ANCHORAGE, Alaska – The Alaska Aces hosted the Rapid City Rush at the Sullivan Arena for three games this weekend. Coming off of five consecutive losses to open their season, the Rush started the game on Friday night with a lot of emotion and gloves were dropped in the first 57-seconds of play. The Rush was skating and hitting hard, but could not get anything to connect and Alaska held Rapid City off for over seven minutes before allowing the opponents their first shot on goal.
The first two periods for the Aces were packed with fast skating, technical puck handling, excellent scoring chances, and good communication on the ice. By the end of the second, the score was 5-0 Aces advantage, and the shots on goal were 30-10. For the start of the third period the Rush changed goalies, but the Aces hammered in another goal at 1:10 for good measure.
The emotions ran higher, and the extra-curricular activities became more intense after the whistle. Aces forward Justin Breton got double-teamed into the boards behind the net and was slow to return to the bench. In retaliation, Aces defenseman Marc-Andre Levesque checked one of the defenders with a single, swift, slam to the ice which started a brawl. Once all of the players were detangled, and the penalties were distributed, the Rush found themselves with a man advantage.
The pendulum swung at the half way mark of the third when forward Lindsay Sparks of the Rush finally got the puck to the back of the Aces net on their first power play of the period. Exactly one minute later Rush forward Brenden Walker snuck the second goal past Aces netminder Michael Garteig. A third goal for the Rush at 18:51 brought the final score to Alaska Aces 6, Rapid City Rush 3.
The momentum stayed in Rapid City’s camp for the first two periods of Saturday night’s game. Donned in Day of the Dead technicolor jerseys, the Aces had about as much life in them as the skeletons stitched to their sweaters. The jerseys were exciting for the fans, but the announcers were having difficulty reading the Aces player’s numbers and they could have potentially been distracting to the players themselves.
The Rush scored three goals before the Aces finally lit the lamp early in the third period with an unassisted goal by center Tim Coffman. Kent Patterson, the goal tender for the Rush, kept the Aces out of the net for 28 of their 29 shots. Kevin Carr also stopped 28 shots, but let a total of five goals get past his glove and into the Aces net before the end of the game.
The Rush dominated the scoreboard in their second match-up of the weekend, but the action was much more even. The puck was back and forth across the neutral zone so often that it was similar to watching tennis. This was Rapid City’s first win of the season, and they kept the pedal to the metal for all 60 minutes.
Sunday afternoon brought the rubber match between the Alaska Aces and the Rapid City Rush. The Aces, still feeling the sting from Saturday’s loss, came out playing aggressively and Ryan Trenz gets one past Patterson just after the faceoff at 2:35 into the first period. Rush answers with a 3-on-1 breakaway, and confusion was caused at the net when a slow puck delivered by Rush forward Brayden Low snuck in under Aces goalie Garteig. The netminder thought he was sitting on the puck, and Low assumed it did not go in until the referee discovered the puck in the back of the net.
The Aces dominated the next five minutes, and veteran Tim Wallace scored his first for the season from the left of the circle. Emptying the net on a delayed penalty, and throughout the subsequent power play, the Aces hammered at Rush’s goal tender but nothing came to fruition. The Rush survived the penalty kill, and answered with a lucky loose puck that was flicked in my forward Ryan Misiak. Perfetto blasted a late goal at 18:50 in the first, and the score was Aces 3, Rush 2. Shots on goal for the Aces was 22, and the Rush had 12 for the period.
The Aces prevented the Rush from getting any shots on goal until after six minutes of the period had passed, including during a power play caused by goaltender interference by the Aces. Alaska kills the penalty, and then immediately lights the lamp with their fourth goal at 7:13 into the period. At the end of the second period the score is 4-2, and the Aces add 20 more shots on goal. The Rush can only squeak out four shots during the second period.
The third starts out slow, and a few penalties are had for roughing by both teams. The power plays are unproductive and in desperation the Rush pulls their goalie for the last two minutes of the game. Rapid City gets a goal with the extra attacker at 18:41 bringing the score to Aces 4, Rush 3. They keep the goalie on the bench and with :14 remaining in the period, Nathan Moon pokes the tie goal past Garteig to take it to overtime.
It only took the crowd favorite, Peter Sivak, two shots and 16 seconds of overtime to get the game winning goal. Final Aces 5, Rush 4 (OT), with Aces leading shots on goal with 59 to Rush’s 25. Next up: the Aces travel to Allen, Texas to meet the Kelly Cup champs, and then will return to the Sullivan Arena November 9th to host the Indy Fuel in a three game series.
Interesting facts: The Aces have the highest shots on goal in a single game for the ECHL so far this season with 59. Also, shout-out to Rapid City Rush forward Lindsay Sparks, who is the leading point scorer in the ECHL with seven goals and seven assists for a total of 14.
Contact the author at Liz.Ortiz@prohockeynews.com
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