Aeros @ Bears Preview, 1/9

Hershey Bears
record ~ 27-9-0-1 55 points
standings ~ 1st in East Division
most recent game ~ 3-2 Win @ Norfolk, 1/7
last 5 games ~ 4-1-0-0
home record ~ 14-3-0-0
goals for ~ 148
goals against ~99
power play ~ 16.7% (15th)
penalty kill ~ 82.6% (17th)


Houston Aeros
record ~ 17-15-1-7 42 points
standings ~ 5th in West Division
most recent game ~ 4-3 SO Loss @ Bridgeport, 1/7
last 5 games ~ 1-2-0-2
road record ~ 8-9-0-4
goals for ~ 106
goals against ~ 112
power play ~ 17.1% (15th)
penalty kill ~ 86.3% (3rd)

last time teams met - Houston won 6-1 on December 13th in Houston.

Players to watch:

Hershey:

LW Alexandre Giroux (12)- He has at least a goal in 10 of the past 11 games including 8 straight games. During that streak he has a total of 15 goals and 10 assists. And remember he wasn't there for the game against Houston where the Bears lost.
C Kyle Wilson (18) - He was the only Bear to score against Houston in the first matchup and he has 2 goals in the last 3 games.
LW Oskar Osala (36) - He also didn't play against Houston in December. He hasn't been producing much lately with only 6 points in the past 14 games but that could change.

Houston:

LW Corey Locke (84) - Team leader in assists and points (26 and 40). 4 goals and 5 assists in the last 10 games and he had 1 goal and an assist against the Bears.
RW Jesse Schultz (10) - 2 goals in his last 3 games. He had 1 goal and 2 assists against Hershey.
D Clayton Stoner (7) - Not an offensive force with only 2 assists in the last 9 games but defensively he is very solid. The 7th rated prospect in the Wild organization is the active leader in plus/minus on the Aeros. Has been even or plus in 12 of the last 13 games.


News and Notes:

• Houston has lost 8 of their last 10 games.
• They are currently in the 6th game of an 8 game road trip. They are currently 1-4 (2 SO losses) on the trip with 4 straight losses.
• In their last game they were down 3-0 with 3 minutes to go in the game when Bridgeport took a major penalty and the Aeros scored 3 goals to tie the game before losing in the shootout.
  
• Leading scored Krys Kolanos is currently on recall with Minnesota. He scored 2 goals and added an assist against Hershey.
• The Aeros have only scored more than 3 goals once in the past 11 games and have scored 2 or less in 7 of those.

• The Bears return home after a 5 game road trip where they won 4 of 5 games.
• After Sunday's make up game with Wilkes-Barre the Bears will be at the midpoint of their season.
• 4 Bears (Giroux, Aucoin, Helmer, Bourque) and the coaches (Woods and Frenchy) will be in Worcester for the All Star game on January 26th.