adn_aces's blog

John Lammers bagged two goals and two helpers tonight in the Alaska Aces' 5-2 ECHL win at Las Vegas.

He scored both goals in a 2-1 win over Victoria on Monday.

He scored the last goal in a 5-3 win over Victoria on Saturday.

He had a hand in seven consecutive Aces goals over three games.

Um, not to put to fine a point on it, but, ah, any chance an American Hockey League team poaches Lammers' services soon? After all, the center is on an ECHL contract, so he's a free agent for any AHL team.

Place your bets here.

The UAA Seawolves may have to go with just five defensemen -- the usual complement is six -- again this weekend in facing No. 2-ranked and visiting North Dakota.

Senior defenseman Nils Backstrom remains out while recovering from an offseason wrist injury. Senior blueliner Trevor Hunt, recovering from offseason wrist surgery but practicing with limited contact this week, is listed as questionable by coach Dave Shyiak. And junior defenseman Luka Vidmar, out with a groin/hip injury, is listed as doubtful by Shyiak.

Backstrom and Hunt have missed all four UAA games this season, and Vidmar sat out Saturday's 5-3 loss to Robert Morris in Fairbanks, leaving the Seawolves with just five defensemen -- Jared Tuton, Kane Lafranchise, Curtis Leinweber, Lee Baldwin and Drew Darwitz.

Jeff Earnest, an 18-year-old forward from these parts -- his hometown is listed as Whittier, where his father, Mark is city manager -- has committed to join UAF for the 2011-12 season.

Jeff Earnest currently is a rookie for the Prince George Spruce Kings of the British Columbia Hockey League. In 14 games, he has earned 3-3--6 totals.

"This is absolutely perfect for me," Earnest said in a Spruce Kings press release. "I will be playing in my home state close to my family and friends for a school that has one of the best, if not the best, engineering degree programs. And the hockey is good too."

UAA's upcoming series against visiting and No. 2-ranked North Dakota -- the WCHA series is Friday and Saturday nights at Sullivan Arena -- presents a couple ways for kids to get in free and an opportunity for Fighting Sioux alumni to mix with their brethren.

Also, we'll tell you how very young youth teams can help sell jersey raffle tickets at UAA games.

First, check it out: UAA is promoting Green & Gold Fridays and Youth Jersey Saturdays. Kids who wear UAA colors of green and gold to Friday home games can get up to complimentary general admission tickets for kids 12 and younger when accompanied by a paying adult. Same drill holds on Saturdays for kids who wear youth hockey sweaters (Youth Sweater Saturdays rings sweeter).

The Alaska Aces will be without a couple of regular forwards in their three-game series that starts Thursday in Las Vegas -- the ECHL today suspended left winger Lance Galbraith for three games and rookie center Chris Morehouse for one, and fined them the usual "undisclosed amount.''

Both were suspended for their "actions'' in Monday's 2-1 win over visiting Victoria -- there was a near bench-clearing brawl at the end of the second period.

Morehouse and Victoria center Olivier Filion exchanged words, and Filion and Aces captain Scott Burt fought. Aces winger Lance Galbriath and Victoria's Chad Painchaud fought. Galbraith and Painchaud were issued game misconducts and Burt a misconduct, and Burt, Filion, Galbraith and Painchaud were all issued fighting majors -- Galbraith and Painchaud's fight started after the Filion-Burt bout. Morehouse was not penalized -- at least until now.

Now is as good a time as any to check up on some former Alaska Aces playing in other leagues, and we begin with wingers Charles Linglet and 2006 Kelly Cup winner Chris Minard, who now earn their paychecks with the Springfield Falcons in the American Hockey League.

Linglet leads the Falcons in scoring and is tied for ninth on the circuit one step below the NHL with 3-6--9 totals and a +2 rating in seven games. Minard, who has played in the NHL each of the previous two seasons, is just a notch behind at 3-5--8, which ties him for 11th in the league in points. He's also +2. Another former Ace, winger Ryan MacMurchy, is also in Springfield -- he hasn't scored a point in six games, and is -2.

All-tournament teams are dicey things. Guys who get multiple points often get on the squad, even if they really didn't play that great overall. The votes are usually tabulated with 10 minutes to go in the final game, so the Most Valuable Player or Most Outstanding Player awards are especially a crapshoot, particularly if the final game is tied or close with those 10 minutes to go. The media vote -- and, frankly, sometimes we don't do that great a job.

