Aces clip Falcons in OT, 5-4

December 10, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Alaska Aces News Release


ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Rookie center Alex Leavitt scored a power play goal 24 seconds into overtime to lift Alaska to a 5-4 victory over the Fresno Falcons in front of 4,942 Friday night at Sullivan Arena.

A club-record 10th consecutive victory seemed as if it would come easy when the Aces took a 2-0 lead before the game was five minutes old. Defenseman Peter Metcalf notched his seventh goal of the year at 3:25 to open the scoring, and Mike Scott followed with a power play tally 1:19 later. But just 35 seconds after Scott's goal, Rob McFeeters gave Fresno life with a wrist shot from between the circles that beat Alaska starter Matt Underhill top shelf and sliced the advantage in half. The Falcons deadlocked the contest 2-2 with 5:33 left in the first period when Cory Murphy's wrist shot from the point sailed through a screened Underhill. Fresno played the final 2:37 of the period with a two-man advantage, but failed to do any further damage.

The Falcons grabbed their first lead of the series (having lost 4-3 Wednesday in a shootout) just one minute into the second period, when Dustin Vanballegooie finally took advantage of the five-on-three situation. But a sloppy turnover in the Fresno zone led to the equalizer with 8:53 left in the frame, as Chris Minard blasted a one-timer past Brett Jaeger for his 15th goal of the year, tying him with Utah's Matt Craig for the ECHL lead. The Falcons regained a one-goal edge less than three minutes later, as McFeeters burst in off the rush and fed John Wroblewski for the go-ahead tally.

Leading 4-3, Fresno limited Alaska to just two shots in the first eight minutes of the final period, but slowly the Aces started putting the Falcons on their heels, finally breaking through for the tying goal with 6:21 left in regulation when Scott blasted a slap shot just underneath the crossbar after another turnover. Fresno took a penalty in the game's final minute of regulation, setting the stage for Leavitt, who fired a rebound past a sprawling Jaeger after a Ryan Gaucher drive from the point early in OT. The Aces have not been beaten since November 12 at Idaho, and maintained their four-point lead in the West Division in moving to 16-3-2 overall, 11-1-1 at home.

Alaska and Fresno (10-4-6) meet for the fourth consecutive game, and for the final time this season at Sullivan Arena, tomorrow night at 7:15 p.m. All Aces games, home and away, are broadcast live on KFQD AM 750 and at www.alaskaaces.com. In addition, all home games and selected road contests will be available on a pay-per-view basis on the internet, courtesy of B2 Networks.



ECHL Stories from December 10, 2005


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