Alaska Aces defenseman B.J. Crum will sit out Friday's series opener against the Idaho Steelheads after the ECHL suspended him one game and fined him the usual "undisclosed amount'' for a third-period charging major and game misconduct he received in Saturday night's 6-3 loss at Las Vegas.

Crum ran into Wranglers goaltender Michael Ouzas midway through the period and got the gate. Later, Ouzas went snap-city when Aces captain Scott Burt was assessed a goalie interference penalty and Ouzas got the gate for a match penalty (intent to injure). Ouzas racked a one-game suspension, too.

Looks like the Aces could be down to five defenseman for the series opener with Idaho, which has raced to a 5-0-0 start that ties for the best start in the league (Kalamazoo, Elmira are 5-0-0, too). But the Aces could have six D if Ryan Turek (shoulder) returns to the lineup.

Six games in, the Aces are in midseason suspension form with a total of five games via suspension -- three to winger Lance Galbraith and one each to Crum and rookie center Chris Morehouse.

That makes the Aces the ECHL leaders in suspensions in the early season -- their five games worth of suspensions (out of 15 games worth of suspensions to date) amounts to one-third of all suspensions the league has issued. Gwinnett has bagged four games worth (stemming from one preseason incident by one player, Dan Sullivan, for abuse of officials); Wheeling, Las Vegas and Victoria each have accounted for two games worth of suspensions.