Not that the blog hasn’t already pumped Matt Carle’s tires to the point of explosion, but we’re a little late handing out the most recent props to the San Jose Sharks rookie defenseman from Anchorage.

Carle’s power-play goal in a 5-1 win at Phoenix last Thursday put his name in a couple places in San Jose’s record book. The goal, his 11th of the season, set a franchise record for most goals by a rookie defenseman. The strike was also his eighth on the power play, setting a franchise record for most power-play goals by a rookie blueliner.

After making his NHL debut and sticking around for six games with the New York Rangers, rookie center Brandon Dubinsky of Anchorage on Tuesday was returned to the Hartford Wolf Pack of the American Hockey League.

Dubinsky, 20, averaged a little more than eight minutes of ice time per game for the Rangers. He didn’t record a point, and fired nine shots, took one minor penalty, won 46.2-percent of his face-offs and was even in plus-minus.

Well, it wasn’t quite enough to make a puckhead dive under a Zamboni to end the agony, but hardcore hockey fans looking for some action suffered through rink remorse Monday.

There were a mere three games in North American pro hockey Monday night – two games in the NHL and one way down in the Central Hockey League – and that insufficient ice time was enough to make a pucks junkie start jonesing.

At least there was one big-time Alaska connection on the docket: Rookie center Brandon Dubinsky, 20, of Anchorage, played his sixth game for the New York Rangers, logging 6 minutes, 19 seconds of ice in a 2-1 win over Sid Crosby and Company.

After missing six weeks with a broken thumb courtesy of a slash, rookie winger Tim Wallace of Anchorage returned to play in the American Hockey League on Sunday.

Wallace went +1 with two shots for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a 4-3 win over Albany. Wallace, who has split his debut campaign between the AHL and Wheeling of the ECHL, owns 4-5—9 totals in 20 AHL games.

Elsewhere in the A, center Nate Thompson of Anchorage scored the game-winning goal in Providence’s 5-0 win over Michigan. Former Alaska Aces sniper Chris Minard scored his team-high 26th goal in Lowell’s 2-0 win over Hartford. And former Aces standout Alex Leavitt, who last week signed a deal with the Phoenix Coyotes, furnished one goal and one assist in San Antonio’s 5-4 loss to Iowa. Leavitt owns 5-8—13 totals and is +12 in six games with the Rampage.

The connection to Alaska hockey is a little tenuous – Minnesota does play in the WCHA, the same conference as the UAA Seawolves – but who cares? Blake Wheeler’s overtime game-winning goal for the Gophers in their 3-2 win over North Dakota on Saturday night was that wicked.

In short, Wheeler’s strike was a diving, one-handed chip shot he roofed. The goal earned the Gophers the Final Five championship to go along with their regular-season title.

A couple of erstwhile Alaska Aces came up large for the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League on Saturday.

The Rivermen’s come-from-behind 5-4 win at Omaha – they trailed 4-2 with less than 17 minutes to go – was backstopped by occasional Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu, who stopped 27 shots. It’s worth noting, too, that the third and fourth goals he surrendered early in the third period both came when the Knights enjoyed 5-on-3 power plays.

With his college career finished, UAA Seawolves senior captain Charlie Kronschnabel turned pro Thursday, signing with the Reading (Pa.) Royals of the ECHL.

Kronschnabel, 24, is the second UAA senior to go pro – his housemate, frequent linemate and close friend Justin Bourne signed with the ECHL’s Alaska Aces on Wednesday.

Former Alaska Aces center Alex Leavitt and UAF Nanooks winger Kyle Greentree both signed deals with NHL teams on Thursday.

Leavitt, 23, signed with the Phoenix Coyotes, who evidently liked what they’ve seen from him in his four games with their American Hockey League affiliate, the San Antonio Rampage. Makes sense – Leavitt owns 4-7—11 totals in just four games in San Antonio. He also has skated this season for the Houston Aeros of the AHL and the Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL.

The best two Alaskans in the NHL – New Jersey Devils center Scott Gomez and San Jose Sharks rookie defenseman Matt Carle, both from Anchorage – each scored their 11th goal of the season Thursday night.

Gomez did it without his usual linemates – wingers Brian Gionta and Patrik Elias are both out with groin injuries. Even so, Gomez broke his 14-game goal drought by scoring on the first shift of the game and later added a primary assist in a 3-2 win at Carolina. With his usual running buddies out, Gomez skated with a couple of Minnesota boys, Jamie Langenbrunner of Duluth and Erik Rasmussen of Minneapolis.

If you wanna check out erstwhile Alaska Aces enforcer Hans Benson plying his trade for the Peoria Rivermen in the American Hockey League, here’s your chance.

You can check out Hans using his hands – folded into fists, of course – in a recent bout with Grand Rapids’ Adam Keefe by clicking onto a link of the blog written by Peoria Journal Star beat writer Dave Eminian. The bout is the second item down on the blog (as of Thursday, March 15) and you can check it out here.

Former Alaska Aces winger Charles Linglet continued to pile up points in the American Hockey League on Wednesday night.

Linglet, 24, scored his team-high 29th goal, added two helpers and went +3 in the Peoria Rivermen’s 4-3 loss at Chicago. Linglet is tied for second in scoring among Rivermen wtih 29-21—50 totals in 58 games and is second on the team in plus-minus (+8).

