Aces stall Eagles' attack

The second-year goaltender stopped 19 shots to backstop the ECHL-leading Alaska Aces to a 4-0 win over the Colorado Eagles, who own the league's most lethal offense but were shut out for the first time this season.

With reigning Goaltender of the Year Gerald Coleman shelved with an upper-body injury, Courchaine -- and his fitting nickname is "Ace'' -- has been handed the club's goaltending reins. They are in good hands -- and good pads and a good blocker and good stick.

Courchaine extended his streak of games unbeaten in regulation to 10 (7-0-3) and bagged his first bagel of the season. He has also permitted the Eagles, who are missing their top two scorers to American Hockey League promotions and playing with a short bench, just one goal in the first two games of a three-game set at Sullivan Arena. Courchaine also stopped 19 shots in Wednesday's 4-1 win over Colorado.

Other than a giveaway when he was playing the puck in the third period, Courchaine made his work look simple. He remained square to shots, steered rebounds into the corners or simply froze the puck for a face-off.

"Minus the pass, he just kept it mistake-free, kept the game simple,'' said Coleman, who watched in street clothes. "I know he's playing well when he's swallowing the puck. He's just oozing confidence.''

For Courchaine, the last two games have been especially rewarding because he has picked up two wins in front of his family -- his parents, Bill and Trish, and younger sister, Holly, are visiting. Bill is the Ottawa Senators' director of corporate sales and was Adam's goaltending coach growing up, and still gives his son tips.

"Playing in front of my family is great, and playing in front of my dad is huge,'' Courchaine said. "He came to practice the other day and when we were done I had a couple of text messages -- 'You were a little deep (in net) a couple times, and keep your glove up.' That was funny.''

In extending their streak of games unbeaten in regulation to six (3-0-3), the Aces (22-5-5) endured a tough time cracking Eagles goalie Andrew Penner, who delivered a strong 34-save performance.

The Aces finally scored seven-plus minutes into the second period, and even then it took a display of sharp hand-eye coordination. Wes Goldie deflected Bryan Miller's high floater from the center point on the power play. That 1-0 advantage held until Garry Nunn intercepted a Gord Burnett pass less than three minutes into the third period and used Colorado's Luka Vidmar, the former UAA defenseman, as a screen and whistled a wrister past Penner's glove for a 2-0 cushion.

Dan Kissel and Nick Mazzolini added power-play goals -- Kissel's came during a two-man advantage -- after the Eagles (18-10-3) were hit with a series of penalties in the last seven-plus minutes.

Courchaine, meanwhile, faced minimal pressure on a night the Aces outshot the Eagles 38-19. Very few Colorado shots came from below the face-off dots or inside them.

"Our guys just did a great job in keeping them to the outside,'' Courchaine said. "This is a big (Olympic-sized) rink, and it's got to be a great shot or really hard shot to go in from there.

"The team is what it is -- we practice hard and play hard, and I feel so confident playing behind these guys.''

Nunn, Courchaine's close friend and road roommate, said the goalie, who is under contract to the NHL's Boston Bruins, is making life easier for the guys in front of him.

"He's definitely at the top of his game,'' Nunn said. "He's almost in the shadow of Gerald, but I've said it before, if Gerald goes down, we're just as confident in Adam.

"Boston signed him for a reason. He could be a No. 1 for any team in this league.''

Courchaine, who has played both of his pro seasons for Alaska, improved to 7-1-3. In six of his 11 starts, he has limited the opponent to one goal or fewer. And he's ranked second in the 20-team league in goals-against average (1.69) and second in save percentage (.938).

Shuffling the deck

With 49 points in 32 games, the Aces own a seven-point lead in the overall standings over the Las Vegas Wranglers (19-9-4), who own 42 points.

Goldie temporarily tied Kissel for the team lead in goals at 17 before Kissel notched his 18th. Both players extended their point streaks to six games.

Nunn's 11th goal came in his 27th game of the season and matched the number of goals he scored playing in all 72 regular-season games as a rookie last season.

In the last six games, the Aces' top line of wings Goldie and Kissel, and center Brian Swanson, have furnished 14-17--31 totals.

Alaska's three power-play goals tied its season high.

Colorado, which played Wednesday with just 13 skaters because of injuries, call-ups and a suspension, had 14 skaters Friday after signing wing Moises Gutierrez of Anchorage. Gutierrez, wearing No. 44, logged double-digit shifts.

Miller's two assists gives him 4-19--23 totals in 32 games and moved him into a third-place tie in the league for points by a defenseman. He leads the league's blueliners in assists.

Colorado assistant coach Greg Pankewicz was issued a game misconduct for abuse of officials in the late stages of the third period. Also, Eagles forward Michael Forney was given an instigator penalty and game misconduct in a final-minute fight against Alaska's Matt Ambroz. An instigator penalty in the last five minutes of regulation or in overtime is an automatic one-game suspension under league rules.

---

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

Colorado 0 0 0 -- 0

Aces 0 1 3 -- 4

First Period -- None. Penalties -- Ambroz, Aces (hooking), 3:14; Burnett, Colorado (cross-checking), 9:25; Vidmar, Colorado (tripping), 16:43.

Second Period -- 1, Aces, Goldie 17 (Miller, Gentile), 7:26 (pp). Penalties -- Chorneyko, Colorado (elbowing), 7:13.

Third Period -- 2, Aces, Nunn 11, 2:31; 3, Aces, Kissel 18 (Ward, Miller), 13:22 (pp); 4, Aces, Mazzolini 10 (Kremyr), 17:28 (pp). Penalties - Ward, Aces (tripping), 5:18; Schneekloth, Colorado (hooking), 12:52; Forney, Colorado (boarding), 12:52; Colorado assistant coach Pankewicz (game misconduct), 13:22; Marto, Colorado (hooking), 14:15; Cey, Colorado (slashing), 16:25; Ambroz, Aces, major (fighting), 19:38; Forney, Colorado, minor-major-game misconduct (instigator, fighting), 19:38.

Shots on goal -- Colorado 4-10-5--19. Aces 16-10-12--38.

Power-play Opportunities -- Colorado 0 of 2. Aces 3 of 8.

Goalies -- Colorado, An. Penner, 4-4-1 (38 shots-34 saves). Aces, Courchaine, 7-1-3 (19-19).

A -- 4,923 (6,399). T -- 2:17.

Referee -- Nick Leduc. Linesmen -- Scott Sivulich, Will Moran.