Alaska Aces

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Alaska Aces
City: Anchorage, Alaska
League: ECHL
Conference: National Conference
Division: West Division
Founded: 1995
Home Arena: Sullivan Arena
Colors: black, powder blue, green, white, silver
Owner(s): Terry Parks
General Manager: Terry Parks
Head Coach: Keith McCambridge
Affiliates: St. Louis Blues (NHL), Peoria Rivermen (AHL)
Franchise history
1995 to 2003: Anchorage Aces
2003 to Present: Alaska Aces
Championships
Regular Season Titles: 2005-06
Division Championships: 2004-05, 2005-06, 2006-07
Conference Championships: 2005-06
Kelly Cups: 2005-06
For the Alaska Aces PBA team, see Alaska Aces (PBA).

The Alaska Aces are a minor league ice hockey team in Anchorage, Alaska. They were originally part of the West Coast Hockey League, but when the WCHL was absorbed by the East Coast Hockey League in 2003, the team joined the merged ECHL. In 2005, the Aces joined an affiliation with the St. Louis Blues of the National Hockey League and the Peoria Rivermen of the American Hockey League.

Originally an amateur club known as the Anchorage Aces, they won the National Amateur Championship in 1993 and 1994. They finished second in 1992 and 1995.

Anchorage was an original WCHL franchise, joining the league in 1995. In 2002, with financial troubles, the team was put up for sale on eBay. They were renamed the Alaska Aces in 2003. The team gained national notoriety in 2004 when it signed New Jersey Devils all-star and Alaska-born Scott Gomez after the NHL lockout, who went on to lead the ECHL in scoring and win league Most Valuable Player honors. Home games are played at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage.

The triple overtime win against Las Vegas Wranglers (2006) was the third longest game in ECHL history, 113 minutes, 30 seconds long.

In 2006, the Aces became only the second team in ECHL history (joining the South Carolina Stingrays of Charleston, SC) in winning both the Brabham Cup and Kelly Cup championships in the same season.

The Aces play in the West Division of the ECHL's National Conference.

In 2006, Alaska won the ECHL Kelly Cup title in five games over the Gwinnett Gladiators. This was the first professional sports title won by an Alaska team since 1980. Mike Scott received the ECHL Kelly Cup MVP award after the Aces' 4-3 win over the Gladiators in Game Five of the series.

On October 4, 2007, the Aces announced a one-year affiliation extension with the Blues and the Rivermen. [1]

Contents

[edit] History

[edit] Origin

Dennis Sorenson formed an Anchorage senior men’s ice hockey team, named Anchorage Aces, to compete against a local in-state team, the Fairbanks Gold Kings. The Aces played four unofficial games during in the 1989-90 season. During the 1990-1991 season, Keith Street led the team on a 22-game schedule, which included 20 games against teams registered with USA Hockey. The 1990-1991 season ended with the Aces winning the Senior Men's Open National Championship held in Fairbanks.

[edit] Pacific Northwest Hockey League

The Aces joined the Pacific Northwest Hockey League for the 1991-92 season, playing six of their home games at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage and eight at the Central Peninsula Sports Center in Soldotna. The Aces finished second in the PNHL with a 16-12-2 regular season record, and were the runners-up in the national USA Hockey tourney after a 0-4-1 tourney run.

In the 1992-93 season, new Head Coach Mike Ashley led the Aces to a 19-3-0 regular season record. However, in the USA Hockey Senior Men's Open Tournament, the Aces finished second for the second year in a row after compiling a 4-1 record in the tourney, losing the tiebreaker to the Chicago Chargers. Ashley resigned following the season.

For the 1993-94 season, Steve Gasparini took over as head coach, and led the Aces to a 22-9-1 regular season record. The Aces also won their second championship in the USA Hockey Senior Men's Open National Tournament with a 5-0 run highlighted by the 6-0 rout of the Fresno Falcons. In 1994-95, the team went 27-9 and lost in the championship game to the Gold Kings.

[edit] West Coast Hockey League

After an unsuccessful attempt to form a new Pacific Rim Hockey League, the Aces joined the new West Coast Hockey League for the 1995-96 season, and played in that league until 2003.

Mike Cusack Jr. became sole owner of the franchise following the 1995-1996 season.

