adn_aces's blog

Center Scott Gomez of Anchorage has been the subject of trade rumors countless times in his hockey career -- today, they came true.

The New York Rangers shipped Gomez, the best and most decorated hockey player in Alaska history, to the Montreal Canadiens in a seven-player deal that essentially gives the Canadiens a jump on the free-agent market -- NHL free agents can sign beginning Wednesday.

Gomez is 2007 was signed as a free agent by the Rangers after seven seasons, and two Stanley Cups, with the New Jersey Devils. The Rangers signed him to a 7-year, $51.5-million deal.

Gomez last season earned 16-42--58 totals in 70 games.

USA Hockey today released the list of its 34 invitees to a 2010 Olympic Orientation camp next month in Woodbridge, Ill. -- no surprise, center Scott Gomez of Anchorage received an invitation.

Gomez, 29, plays for the New York Rangers, and the 2006 U.S. Olympian is among 19 forwards invited to the prelude to team selection for the Games in Vancouver.

Gomez earned 1-4--5 totals in six games at the 2006 Olympics. He also has represented the U.S. in the World Cup and World Junior Championship.

Gomez last season racked 16-42--58 totals in 77 NHL games.

The ECHL today released information on next season's playoff format, and it included intriguing changes in the National Conference, which includes the Alaska Aces.

With the National Conference down to eight teams after Phoenix folded, the top seven teams will make the playoffs next season, and the top team will receive a first-round bye. The remaining six teams will play best-of-5 series in the first round -- No. 2 vs. No. 7, No. 3 vs. No. 6 and No. 4 vs. No. 5 -- with the conference champ playing the winner of the 4-5 series in the best-of-7 second round. (This past season, all four first-round series were best-of-7 and there was no bye).

Looks like Ty Conklin of Anchorage is out as the Detroit Red Wings' backup to goaltender Chris Osgood, but expect Conklin to find a new hockey home in the NHL sometime soon -- he's a free agent who can be signed later this week.

The Red Wings intend to promote Jimmy Howard to the big club, which leaves Conklin, who is coming off a career season, to land somewhere else.

The Detroit Free Press reported the news here.

Conklin, 33, has been with the Stanley Cup runners-up two years running -- Detroit this season and Pittsburgh in 2008. He has played for five NHL teams -- Detroit, Pittsburgh, Buffalo, Columbus and Edmonton.

Winger Spencer Bennett, scheduled to join UAA for the 2010-11 season, today was selected by the Calgary Flames in the fifth round of the NHL entry draft in Montreal.

Bennett, 18, last season earned 20-21--41 totals in 60 games for the Surrey Eagles of the British Columbia Hockey League.

Calgary drafted Bennett 141st overall with the 20th pick of the fifth round.

Bennett is 6-3, 185.

Defenseman William Wrenn of Anchorage was selected 43rd overall, the 13th pick of the second round, by the San Jose Sharks in the NHL entry draft today in Montreal.

That makes Wrenn, who is headed to the University of Denver, the fifth-highest draft pick in history among Alaskans.

The 6-foot-1, 190-pounder, who is 18, is viewed as a defensive defenseman with a bit of edge to his game. He has played the last two seasons in USA Hockey's National Team Development Program and captained the Americans to the World Under-18 championship earlier this year.

In 60 games this past season, Wrenn bagged 6-11--17 totals and 83 penalty minutes.

Our man Kevin Pates of the Duluth News-Tribune is reporting Nebraska-Omaha and Bemidji State will join the men's Western Collegiate Hockey Association beginning in 2010-11, bringing the number of teams in the conference that includes UAA to 12.

The league is expected to announce the additions in a telephone news conference later today.

Guess that means UAF will remain in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association.

You can check out Pates' report here.

In other news, looks like UAA has secured another recruit, this one left wing Scott Allen from the Spruce Grove Saints of the Alberta Junior Hockey League. That news comes courtesy of Chris Heisenberg’s recruiting site.

Congrats to former UAA and Alaska Aces winger Justin Bourne, who today got engaged.

And his gal, Brianna, is from all indications -- back-channel reports I've received from various sources, photos, etc. -- way out of Justin's league, so cool for him. She's the daughter of former Islanders stud Clark Gillies and he's the son of former Islanders stud Bob Bourne, so breeding potential looks strong.

In any event, Justin, who suffered a broken jaw last season at Sullivan Arena and has basically hung up his blades, isn't just through as a player, but as a playah, as well. (Is that even how you spell playah? Like I would know. I'm a thousand years old. Besides, Bourne evidently velcroed himself to Bri when these childhood friends reconnected, so I don't think he really had any "game'' to begin with).

Not that this comes as a surprise because Alaska Aces defenseman Matt Shasby of Eagle River had said this past season was likely his last as a pro, but Shasby confirmed today he's done.

In typical Shasby fashion -- ever glib -- he said he wouldn't call it a retirement because no one really retires from minor league hockey because there's really no paperwork to complete: "I don't believe you can retire from minor pro hockey -- you just kind of do something else.''

Shasby, who played the final four campaigns of his six-season pro career for the Aces, also played four years at UAA. He already has a history degree from UAA and is working toward acquiring his teaching certificate and getting into his second career.

Ten Alaska girls will attend USA Hockey Select Camps later this month and in July.

What does it mean? Means they're pretty good.

