Sports

Aces top Eagles in shootout, continue flourishing in road openers

The Alaska Aces have proved a poor road team overall this hockey season -- their .409 winning percentage in hostile arenas ranks 23rd on the 28-team ECHL circuit -- and yet they usually start trips with a bang.

The Aces' 2-1 shootout win at Colorado on Wednesday night, when goaltender Troy Redmann buoyed them with a terrific performance to open a five-game roadie, marked the fifth consecutive time they have started a trip with a win.

Alaska (25-22-5) has not dropped a road trip-opener since its first journey of the season, which began with a loss at Bakersfield four months ago.

That puts the Aces at 5-1-0 in trip openers this season. They are 3-11-2 in all other road games.

The springboard for their strong work Wednesday was Redmann, who stopped 40 shots from his former club in regulation and overtime, then denied four of five Eagles shooters in the skills contest. Chris Francis scored Alaska's goal to open the scoring in the first period -- Brock Nixon answered 99 seconds later – and Francis and Tim Coffman beat Colorado's Clarke Saunders (31 saves) in the first two rounds of the shootout.

Redmann in five rounds permitted only Derek Rodwell's strike. Otherwise, he shut down Taylor Vause, Nixon and Greg Gardner, and rebuffed Kyle Kraemer in the top of round five to seize victory at the typically sold-out Budweiser Events Center -- announced attendance was the usual 5,289.

In the big picture, Alaska's win only maintained its position in the Pacific Division race for fourth place, which represents the last playoff spot in the seven-team division. Utah's 4-1 home win over last-place Stockton kept the fifth-place Aces five points behind the fourth-place Grizzlies, who have played two more games than Alaska. Bakersfield's 4-1 home loss to Idaho dropped the sixth-place Condors five points behind the Aces and 10 points behind Utah.

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Redmann, who played for Colorado before the Aces picked him up from the Eagles on waivers in January, improved to 7-1-1 overall. He's 5-1-1 for the Aces, with a .916 save percentage.

The Eagles (34-19-2) entertain the Aces again on Friday and Saturday. Next week, the Aces play two California road games, one at Bakersfield and one at Ontario, before returning home to entertain the Eagles in a three-game series.

With winger Bryan Cameron (upper-body injury) out of the lineup Wednesday for the second time in the last five games, the Aces were missing eight of their top 10 scorers when ranked on point-per-game average. Most are on promotion to the American Hockey League, and team-leading scorer Brendan Connolly -- placed on the 21-day injured reserve -- is out with an upper-body injury that has him shelved until at least the homestand against Colorado.

To counter for their lack of firepower, the Aces played a solid road game Wednesday. They managed the puck well and permitted the Eagles, who entered converting 23.1 percent of power-play chances on home ice, three chances with the man advantage. Alaska killed all three.

Francis bagged his fourth goal in the last six games and his 18th of the season off a feed from center Tim Coffman. The other assist went to linemate Curt Gogol. That top line is Alaska's one consistent threat and accounted for nearly half the club's 32 shots in regulation and overtime -- Francis led the Aces with eight shots, Gogol generated four and Coffman three.

Nixon countered quickly when Nathan Moon put him in alone and he beat Redmann on the breakaway for this team-leading 24th goal.

Shuffling the deck

Francis' eight shots marked the 12th time in 49 games he has fired six or more shots in a game. His season-best is nine shots. He ranks third in the league in shots (199) and averages 4.06 shots per game.

Alaska evened its record against Colorado this season at 3-3-1.

The Aces signed forward Michael Markovic from the University of Toronto and he made his debut in the game. Markovic, 25, this season earned 14-11—25 totals in 27 games, and in five seasons at Toronto furnished 56-54--110 totals in 139 games.

Oddity -- all 32 skaters in Wednesday's game finished with a plus-minus rating of even. That's because the same five guys on each team were on the ice for their team's even-strength goal and the opponents' even-strength goal.

That's only the second time in an Aces game this season all skaters involved finished with an even rating. The previous time occurred on Nov. 15, when the Aces beat visiting Stockton 2-1. All three goals were power-play goals, which do not count in plus-minus rating.

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

Alaska 1 0 0 0 - 2

Colorado 1 0 0 0 - 1

1st Period-1, Alaska, Francis 18 (Coffman, Gogol), 5:03. 2, Colorado, Nixon 24 (Moon), 6:42. Penalties-No Penalties

2nd Period- None. Penalties-Joe Col (delay of game), 0:32; Johnson Ak (cross-checking), 9:59.

3rd Period- None. Penalties-Tesink Ak (unsportsmanlike conduct), 1:08; Hayes Ak (tripping), 2:58; Baldwin Ak (fighting - major), 4:55; Zahn Col (roughing, fighting - major), 4:55.

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OT - None. Penalties-None.

Shootout - Alaska 2 (Francis G, Coffman G, Gogol NG, Hayes NG), Colorado 1 (Vause NG, Nixon NG, Rodwell G, Gardner NG, Kraemer NG).

Shots on Goal-Alaska 9-6-14-2-1-32. Colorado 14-6-14-7-0-41.

Power Play Opportunities-Alaska 0 / 2; Colorado 0 / 3.

Goalies-Alaska, Redmann 7-1-0-1 (41 shots-40 saves). Colorado, Saunders 19-6-0-2 (31 shots-30 saves).

A-5,289

Referee-Ryan Murphy (10).

Linesmen-Jameson Gromert, Robert Keltie (83).

Doyle Woody

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

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