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Home ice is so nice; Aces lead league, win Brabham Cup

After a loss two months ago in Victoria, British Columbia, stretched their losing streak to three games, the Alaska Aces had lost nine of their last 12 hockey games and were six games over .500.

Even then, second-year coach Brent Thompson said he believed in his club, and especially in its leaders. Better times, like the nine-game winning streak the team assembled earlier, were ahead, he vowed.

Fast forward to Saturday night -- the Aces became Brabham Cup champions as the ECHL's best regular-season team for the second time in the franchise's eight seasons in the minor league.

Fittingly, the Aces seized the Brabham Cup in none other than Victoria, where they beat the Salmon Kings, 4-1, to give them 97 points in the standings, one more point than the Greenville Road Warriors.

The Brabham Cup guarantees the Aces home-ice advantage throughout the Kelly Cup playoffs.

And, no doubt, Aces fans hope the latest Brabham Cup will be a harbinger of good things to come. The previous time the Aces collected the Brabham Cup, in 2006, they added another coveted chalice to their collection of hockey hardware by winning the Kelly Cup as playoff champs.

The Aces on Saturday finished the 72-game marathon of the regular season at 47-22-3. They won 14 of their last 16 games and they went 23-4-1 in their last 28 matches.

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Thompson came under fire from some Aces fans last season, when in his debut as a bench boss at any level the club went 36-28-8 and was dispatched in the first round of the playoffs for the first time in its ECHL history.

In response, Thompson regrouped. He assembled a very young, eager team -- most nights, half the lineup or more is comprised of rookies. He seasoned the crew with key veteran additions like perennial sniper Wes Goldie and former NHL center Brian Swanson to help returning captain Scott Burt set a tone of accountability. He added stalwart, experienced defensemen like Chad Anderson, Steve Ward and Russ Sinkewich to complement holdover Bryan Miller on the backline. And he got goaltender Gerald Coleman, who merely won 30 games to tie for the league lead. He stopped 25 shots Saturday.

Thompson also made an outstanding trade to acquire winger Scott Howes, who teamed with Goldie and Swanson to give the Aces a dynamic top line. Plus, Thompson acquired Sinkewich, Ward, forward Dan Kissel and forward Tyler Ruegsegger.

Like the former NHL defenseman he is, Thompson preached defense. His team led the league in fewest goals allowed (2.42 per game) and fewest shots allowed (25.5 per game), and finished fourth in penalty-killing efficiency (83.8 percent). The Aces also know how to close the deal -- they've gone a league-best 38-0-0 when leading after two periods.

The offense hasn't been too shabby, either. The Aces' 3.35 goals per game ranked fifth in the 19-team league and their 19.2-percent power-play efficiency on a man advantage unit quarterbacked by Swanson and energized by the potent one-timer of rookie defenseman Mark Isherwood, ranked fifth in the league.

Goldie became the first player in league history to rack five consecutive seasons of 40 or more goals. His first-period, power-play strike Saturday against his old club gave him 46 goals and earned him his second league goal-scoring crown.

The rookies chipped in Saturday too. Cox scored off a Burt feed 16 seconds into the game at the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre and added another goal in the third period. Kissel, rescued from Gwinnett, where he had 23 points in 45 games but was a ghastly minus 30, scored a second-period goal Saturday to give him 23 points in 27 games with Alaska. He added an assist Saturday -- oh, and he's a plus 9 with the Aces.

After playing 30 games in the final 60 days of the season, the Aces finally get a rest.

They own a first-round playoff bye courtesy of their Western Conference crown. They await the winner of the best-of-5, first-round series between the fourth-seeded Idaho Steelheads and fifth-seeded Las Vegas Wranglers.

The Aces open their best-of-7, Western Confernce semifinal series against the winner of the Idaho-Las Vegas clash with Games 1 and 2 at Sullivan Arena on April 15-16.

Shuffling the deck

Goldie extended his league-best point streak this season to 18 games and scored a goal in each of the last seven games, giving him a pair of seven-game goal streaks this season. He tortured the Salmon Kings, his employer for the previous four seasons, for 11-8--19 totals in 13 games this season.

Howes' assist on Kissel's goal stretched his assist streak to six games -- he's delivered eight helpers in that span.

Cox's two goals gave him 15 for the season and increased to nine the number of Aces players who scored at least 15 goals this season.

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

Aces 2 1 1 -- 4

Victoria 1 0 0 -- 1

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First Period -- 1, Aces, Cox 14 (Burt), :16; 2, Aces, Goldie 46 (Swanson), 4:34 (pp); 3, Victoria, Painchaud 27 (Taylor), 16:44 (sh). Penalties -- McLeod, Victoria (cross-checking), 2:40; Maxwell, Victoria, double-minor (interference, roughing), 3:36; Miller, Aces (roughing), 3:36; Siddall, Victoria, major (fighting), 9:23; Sinkewich, Aces, minor-major (roughing, fighting), 9:23; McLeod, Victoria, double-minor (roughing), 13:58.

Second Period -- 4, Aces, Kissel 20 (Howes), 9:28. Penalties -- McLeod, Victoria (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:38; Gentile, Aces (unsportsmanlike conduct), 8:38; Siddall, Victoria (roughing), 19:48.

Third Period -- 5, Aces, Cox 15 (Gentile, Kissel), 12:15. Penalties -- Sinkewich, Aces (roughing), 16:14.

Shots on goal -- Aces 15-12-10--37. Victoria 8-8-10--26.

Power-play Opportunities -- Aces 1 of 5; Victoria 0 of 2.

Goalies -- Aces, Coleman, 30-15-1 (26 shots-25 saves). Victoria, Spratt, 8-5-1 (37-33).

A -- 5,143 (7,006). T -- 2:19.

Referee -- Matt Kirk. Linesmen -- Tim Bilyk, Kirk Van Helvoirt.

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By DOYLE WOODY

dwoody@adn.com

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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