December 6, 2001

Barons capture big victory at home, end winless streak
Mary Schmitt Boyer
Plain Dealer Reporter

Barons coach Roy Sommer had just one thing to say after his team's 7-0 victory over the Houston Aeros last night in Gund Arena.

"Yeah," he said, grinning, after the Barons tied their season high for goals and snapped a four-game winless streak to improve to 13-10-1-2 overall, 9-8-0-0 at home.

Goalie Vesa Toskala stopped all 34 shots, Mike Craig and Graig Mischler each scored two goals, Joel Prpic had three assists, Eric LaPlante scored his first goal of the season and Peter Hogan got his first point - and his first save after flipping away a puck lying on the goal line - as the Barons moved back into first place in the Central Division, one point ahead of idle Cincinnati.

"This was a big win," Toskala said after his first shutout of the season.  "We haven't won in a long time,  This was a big win in our home building.  That was important."

In addition, 5-9, 188-pound Ryan Kraft learned a valuable lesson.  If he wants to be an enforcer, he needs to tie down his jersey in the back - as league rules require.  Kraft received a game misconduct and was ejected at 11:-3 of the second period after a tussle with Brett McLean, one of six former Cleveland Lumberjacks on the Aeros, along with coaches Todd McLellan and Jock Callander.

But the Barons barely missed him.  They had a 3-0 lead at that point and put the game away with three goals in the span of 1:21 of the third period.  A time-out by McLellan at 8:19 stopped the barrage but failed to rally the Aeros.

"I've had better nights," McLellan said after his team fell to 11-9-2-1 and completed a seven-game trip that started here on Nov. 17.  "One team came to play and the other didn't."

According to Mischler, the impetus for last night's performance came during two overtime games in Hamilton over the weekend.

"Hamilton's the best team we've played, so that was a big weekend for us," he said.  "They were good games.  We played a full 60 minutes and played hard.  That gave us a lot of confidence coming into tonight."

Of course, there was another incentive.  The Aeros registered a 6-3 victory in their first trip here.  For that reason, LaPlante took extra pleasure in his first goal.

"It felt good to get it against these guys," he said.

"The only possible downer for the Barons was that right wing Jonathan Cheechoo, returning to the ice after missing seven games with a rib injury, re-injured himself.  His status for this weekend's home games will be determined later this week.