Here's the list:

16-17 Camp, St. Cloud, Minn., June 26-July 2: Forwards Zoe Hickel, Jordan Smelker and Kaitlyn Harding of Anchorage; forward Katherine Burns and defensemen Kiana Nauheim and Dana Colang, all of Fairbanks.

14-15 Camp, Rochester, N.Y., July 22-28: Forward Bailey Wright of Anchorage and defensemen Tori Hickel and Abby Gahm of Anchorage; goaltender Ashley Wilkes of Fairbanks.

We're slowing down the blog for the summer while the typist takes some time off and hopes the newspaper actually still exists when he returns to work, though we thought we'd pass along a couple of tidbits in the interim.

First, defenseman William Wrenn of Anchorage, headed to the University of Denver in the fall, is one of 43 invitees to USA Hockey's National Junior Evaluation Camp, Aug. 7-15, in Lake Placid, N.Y. That means he's a candidate for the 2010 World Junior team. Wrenn most recently played in USA Hockey's National Team Development Program and helped the Americans win the world Under-18 tournament.

All in all, this was a pretty sweet hockey season for former UAA Seawolves center Jay Beagle -- he made his NHL debut and Friday night won his second championship as a professional.

Beagle's Hershey Bears captured the American Hockey League's Calder Cup with a 4-1 win at Manitoba. That's Beagle's second Cup -- he won an ECHL Kelly Cup with the Idaho Steelheads in 2007 after leaving UAA following his sophomore season to turn pro.

Beagle this season played three regular-season NHL games for the Washington Capitals and appeared in four Stanley Cup games for the club.

Surely, you puckheads are not already jonesing for more pucks just one week after the Alaska Aces' season ended.

But in the event you are, check out the 2009-10 schedule released today and realize the season is a mere four months away.

I'm taking some time off, so I didn't peruse this schedule much, except to note 14 of the first 22 games are roadies. That's followed by 13 of the next 17 at home; nine of the following 12 on the road; and 12 of the last 21 at home. There's a New Year's Eve home match in there, too.

HOME GAMES AT SULLIVAN ARENA ARE IN CAPS.

OCTOBER
16 -- VICTORIA
17 -- VICTORIA

Nothing much to report from the Alaska Aces' side of things at the morning skate entering tonight's Game 7 of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals against the South Carolina Stingrays.

Aces rookie goaltender Jean-Philippe Lamoureux didn't take the morning skate at Sullivan Arena -- that's not ususual; late in this season, he often has skipped the skate the morning of a second game in two nights.

The only other absence was winger Lance Galbraith, who took a nap in the training room and pronounced his 20-minute siesta a success.

Less than eight hours until the last game of the season.

Enjoy.

You know the drill.

Have at it.

Alaska Aces veteran defenseman Matt Shasby will be back on the blue line tonight for Game 6 of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals against the South Carolina Stingrays.

Aces coach Keith McCambridge confirmed Shasby's return after the club wrapped its morning skate at Sullivan Arena a few minutes ago.

Shasby, the alternate captain who was second-team All-ECHL this season, was a healthy scratch in Alaska's season-saving 3-2 overtime win in Game 3 in South Carolina last Saturday night. Nick Tuzzolino filled Shasby's spot in the lineup in that match and furnished an assist.

The Stingrays lead 3-2 in the best-of-7 finale.

Look, most of you play well with others and it's much appreciated, so let's try to keep it civil as you throw down your predictions for Thursday night's Game 6 of the Kelly Cup Finals between the South Carolina Stingrays and Alaska Aces (Stingrays lead 3-2 in the best-of-7 finale).

And, remember, if it's not obvious to you who the occasionaly donkeys are in these back-and-forths between Aces and Stingrays fans, it's a safe bet you are one of them.

In the words of Abraham Lincoln: "Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."

Oh, and enjoy Game 6.

Just got word from the Alaska Aces that a new calculation of seating capacity at Sullivan Arena for playoff games discovered an additional 14 seats, which makes seating capacity 6,410 and standing-room-only capacity (that's an additional 200 tickets) 6,610. (Um, I'm gonna take a flyer and say those extras already are spoken for, since Thursday's Game 6 of the Kelly Cup Finals sold out at about 11 a.m. Monday.)

So that means Game 6's announced crowd will be 6,610 -- the largest crowd to see a hockey game at Sullivan -- and not the 6,596 previously announced.

That is all.

Overall, the Alaska Aces' record-setting, penalty-killing unit has been dinged by South Carolina's potent power play in the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals, but the Aces' short-handed crew at least is on the right track.

After surrendering a power-play strike to the Stingrays in each of the first four games of the Finals, the Aces have killed the Stingrays' last nine power-play chances. Still, South Carolina's league-leading 21.4-percent power-play efficiency in the playoffs includes a 23.6-percent success ratio against the Aces. (South Carolina in the regular season was fractionally second on the circuit in power-play efficiency at 22.0 percent).

These things happen, and it's a drag -- South Carolina Stingrays rookie forward Nikita Kashirsky will be the rest of the ECHL Kelly Cup Finals with a broken jaw.

Kashirsky suffered the injury in Game 5 Saturday night when he was hit by Aces captain Scott Burt in front of the benches at the red line at North Charleston Coliseum. Replays showed Burt got Kashirsky with his shoulder -- clean hit, tough break.

For more on the aftermath, check out my man Andrew Miller’s story here in the Pos