Anchorage Daily News

Veteran winger Scott Burt, who won two ECHL championships with Idaho and last season flourished for Utah, has signed to join the Alaska Aces as a player/assistant coach for the upcoming ECHL season, the Aces announced today.

Burt, 31, earned 27-33—60 totals in 70 hockey games last season with the Utah Grizzlies. He scored a game-tying, power-play goal at Sullivan Arena on Dec. 28 to forge a 4-4 tie with just two seconds left in regulation. The Grizzlies won 5-4 in a shootout.

Two seasons ago, Burt, skating for the Steelheads, eliminated the Aces in Game 5 of the National Conference Finals in Boise, Idaho, with the game-winning, short-handed goal in the third period of a 3-2 Idaho win. He earned 11-14—25 totals in 60 games that season, when he was used primarily as a defensive forward who killed penalties.

Burt was a captain, on a rotating basis with other players, in both Idaho and Utah. He helped Utah advance to the National Conference Finals last season.

“Everywhere he’s played, he’s been a leader, and I feel we’ve needed leadership in the dressing room,’’ said Aces coach Keith McCambridge. “He’s a proven winner. He’s been the heart and soul of every team he’s ever played on.’’

Burt helped Idaho to the Kelly Cup in both 2007 and 2004. The Aces won the Cup in 2006. “I think the organization is dying to win another one, and I’m dying to win my third,’’ Burt said by cell phone from Boise, where he and his wife, Kristina, live.

McCambridge, the former Aces defenseman and captain, played against Burt.

“He competed hard every night and was tough to play against,’’ McCambridge said.

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