Cunneyworth at 299 wins

Randy Cunneyworth is one win away from 300 career wins, according to the Raw Feed's Jessica Quiroli. Often mentioned as a candidate for open NHL coaching positions, the Rochester coach could pick the win up tonight when the Amerks play the Houston Aeros at the War Memorial.

Wolves win 2 in home and away openers

The Chicago Wolves are 2-0 in the American Hockey League standings following wins in Houston on October 6th and Rosemont on Saturday. Jason Krog and Brian Fahey lead the Wolves in scoring so far with two goals each, while Jesse Schultz leads the team with four points.

Steve Martins is showing early promise this season with three points. Dressed for just 49 games last season, Martins production of just 39 points was a disappointment following the 80-point season in Binghamton the previous season. The movement of Darren Haydar to the Atlanta Thrashers created a hole in the first line. It appears to be filled by Tomas Pospisil. Haydar may stick in Atlanta this time, as he has posted two points, including a goal, all against the New Jersey Devils.

Ondrej Pavelec has started both Chicago games, stopping 43 shots in the two games and earning a 1.49 goal against average and stopping 93.3 percent of shots. The special teams unit is 3 for 16 on the power play, 18.75 percent, and 15 for 17 on the penalty kill, 88.24 percent.

Boris Valabik leads the team in penalty minutes, currently earning about 10 ½ penalty minutes per game. Fourteen of the 21 penalty minutes occurred in a single incident in the Milwaukee game on Saturday when Valabik incurred a tripping minor, an unsportsmanlike conduct minor and a ten minute penalty for abusing on-ice officials.

The Houston Aeros were the first to fall to the Wolves in a 4-2 decision at the Toyota Center October 6. The Wolves took a 3-0 lead at the end of the first frame on two power play goals. They turned back an Aeros counter attack in the second and third period to pot a final goal in the third frame for the win.

Saturday, the Milwaukee Admirals lost to the Wolves in the Wolves opener. The Wolves Andre Giroux was allowed a penalty shot mid-way through the second period on a break away attempt. However Krog scored the first goal, less than a minute later.

Milwaukee tied the game about two and half minutes later as Antti Pihlstrom scored his first goal of the season on a power play. Admiral Nolan Yonkman was given a tripping penalty at the close of the third period, leading to a two minute Wolves power play in the overtime period. Brian Fahey found the back of the net for the game winner 2-1 victory.

The next Wolves home game is against the Rockford IceHogs, the AHL affiliate of the Chicago Blackhawks, Friday at 7.30 PM.

Road team takes ice. Wolves win 4-1

The Chicago Wolves dominated the Houston Aeros to win 4-1 Wednesday night at the Allstate Arena. Four Wolves lit the lamp while the team put 51 shots on the Houston net. Three other Wolves scored double points in the match. Michael Garnett looked in top form, making spectacular saves and stopping 35 Houston shots for his second straight win.

The road team took to the ice in the first period, blasting 17 shots at Houston goalie Miroslav Kopriva in a stunning exhibition of dominance. The Aeros entered the match with fire though. For the first several minutes putting Garnett and the Wolves blue line under cruel pressure. “Michael kept us in the game the first three minutes,” head coach John Anderson said. “One of the stops he made could be the save of the year. He didn’t give Houston a chance.”

The save in question was set up by a save by Garnett on the far right of the net. Aero Ryan Hamilton found the rebound with no traffic about 7’ from the goal. Wristing it into the net, Garnett’s glove appeared from nowhere to stop the shot—cold.

Kopriva also had some high points in the period, including stopping Cory Larose twice on breakaways and newcomer’s Niko Dimitrakos’ shot.

















Turning the tide, the Wolves went on the offense. Although the outgunned Aeros held the Wolves off the board till the 16 minute mark, the control of the remainder of the period rested with an energized Chicago Wolves.

At that point the first line was on the ice, Darren Haydar and Jason Krog passed to Andy Delmore who put the biscuit in for the 1-0 lead. Two minutes later Mark Popovic on the power play found the back of the net with more assists from Haydar and Krog. And a minute after that Larose, also on the power play, put it in with just 55 seconds remaining in the period to make it 3-0.

