ANCHORAGE Alaska – The Alaska Aces hosted the Rapid City Rush for the third time this weekend, but this time they weren’t as hospitable as they have been earlier in the week. The Rush took home big wins both Friday and Saturday nights, and Alaska was looking for some payback.
For Alaska, losing has been a theme lately. The Aces have lost the last ten home games (0-8-2), they are very close to losing their playoff spot, and Coach Murray lost his cool after the game last night.
On the way to the locker rooms after Saturday night’s game, Head Coach Rob Murray exchanged some words with a man over his bench. After a time, Murray headed back across the rink towards the gate and another man shouted some expletives at the coach. Murray headed into the stands apparently to confront the spectator, but was held back by his assistant coach and the angry fan was deterred by security.
Expecting ECHL sanctions, suspensions, or fines the Aces staff, press, and league employees were surprised to see that no punishment would be leveed against the veteran and AHL Hall of Fame coach. Coach Murray did not comment about the confrontations on Saturday.
The first period of action was all Alaska. The Aces gave rookie netminder Luke Siemens an intense warm-up in the first half of the period. Siemens’ first ECHL appearance between the pipes was Saturday night. His debut proved favorable and he earned the spot to open the game Sunday.
With over a dozen shots saved before the letting the first goal happen, Siemens kept the Rush in this game. That Aces goal came at 14:18 after a flurry of shots in the goalkeepers direction. Brad Nevin finally connected with the back of the net, and for the first time in a long while the Aces led a game in the first period.
The puck stayed in Siemens’ face right after play starts again as the Aces continued to put the pressure on. At 17:09, Tyler Shattock snapped one just under the crossbar in the left corner to make the score 2-0 Aces. The period ended with the Aces continuing to nag at the Rush defense, and the shots on goal for the first were at 18 for the Aces and 2 for Rapid City. Yes, that is correct: two shots on goal in the first.
The second period started off with a bang as Anchorage native for the Aces Chase Van Allen slammed the puck into the net in the first 16 seconds of the period, raising the lead to 3-0 Aces. The Rush finally made hash with their goose egg at 12:48 in the second period when Anthony Mastrodicasa, a rookie from Ontario nabbed his first goal of the season.
With a great push to the buzzer, Aces kept annoying the Rush goaltender. Siemens faced a puck which really had some mustard on it that was fired by Tim Coffman and then deflected out of the net from behind the goalie by the tip of Siemens’ stick handle. Maybe he got lucky, but surely he got the save of the game. The second ended with a score of 3-1 Aces and shots on goal 30-18 also Aces.
The third period began with another Anchorage native, Hunter Fejes who plays for the Rush, got a dirty goal behind Aces netminder Kevin Carr at 2:59. The Aces were unhappy and Shattock scored his second goal tonight a mere 16 seconds later. Shattock’s glove-side goal brought the score to Aces 4, Rush 2.
The rest of the third period was reduced to a game of keep away by Alaska. Even with pulling their goalie, the Rush could not catch the Aces on Sunday. The Rush have already missed their playoff ticket, and the Aces are still hanging on. On their last road trip next week, the Aces will face the Quad City Mallards and the Fort Wayne Komets. They return to the Sullivan arena for their very last regular season series on April 5th to host the Idaho Steelheads.
Contact the author at Liz.Ortiz@prohockeynews.com
Follow the author on Twitter @LizOrtizPHN or @prohockeynews
You must be logged in to post a comment.