The Brice Alaska Goal Rush tournament that concluded Saturday in Fairbanks contained some curiosities.

First, UAF center Dion Knelsen was named MVP. He had one assist in two games and had the winning shootout goal after a 1-1 tie with Rensselaer on Saturday, but was also -3 in two games, albeit with 10 shots. The Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Knelsen wore an "expression of shock'' when his award was announced. I'll bet -- the players know as well as anyone who deserves hardware.

The Alaska Aces' Cowbell Crew -- aka the folks in the seats at Sullivan Arena -- have many opinions. I know this because they share. And share. And share. And sometimes share things I find interesting, or, you know, call me when I'm home trying to relax

You know who you are -- especially you, KD-L. :)

Anyhow, no doubt many of you have come to some conclusions already, even though the Aces have played exactly one game, tonight's 2-1 win over the Victoria Salmon Kings, courtesy of rookie Jack Combs' goal with 56.3 seconds left, rookie Chris Morehouse's short-handed strike and goaltender Sebastian Dahm's 30 saves.

Let's take an abbreviated lap around the Lower 48 rinks tonight -- abbreviated because we encountered some wireless woes at the Sullivan Arena tonight before and during the Alaska Aces' 2-1 season-opening win over Victoria and, well, we're a bit of a mental midget and want to get home.

In any event, congrats to former UAA and East High forward Eric Walsky, who not only bagged his first pro goal tonight, but added a helper, too, to give the Manitoba Moose a 3-2 American Hockey League victory at Lake Erie.

Elsewhere in the 'A,' former UAA center Paul Crowder scored a goal and rifled a team-high five shots for Hartford in a 6-3 loss at Portland. Former UAA center Jay Beagle scored Hershey's only goal in a 2-1 loss at Adirondack. And former UAF blueliner Tyler Eckford cashed in for a G for Lowell in a 4-2 loss at Providence.

The ECHL sent out season-opening rosters today and a quick glance at the list, by my count at least, found 18 Alaska connections (not counting the Aces, of course).

Here goes:

Bakersfield Condors: Former UAF foward Adam Naglich.

Cincinnati Cyclones: Former Aces head cracker Hans Benson; former (as is, way, way back in the day) UAF defenseman Dwayne Zinger (on IR).

Elmira Jackals: Former UAA defenseman Mat Robinson; former Aces goaltender Chris "Suitcase'' Holt (on IR).

Florida Everblades: Former Aces blueliner and league Defenseman of the Year Peter Metcalf; former Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu; former UAF forward Ryan Lang (on IR).

Returning center Luke Erickson -- gone.

Sort-of-returning goaltender Kevin Nastiuk -- gone.

Sort-of-returning defenseman Alexander Hellstrom -- really gone, since he's apparently eventually headed back to Sweden.

Today at 11 a.m. ADT was the ECHL deadline for teams to submit their season-opening rosters, and the Alaska Aces released Erickson and Nastiuk and saw Hellstrom reassigned.

Erickson last season bagged 21 goals for the Aces and was the league's deadliest shootout sniper (5 attempts, 5 goals), but didn't fit in first-year coach Brent Thompson's plans. With John Lammers penciled in as the No. 1 center and Alexandre Imbeault as No. 2 center, Thompson said he didn't see Erickson as a No. 3, or checking line, center.

Former Alaska Aces goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu, who helped them to the 2006 Kelly Cup, has been assigned to ECHL Florida from Rochester of the American Hockey League.

Becks last season split his time between Rochester and ECHL Florida and Phoenix.

In other ECHL happenings, the Wheeling Nailers released defenseman Nathan Schwartzbauer of Wasilla. Schwartzbauer last season earned 1-11--12 totals in 72 games with ECHL Dayton.

The Alaska Aces have added rookie right wing Anthony Peluso, who was assigned to them from Peoria of the American Hockey League.

He'll likely only be here a couple of weeks as a result of the affiliation trickle-down -- the parent St. Louis Blues sent former Aces forward D.J. King to Peoria on a two-week conditioning stint as he returns from injury, so Peoria sent Peluso this way.