In the 1996-97 season, the Aces initially lost in the league playoffs to the Fresno Falcons three games to one. However the WCHL commissioner determined that their 2-4 loss in game four would be changed to a 1-0 victory due to forfeit by the Fresno Falcons when they failed to meet the minimum roster requirement because of injuries and suspensions. The Aces won the deciding fifth game 5-3 and advanced to the Taylor Cup.

In the 2000-2001 season a new Director of Player Personnel/Assistant Coach, Stirling Wright, was brought in. The Aces finished in third place with a 34-30-4 record and advanced to the semifinals, only to be ousted by Tacoma in three games.

In 2000-01, Stirling Wright was instrumental in bringing in former NHL players when the Aces signed former NHL goalie Vincent Riendeau and right wing Kevin Brown. The Idaho Steelheads defeated the Aces 3-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

In 2001-02, the Aces hired Stirling Wright as the new GM. He then hired former NHL coach and player Butch Goring as their new head coach, and re-signed only four players from the previous season. The Aces signed five former NHL players: defenseman Jim Paek, goaltender Scott Bailey, wingers Todd Harkins and Daniel Goneau and center Clayton Beddoes. Clayton Beddoes retired just a few games into the season due to a previous shoulder injury. The Aces promoted a "Guaranteed Win Night" where if they lost the game, the fans in attendance would receive free Aces tickets. After a 10-18-4 start, Aces' owner Mike Cusack fired Goring and VP of business operations Lou Corletto, and hired former head coach Poddubny. Shortly thereafter, general manager Stirling Wright stepped down due to his disapproval of the owner's decisions. The Aces went on to win only a few more games and the mass exodus of players soon followed after Wright left the team. The team itself was making a profit but the owner's other financial ventures continued to drain the team of its revenue.[citation needed] Much of the staff and players did not get paid on a regular basis.[citation needed]

In May of 2002, the Aces filed for bankruptcy; according to the filing papers, the team was almost $2 million in debt. In June of 2002, the Aces were put up for sale on eBay. The club's owner, Cusack, accepted a $1.862 million bid from Duncan Harrison, owner of Alaskan Automotive Distributing in Anchorage, but U.S. Bankruptcy Court judge Donald MacDonald converted the Aces' bankruptcy case to Chapter 7, which allowed him to reject the Harrison bid. The club was eventually sold for $1.05 million to a seven-member group led by Terry Parks, a local investor, and Dan Coffey, a local businessman.

[edit] ECHL

The Aces joined the ECHL for the 2003-04 season following a merger between the WCHL and the East Coast Hockey League. They were renamed the Alaska Aces after the league switch, and unveiled a new logo and new uniforms.

[edit] Season-by-season record

Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, OTL = Overtime Losses, SOL = Shootout Losses, PTS = Points, PCT = Winning Percentage, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against, PIM = Penalties in minutes

Records as of January 29,2007. [1] [2]

Season League Division GP W L T OTL SOL PTS PCT GF GA PIM Coach(es) Result
1995-96 WCHL WCHL 58 24 29 0 5 0 53 0.414 271 299 1758 Steve Gasparini Out of Playoffs
1996-97 WCHL WCHL 64 41 18 0 5 0 87 0.641 349 260 2142 Walt Poddubny Lost in Finals
1997-98 WCHL WCHLN 64 36 20 0 8 0 80 0.562 308 261 2075 Walt Poddubny Lost in round 2
1998-99 WCHL WCHLN 71 46 22 0 3 0 95 0.648 332 260 1759 Walt Poddubny Lost in round 2
1999-00 WCHL WCHLN 74 31 34 0 9 0 71 0.419 272 334 1828 Walt Poddubny, Bob Wilkie, Derek Donald, Steve MacSwain Out of playoffs
2000-01 WCHL WCHLN 72 27 41 0 4 0 58 0.375 264 324 1820 Walt Poddubny, Stirling Wright Out of playoffs
2001-02 WCHL WCHLN 72 19 44 0 9 0 47 0.264 222 350 1573 Butch Goring, Stirling Wright, Walt Poddubny Lost in round 1
2002-03 WCHL WCHL 72 21 46 0 5 0 47 0.292 210 327 1926 Rod Davidson, Perry Florio Out of Playoffs
2003-04 ECHL Pacific 72 38 28 6 0 0 82 0.569 220 210 1648 Davis Payne Lost in round 2
2004-05 ECHL West 72 45 19 8 0 0 98 0.681 233 187 1389 Davis Payne Lost in round 3
2005-06 ECHL West 72 53 12 7 0 0 113 0.785 289 168 1786 Davis Payne ECHL Kelly Cup Champions
2006-07 ECHL West 72 49 16 7 0 0 105 0.729 270 176 1972 Davis Payne Lost Conference Finals
Totals 2 4 822 420 327 28 49 0 915 0.511 3206 3129 21237 9 7 Playoff Seasons, 1 Championship)

