Red-hot Aces romp Grizzlies

You can tell by all the smiles, which is pretty much their default setting these days.

And why not?

All the Aces have done in the wake of Saturday night's 6-1 dismissal of the Utah Grizzlies is fashion the ECHL's best record (18-4-2), generate a streak in which they have gone unbeaten in regulation for 12 consecutive hockey games (10-0-2) and post a three-game sweep of a Mountain Division rival.

That streak is the fourth-longest run of success in the franchise's nine seasons in the ECHL.

And the Aces' record after 24 games -- the one-third mark of the 72-game regular season -- has earned them 38 points. The only Alaska team to do better to this point in the season was the 2005-06 club, which started 18-3-3 for 39 points, finished a ridiculous 53-12-7 and won the franchise's first Kelly Cup.

The 2005-06 club also owns the franchise mark for most consecutive games without a regulation loss at 16 (15-0-1).

In taking a 6-0 lead deep into Saturday's game, the Aces, coupled with Friday's 4-0 win and Wednesday's 3-1 win, reeled off 13 unanswered goals against the Grizzlies (13-9-1). They also held Utah without a goal for 158 minutes, 41 seconds until it scored with less than two minutes left Saturday.

Jacques Lamoureux was smiling. He's a former goal-scoring machine for Air Force's Division I college hockey team and now he is not only serving his country but doubling up on his dream by playing pro hockey. Naturally, he was excited Saturday night, when he scored his first pro goal, a strike early in the third period that gave the Aces a seemingly insurmountable 3-0 lead.

"I'm very fortunate,'' Lamoureux said. "I love what I'm doing in the Air Force, and I love hockey and what it brings to my life. I feel like I'm the luckiest guy in the world.''

Adam Courchaine was smiling, even if his shutout bid got ruined by a power-play goal from Paul McIlveen with less than two minutes to play.

"As soon as it left his stick, I thought, 'That's going in,' '' Courchaine said with a grin and shrug of his shoulders. "But we won, let in one goal, so no big deal. We won, and that's all that matters.''

Wes Goldie, the league's reigning Most Valuable Player and goal-scoring champ, was smiling. Of course, he usually is. Saturday night gave him more reason -- he bagged a pair of 5-on-3 goals to rack his first multiple-goal game of the season after bagging 10 such games last season. His 11 goals ties Dan Kissel for the lead on a team that has won four straight games and has not lost in regulation since Nov. 12.

Ethan Cox, Garry Nunn and Nick Mazzolini also scored goals, defenseman Bryan Miller delivered three assists and winger Jordan Kremyr added two assists one night after he furnished his first pro hat trick.

Courchaine has prospered so much in his six starts (4-1-1) that he stopped 22 of 23 shots Saturday and his save percentage did not go up. It remained at .952, which is, well, exceptional. And he lowered his goals-against average to a stingy 1.48.

Lamoureux, a rookie who once led Division I in goals and twice led it in power-play goals, is having a great time. He's stationed at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, where he's a second lieutenant and a contracting specialist for the Air Force.

"I spend our taxpayers' dollars wisely,'' Lamoureux said.

The brother of former Aces goalie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, he said he's having a great time. He's enjoying the best of two worlds and loving life in Alaska with his wife, Astacia. He thinks two careers is a good gig.

"There's such a great relationship between the team and the community, and the team and the military,'' he said. "My commander and my supervisor have been so supportive.

"Obviously, my Air Force career comes first. When duty calls, I'll do what I need to do, and the team is very supportive.''

Lamoureux scored his first goal as a pro when he used a Utah defenseman as a screen and whistled a shot past Grizzlies goalie Andrew Engelage. That chased Engelage in favor of Shane Owen.

With three forwards up with the Bridgeport Sound of the American Hockey League and another injured, the Aces were down to nine forwards this week, so they signed Lamoureux.

"It's not just a beer-leaguer that can fill in,'' said Aces coach Rob Murray. "It's a luxury we have.''

No wonder everyone's smiling.

Shuffling the deck

Goldie's two goals give him eight in the last nine games. He also pushed his point streak to five games - he owns 5-3--8 totals in that span.

Cox's goal snapped his 10-game goal drought.

Defenseman Brandon Gentile played with a full face-mask Saturday after taking a puck to the mouth Friday. He received three stitches on the inside of his lower lip, but said the lower front teeth that were loosened by the puck tightened up some overnight.

The game got a little out of hand in the late going, and among Utah's 105 penalty minutes was a game misconduct to Grizzlies bench boss Kevin Colley. He had to leave the ice and head to the dressing room with 6:40 left in the game.

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Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

Utah 0 0 1 -- 1

Aces 2 3 1 -- 6

First Period -- 1, Aces, Cox 6 (Kremyr, Sinkewich), 9:16; 2, Aces, Nunn 7 (Lafranchise, Mazzolini), 13:05 (pp). Penalties -- McIlveen, Utah (trpping), 3:25; Sorteberg, Utah (roughing), 5:37; Fadden, Utah (tripping), 12:48; Ambroz, Aces, major (fighting), 14:23; Lampl, Utah, major (fighting), 14:23; Lamoureux, Aces (holding), 18:24.

Second Period -- 3, Aces, Lamoureux 1 (Kremyr, Miller), 1:03; 4, Aces, Mazzolini 7 (Miller), 8:13; 5, Aces, Goldie 10 (Swanson, Bruton), 18:53 (pp). Penalties -- Sinkewich, Aces (hooking), 2:32; Fadden, Utah (roughing), 11:03; Nunn, Aces (holding), 11:11; Dowzak, Utah (elbowing), 17:20; Sorteberg, Utah, minor-misconduct (unsportsmanlike conduct), 17:20.

Third Period -- 6, Aces, Goldie 11 (Miller, Gentile), 13:20 (pp); 7, Utah, McIlveen 9 (MacMillan, Dowlinig), 18:20 (pp). Penalties -- Severyn, Utah (slashing), 4:35; Nunn, Aces (roughing), 9:47; Severyn, Utah (roughing), 9:47; Fadden, Utah (holding), 11:59; Utah bench minor, served by Favot (unsportsmanlike conduct),12:47; Lampl, Utah (misconduct-game misconduct), 12:47; Bruton, Aces, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 13:20; Gentile, Aces (misconduct), 13:20; Martin, Utah, major (fighting), 13:20; Armstrong, Utah, major-game misconduct (slashing), 13:20; Tuzzolino, Utah (misconduct), 13:20; Utah head coach Kevin Colley (game misconduct), 13:20; Nunn, Aces (slashing), 16:25; Ward, Aces (tripping), 16:45.

Shots on goal -- Utah 6-8-9--23. Aces 12-8-7--27.

Power-play Opportunities -- Utah 1 of 5; Aces 3 of 10.

Goalies -- Utah, Engelage, 10-8-0 (13 shots-10 saves); Owen, enter 1:03 2nd (14-11). Aces, Courchaine, 4-1-1 (23-22).

A -- 4,592 (6,399). T -- 2:28.

Referee -- Curtis Marouelli. Linesmen -- Steve Glines, Will Moran.