No matter what happened Wednesday night, when the Alaska Aces cruised to a 6-1 win over the Bakersfield Condors in a game that marked the one-third point of their ECHL regular season -- 24 games of 72 scheduled -- the hockey club was assured of having its poorest record to this point in 12 seasons on the circuit.
The Aces are 11-13-0. Only once before did they even get as far down at .500 to this point. That came in 2009-10, when they were 11-11-2 after 24 games.
Anyhow, they still have a lot of work ahead of them. Yo, history buffs, note the 2009-10 team that was 11-11-2 after 24 games from that point on lost their next five games, dropping them to 11-16-2 and did not get back to .500 until they had played 39 games (18-18-3). They went 57 games deep into the season still at .500 (26-26-5). They finished 36-28-8 -- pretty remarkable to think that in 11 previous seasons in the ECHL, that season was Alaska's worst regular season, and it still finished eight games above .500.
The best the Aces have ever been at the one-third pole is 18-3-3 in 2005-06. That's the team that won the first of the franchise's three Kelly Cups.
Anyhow (again), here's how the Aces have stood at the one-third pole in each of their 12 ECHL seasons -- enjoy stat nerds!
ONE-THIRD POLE (24 GAMES)
2014-15 – 11-13-0, 22 points
2013-14 – 16-7-1, 33 points
2012-13 – 18-6-0, 36 points
2011-12 – 18-4-2, 38 points
2010-11 – 14-9-1, 29 points
2009-10 – 11-11-2, 24 points
2008-09 – 16-7-1, 33 points
2007-08 – 14-8-2, 30 points
2006-07 – 16-8-0, 32 points
2005-06 – 18-3-3, 39 points
2004-05 – 12-10-2, 26 points
2003-04 – 14-8-2, 30 points