The Aeros came out in the second frame with Dieter Kochan minding the iron. The Wolves in turn left something in the locker room as the period did not feature the dominance of the first frame. The teams fought back and forth as 20 minutes of penalties were called. At 11.31 past the start of the period Jordon LaVallee with Dimitrakos and Brian Sipotz assisting, fired past the glove of Kochan for a 4-0 lead.

Houston came back with just 50 seconds remaining in the period on a power play when Ben Thompson deflected a rebound by Roman Voloshenko past Garnett.

The third period was comparatively quiet until the 10.49 mark when Ryan Hamilton crossed the center line with the puck. Keeping his head down, he failed to see the oncoming Nathan Oystrick who gave him a hip check, sending Hamilton cannon balling into the offensive zone. Hamilton came up with fire in his eyes and a fight immediately ensued the most spectacular home check of the season.


The Wolves now have 13 wins at home. The record for fewest home wins is 19, established in two different seasons. Garnett received the win with 50 saves in the evening. Kopriva received the loss with 14 saves, all in the first period. Kochan had 33 saves in the second and third periods.

Houston is 0-12 in their last 12 matches in the month of March, going back to the 2006 season. It is also on a 12 game loss streak for road games. The team is in an unaccustomed last place in the Western Division.

Chicago took a three point lead in the Western Division over the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights with the win. The Knights have three games in hand on the Wolves.

Aeros get Astro-burned 8-0

The Houston Aeros set a franchise record for their 8-0 loss to the Chicago Wolves Sunday afternoon: it was the largest home shutout loss the team had ever experienced. For the Wolves, it was their largest margin of victory ever.

Seven different Wolves players earned a goal or more, eight others a point or more on the 17 player bench. The two players without points were Kevin Doell and Boris Valabik. Frederic L’Ecuyler penalized an undisciplined Aeros for 51 minutes in the contest, versus just 17 minutes of penalties against the Wolves. Among the Wolves goals were two power play and one short handed goal, making the number of short handed goals this season 17, second in the league.

The game started downhill for the Aeros quickly when a hooking penalty on Clayton Stoner and a delay of game on goalie Dieter Kochan put the team on a 5-3 penalty kill. Nathan Oystrick, near the point, shot through a crowd to the back of the net for the game winning goal. Less than five minutes later, Andre Deveaux made a wrap around goal and a minute after that it was the turn of Brad Schell, recently up from the Gwinnett Gladiators, who forced a turnover in the defensive zone that turned the game into 3-0 Wolves.

The Schell goal drove Kochan out of the net in favor of Miroslav Kopriva. Kochan, who received the loss, stopped five on eight shots in his eleven minutes in the net. The Aeros went on a man advantage late in the period, as calls were made on Steve Martins. However, the Wolves held on to see the a power play of their own as penalties were called during the kill on Matt Foy and Stoner and Wolves Haydar. Haydar, fresh from the sin bin, scored his only goal of the night on the power play early on the fresh ice making it 4-0.

A fight broke out between the frustrated Joey Tetarenko and Valabik after the goal leading to a quiet ten minute period during which the Wolves did not score. It was ended as Deveaux was called for slashing with 5.54 left in the period. On the penalty kill again, Steve Martins picked up the puck and raced towards the Aeros goal taking a short handed mark away for the effort.

The final period saw Colin Stuart get two additional marks and Derek MacKenzie one. The winning goalie was Michael Garnett who faced only twenty shots on goal, ten of them in the first period and five in each of the next two. It was Garnett’s first win in three outings and second shutout of the year.

Kopriva stopped 33 shots, letting five goals past in a performance that was colder than Kochan’s.

The Wolves finish their Texas roadtrip, and this month-long road trip, welcoming the San Antonio Rampage back home to San Antonio on Friday. The Rampage last played at home January 21st. Their road trip, the longest in the American Hockey League, is caused by the San Antonio Livestock show. The Wolves, who end their Ice Capades road trip with the game, started their road trip January 21st. However, it was interrupted by one game against Syracuse, February 11th and the AHL All-Star game. It was the longest road trip in franchise history. The team was 7-2-1-2 on the road, earning 17 points and expanding its lead over the Omaha Ak-Sar-Ben Knights. The team has only six road games and 16 home games left in the regular season.

