Alaska is hockey heaven -- the Alaska Aces are perennial ECHL contenders, the UAA Seawolves play in the nation's premier college league and NHL star Scott Gomez headlines a contingent of pros. Join the conversation about the Aces and Alaska hockey with Doyle Woody, who has covered the game here at all levels for 24 years.
Contact: dwoody@adn.com
Catching Up With Former Aces' D-Men: Pszenyczny And Later - 9/4/2008 8:41 pm
Fairbanks Winger Quackenbush Traded In WHL - 9/4/2008 6:20 pm
Yet Another Freshman Headed UAF's Way - 9/4/2008 4:11 pm
Lamoureux Note: Size Matters (If You're An NHL Scout) - 9/3/2008 8:22 pm
Ex-Seawolf Steward Signs With Augusta (ECHL) - 9/3/2008 7:57 pm
John DeCaro Is Coming To A Rink Near You (Well, If You Live In Anchorage, That Is) - 9/3/2008 7:42 pm
Aces: Soares Is Signed, But Headed To AHL Camp First - 9/3/2008 3:23 pm
The Hockey News Lowdown On Gomez, Carle And Others - 8/29/2008 4:11 pm
Former Aces D-Man Wellar Signs With Reading - 8/29/2008 2:58 pm
Wrenn, Murray on USA Hockey's Under-18 National Team - 8/28/2008 10:57 am
Across The Pond For A Hockey Fix - 8/20/2008 7:46 pm
Aces sign lifelong friends - 8/20/2008 3:50 pm
Aces: Bo Is Back - 8/19/2008 1:16 pm
Ex-Seawolf Cartwright Bound For Arizona (CHL) - 8/15/2008 4:55 pm
CCHA Adopts Shootouts - 8/14/2008 8:50 pm
Ex-UAA Blueliner Smith Lands in Colorado (CHL) - 8/13/2008 6:09 pm
All You Need To Know About Lee Green - 8/13/2008 4:19 pm
Tebbs Lands In Texas With CHL's Corpus Christi IceRays - 8/7/2008 9:21 pm
Regg Simon Never Lacked Smarts, As He Proved In A Game in 2000 - 8/7/2008 7:41 pm
Ex-UAA Blueliner Anderson Leads Spate of Signings - 8/6/2008 4:31 pm
Lyle Transitions From Officiating To Coaching - 8/5/2008 4:17 pm
3 Alaskans Headed To USA Hockey Women's Festival - 8/5/2008 3:01 pm
SEPTEMBER 4, 2008 - 8:41 PM
Making the rounds through the pro hockey league websites tonight dug up a couple of former Alaska Aces defensemen who have signed with other clubs for the upcoming season.
Former Alaska blueliner Dave Dave Pszenyczny (still have the spelling of his last name taped to my laptop and on my office desk) has signed to play for the ECHL's Reading Royals, where he finished last season after being traded from the Aces for winger Brett Hemingway. (Hemingway has signed with the Aces).
SEPTEMBER 4, 2008 - 6:20 PM
Hulking right winger Isak Quackenbush (6-5, 227) of Fairbanks has been traded in the major-junior WHL, moving to the Prince George Cougars from the Seattle Thunderbirds.
Quackenbush, 18, last season earned 3-2--5 totals in 61 games for Seattle, with 57 penalty minutes that included five fighting majors.
In Prince George, one of Quackenbush's bosses is none other than former UAF Nanooks winger and assistant coach Wade Klippenstein, who is an assistant coach and assistant general manager for the Cougars.
SEPTEMBER 4, 2008 - 4:11 PM
The roster on the UAF Nanooks' website lists 10 freshmen, but add another with the news that forward Justin Filzen is headed north for the upcoming college season.
Filzen, 19, earlier this week committed to UAF.
Filzen played for Proctor in the Duluth, Minn., area as a prep and spent last season with the U.S. Hockey League's Green Bay Gamblers. In 56 games, Filzen scored 5-10--15 totals and was -24. (FYI, Green Bay won just 13 of 60 games and finished last in the league, and a couple of other cats on that squad managed -36 and -30, so there's that).
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 - 8:22 PM
A reader e-mailed with a question that may be on the mind of other Alaska Aces fans: With goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux's fantastic numbers in junior and at North Dakota, how was it that one of the newest Aces went undrafted by all 30 NHL teams?
The quick answer: Phil's 5-foot-8. And NHL scouts generally don't care for sub 6-footers. They want bigger guys to fill more net and give shooters less net, I guess. (Unlike many of you fans, and you know who you are, you armchair Ken Drydens, I am not a goaltending guru) (And, hey, there's nothing wrong with being 5-8; you can be a perfectly good goaltender at that marvelous height, or even an aging hockey writer).
