Anchorage Daily News

When Brent Thompson was hired as the Alaska Aces' head coach over the summer, Eric Boguniecki phoned to offer his congratulations and the former American Hockey League teammates caught up for a bit.

"I said, 'If you need a place to play, just call me,' '' Thompson recalled. "Just jokingly.''

Three months later, Boguniecki, a former 22-goal scorer in the NHL (2002-03) and former AHL Most Valuable Player (2001-02), still needed a place to play his 13th pro season. And Thompson, with his ECHL club beset by injuries to forwards and a call-up to the AHL, needed some help up front.

That's how Boguniecki, 34, ended up signing Thursday with the Aces in what both parties described as an arrangement of undetermined length. The Aces (4-2-0) open a three-game home series tonight against the Idaho Steelheads (5-0-0).

"We'd like to see how it goes this weekend and take it from there,'' Thompson said. "He's gonna feel us out, we're gonna feel him out.''

Boguniecki, who earned 18-16--34 totals in 69 AHL games with the Iowa Chops last season, said the relationship with his new team is fluid.

"We'll take it day by day, see where it goes,'' he said. "You come here, and you're here to help out Thomer, and to help the team and the players win. It's an opportunity for me to sit down with the ownership and see what they're all about.''

Boguniecki returns to the ECHL for the first time since his rookie season, when he played part of the 1997-98 season with the Dayton Bombers. Since then, his career has been largely split between the AHL and the NHL (178 career games for four clubs).

Buguniecki most recently played in the NHL in 2006-07, when he logged 11 games with the New York Islanders. His most impressive season came in 2002-03, when he bagged 22-27--49 totals in 80 games for the St. Louis Blues.

Thompson and Boguniecki played together in 2000-01 for the AHL's Louisville Panthers. Boguniecki won the Les Cunningham Award as the AHL's MVP the following season after racking 38-46--84 totals and 181 penalty minutes for the Worcester IceCats.

Boguniecki fills the Aces' vacant slot for a fourth "veteran,'' which the ECHL considers any player who starts a season with 260 or more games of regular-season pro experience. Each ECHL team is permitted four veterans, and Boguniecki joins captain Scott Burt, winger Lance Galbraith and defenseman Derick Martin as Alaska's veterans.

Boguniecki left his home in Cape Cod, Mass. -- he and his wife have three young children -- about 1 a.m. ADT Wednesday and arrived at his Anchorage hotel about 1:30 a.m. ADT Thursday. That journey, he said, included some time on the tarmac at Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport after the plane he was traveling on blew a tire upon landing. He practiced with the Aces at 10 a.m. Thursday.

"I pulled an all-nighter and felt like it today,'' Boguniecki said after practice.

The signings this week of Boguniecki and third-year winger Moises Gutierrez of Anchorage gives the Aces 11 healthy forwards -- ECHL teams generally dress 10 forwards. The Aces were short bodies up front because first-line center John Lammers was plucked by AHL Manitoba, rookie winger Anthony Peluso returned to AHL Peoria and five other forwards are on the 21-day injured-reserve list.

"He brings a little bit of passion, finishes checks, has a good shot and has a good offensive feel for the game,'' Thompson said.

Before signing with the Aces, Boguniecki said he had offers to play in Europe, but with a young family he decided against it.

"Now, it's a family decision, not just about me,'' he said.

Boguniecki said he had been training at home and skating with the Bridgewater (Mass.) Bandits of the Eastern Junior Hockey League.

SHUFFLING THE DECK

At 34, Boguniecki supplants goaltender Scott Reid, 32, as the Aces' oldest player. Burt also is 32, though about two months younger than Reid.

Boguniecki is the third University of New Hampshire alum on Alaska's roster, joining brothers Colin and Brett Hemingway. As a Wildcat from 1993-97, Boguniecki racked 78-95--173 totals in 142 career games.

Goaltender Kevin Nastiuk, who played for the Aces last season but was released from training camp this season, has signed with Idaho. Just as the Aces lost Lammers to AHL Manitoba, the Steelheads lost goalie Rejean Beauchemin to the Moose.

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

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