Anchorage Daily News

With his team trailing 1-0 and skating short-handed late in the second period of a playoff game last spring, Alaska Aces defenseman Peter Metcalf donated his body to his hockey team.

As Bakersfield Condors defenseman Tyler Scott raised his stick toward the rafters at Sullivan Arena and prepared to trigger a slap shot from the high slot, Metcalf dropped onto his side to block Scott's scoring bid.

Scott unleashed a wicked drive.

Metcalf tensed his body and prepared for a pounding.

A hockey puck is just one inch thick, three inches in diameter and weighs less than six ounces -- all in all, a small object. Even so, it is frozen, vulcanized rubber, and when propelled at 90 mph, it can produce astonishing violence if it strikes flesh and bone.

That's one reason hockey players wear so much protective equipment -- padded pants, hard shin pads, shoulder pads, elbow pads, reinforced gloves, an athletic cup and a helmet.

"Any time you go to block a shot,'' said Aces defenseman Matt Shasby, "you have that split-second where you think, 'Please hit padding.' ''

Even outfitted in all that equipment, though, a player's body remains unprotected and particularly vulnerable in a few spots -- the back of the calves, the forearms, the neck, the small space between the top of the skate and the bottom of the shin pad, and on the laces of the skate.

And, as Metcalf experienced in April, the middle of the chest.

Scott's drive struck Metcalf above the top of his padded pants and below the bottom of the chest plate of his shoulder pads. The only thing between the puck and his skin was his game sweater and the T-shirt beneath it.

Yet, as that sequence unfolded, there was no question in Metcalf's mind he would not shy from Scott's shot.

"It's a fight-or-flight mentality,'' Metcalf said recently. "Some guys, they're always going to get out of the way -- that's just their nature, they don't want to get hit by the puck.

"I don't like to get scored on, so for me and other guys, it's just instinct. Just get in front of the shot. You don't think you're going to get hurt.''

After the puck struck Metcalf squarely, it came to rest near him. He swiped it with his hand to teammate Kimbi Daniels, who fed Patrick Wellar for a short-handed goal that tied the game, which the Aces won 3-2 on the way to a series sweep.

Metcalf made his mark on that game, and that game left its mark on him.

"I remember I had a big welt there,'' Metcalf said. "It lasted about a week, nice and puffy.''

That no-pain, no-gain sequence also furnished evidence that while a blocked shot does not carry the cachet of a spectacular goal or flashy glove save, the sacrifice it demands can produce a pivotal event.

"You block a shot, and that's a possible game-tying goal, a possible game-winning goal,'' said Blair Tassone, UAA's senior shot-blocking winger. "That one shot you block could win a championship, a series, a game.''

MASTERS VS. FLAMINGOS

Aces coach Keith McCambridge, who carved out an 11-year, minor-league career as a defenseman diligent about doing dirty work -- blocking shots, killing penalties, fighting -- considers blocking shots an art form.

Just as anyone can slop paint on a canvas, anyone can block a shot. But to block one effectively requires persistence, sacrifice and a high threshold for pain, a combination UAA defenseman Luke Beaverson calls courage.

"You have to have the will to do it,'' said McCambridge, who as an Aces defenseman excelled at blocking shots. "You have to want the puck to hit you. Probably 85 percent of the time, it doesn't hurt. If you're intelligent about it, it hits you in the shin pads or the pants.

"It's a commitment, a will to do it, not just skating out there, closing your eyes and hoping it hits you. You're sacrificing your body to prevent a goal.''

To properly block a shot, the defending skater must line up directly in front of the shooter's stick blade. That allows the shot blocker better odds of taking the full force of the shot and deflecting the puck away from his own net.

He might align himself while upright on his skates, which affords him the mobility to mimic a shooter's lateral movement as the shooter seeks an open avenue to the net. The blocker might drop to one knee, which still allows him some mobility -- he can quickly get back on both skates to maneuver -- while also presenting the shooter a bigger obstacle.

A skater who leaves his feet and slides along the ice to block a shot, as Metcalf did in that playoff game, must be certain the shooter is committed to shooting. Otherwise, the shooter will simply dance around him, reload and fire.

"Basically, the goal is to block the path to the net,'' Shasby said. "As long as it gets tipped away from being able to go in the net, you've done your job.''

A player who half-heartedly attempts to block a shot and lifts a leg off the ice so he doesn't get hit by the puck is derided as a "flamingo.''

Goaltenders don't care for those cats. They prefer their teammates either commit to blocking the shot or get out of the way so they don't screen the goalie.

"If you're gonna block it, block it,'' said Aces goaltender Derek Gustafson. "If you're not sure, just move and let me see the shot.

"If a guy just tips it and it changes direction on you, it screws you up. But if a guy really blocks it and it doesn't get to you, that's the best feeling.''

NO SPOTLIGHT

The reigning king of shot blockers in the NHL is Ottawa Senators defenseman Anton Volchenkov, who last season blocked 273 shots in 78 games for an average of 3.5 per game.

