Tate Maris is a singer-songwriter from Denver whose primary focus is a burgeoning solo career, but Wednesday night he put down his guitar, stepped away from the microphone, strapped on his goaltending gear and did a number on the Alaska Aces.
Maris, a 27-year-old former third-string goaltender at the University of North Dakota making his second professional appearance, stopped 39 shots to deliver the Colorado Eagles a 2-1 overtime victory at Sullivan Arena.
So, as if things haven't been going badly, and sadly, enough for the Aces (6-12-3), they have now been defeated by an emergency back-up goalie merely helping out a club wracked by injuries in the crease.
Not that Maris hasn't pulled off this act before – in January, he stopped 14 shots to give Colorado a 5-3 victory at Bakersfield.
he's 2-0-0 as a pro. No wonder he's got a song called, "Lovely Life.''
Still, a guy who played just four minutes at North Dakota – in the final home game of his senior season in 2013, he stopped the only shot he faced – beat a pro team going so badly that facing an emergency back-up seemed just the tonic it needed.
But Eagles defenseman Collin Bowman deflected Ludwig Karlsson's shot in overtime to give the Eagles (8-10-2) victory in the opener of a three-game series that continues Friday night.
The Aces had the better chances in OT – they outshot the Eagles 5-2 in the 3-on-3 situation – but to no avail. They fell to 4-7-2 on home ice.
It took the Aces more than two periods to crack Maris.
Tommaso Traversa finally broke through three minutes into the third period, when Maris made a pad save on captain William Wrenn's shot from the right point, but could not control the rebound. Traversa banged in his team high-tying eighth goal of the season to forge a 1-1 tie.
Even though the Aces fired 40 shots on Maris – the best they could muster before Traversa's goal was Garet Hunt's power-play deflection off the right post in the second period – many of them were not high-quality bids.
The line of Stephen Perfetto centering Traversa and Justin Breton, and the defensive pairing of Wrenn and Gleason Fournier, proved Alaska's only consistent, reliable threat. Coach Rob Murray gave Wrenn and Fournier heavy ice time. Wrenn's helper extended his point streak to a career-best six games. Fournier entered having scored four goals in the previous two games.
While the Aces killed all four Eagles power plays, special teams proved a wash because the Eagles killed all four Aces power plays.
Colorado earned a 1-0 lead eight minutes into the game when Steven Summerhays (23 saves) could not locate the rebound of a Channing Boe shot. Derek Rodwell did. He skated behind Summerhays and flicked the puck into the net before center Tim Coffman, trying to play temporary goalie, could get positioned behind Summerhays, who was at the top of his crease.
Aces newcomers Daniel Johnston, a defenseman, and Anthony Deluca, a winger, made their club debuts after being acquired from Wichita in a trade Tuesday. Johnston was minus-1, with three shots and Deluca earned an even rating and fired five shots.
The Eagles hope to have goaltender Jacob DeSerres healthy enough to play Friday. If not, it will be time for Maris' encore.
Reach Doyle Woody at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockeyblog and follow him on Twitter at @JaromirBlagr
Colorado 1 0 0 1 -- 2
Aces 0 0 1 0 -- 1
First Period – 1, Colorado, Rodwell 1 (Boe, Ostrow), 8:18. Penalties – Traversa, Aces (boarding), 10:02; Zarbo, Colorado (high-sticking), 13:54; Johnston, Aces (tripping), 17:14.
Second Period -- None. Penalties – Boe, Colorado (tripping), 5:43; Zimmerman, Colorado (holding), 10:50; Poulin, Aces (cross-checking), 14:13; Zarbo, Colorado (high-sticking), 17:16.
Third Period – 2, Aces, Traversa 8 (Wrenn, Perfetto), 2:54. Penalties – Deluca, Aces (holding), 5:35.
Overtime – 3, Colorado, Bowman 5 (Karlsson, Kraemer), 4:18. Penalties -- None.
Shots on goal – Colorado 10-7-6-2—25. Aces 10-16-9-5—40.
Power-play Opportunities – Colorado 0 of 4. Aces 0 of 4.
Goalies – Colorado, Maris, 1-0-0 (40 shots-39 saves). Aces, Summerhays, 2-6-0 (25-23).
A – 2,316. T – 2:29.
Referee – Stephen Thomson. Linesmen – Steve Glines, Chad Colliander.