Alaska's mastery of Long Beach halted
February 22, 2004 - ECHL (ECHL)
Alaska Aces News Release
ANCHORAGE, Alaska â T. J. Aceti stopped 31 of 32 shots as Long Beach defeated Alaska for the first time in seven meetings 4-1 before 4,998 Saturday night at Sullivan Arena.
The Aces had defenseman Mike Jones back in the lineup for the first time since January 24 but were still missing three other players due to injury and two more as a result of AHL promotions. Long Beach grabbed only its second lead all year against Alaska when Jerome Marois one-timed a bouncing puck from between the circles over the left shoulder of Aces goaltender Dan Murphy midway through the first period. But Chris Lipsett answered with seven minutes left in the opening frame, redirecting a drive from Dave Csumrik past Aceti to leave the score deadlocked at 1-1 heading to the second.
The score remained tied until late in the middle frame when the Long Beach power play, just 1-for-25 against Alaska this season, finally broke through, as former Ace Nolan Graham found Alex Kim, who slipped the puck past Murphy from point blank range with 4:32 left in the period. The Aces outshot the Ice Dogs (18-30-4 overall) 14-8 over the final 20 minutes but their fate was sealed when Trevor Read scored an insurance goal with 6:58 remaining in regulation. An empty-netter by Derek Seal with 1:26 left accounted for the final margin.
Alaska outshot Long Beach 32-28 but was denied in its first try at claiming its 30th win of the season, a milestone not reached by the Aces (29-19-4) since the 1999-2000 season. The teams will play the rubber match of this series tomorrow night at 7:00 p.m. AST. The Aces remain six points behind Las Vegas and Idaho, who climbed into a tie for second place with the Wranglers by virtue of its 7-5 win in Toledo. Tomorrow's game will be broadcast live on KFQD 750 AM and at www.alaskaaces.com, with Jack Michaels calling the play-by-play. Coverage begins 20 minutes prior to the opening face-off, presented by GCI.
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