In a week's worth of NHL games in December -- 51 matches -- teams combined for an average of 24.3 blocked shots per game. The most shots a single team blocked in a game was 22; the fewest was four.

The ECHL, the league in which the Aces play, does not track blocked shots for either teams or individuals. Ditto for the Western Collegiate Hockey Association, the league in which UAA skates.

But UAA does chart team blocked shots for its home games. And in the Seawolves' first 10 home games this season, they and their opponents combined for an average of 20.5 blocked shots per game -- 11.1 for UAA and 9.4 for its opponents.

Blocking shots is a largely anonymous job -- a newspaper story or television report about a game that leads with the exploits of a shot blocker is more rare than a 0-0 game.

Sure, the most savvy fans at Sullivan Arena recognize the worth of shot blockers -- "This place erupts when there's a good block,'' Gustafson said -- but the folks who most often acknowledge a shot blocker are his teammates.

"In the (locker) room, everyone knows when you do it,'' Aces center Olivier Filion said. "On the bench, everyone knows. And it feels good when you go to the bench and they tell you, 'Good job.' ''

Given their proximity to their own net, defensemen block more shots than forwards -- NHL stats and anecdotal evidence prove that.

For the Aces, defensemen Shasby and Metcalf are excellent shot blockers, and most of the defense follows suit. Forwards like Filion and center Vladimir Novak, who is exceptional at blocking shots on the penalty kill, also flourish.

At UAA, Tassone is a standout, as are Beaverson and fellow defenseman Mat Robinson.

For Tassone, blocking shots comes naturally -- he grew up under the tutelage of old-school coaches who demanded sacrifice. Besides, with marginal offensive skills -- Tassone scored just four goals and eight points in 55 games during his first three seasons in green and gold -- he understands that blocking shots gives him an edge. It also endears him to his teammates, who witness the example he sets.

"I'm not going to score 20 goals in the WCHA,'' Tassone said. "I've been here four years and have, what, 10 points, 12 points? A guy like me, you have to grind it out.''

Ditto for Beaverson, the Seawolves captain. As a prototypical stay-at-home defenseman, he knows he must protect his net above all.

"For someone like me who doesn't score a lot of goals, I have to take pride in other things, like hitting or blocking shots,'' Beaverson said.

His buddy Tassone sees the results of Beaverson's sacrifice.

"I've lived with him for four years,'' Tassone said, "and there hasn't been one series when he came home without a bruise somewhere.''

TAKING THE PAIN

Aces defenseman Lee Green, the former Seawolves captain, knows about bruises. He's been working on his collection all season, and he expanded his portfolio in a game against the Victoria Salmon Kings last month.

Defending Victoria's 5-on-3 power-play advantage in the first period of a game in British Columbia, Green drifted into the high slot just as Ryan Wade wound up for a one-timer.

Wade's shot hit Green in the right skate and left him limping. But the puck stayed in Alaska's zone, so Green could not get off the ice for a line change. He hobbled around and later blocked a shot with his right thigh, the puck momentarily sneaking beneath his pants and leaving a bruise that remained days later. Later in the game, he blocked a shot with his chest.

"It's not the most fun part of the game, but you've got to do it,'' Green said with a shrug. "The less you think about it, the more you'll stay in front of it.

"If you think about it too much, it's a human reaction to get out of the way. If it hits you where it hurts, you just deal with it and move on.''

Case in point: Playing for the ECHL's Las Vegas Wranglers last season, Green was struck on the right ear by a shot. He went to the locker room, received five or six stitches to close the wound and returned to the game.

By some measures, Green got off easy.

Aces defenseman Felipe Larranaga suffered a broken foot when he was hit by a puck in practice in November, and the injury required surgery that caused him to miss 22 games. Shasby was struck in the lower right leg in a game the night after Larranaga's injury and suffered a broken leg that cost him 15 games. Even after the puck broke his leg, Shasby played a shift before he realized the severity of his injury.

Shasby compares that split-second of recognition before blocking a shot to a baseball hitter who knows a pitch is about to hit him: This is gonna hurt.

"It's like when you see the ball leave the pitcher's hand and you know it's going to hit you in the meat of the back,'' Shasby explained. "But you take it and walk down to first base. Or, in our case, you take your slow glide back to the bench.''

Of course, it could have been worse. It always can.

Shasby recalls taking a shot to the athletic cup when he played youth hockey, a memory that still makes the 27-year-old wince.

"You wouldn't wish that on your worst enemy,'' Shasby said. "I let out a screech like you've never heard from an 11-year-old. I can't imagine what a grown man would sound like.

"No blocked shot is worth that unless it's for Lord Stanley's Cup, or there's some kind of Cup on the line.''

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

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HAVE AN OPINION? Catch up on and contribute to the conversation about Alaska hockey with Doyle Woody at

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ACES TAKEN DOWN: The Victoria Salmon Kings maintained the momentum they generated in the third period of a loss Friday night and earned a 4-1 victory.

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