Alaska Aces rookie winger Julian Talbot, loaned to the Providence Bruins of the American Hockey League on Thursday, is off to a great start tonight in his first AHL game – he scored on his first shot on goal.

Talbot, 21, gave Providence a 3-1 lead over the Springfield Falcons with his even-strength goal. The game is still going on – Springfield has trimmed Providence’s lead to 3-2 after two periods.

The puck drops at Sullivan Arena in less than four hours, and it wouldn’t hurt the UAA Seawolves to mix in a win tonight against Minnesota State-Mankato.

Since a strong first half, the Seawolves have faltered badly – they are 1-8-1 in the WCHA since the calendar turned to 2007, and they’ve lost five straight. With just four league games left, home ice in the playoffs is no longer an issue for the green and gold, but they at least need to get on some kind of mini-roll entering the postseason.

Alaska Aces rookies have done so well this season that two of them have been promoted to the American Hockey League in the past two days.

First, winger Kevin Croxton got bumped up to the Peoria Rivermen, the Aces’ affiliate, on Wednesday. Thursday, winger Julian Talbot received his first call-up when he was loaned to the Providence Bruins. (Alaska connection: One of Providence's alternate captains is Nate Thompson of Anchorage, who made his NHL debut earlier this season).

Former Alaska Aces winger Charles Linglet -- aka Linger the Winger – emerged from his goal-scoring slump Wednesday night while occasional Aces goaltender and teammate Chris Beckford-Tseu continued to be the odd-man out for the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League.

Linglet, who earlier this season signed a deal with the NHL’s St. Louis Blues (parent club of the Rivermen and Aces), scored one goal and set up another in Peoria’s 3-1 win over San Antonio. That snapped Linger’s seven-game goal drought and his three-game point drought. Even so, he leads the Rivermen in goals and is third in points with 23-13—36 totals in 45 games. He’s –3 for the season, but it’s worth noting that only two Peoria regulars are plus players.

Defenseman Kerry Weiland of Palmer was one of 24 players named Wednesday to USA Hockey’s preliminary roster for the 2007 Women’s World Championship, April 3-10, in Manitoba.

Weiland, 26, the former two-time All-American at Wisconsin, is one of the seven defensemen named on a roster that will be trimmed to 20 players after a training camp in Grand Forks, N.D., March 21-April 1. The team’s final roster must be set by March 27.

The Women’s World Championship will be played in Winnipeg and Selkirk.

Weiland currently plays for the Etobicoke Dolphins of the National Women’s Hockey League in Canada.

They played a wild one in St. Louis on Tuesday night – the only thing missing was Martin St. Louis – and there were several Alaska-NHL connections in the San Jose Sharks’ 6-5 win over the St. Louis Blues.

Sharks rookie defenseman Matt Carle scored his sixth goal of the season, a power-play marker, and went +2 in 19:08 of ice time. He also was credited with three hits. Carle owns 6-19—25 totals in 51 games and is +7.

On a more rugged front, and speaking of "connecting,'' Sharks right wing/enforcer Scott Parker of Eagle River rumbled with Blues forward D.J. King in the second period. Folks around here no doubt remember King from his five-game stint last season with the Alaska Aces, who are the Blues’ affiliate in the ECHL.

The schedule has flogged the guy who does the blog, so we’ll keep it to a short shift on what’s supposed to be a day of rest. (Man, tell it to the ECHL schedule makers, who today have the Alaska Aces playing their fifth game in six nights. Good times).

In the NHL, center Scott Gomez of Anchorage provided the New Jersey Devils their only goal – a power-play marker – in a 4-1 loss to visiting Tampa Bay. That gives the King of Airport Heights 10-33—43 totals in 48 games this season. Sunday, he was even with three shots on goal in 18:48 of ice time and won 9 of 14 draws.

Doubtless it wasn’t the result he desired, but former UAA Seawolves and Alaska Aces goaltender John DeCaro nonetheless enjoyed a career breakthrough Saturday.

DeCaro played his first game in the American Hockey League, which is one step above the ECHL (which includes the Aces) and one step below the NHL. DeCaro stopped 29 shots for the Philadelphia Phantoms in a 4-2 loss at Hamilton.

Rookie center Brandon Dubinsky of Anchorage came up big for the Hartford Wolfpack of the American Hockey League on Friday night.

Dubinsky, 20, scored Hartford's first goal and assisted on its second in a 2-1 win at Springfield. That gives Dubinsky goals in back-to-back games and five points in his last five games. After a slow start, the New York Rangers' second-round draft pick owns 11-15--26 totals in 48 games and is +4.

The NHL’s Columbus Blue Jackets on Friday assigned goaltender Ty Conklin of Anchorage to Syracuse of the American Hockey League, and Conklin joined the Crunch in Winnipeg and is tending net as this is typed.

Conklin went 2-3-1 in Columbus this season with a 3.38 goals-against average and .870 save percentage. For Syracuse, which entered the evening with the fourth-worst winning percentage in the 27-team circuit, Conklin is 2-10-1 with a 3.33 goals-against average and .905 save percentage.