Occasional Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu stopped 34 shots for Peoria, which was outshot 30-12 over the last two periods. Aces call-up defenseman Patrick Wellar went +1 and Aces call-up winger/enforcer Hans Benson was even with a minor for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Erstwhile UAA Seawolves winger Justin Bourne’s career was in limbo just two days – he’s an Alaska Ace now.

Bourne, who led UAA in scoring as a senior with 10-21—31 totals in 37 games, turned pro by signing with the Aces on Wednesday and will depart with them Thursday morning for a six-game, ECHL road swing to Fresno, Long Beach and Boise. Basically, Bourne got off the road – UAA returned home Monday after falling in three games of the first round of the WCHA playoffs at Minnesota – to basically go back on the road again.

One of the blog’s all-time favorite UAA Seawolves, winger Curtis Glencross, has always played like he had boulder on his shoulder, and Saturday night in the American Hockey League he flashed the skill and edge that has earned him two promotions to the NHL this season.

After being sent down to the Syracuse Crunch by the NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets earlier this week, Glencross took it out on the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins in a big way. Not to put too fine a point on it, but Glencross littered his name all over the score sheet in host Syracuse’s 5-1 win.

Brandon Dubinsky of Anchorage is only 20, so he’s got a lot of hockey ahead of him. And, given the nature of sport, that means a lot of ups and downs.

The highlight of the center’s career came Thursday night, when he made his NHL debut for the New York Rangers in a 2-1 road win against the New York Islanders. Very cool.

A small stumble came Saturday in Dubinsky’s second game in the NHL, at Pittsburgh. His first penalty in the big time – a hooking infraction in the third period – led to the game-tying goal for the Penguins. At least Brandon will always be able to say the first time he sat in an NHL penalty box he watched Sidney Crosby score a goal off an assist from Evgeni Malkin, a couple of wonderkids themselves. Trust me, he’ll laugh about it one day, though presumably not Saturday, when the Rangers lost 2-1 in overtime, depriving themselves of a point in the standings that could prove critical as they try to qualify for the playoffs.

The UAA Seawolves and UAF Nanooks are each one game away from packing away their gear for the season.

Both squads lost playoff series openers Friday night, though granted, they weren’t exactly playing mediocre competition on the road. UAF fell 7-1 at No. 1-ranked Notre Dame in the CCHA quarterfinals and UAA lost 6-2 at No. 2-ranked Minnesota in the first round of the WCHA playoffs.

Check out the big brain on Trevor Hyatt.

The UAF Nanooks’ sophomore forward from Anchorage is the school’s CCHA scholar athlete. That makes him a nominee for the league’s Scholar-Athlete of the Year, to be announced next week.

Hyatt holds a 4.0 grade-point average through his three semesters in Fairbanks, and he ain’t skatin’ by in some half-baked major like – oh, I don’t know, journalism/Frisbee. Our man Trevor studies civil engineering. And as a guy who lived with an engineering student in college back in the Dark Ages, let me tell ya, those cats have some seriously sick homework. (On the upside, last I checked my college roomie, who eventually got his bachelor’s in math, then an MBA, makes about four times what I do -- he's a banker).

It’s playoff time in the British Columbia Hockey League and more than a dozen Alaskans are looking to cop some postseason prosperity on the junior circuit.

North Dakota-bound Evan Trupp of Anchorage is off to a sizzling start with six assists in his first two playoff games for the Penticton Vees. Trupp put up 20-30—50 totals in 35 regular season games, including six power-play strikes and five shorties. The Vees also include UAF-bound defenseman Bryant Molle of Anchorage (2-13-15 in 60 regular season games).

After managing just one assist in the previous six games, New Jersey Devils center Scott Gomez of Anchorage broke out Tuesday night, providing three assists in a 5-4 overtime loss at Philadelphia.

The King of Airport Heights’ hat trick of helpers were all primary assists, including the set-up on Brad Lukowich’s game-tying goal with less than six minutes remaining. Gomez went a game-best +3 (he leads the Devils at +10 overall) and fired four shots in 18:39 of ice time. He owns 10-43—53 totals in 59 games.

While Gomez prospered, San Jose Sharks rookie defenseman Matt Carle of Anchorage apparently took a stride in the opposite direction. He was even and played just 9:18 (the second fewest minutes he has played in a game this season) in a 3-0 win at Minnesota and had his NHL career-best, five-game points streak snapped. Carle played just three shifts in the second period and two shifts in the third, while a foursome of Sharks defensemen ate up a majority of minutes: Scott Hannan (28:15, +1), rookie Marc-Edouard Vlasic (24:40, +3), Craig Rivet (23:26, +1) and Kyle McLaren (23:21, +1).

Former Alaska Aces forward Alex Leavitt has jumped back into the American Hockey League with the flourish of a guy who never wants to return to the ECHL.

Leavitt, who began the season with the AHL’s Houston Aeros and then was dropped down to the Texas Wildcatters of the ECHL, returned to the AHL on loan to the San Antonio Rampage over the weekend and promptly won the league’s Player of the Week Award.

Several former Alaska Aces, and some other local boys, got their games on in the American Hockey League on Sunday.

In Peoria, Ill., occasional Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu yet again proved he has nothing left to prove in the ECHL and belongs in the ‘A.’ Beckford-Tseu turned aside 29 shots to propel the Rivermen to a 4-1 win against Houston. The victory raised Beckford-Tseu’s numbers in the league one notch below the NHL to 10-4-2 with a 2.18 goals-against average and .916 save percentage.