In shootout loss, Aces winger Ruegsegger rewarded for his resolve

The result was not what Tyler Ruegsegger coveted — he and the Alaska Aces fell 3-2 to the Indy Fuel in an ECHL shootout Friday night — but the regulation goal he scored at Sullivan Arena is a moment he has craved for more than three years.

The once and current Aces winger did not play hockey the two previous seasons, and played very little three seasons ago, undone by injuries and a gastro-intestinal problem that remains undiagnosed.

But after three surgeries — two abdominal procedures prompted by an injury suffered when he stepped on a stick in a game, and a foot surgery — Ruegsegger, 28, began training again earlier this year with a comeback in mind. He contacted Aces bench boss Rob Murray, who he played for in two seasons with the Aces, and floated the idea. If you think you can pull it off, Murray said, you can always have a shot here.

Ruegsegger is one of Murray's guys. The coach loves players who work hard, pay attention to the smallest details, play smart and are good teammates, qualities Ruegsegger owns.

Ruegsegger cherishes the opportunity Murray and the Aces offered, and the support and sacrifices his wife, parents and friends offered. Not a single friend or family member, he said, discouraged his comeback.

Ruegsegger still had some hockey conditioning to do to get up to speed when he arrived at training camp — you can't replicate camp, practices or games, he said — and did not play in Alaska's first six games.

Friday marked his third game back, and in the second period he struck for his first goal in three years and seven months.

He opened the scoring early in the second period when he was stationed along the left-wing boards and tried to thread a pass to teammate Garet Hunt. The puck glanced off a defender's skate and Ruegsegger won a stick battle for it in the left circle, took a stride and fired a wrister past the glove of Fuel goaltender Jack Hildebrand (27 saves).

"That's a long wait,'' Ruegsegger said. "Any time you can help your team out is fun, but it's been a long haul and to put one in the back of the net is exciting. It felt good.

"Obviously, it's not the result we wanted, but it felt good.''

Ruegsegger laughed as he described his line's shift — he was on the ice with Hunt and Danny Moynihan — as a "debacle.''

"I think Danny went down, and Garet went down, and I think I went down once,'' Ruegsegger said. "Weird shift that ended well.''

In fairly typical hockey player fashion, Ruegsegger actually remember his last goal before Friday — it came as a member of the American Hockey League's now-defunct Abbotsford Heat on April 14, 2013.

"Game-winner against Toronto, wasn't it?'' he asked.

Yep. That goal was a third-period strike for a 2-1 lead in a 3-1 victory over the Marlies that was cushioned by a teammate's empty-net goal.

"I came over the blue line, shot it through a guy's feet, off the goalie's glove and in,'' he recalled.

The Aces, playing before a Military Appreciation Weekend crowd of 5,113 that witnessed four first-period fights, never trailed until the Fuel delivered a perfect shootout, three for three. They won the skills contest, 3-2.

Alaska received regulation goals from Ruegsegger and Tim Wallace, who roofed a wrister on the power play. Anthony Beauregard and Matt Stanisz countered for the Fuel. Beauregard's goal was a deflection of a shot by former UAA defenseman Chris Williams. The secondary assist went to former Aces and UAA skater Tyler Currier of Anchorage.

Alex Wideman, Kevin Lynch and Beauregard beat Aces masked man Kevin Carr (29 saves) in the shootout. Aces forwards Peter Sivak and Stephan Perfetto scored in the first two rounds of the shootout, but the puck rolled on Tim Coffman on his third-round backhander that went wide. That set the stage for Beauregard's clincher — he faked as if to go to his backhand and deftly slid a forehand inside the right post.

Indy (3-7-1) snapped its three-game losing streak and seven-game winless streak (0-6-1).

Alaska (6-2-1) lost its four-game winning streak but owns a five-game point streak (4-0-1) entering Saturday night's finale of the three-game series.

As for Ruegsegger, who conducted his postgame interview while riding a stationary bicycle, he's intent on improving his conditioning and being patient in the process of his comeback.

And he can't thank his wife, his family and the Aces enough for all they have done to help him become a pro hockey player again.

"I'll forever be grateful,'' he said.

Shuffling the deck

Coffman lost his career-high, seven-game point streak. Perfetto and Sivak each had a four-game point streak snapped.

But Wallace's goal pushed his point streak to five games with 2-3—5 totals in that span.

The Aces killed all three Indy power plays and have killed 20 consecutive opposing power plays in the last five-plus games.

In four starts, Carr has been something of a hard-luck goalie. He owns a 2.22 goals-against average and .920 save percentage, but is 1-2-1.

The Aces could not cash in on a power play in overtime and went 1 for 6.

Indy's penalty-killing crew is exceptional — the Fuel entered the night killing 89.7 percent of opposing power plays to rank third on the 28-team circuit.

Indy wins shootout 3-2

Indy 0  1  1  1  — 3

Aces 0  2  0  0  — 2

First Period — None. Penalties — Hunt, Aces, major (fighting), 4:25; Williams, Indy, major (fighting), 4:25; Lauwers, Aces, major (fighting), 8:05; Ramsay, Indy, major (fighting), 8:05; Lake, Aces, major (fighting), 11:15; Rupert, Indy, major (fighting), 11:15; Mattson, Indy (interference), 12:24; Levesque, Aces, minor-major, served by Olczyk (instigator, fighting), 18:14; Schiestel, Indy, major (fighting), 18:14.

Second Period — 1, Aces, Ruegsegger 1, 2:36; 2, Indy, Beauregard 1 (Williams, Currier), 11:31; 3, Aces, Wallace 2 (Moynihan, Olczyk), 17:22 (pp). Penalties — Rupert, Indy, double-minor (high-sticking), 3:41; Descoteaux, Aces (hooking), 5:02; Lynch, Indy (slashing), 6:19; Williams, Indy (hooking), 16:15; Beauregard, Indy (boarding), 17:57.

Third Period — 4, Indy, Stanisz 2 (Cure, Bellus), 5:04. Penalties — Tarasuk, Aces (interference), 9:04; Tarasuk, Aces (hooking), 12:46.

Overtime — None. Penalties — Stanisz, Indy (cross-checking), 2:30.

Shootout — Indy 3 (Wideman G, Lynch G, Beauregard G), Aces 2 (Sivak G, Perfetto G, Coffman NG).

Shots on goal — Indy 9-8-12-2—31. Aces 10-12-6-1—29.

Power-play Opportunities — Indy 0 of 3. Aces 1 of 6.

Goalies — Indy, Hildebrand, 3-2-1 (29 shots-27 saves). Aces, Carr, 1-2-1 (31-29).

A — 5,113 (6,399). T — 2:45.

Referee — Tyler Puddifant. Linesmen — Scott Sivulich, Travis Jackson.