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 - 7:57 PM
One of the all-time good guys, former UAA Seawolves forward Dallas Steward, has signed with the Augusta Lynx.
Steward, 28, who played at UAA from 2000-2004, hooked up with the ECHL team earlier this week.
Steward, who will be a fifth-year pro, earned 2-2--4 totals in 15 games last season for the ECHL's Charlotte Checkers. He played two seasons before than with ECHL Pensacola -- if memory serves, he broke his ankle late in the 2006-07 season, which may account for his limited action last season -- and one season for Tulsa of the Central Hockey League.
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 - 7:42 PM
More than two years have passed since John DeCaro tended the pipes for the UAA Seawolves and Alaska Aces, but the big man could be back at Sullivan Arena as soon as October.
DeCaro, who has won the Central Hockey League's Most Outstanding Goaltender award two seasons running with the Bossier-Shreveport Mudbugs (gotta love that handle), has signed with the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers, according to the Shreveport Times. The Times reported DeCaro recently informed Mudbugs coach Scott Muscutt of his Vegas signing.
SEPTEMBER 3, 2008 - 3:23 PM
Josh Soares, the winger who last season led the Alaska Aces of the ECHL in goals and points as a rookie, has signed a 1-year deal with the club for the upcoming season.
But in a perfect world -- at least for Josh -- we won't see him. That's because he is going to the training camp of the Houston Aeros of the American Hockey League in an attempt to earn a one-way AHL deal with that club.
AUGUST 29, 2008 - 4:11 PM
For what it's worth, the annual preseason yearbook edition of The Hockey News rates New York Rangers center Scott Gomez of Anchorage as the 38th best player in the NHL. That's up from 41st a year ago, following his 16-54--70 totals in 81 games last season.
Says THN: "Rangers have to convince this guy to stop being a pass-first player and use his fantastic shot more.''
The magazine also pegged Tampa Bay Lightning defenseman Matt Carle of Anchorage as one of 10 players in the league who are looking for bounce-back seasons. Carle was an All-Rookie Team selection for San Jose two years ago, but struggled last season and was traded to the Lightning.
AUGUST 29, 2008 - 2:58 PM
Former Alaska Aces defenseman Patrick Wellar, who helped the club to the 2006 Kelly Cup, has signed to play this upcoming season for the Reading Royals of the ECHL.
Wellar, 24, last season set career highs in goals, assists and points with 8-20--28 totals in 52 games with Columbia of the ECHL. He also earned significant playing time in the American Hockey League with the Toronto Marlies, the affiliate of the NHL's Toronto Maple Leafs. Wellar earned 1-2--3 totals in 18 AHL games.
AUGUST 28, 2008 - 10:57 AM
As expected, defenseman William Wrenn and goaltender Adam Murray, a couple of Anchorage boys, were on the list today when USA Hockey officially unveiled its National Team Development Program Under-18 National Team.
The 17-year-olds were among 22 players named. Both played last season for the NTDP Under-17 squad -- so did 18 of the 22 players named -- and both have already made commitments to play at the University of Denver in 2009.
Murray last season went 8-9-2 with a 4.21 goals-against average and .868 save percentage. Wrenn earned seven assists in 63 games.
AUGUST 20, 2008 - 7:46 PM
Look, the hockey season here in North America is still a long ways off -- couple months, basically -- so we're jumping across the pond to feed our pucks jones.
Over in the Elite Ice Hockey League in the United Kingdom, the exhibition season kicks off Saturday. And a quick glance at some rosters turned up at least four dudes with Anchorage connections, albeit a couple that are a stretch. But, hey stretching is good (although I read recently there's some debate about that -- whatever).
In any event, former Alaska Aces sniper Joe Talbot, who shredded goaltenders last season, is back for a second campaign with the Sheffield Steelers.
AUGUST 20, 2008 - 3:50 PM
Erik Fabian and Luke Erickson grew up one house apart, played together on Roseau High's Minnesota state championship team in 1999, played a year of junior hockey together and played their first year of pro pucks together in Pensacola, Fla.
And now they're sticking together for their sophomore campaigns -- the Alaska Aces of the ECHL announced the signing of the 25-year-old forwards today.
AUGUST 19, 2008 - 1:16 PM
Right winger Bo Cheesman, whose career-high 30 goals last season ranked second among Alaska Aces skaters, will return for a second season in Anchorage, the club announced Tuesday.
Cheesman, 27, racked 30-27--57 totals and was the only Ace to play all 72 games last season. He contributed nine power-play goals and two shorties.