[edit] Current roster

As of October 18, 2007. Data taken from team website. [3]

Goaltenders
# Player Catches Date of birth Place of birth
30 Flag of Canada Chris Beckford-Tseu R June 22, 1984 Toronto, Ontario, Canada
34 Flag of the United States Derek Gustafson L June 21, 1979 Gresham, Oregon, USA
Defencemen
# Player Shoots Date of birth Place of birth
15 Flag of the United States Bryan Miller R February 17, 1983 Wayne, New Jersey, USA
27 Flag of the United States Corbin Schmidt L September 19, 1980 Anchorage, Alaska, USA
31 Flag of the United States Joey Hope R January 1, 1982 Anchorage, Alaska, USA
41 Flag of the United States Matt Shasby L July 2, 1980 Eagle River, Alaska, USA
44 Flag of the United States Lee Green L July 27, 1981 Soldotna, Alaska, USA
49 Flag of the United States Felipe Larranaga L July 10, 1981 Fairbanks, Alaska, USA
Forwards
# Player Position Shoots Date of birth Place of birth
7 Flag of the United States Gino Guyer C L October 14, 1983 Coleraine, Minnesota, USA
73 Flag of Germany Bjoern Thiemann LW L August 13, 1988 Langenhagen, Germany
11 Flag of Canada Lucas Burnett C R April 1, 1982 Kelowna, British Columbia, Canada
13 Flag of the United Kingdom Bo Cheesman RW R June 1, 1981 Guildford, England, United Kingdom
17 Flag of Canada Mike Batovanja RW R March 21, 1982 Hinton, Alberta, Canada
29 Flag of Canada Eric Neilson RW R August 18, 1984 Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada
64 Flag of Australia Justus Schnuefler C L October 3, 1982 Kalgoorlie, Australia
Staff
Title Staff Member
Head Coach Keith McCambridge

[edit] NHLers

[edit] Notable players

[edit] Retired numbers

  • Keith Street – #8
  • Dean Larson – #18

[edit] References

  1. ^ Hockeydb.com, http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/teamseasons.php?tid=647 Anchorage Aces season statistics and records 1995-2003.]
  2. ^ Hockeydb.com, http://www.hockeydb.com/ihdb/stats/teamseasons.php?tid=3259 Anchorage Aces season statistics and records 2003-Present.]
  3. ^ alaskaaces.com: Players

[edit] External links

Preceded by
Trenton Titans		 Kelly Cup Champions
2005-06		 Succeeded by
Idaho Steelheads
v • d • e
ECHL (2008-09)
American Conference North Cincinnati Cyclones · Dayton Bombers · Elmira Jackals · Johnstown Chiefs · Reading Royals · Trenton Devils · Wheeling Nailers
South Augusta Lynx · Charlotte Checkers · Columbia Inferno · Florida Everblades · Gwinnett Gladiators · Mississippi Sea Wolves · Pensacola Ice Pilots · South Carolina Stingrays
National
Conference		 Pacific Bakersfield Condors · Fresno Falcons · Las Vegas Wranglers · Ontario Reign · Stockton Thunder
West Alaska Aces · Idaho Steelheads · Phoenix Roadrunners · Utah Grizzlies · Victoria Salmon Kings
Future teams Myrtle Beach, SC · Toledo Walleye
Related articles: List of ECHL seasons  · Kelly Cup  · Brabham Cup  · All-Star Game  · Awards  · Timeline  · Defunct teams  · Hall of Fame  · Arenas  · Other Professional Hockey leagues
v • d • e
Sports teams based in Alaska
Baseball
Football
Hockey
College athletics
(NCAA Div. I)
Languages