In his fifth season in the major-junior Western Hockey League, right wing Moises Gutierrez has evidently arrived. The big man from Anchorage – 6-foot-4, 227 pounds – has made a big breakthrough with the Everett (Wash.) Silvertips.

After scoring two goals Wednesday – he provided a couple of helpers, too – in a 5-0 win over Tri-City, Gutierrez, 20, is tied for third in the league in goals with 34. He leads the league with 24 power-play goals and owns 34-17—51 totals in 51 games.

As if Matt Carle hasn’t already been deluged with awards, the defenseman from Anchorage picked up another when Mile High Sports Magazine named him Colorado’s College Athlete of the Year.

You can read about the award here. After Carle’s junior season at Denver in 2006, he became the first Alaskan to win the Hobey Baker Memorial Award as college hockey’s best player and also was the first player in Western Collegiate Hockey Association history to be named the league’s Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year. Oh, and he was a first-team All-American for the second time and led the nation’s defensemen in scoring, and led all players in assists.

Rookie winger Joey Crabb of Anchorage finally unburdened himself Monday night – he snapped a 22-game goal drought.

Crabb, 23, scored his fifth goal of the season, the game winner actually, in the Chicago Wolves’ 8-1 torching of host Toronto in the American Hockey League. After trailing 1-0 early, Crabb's goal was Chicago's second in its five-goal, first-period barrage in a span of just 8:11.

The goal was Crabb’s first since scoring Nov. 29 in a 5-2 win over Iowa. Crabb had four goals in his first 22 games – all four came in an 11-game span in November – before hitting his dry spell. Monday, the former Colorado College standout’s goal had a very Rocky Mountains college feel to it – he was assisted by former Denver forward Kevin Doell and his former CC teammate, Colin Stuart.

Former UAA Seawolves and (briefly) Alaska Aces goaltender John DeCaro has signed a tryout contract with the Philadelphia Phantoms of the American Hockey League.

DeCaro, 24, earlier this season spent a week with the Phantoms, but did not play.

The rookie has been dominating in the Central Hockey League, leading the circuit in goals-against average (2.24) and save percentage (.931) while going 16-6-3 for the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs. In a stint last season with the Aces after he finished his college eligibility, DeCaro went 1-1-2 with a 2.65 goals-against average and .911 save percentage.

Made it down to Sullivan Arena on Friday night for the last two periods of Minnesota’s 8-2 dismantling of the UAA Seawolves and -- not that you have to be Scotty Bowman to figure this out -- the Seawolves might want to stay out of the penalty box in Saturday night’s rematch.

Minnesota blistered UAA for three power-play goals in eight chances, which really isn’t surprising coming from a team coached by Don Lucia. The former UAF head coach and UAA assistant coach annually assembles one of the nastiest power plays in the nation.

Tooling around the Internet on Thursday, I stumbled onto a link for something called the EIHL, which it turns out stands for Elite Ice Hockey League and is the pro circuit in the United Kingdom.

Stumbling around a bit more, a name caught my eye. Turns out former UAA Seawolves captain Ales Parez has begun his pro career in the EIHL. Parez, a native of the Czech Republic, skates for the Manchester Phoenix, located in the city better known for the soccer club Manchester United. In 23 games, Ales owns 7-18—25 totals.

New Jersey Devils center Scott Gomez of Anchorage has made a career out of putting passes on the stick blades of his teammates, and he furnished another two that resulted in goals Thursday night.

Gomez contributed two helpers – both primary, or first, assists – in a 6-5 overtime victory at Philly. That gives Gomez 32 apples in 44 games this season, and 319 career assists in the NHL. Um, not bad.

Gomez was +1 Thursday, which makes him a team-best +6 on the season. He also won 9 of 17 face-offs, which is pretty much his season average (51 percent) and marks continued improvement in the circle during his pro career.

The city unveiled its new slogan Wednesday – “Anchorage, Big Wild Life’’ – and the Alaska Aces and UAA Seawolves get a little love in two slogan-trumpeting commercials you can view on the ADN’s home page.

The shorter of the two commercials – dubbed “Commercial Two’’ on our home page -- briefly shows now-retired Aces goaltender Matt Underhill lifting the Kelly Cup high after the team won the ECHL’s holy hardware last season.

Erstwhile Alaska Aces center Jimmy Dahl, the former UAA Seawolves captain the Aces traded to Stockton last week, paid dividends for his new ECHL crew Tuesday night.

Dahl, 25, bagged two goals in the Thunder’s 6-3 win at Phoenix, went +1 and unloaded four shots on goal. You might remember Dahl was traded last Wednesday, when Stockton was in Anchorage, so he only had to haul his gear down the hallway in Sullivan Arena and set up shop in the visitor’s room.

Look, they aren’t headed to another 53-12-7 campaign – last season’s ridiculous record – but the Alaska Aces have got their game in gear.

Tuesday night, they opened their most far-reaching road trip – four hours time change to Georgia – by beating a very good Gwinnett Gladiators team, 5-4, in overtime. All they did was overcome deficits of 2-0 and 4-3, score the game-tying goal with less than five minutes left, out-perform Gwinnett’s league-best power play – Aces 3 of 5, Gladiators 2 of 8 – and get Vladimir Novak’s game-ending rocket of a wrister.