Sports

Loss in Colorado illustrates Aces' goalie dilemma

The Alaska Aces have a problem, and Saturday night's 6-2 road loss to the Colorado Eagles shoved it into the glare of the spotlight.

The issue is goaltending. Troy Redmann, who has a very light pro hockey resume but has excelled in his short time with the club, is the Aces' presumptive No. 1 masked man. He backstopped the Aces to a pair of victories against Colorado, 2-1 in a shootout Wednesday and 3-1 Friday, stopping 67 of 69 shots.

But the Aces this week also got back the services of St. Louis Blues draft pick Niklas Lundstrom, who was returned to them from Chicago of the American Hockey League. He has struggled all season and Saturday, when he surrendered five goals, marked the 12th time in his 28 starts he has given up four goals or more.

NHL teams do not send ECHL teams like the Aces contracted players to have them idle in the league two notches below the world's best circuit.

Yet the Aces are fighting to push their way into the postseason picture and they can ill afford marginal goaltending.

So, Aces coach Rob Murray walks a fine line between doing what is best for his team and what is best for the franchise's affiliation with St. Louis.

In any event, fourth-place Utah's 3-2 win over Stockton on Saturday pushed its lead over the fifth-place Aces in the race for the Pacific Division's last playoff spot to five points. The Aces have one game in hand over the Grizzlies, but they also have just 18 regular-season games left, and 12 of those are on the road.

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Granted, Lundstrom played just one relief stint in his month in Chicago and he had not played a full game at any level since stopped 39 of 44 shots in a 5-4 overtime loss at Colorado on Jan. 16. Still, the Aces need wins -- now.

Saturday, on the same day they traded their third goalie, Aaron Crandall, to Colorado for future considerations -- likely cash, but perhaps a player down the road -- goaltending was in sharp focus.

Lundstrom in his last four starts for the Aces has gone 0-3-1 and given up 19 goals.

The Eagles used two goals and an assist from Trent Daavettila, three assists each from Brock Nixon and Mark Nemec, and a goal and assist from both Kyle Kraemer and Chris Knowlton, to prosper.

The Aces got goals from Justin Breton and newcomer Erik Higby. Higby's goal was his first as a pro -- the goal he was credited with Friday was subsequently credited to defenseman Brad Cole.

Crandall, who only had to move to the home dressing room Saturday at Budweiser Events Center, got into the game when starting goalie Clarke Saunders (19 saves on 21 shots) left the game about eight minutes into the third period. Crandall stopped all five shots he faced.

The Aces travel to California on Sunday, play at Bakersfield on Monday night and then wrap a five-game road trip Tuesday at Ontario.

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

Doyle Woody

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

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