Hockey

Double dose of pucks: Aces, Seawolves entertain visitors accustomed to victory

After a holiday hiatus — one week for the Alaska Aces, three weeks for UAA — Anchorage's most high-profile hockey teams won't exactly be easing back into competition with Friday's day-night doubleheader at Sullivan Arena.

Both clubs face visitors accustomed to victory.

The Aces on Friday night open a three-game set against the ECHL Mountain Division-leading Colorado Eagles, who have ruled on the road to the tune of 9-3-2.

The Seawolves on Friday afternoon entertain Western Collegiate Hockey Association-leading and No. 15-ranked Bemidji State in the opener of a two-game series, and the Beavers are 6-1-1 on the road in conference matches.

Still, both Anchorage clubs have savored some success recently — the Aces, granted, much more so, and the Seawolves, relatively.

The Aces, who delivered a 3-1-1 road trip before the break, trail the Eagles by three points and own two games in hand.

And while the Seawolves endured a difficult first half that included a seven-game losing streak and 10-game winless streak (0-8-2), they've secured at least a point in each of their last four league series and split their last two league series. That's modest stuff, but encouraging for a club that started its WCHA schedule with five straight losses.

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Smooth sailing

The Aces through 27 games have only once lost consecutive games in regulation, they've enjoyed relatively good health and they have received exceptional goaltending from Kevin Carr, Lukas Hafner and Michael Garteig, who has been up in the American Hockey League for more than a month.

"We're good,'' said Aces coach Rob Murray. "There's always room for improvement.''

Though the Aces have been without captain William Wrenn all season — he's been with AHL Toronto throughout — and lack a true No. 1 defenseman in his absence, their 2.74 goals-against per game ranks second on the circuit. Their 88.3-percent penalty-killing likewise ranks No. 2.

Colorado, meanwhile, through 29 games has yet to lose consecutive games in regulation and earlier this month reeled off an eight-game winning streak that tied for second-longest in the ECHL this season.

The Eagles have also received stingy goaltending. Clarke Saunders is 10-1-1, with a 2.23 goals-against average and .930 save percentage, and earlier this month he furnished back-to-back road shutouts at Tulsa.

The Aces and Eagles split a two-game series in Colorado in October. Colorado owns a .690 winning percentage and Alaska a .685 winning percentage. So, even match-up.

Second-half surge?

Ten different Seawolves missed games with injuries in the first half, but UAA is finally back to nearly full strength — only defenseman Tomi Hiekkavirta (wrist) is unavailable this weekend.

Still, UAA sits ninth on a 10-team circuit in which only the top eight finishers qualify for the league playoffs, so it needs to begin playing catch-up quickly. Eighth-place Lake Superior State is seven points ahead of UAA, though the Seawolves have two games in hand.

"You can look at everything on paper, and those are the results, and there is a sense of urgency,'' said UAA coach Matt Thomas. "Internally, we feel like we've gotten better every weekend.''

The Seawolves lost two players over the break. Freshman forward Aleksi Ainali signed with a pro team, Sport, in his native Finland's Liiga, the top circuit. And No. 3 goaltender Evan Hauser left the team.

The difficulty for the Seawolves against the Beavers will be generating offense. UAA is last in Division I in scoring (1.56 goals per game) and Bemidji State is first in Division I in team defense (1.59 goals per game). The Beavers are also the least-penalized team in the nation, and even when they are short-handed, rank third nationally in penalty-killing (90.6 percent).

It helps that junior goaltender Michael Bitzer is killing it — 13-5-3, 1.46 goals-against average, .940 save percentage and three shutouts. He's tied for first in the country in wins, sits second in goals-against average, is tied for second in shutouts and ranks fourth in save percentage.

Colorado Eagles

18-7-4

at

Alaska Aces

16-6-5

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Sullivan Arena

Friday and Saturday, 7:15 p.m.; Sunday, 3:05 p.m.

Radio: Live, AM-750 and FM-103.7 KFQD

 

No. 15 Bemidji State

13-6-3, 13-1-2 WCHA

at

UAA

3-13-2, 2-8-2 WCHA

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Sullivan Arena

Friday and Saturday, 1:37 p.m.

TV: Live, GCI cable Channel 1

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

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