From a Rochester Americans Press Release:

[quote]The Rochester Americans allowed four first-period goals to lose 5-1 to the Houston Aeros tonight at the Toyota Center. The contest began a two-game set in Texas, which concludes on Saturday with a trip to San Antonio.

Rochester (22-19-1-1, 42 points) remains in sixth place tie in the North Division. The Amerks have fallen one point behind the Cleveland Barons and five behind the Toronto Marlies.

On Friday, the Aeros blitzed the Amerks for four goals in the 9:34 and chased Rochester starting goalie Jean-Marc Pelletier. Patrick O'Sullivan led the way with two goals, while Erik Westrum and Roman Voloshenko added single goals. Rochester scored its lone goal at 18:38 of the first period on a power-play goal by Scott Sheppard. Josh Olson netted a goal in the third period to complete the win over the Amerks. Seamus Kotyk stopped 34 of 35 shots to earn the win for Houston. Michael Leighton stopped 20 of 21 in a relief appearance for Rochester.[/quote]

Of note: Panther prospect and former Everblade Drew Larman returned off the IR for the game.

Amerks lose to Houston
http://www.amerks.com/FeatureStories.aspx?news_id=702

Amerks' woes extended with big loss in Houston
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060121/SPORTS02/601210339/1007/SPORTS

Fast start, Kotyk pace Aeros
With head coach gone, assistant Shaw gets first win
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/sports/3602379.html


Boxscore
http://ahl.leaguestat.com/stats/game-summary.php?game_id=1001594

Nice article on Panther goaltending prospect JMP:

Pelletier is an example for Amerks to follow
Goalie has turned his game around, team hopes to also
http://www.democratandchronicle.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060120/SPORTS02/601200391



Next Game: Rochester Americans (20-20-2) at San Antonio Rampage (12-26-3)
When: Saturday, January 21, 2006 at 8:00 PM (ET)
Where: AT&T Center
TV: B2 Networks
Radio: WHTK 1280 AM /www.whtk.com
Web site: www.amerks.com (includes link to B2 Networks $6 web cast).

From a Rampage Press Release:

The San Antonio Rampage out shot the Houston Aeros 39 to 32 but was unable to come up with the win falling to the West Division leading Aeros 5-3 at the SBC Center Thursday night. San Antonio forwards Mike Bishai and Steve Gainey each had a two-point night as Bishai was named number two star of the night.

Houston jumped to a 3-1 lead after the first period. Houston scored first at 10:46 off the stick of Rem Murray. One minute later Patrick O’Sullivan scored his first of three goals on the power-play from Joe Callahan’s roughing penalty. Rampage center Layne Ulmer brought the Rampage within one at 17:14 with help from Gainey and Steve Weidlich as he tallied his first point in his fourth game in a Rampage jersey. O’Sullivan would give the Aeros a two-goal cushion for his second power-play goal of the night with only 20 seconds remaining in the first period to give the Aeros a 3-1 lead.

Rampage defenseman Ray Schultz tallied his first goal of the season 1:43 into the second period with help from Pavel Brendl and Bishai.

O’Sullivan collected his hat trick at the 5:40 mark to give Houston a 4-2 lead. Aeros’ Kirby Law stretched the lead to 5-2 less than a minute later. San Antonio’s Gainey and David Cornacchia would help Bishai tally his sixth goal of the season and close the gap to a two goal difference, 5-3, at the 9:36 mark. Bishai’s goal gave the Rampage their fifth shorthanded goal of the season. The score would hold for the remainder of the game with both teams going scoreless in the closing period.

Boxscore
Rampage's slide continues
Aeros are making winning look easy

Next Game: Grand Rapids Griffins (24-11-3) at San Antonio Rampage (11-23-2)
When: January 7, 2005 at 7:00 PM (CT)
Where: SBC Center
TV: B2 Networks
Radio: KSJL-AM 810
Web site: www.sarampage.com (includes link to B2 Networks $6 web cast).