Surely, Frank Doyle will start in goal for the Alaska Aces tonight, when they entertain the Bakersfield Condors in the opener of a three-game series at Sullivan Arena.

And it wouldn't be a surprise if Doyle started all three games -- the teams play again Friday and Saturday, so he can use Thursday as a day of rest. (UPDATE: By the way, Doyle today was named the ECHL Goaltender Of The Month, and the stats below show why.)

But there seems to be a little static out there in the Cowbell Crew community of club supporters that wonders why Doyle, who has shored up the ECHL team's goaltending, doesn't start every game.

Well, mostly, it would be stupid.

Take last Sunday's game at Stockton, in which backup Scott Reid played while Doyle served as backup. To start Doyle would not have been prudent for several reasons: The Aces were playing their third game in three days and fourth in five days; there was only a 21-hour turnaround between games; Doyle already had started three games in four days; the team hopped on a bus after Saturday night's game in Ontario and made the six-hour trip to Stockton, arriving about 4:30 a.m. for a 4 p.m. face-off; playing Doyle would have been inviting injury.

Reid has only made one other start for the Aces since Doyle's arrival, and I think Doyle may have even had a tweeky groin back then.

Yes, I understand Doyle is 7-2-2 with a 2.21 goals-against average and .932 save percentage since joining the Aces in a New Year's Day trade -- spectacular numbers to be sure. But, look, counting his first start for the Aces on Jan. 3, he's played 11 of the club's 13 games -- that's 84.6 percent. And that's a heavy workload, and right about at the maximum, even considering Doyle seems like a guy who is very detail-oriented in his training and conditioning. Consider, too, that Doyle has faced an average of 33.4 shots per start (slightly below the 34.09 Aces opponents average this season, which puts Alaska fourth-worst in the league in that category).

Goaltending is the game's most dynamic position physically, and it's most demanding mentally. Even the best goalies need an occasional break, if not for their bodies, then for their minds.

By comparison, Jean-Philippe Lamoureux played in 51 of the Aces 72 games last season -- 70.8 percent. The minutes played leaders in the ECHL this season -- Ontario's Curtis Darling, Bako's Timo Pielmeier and Las Vegas' Michael Ouzas -- have played in between 79.6 and 81.0 percent of their teams' games.

Granted, the NHL's busiest goalies play even more -- Martin Brodeur has started 92.7 percent of New Jersey's games this season and Los Angeles Jonathan Quick checks in at 91.1 percent. But you really can't compare the NHL and ECHL. For starters, NHL clubs never play three games in three days -- I'm pretty sure that's prohibited in the collective bargaining agreement. Also, NHL teams usually fly chartered planes -- no six-hour bus rides in the world's best league. They also have a crew of trainers and strength and conditioning coaches, stay in four-star hotels on the road and have their every whim catered -- none of those things are available in the ECHL, which often has three-in-three sequences to hold down expenses and make scheduling easier.

In any event, you've got to play your backup goalie at least occasionally, both to keep him even moderately sharp and also to prepare for circumstances. Hey, goalies get injured, too.

The way the Aces' schedule looks, there will be at least a few more times Doyle is likely to get a game off. The Aces play three-in-three against visiting Las Vegas on Feb. 19-21, with the finale a late-afternoon matinee. They also play three-in-three at Las Vegas on March 18-20. And they play three-in-four in Victoria next week, with the Sunday game being a 1 p.m. PST start, so that's another possibility for Reid to spell Doyle.

If we figure Reid plays those three games before season's end -- and let's throw in another one or two just to be safe -- Doyle still will have started 33 or 34 of the final 40 games of the season. That works out to between 82.5 percent and 85.0 percent of those starts, which is pretty much pushing the envelope.

And, hey, who knows what happens in the last week of the season, when the Aces have four homes games in five nights? There might be more opportunity for Doyle to rest a bit heading into the playoffs. If the Aces' playoff seed is assured and they cannot improve it in that last week, he would probably get at least one extra game off. Of course, the way this season is going for the Aces, there's no guarantee the Aces won't be fighting for their playoff lives at that point, in which case all bets are off.