The Alaska Aces earned the ECHL's National Conference trophy Thursday night, but it's the next, and last, piece of hardware available that they covet most.

Hoisting another Kelly Cup would lift them to hockey heaven.

The Aces smoked the host Las Vegas Wranglers 5-1 Thursday night at Orleans Arena in Nevada to sweep the conference finals in four games and advance to the Kelly Cup Finals for the second time in four seasons.

Alaska won the 2006 Kelly Cup, when current coach Keith McCambridge was their captain.

This time around, the Aces have won the West Division regular-season and playoff titles, and the National Conference regular-season and playoff titles, which will give the franchise more banners to hang from the rafters at Sullivan Arena.

In the Kelly Cup Finals, the Aces likely will play the South Carolina Stingrays, barring a miracle comeback by the defending champion Cincinnati Cyclones. South Carolina leads the American Conference finals 3-0 entering Game 4 in Cincinnati on Friday night.

The Aces will own home-ice advantage in the best-of-7 Finals, and host Games 1 and 2, likely on Memorial Day weekend, though no dates have been announced.

Alaska is 12-2 in the playoffs. Rookie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux, the league's Goaltender of the Year who stopped 25 shots Thursday, has played every second of every match. He permitted Las Vegas just three goals in four games, and stopped 99 of 102 shots in the series.

The Aces outscored the Wranglers, 14-3, in the series, and in the 240 minutes played, trailed for just 6:58. They also killed all 22 Las Vegas power plays in the series.

The Wranglers' best chance in their desperate straits - down 3-0 in the series when the puck dropped - was to jump the Aces early. But the opposite scenario unfolded - the Aces outshot the Wranglers 16-6 in the first period and seized a 2-0 lead.

Alaska earned that cushion with goals 2:26 apart late in the period.

The first strike came from two-time Kelly Cup winner Lance Galbraith, the gritty winger who also carries a scoring touch - after all, he led the playoffs in points in 2007 while helping the Idaho Steelheads to their second Kelly Cup.

Galbraith benefitted Thursday from a smart, aggressive play from center Alexandre Imbeault and a quick feed from Tomas Kana.

After Las Vegas goalie Glenn Fisher played the puck behind his net and shot it up the boards, Imbeault won a race to the puck and snapped a quick pass to Kana low on right wing. Kana immediately relayed the puck to Galbraith, just then coming out from behind the net. Galbraith swung out front and slipped a shot past Fisher for a 1-0 Alaska lead.

On a power play shortly after that, winger Matt Stefanishion, who owns the hardest shot on the club, made McCambridge look like Scotty Bowman. In a switch in man-advantage personnel, McCambridge stuck Stefanishion on defense, where he manned the left point. Stefanishion, stationed high in the left circle, accepted a cross-ice pass from Josh Soares and one-timed a missile past Fisher on the stick side for a 2-0 advantage.

The ice had barely dried after the first intermission when the Aces pumped their lead to 3-0.

Aces winger Cam Keith out-maneuvered Wranglers winger Mike Hamilton behind the net and fed linemate Colin Hemingway on Fisher's doorstep. Hemingway, who gained position in front of Wranglers defenseman Jason Dest, shoveled a shot past Fisher's glove.

If there was any sliver of doubt about the outcome, it vanished 11 minutes into the second period, when Luke Erickson snapped off a power-play strike from the left circle to give the Aces a 4-0 cushion.

The Wranglers finally cracked Lamoureux when Hamilton scored short-handed four minutes into the third period, but Imbeault countered on a power play four minutes later to restore the four-goal gap at 5-1.

And with Lamoureux in net, the result seemed certain for the Aces: Game over, series over.

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