Kalamazoo Wings vs. Alaska Aces preview

KALAMAZOO, Mich. – Over 3500 miles separate Wings Stadium in Kalamazoo, Michigan from Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska. The Kalamazoo Wings plan to make the trip – along with the four-hour time difference – to face off in the Kelly Cup Finals against the Alaska Aces.
Kalamazoo hasn’t played a game against Alaska since the 2009 preseason when they split a pair of games with the Aces in Anchorage. In fact, the K-Wings haven’t traveled outside the Eastern Time Zone once this season.
Head coach Nick Bootland knows his team faces a mountainous challenge.
“I read an article once that Joe Sakic used to keep himself on the same clock no matter where he was. Maybe that’s something I might try. We might be sleeping at weird hours of the day but we might try that because we’re only up there for four days,” he said.
Kalamazoo’s first game is Saturday, with a start time of 11:15 p.m. for all fans in the Eastern Time Zone, but for the K-Wings, they’re just happy to be there at all.
Since joining the ECHL in the 2009-10 season, Kalamazoo has rattled off two-straight North Division titles. Last year they were ousted in the first round of the playoffs by the Reading Royals. Even for the team veterans – like leading scorer Trent Daavettila – this year’s playoff run is pretty special.
“It’s a great feeling for me. I’ve never been this deep in the playoffs in my life, or in this type of situation. So, I’m just enjoying the moment,” he said.
The K-Wings started the playoffs on a sour note, dropping a 2-1 decision to the Florida Everblades in game one of the best-of-five first round series. Seven straight wins later, the K-Wings found themselves in the Eastern Conference Finals – including revenge on the Royals with a four-game sweep in the semifinal round.
But Wheeling fought harder than expected.
“[Wheeling] is a great team. They’ve got big, strong forwards and they block shots. It seems like they pay a price everywhere on the ice,” Daavettila said. “They were just a really tough, solid team.”
The Nailers won seven of their last 10 regular season games to finish second in the North Division behind the K-Wings. Last season, the Nailers finished fourth in the division and missed the playoffs entirely.
“What this group went through… we had 18 players play 299 games in the American Hockey League this year we sent a lot of guys up there that never even came back and we’re proud of that development part of our team. We really preach that within our organization and our structure. My guys have worked their tails off. I have a fantastic group of young men in there,” Wheeling Head Coach Stan Drulia said.
In the semifinals, the Nailers struggled with the Greenville Road Warriors – a team they finished 0-6 against in the regular season. Wheeling defeated in the Road Warriors in a pivotal game seven to earn the right to face the streaking K-Wings in the conference finals.
Kalamazoo and Wheeling played nine games during the regular season with Kalamazoo coming out on top, winning five games.
The Nailers were determined to make this series just as close.
After three games, the Nailers held a 2-1 advantage, but a long series and long games (five overtime victories in 17 post-season games) finally took their toll on the young team.
“ We ran out of gas. We’ve had a lot of travel, our guys are a pretty beat up group and we’re a pretty young group,” Drulia said.
Kalamazoo outscored Wheeling in game’s five and six by a combined score of 10-1, including the 6-1 knockout blow on Tuesday night.
“The adversity that we battled through being down 2-1, we showed the character that’s in this locker room and that should help us down the stretch,” Bootland said.
Almost two weeks have elapsed since the Aces defeated the Victoria Salmon Kings in the Western Conference Finals and Kalamazoo knows they won’t be able to take advantage of a tired team.
But after a first round bye and two consecutive series sweeps, maybe the Aces have had too much time off.
Said Daavettila: “We’re a little bit more battle-tested in a sense. We’ve played more games and been in little bit tighter series’, but it does say something when they haven’t had to have a tight series yet. So, it will be interesting to see how it goes.”
Kalamazoo hopes the success of their second-ranked power play (31.7-percent) overcomes the strength of Alaska’s league-best penalty kill (96.0-percent). For that to happen, Kalamazoo’s top scorers will need to continue to light the lamp.
Daavettila (21 points), Sam Ftorek (17 points), and Andrew Fournier (16 points) are 1-2-3 in the post-season scoring race while rookie Justin Taylor leads all players in goals scored with nine.
The players know those stats can be deceiving though.
Forward Wes Goldie leads the Aces in scoring in the regular season and finished second in the league behind Justin Donati of the Elmira Jackals. His 46 regular season goals were a league-high.
Through the Aces’ eight game playoff run, Goldie has one goal and nine assists. Teammate Scott Howes leads the Aces and is currently fourth overall with seven goals and eight assists through eight games.
The real key for the K-Wings will be getting pucks behind Alaska goaltender Gerald Coleman. His 1.14 goals against average, 0.954 save percentage, and two shutouts lead all playoff goaltenders.
Game one is Saturday night in Alaska at 11:15 p.m. EST with game two on Sunday night at the same time. Game’s three, four, and five (if needed) will be played in Kalamazoo starting on Wednesday, April 18 at 7 p.m. EST. Contact Ryan.Loren@prohockeynews.com
Contact the photographer at Larry.Burdick@prohockeynews.com