HAMILTON -- The Houston Aeros silenced a record crowd at Copps Coliseum before completely shutting down the talented Hamilton Bulldogs yesterday on their way to winning the Calder Cup. Rickard Wallin and Stephane Veilleux scored as the Aeros blanked Hamilton 3-0 in Game 7 to capture the team's first AHL championship in their second season.

Goalie Johan Holmqvist won the playoff MVP award and recorded his first shutout of the post-season.

"It's great for the whole team," Holmqvist said.

"We were very ready for this game. The whole series in Hamilton, they just ran us over the first 10, 15 minutes every game. We said that we had to be prepared for the first 10 minutes -- and I think we were."

Clinging to a 2-0 in the third period, Holmqvist made a nice toe save on Bulldogs defenceman Ron Hainsey and later stopped Raffi Torres in close to seal the win.

Rastislav Pavlikovsky made it 3-0 with a power-play goal at 14:38 of the third period.

An American Hockey League record crowd of 17,428 turned out for Game 7 and shook the building before the game could even get started.

But the Aeros were able to grab control because they did what they had to in the first 10 minutes -- weather the storm.