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Defensive order was restored Saturday night at Sullivan Arena, where chaos reigned an evening earlier in the form of a collaborative goal-scoring explosion.
On a night when the Alaska Aces wore commemorative sweaters to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood, the home hockey team and the Ontario Reign returned to the defensive ways that have largely furnished their success. Alaska used Luke Erickson's deflection goal on the power play two minutes into the third period and Jean-Philippe Lamoureux's ECHL-leading fifth shutout to seize a 2-0 win that earned them a sweep of the three-game series. That victory, secured by Colin Hemingway's empty netter with 8.3 seconds remaining, was in wild contrast the Alaska's 7-6 overtime win Friday. That score was strikingly unusual for both clubs, who are among the stingiest teams on the minor-league circuit - Alaska and Ontario entered Saturday ranked fourth and fifth in the 21-team league, respectively, in team defense. Saturday, though, the Aces (27-14-3) limited the Reign (23-16-5) to a mere 18 shots on goal in running their unbeaten streak to eight games (7-0-1) and pulling within five points of West Division-leading Victoria. Alas for the Aces, the news was not all wonderful: Sniper Josh Soares is out of here. After being released by Peoria of the American Hockey League a week ago, Soares rejoined the Aces for Friday's scorefest and Saturday's defensive clinic. But the AHL's Manitoba Moose have come to terms with Soares, who assisted on Erickson's goal and provided points in all 11 Aces games he played this season. "One more shot,'' Soares said of heading to the AHL. "It sounds like a good opportunity. I'll go, give it a try and see if it works out. "I just have a great time here. The fans are great, the ice time I get is great, and the friends and teammates here are great. If things don't work out, I'm happy to come back.'' As much as the Aces are happy Soares is getting another chance in the league one step below the AHL, they'll obviously miss a guy who fired 11 shots in the last two games, contributed two helpers and at times looked far too good to be playing in the ECHL. Still, Soares, whose commemorative sweater fetched a winning bid of $3,500 at the jersey auction following the game, has played enough regular-season games with the Aces to qualify for their playoff roster. Saturday, a sweet, subtle play Soares made paved the path to Erickson's game-winning strike. With the Aces on a power play and Soares holding the puck high in Ontario's zone on right wing, he induced a Reign skater to come to him before threading a precise backhand pass through the defender to Shasby, who was stationed inside the blue line in the middle of the ice. "There was all day in the world to shoot the puck,'' Shasby said. "Josh made the play you have to make -- you draw a guy to you and it opens other guys up.'' Shasby cranked a slap shot that Erickson, drifting through the high slot, deflected past the blocker of Ontario goalie Kellen Briggs (30 saves). Erickson's goal was his ninth in the last 13 games. "Pucks are just going in for me right now,'' Erickson said. "Hopefully, I can continue that the rest of the year and help the team out. The team we have right now is pretty amazing and we feel pretty good about ourselves.'' Lamoureux stopped Tim Kraus on a second-period breakaway and flashed his right pad to rebuff Jon Francisco from point-blank range midway through the third period. Other than that, the Reign didn't enjoy too many golden opportunities. "Alaska just really clamped down and we just couldn't get scoring chances,'' said Ontario coach Karl Taylor. Briggs, playing just his third game this season, gave the Reign an excellent performance. "He made some great saves, and he made his game look easy,'' said Lamoureux, who as a collegian at North Dakota dueled with Briggs when the latter was at Minnesota. "For his effort, he definitely deserved a better fate, but fortunately for us, we capitalized.'' And that's how things have been going of late for Alaska, which is 9-1-2 in its last 12 games. Friday's display of goal scoring galore, and defense as only an occasional attribute, was an aberration. "You just have to reset and execute your game plan, and that's to give up no goals,'' Shasby said.