Aces Announce Hall of Fame Class of 2017
Published on January 24, 2017 under ECHL (ECHL)
Alaska Aces News Release
ANCHORAGE, ALASKA - A common thread links the three inductees and special moment in the Alaska Aces Hall of Fame Class of 2017...the 2006 Kelly Cup championship.
The Class of 2017 was introduced to the public Tuesday by the Aces.
Davis Payne was a relative unknown when he took the reins of Alaska's professional hockey team, but the anonymity didn't last long. Payne, who played 22 games in the National Hockey League for the Boston Bruins, was coaching the now-defunct Pee Dee Pride of the ECHL when the Aces came calling in 2003. All he did was lead Alaska to the playoffs, helped fashion two-100 point seasons, and ultimately the 2006 Kelly Cup Championship. He went on to coach Peoria of the AHL and St. Louis of the NHL. Currently, Payne is an assistant coach with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings. He helped the Kings to a Stanley Cup championship in 2012.
Matt Underhill (left) and Chris Beckford-Tseu (above) were nearly unbeatable during that 2006 championship season...literally. The two goaltenders fashioned won-loss records that were amazing. Underhill was 39-10-3. Beckford-Tseu was 35-5-2. They both also filled a lot of net. Underhill was 6-2, Beckford-Tseu 6-3.
Underhill played in the NHL with the Chicago Black Hawks, in the AHL with 4 different teams, and 4 more in the ECHL, including Alaska.
Beckford-Tseu played in the NHL with St. Louis, and several minor league teams during his career.
Vladimir Novak (left) had an internal engine that never quit and it paid handsome dividends for the Aces during his five-year career. After a four-year collegiate stint at the University of Alaska Anchorage, Novak joined the Aces as an energy guy and unrelenting penalty-killer. Well-liked by his teammates who appreciated his effort every night, Novak also developed into a reliable secondary scorer during that 2006 championship season.
2006 was the first of three Alaska Aces Kelly Cup championships...and being the first, it carried enormous significance for a state that had never had a professional sports champion. Broadcaster Jack Michaels call of the final 30 seconds of the final game is the Aces Special Moment. The magic of the season captured the city of Anchorage's fancy, as fans came out by the thousands in support. The Aces became only the second team in ECHL history to capture both the Brabham Cup (top points in regular season) and Kelly Cup in the same season. Alaska's 53 wins in 2006 were the best in franchise history.
The Alaska Aces Hall of Fame induction ceremonies will be held Friday, February 10, in-between periods of the Aces game against the Utah Grizzlies at the Sullivan Arena.
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