Judging by his resume, the 6-foot-4, 234-pound Peluso is a mix of some skill and some muscle. In the Ontario Hockey League last season, the sixth-round draft pick earned 20-17--37 totals in 63 regular-season games, with 125 penalty minutes that included seven fighting majors.

Former Alaska Aces goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux made his first appearance in the American Hockey League today, and it went like a lot of his games as a rookie last season in the ECHL -- he didn't permit his opponents a sniff.

Lamoureux came on in relief of Jhonas Enrath for the Portland Pirates a little more than halfway through their 4-0 loss to Lowell and stopped all 18 shots he faced in nearly 28 minutes of action.

Lamoureux last season was the ECHL's Goaltender of the Year, set a regular-season record with eight shutouts and backstopped the Aces to the Kelly Cup Finals. In the offseason, he signed an NHL deal with the Buffalo Sabres.

Winger William Rapuzzi of Anchorage rocked his college debut tonight for Colorado College, racking one goal and one assist, and being named first star of the game in a 4-2 win over visiting Northeastern.

Rapuzzi, playing the right side on the Tigers' top line, fired two shots and bagged a +2 rating.

The numbers game just became more simplified for the Alaska Aces -- wingers Justin Johnson and Jason Ryznar are each headed for the injured reserve list.

Each player broke his hand in Thursday night's 2-1 exhibition victory over the Kalamazoo Wings at Sullivan Arena.

Johnson broke his left hand in a first-period fight and Ryznar broke his left hand blocking a shot while killing a penalty in the third period.

Aces coach Brent Thompson said Johnson is expected to be out six weeks and Ryznar is expected to be out 3-5 weeks.

Also, the Aces released rookie defenseman Shaden Moore.

By my count, the Aces now have 13 healthy forwards, 9 healthy defensemen and three healthy goaltenders for a total of 25 players (not counting JJ and Ryznar). They need to be down to 23 by season's start next Friday.

Former UAF winger Kyle Greentree, who has four NHL games under his belt and has flourished in the American Hockey League, has been traded for the second time.

The Calgary Flames traded Greentree, 25, to the Chicago Blackhawks in exchange for defenseman Aaron Johnson. Greentree had been with AHL Abbotsford, which has not played a game, and since the trade has been assigned to AHL Rockford.

Greentree, a third-year pro, last season racked 39-37--76 totals in 79 games for AHL Quad City. He also played two games for Calgary.

Out of college, Greentree signed with the Philadelphia Flyers. As a rookie, he played two games for the Flyers and earned 24-24--48 totals in 72 games for the AHL Philadelphia Phantoms.

Killing time here pre-game before the Alaska Aces-Kalamazoo Wings exhibition game, so here's Alaska's lines and pairings tonight:

Combs-Lammers-Colin Hemingway
Galbraith-Erickson-Stefanishion
Burt-Mazzolini-Brett Hemingway
Kana-Brosnihan-Johnson

Martin-Miller
Fast-Tuzzolino
Green-Moore

Not sure who is starting in goal, but sneaking a peak at Jack Michaels' notes up here in the "press box'' I think it's Kevin Nastiuk starting with Sebastian Dahm in reserve.

Erstwhile Alaska Aces winger Cam Keith, aka "The Big Rig,'' has started his debut season in Italy quite nicely.

Keith, the former UAF skater who last season helped the Aces to the Kelly Cup Finals and helped them win the Cup in 2006, is playing for Cortina in Serie A, and has racked 3-2--5 and +2 totals in two games. He scored two goals in the season opener, a 6-4 loss to Pontebba, and earned 1-2--3 and +1 totals in a 6-2 win over Ritten.

If electronic score sheets are to be believed, the crowds were underwhelming -- 816 at the first match, just 500 at the second. (Of course, as a reader smarter than I am pointed out, there are some very small rinks over there, so it could have been packed for all we know).

Matt Carle's evidently feeling it tonight in Philly.

Through two periods, the Flyers defenseman from Anchorage has racked four assists and Philly leads Washington, 4-3. He ain't the only dude going off -- Philly center Mike Richards already has a hat trick and Caps winger Alexander Ovechkin has bagged a couple goals. Both those guys have five goals this season, and each is playing in just his third game of the season.

(UPDATE: The Flyers won 6-5 in OT. Carle's four assists in the second period set a Philadelphia team record and tied the NHL record for assists by a defenseman in a period,