Houston's hot goalie: Aeros 4, Wolves 1

The Houston Aeros defeated the Chicago Wolves Saturday night, 4-1, in front of the second largest home crowd ever to see an Aeros game, 12,021.

The Aeros, who have been in the unusual position of struggling this season, are currently tied at 50 points with one of the dogs of the league, the San Antonio Rampage. And, the size of the crowd, filling the lower bowl and spilling into the usually closed upper bowl, is certainly a sign of the interest Texans have for the Northern sport of hockey.

A hot goalie was the key for Houston. Although he allowed 35 shots on goal for the game, goalie Dieter Kochan was strong in the net, stopping 34 shots for his second win of the season in eight games played. Kochan has been covering, along with Miroslav Kopriva, the missing Josh Harding—on callup to the Minnesota Wild. When Harding is gone, the Aeros are 3-12-1. Harding himself is 17-16-4 this season in Houston.

The game also marked the end of Darren Haydar’s 25 game road point streak. The lone goal by the Wolves was scored by Kevin Doell, unassisted. It was only the 14th regulation loss by the Wolves this season.

Houston scoring started in the first period when Houston scored on Fred Brathwaite penalty. The ensuing face-off was won by Jason Morgan. Roman Voloshenko picked up the puck and fed it to Curtis Murphy at the point who dished it to Mattias Weinhandl. Weinhandl let loose with a fast low shot that went through several players to score on the screened Brathwaite.

At the end of the period Morgan won another face-off in the defensive zone. Weinhandl picked it up, skated between the circles and let a high shot go that Brathwaite couldn’t stop. In the second period Weinhandl nearly scored a hat trick when his shot on Brathwaite was stopped, then Brathwaite froze the puck as Weinhandl was heading in for the rebound. Houston went up 3-0 later in the second period when Aeros blueliner Erik Reitz picked up a lose puck on the power play and shot it past the sprawled Brathwaite.

Kevin Doell made the game 3-1 minutes later on an unassisted goal over Kochan’s shoulder.

There were only 11 shots on goal total in the third period. Chicago was unable to convert any of its seven man advantages. Late in the period Weinhandl had yet another opportunity for a hat trick, missing an open net after being nudged in the circle. Late in the period Wolves coach John Anderson pulled Brathwaite to create a man advantage. However, Aeros wingers Danny Irmen and Benoit Pouliot popped the puck to Matt Foy who fired it into the Chicago empty net with 1.36 left to play. Pandemonium broke lose behind the Aeros net less than 30 seconds later as Braydon Colburn, Boris Valabik and Doell mixed it up with John Scott, Pouliot and Foy. Valabik skated away from a confrontation with Scott while Pouliot and Colburn took fighting penalties.

Brathwaite stopped 24 shots on goal for the loss, his eighth of the season. Kochan stopped 34 shots on goal for the win.

Turkey Day updates: Houston Scouted

The Wolves killed the Omaha Knights 6-3 last night in Omaha. Rookie Brett Sterling notched a hat trick, the other goals were by Darren Haydar and Jason Krog. The Wolves play the Grand Rapids Griffins tomorrow in the first fan club road trip. The Griffins, who will consider this a home and home, lost to the Wolves last Friday 5-3 at the Allstate.

Following that is a game with the Houston Aeros, the first this season for the Wolves. With 27 points, the Wolves have their best start of the franchise history and three of the top AHL scorers in Krog, Haydar and the rookie Sterling.

Fred Braithwaite and Michael Garnett have both been pretty solid in nets this season with just four regulation and one OT loss in the season between them. As a team, the Wolves have given up 57 goals. That is actually the worst record in the West Division, and the sixth worst in the league.

In addition, the team's 479 penalty minutes are the second worst in the league.

The Aeros are not the same team they were last season. Gone are top rookie Patrick O'Sullivan and key players Kirby Law and Erik Westrum. Back is Roman Voloshenko. They were just beaten by the San Antonio Rampage on Tuesday. That may be due to a hot goal tender being brought up to the Rampage, more than anything else, however. Only two Aero skaters are breaking into the double digits in scoring, Matt Foy with 15 and Danny Irmen with 11. Fourteen other skaters have scored at least a goal.

Josh Harding returns to the pipes and is ranked 9th in the league. Power play is running about 12 percent (25th), penalty kill 89.6 (second).