Kalamazoo ends Alaska’s post-season unbeaten streak

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – The Kalamazoo Wings breathed a sigh of relief, becoming the first team to put a crack in the hitherto invincible armor of the Alaska Aces, winning 4-1 on Wednesday night. The Aces were 10-0 in the postseason coming into game three of the best-of-seven Kelly Cup final series.
“It felt good to score first and then it felt good to get a win against them and get ourselves back in this series,” K-Wings Head Coach Nick Bootland said after the victory.
It was the first time Kalamazoo managed a consistent offensive effort against the Aces after getting shutout in game one and held scoreless for most of game two, thanks mostly to the efforts of Aces goaltender Gerald Coleman.
Coleman held a league-best 1.09 goals against average and 0.958 save percentage coming into game three.
“We know it’s not going to be any different the next time we play him. We know he’s going to play outstanding again. You look at the goals tonight, it wasn’t because he was bad,” Bootland said.
Tonight, the K-Wings managed to slip three goals past Coleman before adding the empty netter and avoided going down 3-0 in the series.
“I think it’s important that we regroup,” Aces Head Coach Brent Thompson said. “We’re in the playoffs, we’re in the finals. It’s a situation that we take one day at a time. We learn from some of the things that went on in this game and we move forward.”
Andrew Fournier scored the game winner for Kalamazoo, deflecting in a shot from defenseman AJ Thelen for his fifth goal of the playoffs. Journeyman Brian McGuirk scored Kalamazoo’s third goal early in the third period andclaimed first star honors. The tic-tac-toe scoring play energized the crowd and spurred Kalamazoo’s momentum for the rest of the game.
“I think Brian McGuirk is a playoff-style player. It suits him really well. Even in our short go last year, he was one of our better forwards. He’s physical, he’s tenacious, and he really cares about this club,” Bootland said.
Kalamazoo came out firing in the first period, peppering Coleman with 19 shots and showing how happy they were to be back home in Michigan.
“It’s good to get back to our arena,” K-Wings goaltender Ryan Nie said. “They’re used to playing on a big surface and there’s really nowhere to go out there on our ice.”
Thompson didn’t feel the smaller ice surface played a big role.
“I think things happen quicker for sure and the boards are lively. It makes for a very fast and exciting hockey game, that’s for sure,” he said. “I thought the first ten minutes, the first fifteen minutes we took a little bit of time to adjust to it with their tempo and their speed… but there’s no excuses. We don’t use that as an excuse and we don’t really think that it should be.”
Nie made 33 saves and earned second star honors.
“I knew I had to step up if I wanted to come out with a win. I knew we weren’t going to get that many goals against them. So, that’s the only way we’re going to win games– if I step up and make sure we don’t let in as many as they do,” Nie said.
Defeseman Mitch Versteeg scored Kalamazoo’s first goal almost five minutes into the game after capitalizing on two key turnovers by the Aces in the offensive zone. Aces forward Dan Kissel tied the score at 1-1 with only 1:07 left to play in the period.
The Aces have held the K-Wings to zero goals on 10 power play chances through the first three games of the series. Kalamazoo’s power play is currently second-overall in the post-season at 27.4-percent and finished second-overall in the regular season at 23-percent.
Game four is Friday night in Kalamazoo.
Contact Ryan.Loren@prohockeynews.com