Sports

Cox's hat trick helps Aces cool down Reign

So much for Ethan Cox's season-opening goal drought.

And, for one night, so much for the Alaska Aces' low-scoring, defensive-driven identity.

Cox, the second-year center who went without a goal in his first eight hockey games this season, delivered his first pro hat trick Friday night to propel the Aces to their third straight win with an 8-4 victory that cooled the Ontario Reign.

The eight goals at Sullivan Arena were the most the Aces have scored this ECHL season and the most surrendered by the Reign, who entered on a five-game unbeaten streak (4-0-1) that made them the circuit's hottest club.

Basically, this was a game straight out of the Eastern Conference, where goal explosions occur frequently, as opposed to the more battened-down Western Conference.

Consider: The 12 combined goals Friday were as many as Alaska and Idaho produced in the Aces' three-game sweep of the Steelheads last month. And they were just two shy of the total Alaska and Bakersfield generated in a three-game series last week.

In 10 games previous to Friday, the Aces (8-3-0) scored four or more goals three times. Friday, in the opener of a three-game series that continues tonight and closes Sunday, they racked four goals in the first period.

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"(Tonight), on both sides, it will be a lot more defensive,'' Cox predicted.

That first period furnished evidence this would not be a low- scoring grind. The Aces' four goals in the period marked their most productive period of the season and the two goals they surrendered in the opening 10 minutes matched the number of first-period goals they had surrendered in their first 10 games combined.

Ontario (5-3-1) got off to a strong start, sandwiching goals from C.J. Stretch and Jean-Phillipe Cote around one from Alaska's Nick Mazzolini in the first 10 minutes.

"Then we got into penalty trouble,'' said Ontario coach Jason Christie. "I thought we took too many lazy penalties.''

Cox scored twice and defenseman Steve Ward added a power-play goal before period's end to give the Aces a 4-2 advantage.

Ward's goal, during a 5-on-3 power play, was the first of Alaska's season-high three power-play goals.

For Cox, who scored 15 goals in 56 games last season as a checking-line center, the same role he fills this season, eliminating the zero from his goal total and generating his first hat trick since junior hockey was a welcome breakthrough.

"Obviously, my goal is to help the team as much as I can, and for my game to evolve at this level, producing is something I know I need to do,'' Cox said.

His line, which includes wingers Tyler Ruegsegger and Zach Harrison, enjoyed a productive night, with a hand in four goals. They combined for strong work on Cox's second goal.

After defenseman Russ Sinkewich kept the puck in at the left point, Harrison and Ruegsegger worked a give-and-go in which Harrison took the return pass and fed Cox for a tap-in on Ontario starter Jean-Francois Berube (16 saves on 22 shots in two periods).

"When we're playing at our best, it's when we're skating as fast and we can -- that's our M.O. as a line,'' Cox said.

Ontario pulled to within a goal at 4-3 on Vincent LoVerde's goal seven minutes into the second period, but Cox notched Alaska's first short-handed goal less than five minutes later.

"That took the wind out of our sails,'' Christie said.

Cox blocked a shot by Reign defenseman Phillippe Seydoux and outraced him for a breakaway, rifling a low shot past Berube's blocker for the hat trick and a 5-3 cushion.

Scott Howes, Harrison and Dan Kissel added third-period goals to counter Stretch's second goal of the night.

The victory kept the Aces (16 points) within two points of Western Conference-leading Utah, which improved to 9-2-0 (18 points) with a 5-4 shootout victory over Colorado on Friday.

Shuffling the deck

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Aces veteran wing Wes Goldie served the second game of his two-game, league-imposed suspension. He's eligible to return to the lineup tonight.

The assists Ruegsegger and Harrison furnished on Cox's second goal snapped five-game point droughts for both wingers. Garry Nunn's assist on Mazzolini's first-period goal stretched his point streak to four games. Howes has played just four games since returning from offseason shoulder surgery but has at least one point in each of the last three games.

Aces goaltender Gerald Coleman (17 saves) notched his eight win of the season, which ties him with Utah's Andrew Engelage for the league lead.

Stretch has scored five goals in the last three games and extended his point streak to six games. Geoff Irwin's two assists for Ontario gives him points in five straight games.

ECHL commissioner Brian McKenna was in the house.

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

Ontario 2 1 1 -- 4

Aces 4 2 2 -- 8

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First Period -- 1, Ontario, Stretch 5 (Irwin, Tarasuk), 2:48; 2, Aces, Mazzolini 3 (Nunn, Miller), 7:06; 3, Ontario, Cote 1 (Tarasuk, King), 9:38; 4, Aces, Cox 1 (Shields), 14:51; 5, Aces, Ward 1 (Swanson, Miller), 17:02 (pp); 6, Aces, Cox 2 (Harrison, Ruegsegger), 18:32. Penalties -- LoVerde, Ontario (tripping), 15:57; Huxley, Ontario (slashing), 16:10.

Second Period -- 7, Ontario, LoVerde 1 (Couture, Stretch), 7:02; 8, Aces, Cox 3, 11:31 (sh); 9, Aces, Howes 2 (Miller, Ward), 16:13 (pp). Penalties -- King, Ontario (tripping), 2:23; Bruton, Aces (holding), 10:28; King, Ontario (tripping), 15:04; Sinkewich, Aces (elbowing), 16:52; Tassone, Ontario (tripping), 18:39.

Third Period -- 10, Aces, Harrison 2 (Gentile), 1:21; 11, Ontario, Stretch 6 (Irwin, Huxley), 17:48; 12, Aces, Kissel 5 (Gentile, Bruton), 19:29 (pp). Penalties -- Sinkewich, Aces, major (fighting), 2:42; Watt, Ontario, minor-major, served by Stretch (slashing, fighting), 2:42; Nunn, Aces (tripping), 9:06; Mazzolini, Aces (hooking), 14:28; Watt, Ontario (goaltender interference), 19:26.

Shots on goal -- Ontario 6-6-9--21. Aces 15-7-11--33.

Power-play Opportunities -- Ontario 0 of 4; Aces 3 of 7.

Goalies -- Ontario, Berube, 1-3-1 (22 shots-16 saves); Carlson, enter 0:00 3 rd (11-9). Aces, Coleman, 8-3-0 (21-17).

A -- 5,271 (6,399). T -- 2:22.

Referee -- Ryan Murphy. Linesmen -- Scott Sivulich, Steve Glines.

By DOYLE WOODY

Anchorage Daily News

Doyle Woody

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

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