Goaltender Stephon Williams of Fairbanks has one more hockey game left in his junior career -- the biggest one of all.

Williams stopped 21 shots tonight to backsto the Waterlook Black Hawks to a 5-3 victory over the Green Bay Gamblers, and that forces a decisive Game 5 Wednesday in Green Bay for the USHL's Clark Cup.

Williams, the former Alaska Player of the Year for Lathrop who is headed to Minnesota State-Mankato in the fall, in these playoffs is 10-4, with a 2.15 goals-against average,. 926 save percentage and one shutout.

Let's take a lap around the rinks.

The Florida Everblades went up 2-1 in the ECHL's best-of-7 Kelly Cup Finals tonight with a 4-3 overtime win against the visiting Las Vegas Wranglers -- Matt Marquardt, who Alaska Aces fans may remember helped eliminate that club in the first round in 2010, when he was with Stockton, authored the OT strike.

In the NHL, New York Rangers forward Brandon Dubinsky is back skating for the first time in nearly a month after being out with a lower-body injury. No word when he'll be ready to go, but it is at least encouraging he's back on blades.

Interesting move afoot in local youth hockey -- the Alaska Junior Aces will become a Tier I elite program offering AAA teams at the U-18, U-16 and U-14 levels, with coaches who have deep backgrounds in local pucks.

The aim of the program, said Jerry Mackie, one of the Alaska Aces' owners and a Jr. Aces board of directors member, is to get the best Alaska players in these age groups all playing together to drive their development and compete nationally.

The ECHL, which includes the Alaska Aces, added two more teams today when it announced the Fort Wayne Komets and Evansville IceMen, both of whom previously played in the Central Hockey League, have been approved as expansion members for the 2012-13 season.

With the previously announced addition of expansion teams in Orlando and San Francisco, plus the demise of the Chicago franchise after just one season, the ECHL will have 23 teams next season.

Tough exit for Team USA, which includes forwards Joey Crabb and Nate Thompson of Anchorage, today at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

The Americans fell 3-2 in the quarterfinals to the host Finns, who scored the game-winning strike with just 8.8 seconds left. Finland scored twice in the last seven minutes -- ouch.

Crabb had an assist on the game and was +1 with one shot in 13:44 of ice time. Thompson was -3 with one shot in 11:26.

UAA has added a local to its roster -- forward Bobby Murphy of Anchorage will join the Seawolves in the fall, according to Chris Heisenberg's recruiting site.

Murphy, 20, played the last two seasons with the Kenai River Brown Bears of the North American Hockey League.

Last season, he put up 10-19--29 and -4 totals in 47 regular-season games. In two seasons with Kenai, he played 102 regular-season games with 22-37--59 and -20 totals.

After the Las Vegas Wranglers landed the first blow in the ECHL's Kelly Cup Finals with Monday night's 2-1 series-opening win, the Florida Everblades answered tonight with a wicked counterattack to bag a 7-2 win in Game 2 of the best-of-7.

Man, Wranglers goaltender Joe Fallon must have looked mortal for a change. He gave up all seven goals, on just 28 shots.

And, not to put too fine a point on it, Las Vegas led 2-0 less than 16 minutes into the game before getting thoroughly whacked.

So, basically, the Everblades have stolen home-ice advantage. Game 3 is Friday in Florida.

The Las Vegas Wranglers racked their fifth straight win Monday night, beating the visiting Florida Everblades, 2-1, in the opener of the ECHL's Kelly Cup Finals.

Some usual suspects shined: Joe Fallon furnished 32 saves and Eric Lampe scored one goal and set up the other to give the Wranglers the win at Orleans Arena, where Game 2 is tonight.

Fallon in the playoffs is 7-1 with a 1.22 goals-against average and .955 save percentage. Lampe owns 7-11--18 totals in 14 playoff games.

Sunday brought the end of the line this season for defenseman William Wrenn of Anchorage and Josh Hanson of Eagle River -- their Portland Winterhawks team lost Game 7 of the Western Hockey League Finals, 4-1 at Edmonton.

Both Wrenn and Hanson played all 22 playoff games for the Winterhawks, and both went +4. Wrenn, a San Jose Sharks draft pick, had four assists.

Let's get caught up -- there's a bunch of playoffs going on, ya know.

In the AHL, former Alaska Aces bench boss and captain Keith McCambridge, now rookie bench boss of the St. John's IceCaps, has his club in the Eastern Conference Finals, which open Thursday at Norfolk. St. John's on Saturday beat Wilkes-Barre/Scranton 2-1 in Game 7 of that series to advance. Former UAA winger Kevin Clark is on the IceCaps -- he's played two games, no points, even rating, in these playoffs.

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs' defense of their 2011 Robertson Cup as champions of the North American Hockey League came to a close tonight with a 4-3 OT loss to Texas in the Robertson Cup semifinals in Frisco, Texas.

Texas scored 16:39 into OT.

