Sports

Aces' anguish continues in 4-1 loss to Ontario

The Alaska Aces' early-season anguish endured Sunday, when the Ontario Reign dispatched the home team yet again to cap a rare feat against the franchise that owns the best home-ice winning percentage in ECHL history.

Ontario's 4-1 victory earned it a sweep of the season-opening, three-game series.

That marked just the third time in 98 three-game home series spanning 12 seasons that the Aces have emerged without securing a single point.

"Wow,'' said Reign veteran winger Derek Couture.

The Aces were last swept in a three-game home series in December 2009, when the Stockton Thunder packed six points in their collective bags at Sullivan Arena and headed happily to the airport.

The Aces, who are an almost entirely retooled club from last season's Kelly Cup champs, suffered on multiple fronts in a lost weekend:

--They were outscored 11-2 – the Reign won 3-1 Friday and 4-0 Saturday.

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--They endured a goal drought that lasted 124 minutes, 33 seconds, the equivalent of more than two regulation games, before it mercifully ended Sunday, albeit when the outcome was no longer a mystery. Defenseman Quinn Sproule's marker proved window-dressing with eight minutes to go -- it only cut Ontario's lead to 4-1. Sproule accounted for both Alaska goals in the series.

--They surrendered the first goal in each game of the series. Couture's deflection of Nolan Julseth-White's shot from the right point Sunday got the Reign on track eight minutes in.

"You get that first one and it gives you the momentum,'' Couture said. "You fall behind a goal or two here early, and you're scraping and crawling to get back.''

--They failed to finish on the power play, going scoreless on 12 opportunities – the Aces went 0-4 Sunday with the man advantage.

--They were out-goaltended. Jussi Olkinuora stopped 37 shots Sunday to follow Joe Cannata's 36-save shutout Saturday, and Ontario's two goalies furnished a .981 save percentage in the series.

By contract, Aces rookie Niklas Lundstrom stopped 20 shots Sunday. He and rookie Andy Iles combined for a .867 save percentage in the series.

--And they were buried in second periods by a collective 7-0. Ontario delivered three second-period goals Sunday – Rocco Carzo's power-play deflection through Lundstrom's pads, Maxim Kitsyn's roofed wrister when Alaska's defense backed off him and Geoff Walker's modest right-wing wrister that eluded Lundstrom on the stick side after the Aces made an awful line change.

"I didn't like the lack of pushback from our team,'' coach Rob Murray said. "There's a certain culture we develop here. It's mandated, it's demanded, and right now that seems new to a lot of guys, and surprising to them.

"(They're) not hating losing enough to make a difference, and we've got to change that.''

Even when Olkinuora wasn't shutting down the Aces on Sunday – and he was skate-blade sharp – Alaska seemed a study in Murphy's Law.

Olivier Archambault had the puck on his backhand in tight and Olkinuora at his mercy when Couture's quick hook on the back-check caused Archambault to lose possession.

"That's hockey, eh?'' Archambault said.

He received an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty from referee Peter Tarnaris for disputing the lack of a penalty against Couture. Archambault fired eight shots in the last two games of the series, and at least half of those were exquisite scoring chances.

When the Aces enjoyed a power play late, trailing 4-1, Corey Syvret made a routine pass along the blue line to Jason Gregoire, whose stick blade promptly exploded. The Aces lost possession.

And alternate captain Chris Francis seemed like a puck magnet all weekend. He finished the series bearing bags of ice on his body from all the shots he blocked.

"It doesn't matter,'' Francis said of being battered. "I'm just trying to spark the team and get us going. Besides my left leg, I feel fine.''

The Aces, saddled with the first 0-3-0 start in their ECHL history, head to California this week for three games in three nights – Thursday at Bakersfield, and Friday and Saturday at Stockton.

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"We can't hang our heads,'' Francis said.

"We have 69 games to play, so put this behind us and go forward,'' said Archambault.

After the game, the Aces skated with fans and signed autographs, as is customary following Sunday home games. Gregoire chatted up a young boy as he signed the kid's autograph book.

"We can't score goals right now,'' Gregoire said to the kid. "Got any tips?''

Shuffling the deck

The Aces entered the season with the best home-ice winning percentage in league history at .755. That number fell to .749.

Veteran defenseman Brad Cole and rookie center Zach Pochiro each made their Aces debuts Sunday.

Francis fired a game-high seven shots and Bryan Cameron generated five.

Besides Ontario and Stockton (2009), the only other team to sweep a three-game series from the Aces at Sullivan was Las Vegas in November 2006.

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Ontario's top line of center Tyler Spurgeon and wingers Couture and Walker in the series combined for 5-7—12 scoring totals and a +10 rating.

Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockey-blog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr

Ontario 1 3 0 4

Aces 0 0 1 1

First Period – 1, Ontario, Couture 1 (Julseth-White, Spurgeon), 8:13. Penalties – Couture, Ontario (tripping), :19; Pochiro, Aces (cross-checking), 3:32; Syvret, Aces (cross-checking), 13:27.

Second Period – 2, Ontario, Carzo 1 (King, Blackwater), 4:58 (pp); 3, Ontario, Kitsyn 2 (Ezekiel, Roach), 11:33; 4, Ontario, Walker 3 (Couture, Spurgeon), 19:43. Penalties – Archambault, Aces (unsportsmanlike conduct), :35; Tesink, Aces (hooking), 4:30; Couture, Ontario (cross-checking), 12:51.

Third Period – 5, Aces, Sproule 2 (Connolly, Wolfe), 11:59. Penalties – King, Ontario (slashing), 3:11; Richard, Aces (cross-checking), 5:04; Sheen, Ontario (delay of game-puck over glass), 12:35.

Shots on goal – Ontario 12-10-2—24. Aces 13-12-13—38.

Power-play Opportunities – Ontario 1 of 5. Aces 0 of 4.

Goalies – Ontario, Olkinuora, 1-0-0 (38 shots-37 saves). Aces, Lundstrom, 0-2-0 (24-20).

A – 3,087 (6,399). T – 2:24.

Referee – Peter Tarnaris. Linesmen – Travis Jackson, Josh Ellis.

Doyle Woody

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

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