Anchorage Daily News

Nine games into the grind that is the ECHL's 72-game regular season, Alaska Aces coach Brent Thompson is trying to keep his hockey team's tempestuous temperament in perspective.

In the wake of Sunday's 3-2 overtime loss to the Idaho Steelheads -- that setback turned, in part, on an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty against Matt Stefanishion -- Thompson said he believes his club has reduced its penchant for thoughtless penalties.

Granted, the bench boss said, his players acted like "idiots'' in the preseason and earlier in the regular season, taking undisciplined penalties and too often devolving into over-the-top antics. Now, Thompson said, the Aces need to quell their frequent complaints about penalties, zip their lips and compete relentlessly.

"We are a team that plays better when we're on that fine line between discipline and aggressiveness,'' Thompson said. "I'd say we've made huge, huge strides and we have more strides to make. There has been improvement, but now we have to learn to keep our mouths shut. (Perceived bad calls) are part of the game.''

The Aces led 1-0 Sunday at Sullivan Arena on defenseman Tyson Marsh's goal 66 seconds into the second period, which marked his third straight match with a goal. Marsh's third goal of the season also matched his career-high as a pro and ended a terrific shift for the sixth-year blueliner -- earlier in the sequence he slid along the ice to break up an Idaho 3-on-1 rush.

Later in the period, though, Stefanishion received a minor penalty for boarding. He chirped to referee Joe Sullivan and received two additional minutes for unsportsmanlike conduct.

The Aces killed off the first penalty, but Mark Derlago's goal with just nine seconds left on the unsportsmanlike conduct penalty furnished a 1-1 tie. The Steelheads gained a 2-1 lead 15 seconds into the third period on rookie Brandan Kushniruk's first pro goal. Kushniruk shoveled a shot on goal from just outside the crease -- you don't have to be a rocket scientist to make that play, but it probably didn't hurt that Kushniruk majored in mechanical and aerospace engineering at Princeton.

In any event, the Aces (5-3-1) barely mustered a threat on Steelheads rookie goaltender Richard Bachman (22 saves) in the next 25 minutes of play following Stefanishion's penalties. They finally cashed in on defenseman Nick Tuzzolino's bomb from atop the right circle with less than three minutes left in regulation, and Tuzzolino's first marker of the season forced overtime.

Idaho's Evan Barlow scored 1:56 into overtime to give the Steelheads (7-0-1) five of a possible six points in the three-game series.

"It's good to have a young, exciting team that really just wants to play hard,'' said Idaho head coach Derek Laxdal. "We wanted to see how we did with a test. I'd say we passed the test.''

Meanwhile, Aces captain Scott Burt had just about endured his fill of bad penalties by his club.

"Guys need to realize discipline is killing this hockey club right now,'' Burt said. "We're playing the (penalty) killers too much and like (Thompson) said, by the third period, we're dead.

"It's eating us up. Until we realize we need to stop sitting in that box, we're not going to win these close games. It's lazy and it's selfish, and the only way we're going to get out of it is to come together and play whistle to whistle.

"You can only say so much until it gets molded in their stupid heads. I'm not going to lie -- I'm guilty of it, too.''

The Aces entered Sunday averaging 34.75 penalty minutes per game, second-most in the league. And the 6.56 power plays per game they face ranks as the fifth-most on the 20-team circuit. They lead the league in bench minors (four) -- three for too many men on the ice and another for unsportsmanlike conduct.

Alaska's lineup could soon be undergoing some changes. Forwards Curtis Fraser (shoulder), Tomas Kana (shoulder) and Nick Mazzolini (knee) are eligible to come off the 21-day injured-reserve list this week. Also, recent addition Moises Gutierrez finished his two-game suspension Sunday. And veteran and former NHLer Eric Boguniecki, who sat out Sunday to rest after scoring goals in his first two games with the club, must still decide if he wants to stay with the club long-term.

"People have yet to see the true Aces,'' Thompson said.

Shuffling the deck

Aces goalie Scott Reid made 34 saves Sunday and sports a .934 save percentage. Combined with his 50 saves in Saturday's 3-2 shootout win and his 22 saves before Derlago scored Sunday, Reid stopped 66 consecutive shots in regulation and overtime.

Colin Hemingway assisted on Marsh's goal to extend his point streak to eight games.

Defenseman Derick Martin is Alaska's penalty-killing mainstay, and he teams with Ryan Turek on Alaska's shutdown pairing, but he's also contributing offense. Martin's assist on Tuzzolino's goal gives him 1-5--6 totals in nine games after earning 1-11--12 totals in 54 Aces games last season.

Find Doyle Woody's blog at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

Idaho 0 1 1 1 - 3

Aces 0 1 1 0 - 2

First Period - None. Penalties - C. Hemingway, Aces (hooking), 1:28; Flichel, Idaho (hooking), 5:36; Rome, Idaho (interference), 16:35; Turek, Aces (tripping), 18:20.

Second Period - 1, Marsh 3 (Burt, C. Hemingway), 1:06; 2, Idaho, Derlago 6 (Spurgeon, Barlow), 16:43 (pp). Penalties - Morehouse, Aces, major (fighting), 5:54; Rome, Idaho, major (fighting), 5:54; Galbraith, Aces (unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:24; Ludwig, Idaho (unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:24; Stefanishion, Aces, double minor (boarding, unsportsmanlike conduct), 12:51.

Third Period - 3, Idaho, Kushniruk 1 (Tousingnant, Neal), :15; 4, Aces, Tuzzolino 1 (Martin), 17:07. Penalties - Tousingnant, Idaho (holding the stick), 5:53; Combs, Aces (hooking), 8:13.

Overtime - 5, Idaho, Barlow 5 (Spurgeon), 1:56. Penalties - None.

Shots on goal - Idaho 8-16-11-2--37; Aces 9-9-5-1--24.

Power-play Opportunities - Idaho 1 of 5. Aces 0 of 3.

Goalies - Idaho, Bachman, 3-0-1 (24 shots 22 saves). Aces, Reid, 2-1-1 (37-34).

A - 3,908 (6,251). T - 2:16.

Referee - Joe Sullivan. Linesmen - Scott Sivulich, Chad Colliander.

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