Five is the maximum number of banners an ECHL team can seize in a season, and that's the number the Alaska Aces will unveil Friday night before their season opener at Sullivan Arena.
The club will reveal banners commemorating last season's Kelly Cup as playoff champions and Brabham Cup as regular-season champions, as well as banners for both their Western Conference regular-season and playoff titles and one for their Mountain Division crown.
"I'm looking forward to it,'' said returning winger Brendan Connolly. "Obviously, that's one of the perks of winning.''
After that ceremony, the Ontario Reign await.
And the Aces won't be the champs as much as just another hockey team trying to start strong in a three-game series, find its identity and scratch out points in the 72-game grind that is the regular season.
"One last chance to enjoy it,'' Connolly said. "You kind of get that last hurrah, then it's, 'Let's go.' ''
In many respects, these Alaska Aces aren't your Cup-winning Aces, the ones who secured the third Kelly Cup in the franchise's 11 ECHL seasons.
Just six of the 23 players on the roster were regular members of last season's squad. Gone are such stalwarts as first-line center and captain Nick Mazzolini of Anchorage, who now plays in Germany. All-ECHL sniper Peter Sivak now cashes checks from the Stockton Thunder. Veteran goaltender Gerald Coleman, who backstopped Alaska to Cups in 2014 and 2011, is retired, and the new masked men are two rookies, Niklas Lundstrom and Andy Iles. Nine of Alaska's 23 players are rookies.
"We're so brand new up and down the lineup that this is brand new for all of us,'' said fourth-year coach Rob Murray. "For my benefit, it keeps me fresh and keeps me teaching. If we had a whole team back, it might be redundant and boring.
"But, in teaching again, (assistant coach Louis Mass) and I might have some 'aha' moments, where we're teaching something we've taught before but stop and think, 'Hey, what if we did it this way?' ''
Connolly is mindful the Aces are almost an entirely new crew. Last season, he played left wing on the first line with Mazzolini and Sivak. He'll start this season at left wing on the first line with center Chris Francis and rookie right wing Greg Wolfe.
"There's definitely going to be a learning curve,'' Connolly said. "This is going to be a whole group jelling.''
Roster revamped
As expected, the Aces' roster proved fluid Thursday.
The club released three defensemen -- Dan Sova, Mike Slowikowski and Gentry Zollars. The Aces signed two defensemen, Dustin Molle and Brad Gorham, to standard player contracts after releasing them from tryout agreements Wednesday. And they added three players -- forward Jason Gregoire and defenseman Colton Jobke, both assigned to them by Iowa of the American Hockey league, and former UAA defenseman Quinn Sproule, acquired from Idaho in a trade Wednesday.
So, here's the club's 23-man roster -- note that forwards Justin Breton and Zach Pochiro begin the season on the reserve list.
Goaltenders (2) – Niklas Lundstrom, Andy Iles.
Defensemen (8) – Brad Cole, Brad Richard, Corey Syvret, Colton Jobke, Tyler Currier, Dustin Molle, Quinn Sproule, Brad Gorham.
Forwards (13) – Justin Breton, Brendan Connolly, Tim Coffman, Ross Ring-Jarvi, Ryan Tesink, Chris Francis, Bryan Cameron, Zach Pochiro, Olivier Archambault, Jacob Doty, Justin Johnson, Greg Wolfe, Jason Gregoire.
Shuffling the deck
The Aces are splitting up the spoils from their Kelly Cup -- the banners will be unveiled Friday and championship rings will be given to returning players and staff in Saturday's pregame ceremony.
Murray has not yet named a captain to replace Mazzolini. He said he will start the season with three alternate captains, Connolly, Justin Johnson and another player he expects to give an 'A' before Friday's opener.
For what its worth
If you're into this sort of thing, here's how the Aces did in two previous home openers following Kelly Cup-winning seasons.
In 2011, they beat the Las Vegas Wranglers, 2-1, in a shootout before an announced crowd of 5,577. Wes Goldie furnished the shootout winner -- Alaska won the skills contest 2-1 -- and Coleman stopped four of five Wranglers in the breakaway contest.
In 2006, the Aces beat Victoria, 5-3, before a sellout crowd of 6,451. Kimbi Daniels, Barrett Heisten and Olivier Filion each delivered one goal and one assist, and captain Mike Scott contributed three assists.
Reach reporter Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com and check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog
Ontario Reign at Alaska Aces
Friday and Saturday, 7:15 p.m.; Sunday, 3 p.m.; Sullivan Arena
Radio: All games live, AM-750 and FM-103.7
Aces by the numbers
.667 -- League-record, regular-season overall winning percentage in 11 ECHL seasons.
.755 -- League-record, regular-season home winning percentage at Sullivan Arena in 11 ECHL seasons.
1 -- League ranking last season in points (97), home-ice points (54), goals allowed per game (2.31), shots per game (34.11) and shots allowed per game (25.70).
2 -- League ranking last season in goals per game (3.42).
3 -- League record-tying number of ECHL Kelly Cups as league champions in 11 ECHL seasons.
4 -- League record number of consecutive Brabham Cups as ECHL regular-season champions.
5 -- League record number of Brabham Cups in 11 ECHL seasons.
6 -- Number of lineup regulars returning from last season -- Brendan Connolly, Tim Coffman, Dustin Molle, Brad Richard, Ross Ring-Jarvi and Corey Syvret.
7 -- Number of times advancing to at least conference finals in 11 ECHL seasons.
9 -- Number of rookies on 23-man roster -- Niklas Lundstrom, Andy Iles, Quinn Sproule, Justin Breton, Ryan Tesink, Zach Pochiro, Olivier Archambeault, Jacob Doty, Greg Wolfe.
11 -- Number of consecutive winning seasons in ECHL.
26 -- Number of titles -- division, conference and overall in regular-season and playoffs -- won in 11 ECHL seasons.