Sunday, Ice Dogs forwards Gabe Levin and J.T. Osborn, and defenseman Sean O'Rourke, were all named to the All-NAHL team -- that's three of the six positions -- and Fairbanks' Rob Proffitt was named general manager of the year for the second straight season.

Texas will play St. Louis in the championship game.

Winger William Rapuzzi of Anchorage, who will be a senior in the fall, has been named captain at Colorado College in a unanimous vote by his teammates.

Rapuzzi, 22, last season earned 3-12--15 totals in 35 games, and in 109 career games for the Tigers owns 24-28--52 totals.

Also, defenseman William Wrenn of Anchorage, a San Jose Sharks draft pick who began a college career at Denver before heading to the Western Hockey League, is in the WHL Finals with the Portland Winterhawks, who own a 2-1 lead over Edmonton in the best-of-7 series entering Tuesday night's Game 4.

Waterloo goaltender Stephon Williams racked 29 saves tonight to spearhead a 6-2 win over Lincoln that gave the Black Hawks the Western Conference finals in four games -- the series was best-of-5 -- and deliver them into the U.S. Hockey League's Clark Cup Finals.

Williams didn't surrender a goal until the third period -- that, combined with his 5-0 win in Game 3, gave him a shutout streak to 98 minutes, 15 seconds. He's 8-2 in the playoffs, with a 2.21 goals-against average and .925 save percentage. Williams is headed to Minnesota State-Mankato in the fall.

Congrats to rookie defenseman Bryant Molle of Anchorage, who along with his Fort Wayne Komets teammates tonight captured the Central Hockey League's Presidents' Cup with a clinching 6-3 win over Wichita.

The Komets won the best-of-7 series in five games and went 12-6 in the playoffs. That run included a seven-game victory over Missouri in the previous round, when the Komets won Games 6 and 7 to advance to the Finals.

Molle played in 16 playoff games, with 1-4--5 totals after going 1-5--6 in 60 regular-season games.

After dropping their opener Thursday at the North American Hockey League's Robertson Cup, the defending champion Fairbanks Ice Dogs have racked two wins to advance to Monday's semifinals.

The Ice Dogs today beat Port Huron 4-3 after knocking off Amarillo 3-1 on Friday.

In the U.S. Hockey League, Waterloo goaltender Stephon Williams of Fairbanks bagged his first playoff shutout -- 23 saves -- tonight in a 5-0 win over visiting Lincoln that gives Waterloo a 2-1 edge in the best-of-5 entering Monday's Game 4 in Waterloo.

Just like the Las Vegas Wranglers dispatched the Alaska Aces in five games in the ECHL's Western Conference finals, the Florida Everblades tonight dismissed the Kalamazoo K-Wings (the club Alaska beat in five games in the Kelly Cup Finals last season) with a 3-1 victory that ended the Eastern Conference finals in five games.

So that makes Las Vegas-Florida in the best-of-7, Kelly Cup Finals.

Whoever wins that series will take home the first Cup in the franchise's history -- Las Vegas lost to Cincy in 2008, and Florida lost to Trenton in 2005 and Idaho in 2004.

Anchorage's Nate Thompson and Joey Crabb, friends since they were kids, helped Team USA beat Canada, 5-4 in OT, today at the World Championships in Helsinki, Finland.

Thompson's third-period goal off a primary assist from Crabb gave the Americans a 4-3 lead before Duncan Keith tied it late for Canada. Defenseman and team captain Jack Johnson scored his second goal of the game, 1:47 into extra time, to give the Americans the win.

Thompson, the Tampa Bay Lightning center, is an alternate captain for Team USA. He and Crabb, the Toronto Maple Leafs winger, were both +1 today.

Just a quick thought before settling into the couch for some quality Philly-New Jersey time on the first day of the "offseason'' following the Alaska Aces' elimination from the ECHL's Kelly Cup playoffs with Wednesday night's 3-1 loss to Las Vegas, which wrapped the Western Conference finals in five games.

In eight previous ECHL seasons, the 2011 Kelly Cup champion Aces have twice won the Cup, been beaten once in the Finals and three times lost in the playoffs to the eventual Cup winners. Also, in 2008, the Aces lost out to Las Vegas, which went to the Finals and lost to Cincy.

Defenseman Brian Cooper of Anchorage, headed to Nebraska-Omaha in the fall as a true freshman following three seasons in the USHL, is one of 105 players invited to NHL Central Scouting's Draft Combine, which begins later this month in Montreal.

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs, reigning Robertson Cup champs in the NAHL, lost their Cup opener today in Frisco, Texas, falling 3-1 to the St. Louis Bandits.

Tayler Munson scored just 35 seconds into the match for the Ice Dogs, who thereafter were held in check by St. Louis goaltendeer Spencer Viele (32 saves).

In other NAHL news, the Palmer-based Alaska Avalanche are history, now that the franchise has been acquired by Pennsylvania interests and will move to Johnstown. You get the details by clicking here.