Cheesman's campaign was a tale of two seasons: He was money for the first two-thirds of the season, but struggled in the last one-third. In the first 48 games, he earned 25-23--48 totals. In the last 24, that dropped to 5-4--9.
AUGUST 15, 2008 - 4:55 PM
Former UAA Seawolves forward Peter Cartwright of Anchorage will begin his pro career with the Arizona Sundogs, defending champions of the Central Hockey League.
The Sundogs today announced the signing of Cartwright, 23.
In four seasons at UAA, Cartwright earned 14-29--43 totals in 125 career games. His 3-14--17 totals in 35 games as a senior last season marked his college hockey for points.
AUGUST 14, 2008 - 8:50 PM
The Central Collegiate Hockey Association, of which the UAF Nanooks are members, has adopted an NHL-style shootout for regular-season games next season that end in a tie after a five-minute overtime. (Thanks to my man Danny Martin of the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner for the heads-up on the case).
That move comes on the heels of the NCAA rules committee's decision to allow shootouts in regular-season games. In the CCHA next season, when the league will adopt a shootout in which each team gets three shooters, the shootout winner will receive an additional point in the standings. If a winner isn't decided after three shooters, the format becomes sudden death, just like in the NHL.
AUGUST 13, 2008 - 6:09 PM
After having a decent run in his rookie season as a pro with the Charlotte Checkers of the ECHL, former UAA Seawolves blueliner Mark Smith -- aka The Quietest Man To Ever Play Pucks -- has signed with the Rocky Mountain Rage of the Central Hockey League.
Smith, 25, earned 6-9--15 totals and a -7 rating in 59 games last season with Charlotte, where he played with his older brother, Kenton Smith, also a defenseman.
AUGUST 13, 2008 - 4:19 PM
Forget goals, assists and points. Forget plus-minus. All you need to know about Alaska Aces defenseman Lee Green, who has re-signed with the team -- is that he sacrificed himself for the team for months last season.
Green played from Dec. 19 through the end of the season on May 2 with three broken bones in his left hand.
He was initially injured in the same game in Victoria in which defensemen Bryan Miller (shoulder) and Joey Hope (knee) suffered season-ending injuries that required surgery, and winger Barrett Heisten suffered a concussion that eventually prompted his retirement.
AUGUST 7, 2008 - 9:21 PM
Former Alaska Aces goaltender Kris Tebbs, who flourished with the Texas Wildcatters after the Aces cut him loose in late January, has signed with the Corpus Christi IceRays of the Central Hockey League.
Tebbs, who turned 27 today, went 2-2-1 for the Aces with a 3.98 goals-against average and .873 save percentage. With Texas, he went 11-3-2 with a 2.28 and .923.
But here's something that slipped past me (at least I don't remember it) last season. Between Alaska and Texas, Tebbs played one game with the Mississippi River Kings of the CHL and surrendered six goals on 14 shots in 31+ minutes of a 10-3 loss to Tulsa.
AUGUST 7, 2008 - 7:41 PM
The first time I met Regg Simon, the former UAA captain the school hired as an assistant coach on Thursday, I remember thinking: That's a pretty sharp guy, and more mature than I'll ever be. It was 1996. Regg was 20. I was 35.
In any event, in Regg's five years at UAA -- he sat out one season after yet another shoulder surgery, the third on his right side -- I always found him thoughtful, the kind of guy who could look at things from several sides, which is a rare quality in someone so young.
Whenever I think about Regg, I usually think about a game in 2000 that proved his smarts. (Well, that, and the paint in my condo. Full disclosure: After Regg graduated from UAA, his playing career over, he went on a long trip and when he returned to Anchorage, he was looking for work before deciding his career path. We bumped into each other at Barnes & Noble. He mentioned he painted houses. I mentioned I had just bought a condo that needed painting. I hired him, gave him some house keys and went on a trip of my own while he did the work, and did it well. Win-win).
AUGUST 6, 2008 - 4:31 PM
A year ago, former UAA Seawolves defenseman Chad Anderson didn't even have a deal secured for his rookie season of pro hockey. All he had was an invite to the Philadelphia Flyers' rookie camp.
But Anderson parlayed strong play in that camp into a deal with the Philadelphia Phantoms, the Flyers' affiliate in the American Hockey League.
And after a terrific showing for the Phantoms, Anderson has parlayed that success into a one-year, two-way deal with the Montreal Canadiens for the upcoming season. Anderson, 26, will likely end up with the Hamilton Bulldogs, Montreal's affiliate in the 'A.'
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