Salmon Kings Fall In Final Minute To Aces

February 12, 2009 - ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Anchorage, AK - The Victoria Salmon Kings and Alaska Aces met in the first game of a pivotal four-game set that will pit the two teams atop the standings in the National Conference. Victoria started Todd Ford in net while Alaska countered with Kevin Regan.

The Aces hit the board first when Vladimir Novak cut through the slot, going from the right to the left, and slipped a wrist shot far side between Ford's right pad and glove. The home team took a two goal lead when Scott Burt found a Bryan Miller rebound bouncing in the crease and was able to pop it in the empty cage for the power play marker. The Aces would lead 2-0 after the first period.

The Salmon Kings would get on the board just past the midway point of the period when Sean O'Connor was stopped by Regan on a close in shot on the right side. O'Connor picked up the rebound skated behind the net and fed Adam Taylor in front who fired the puck past Regan to make it a 2-1 game. Victoria would tie the game on a strange goal just 1:11 later. Chris St. Jacques threw a puck from the right corner towards the net. It hit Aces' forward Brett Hemingway's skate and slipped past Regan. The game would remain tied at 2-2 through 40 minutes.

The third period saw back-and-forth action, and the Aces hit the scoreboard first. Ford made the initial save on the Burt shot and then scrambled to make a diving save on the Jordan Foreman rebound. Foreman kept with it and flipped the third chance up-and-over Ford to give Alaska the lead. The Salmon Kings would respond when Adam Taylor flipped a pass down the boards and then dropped a huge shoulder into Lance Galbraith who was charging towards him. This allowed Matt Kelly to take the Taylor pass on the left wing side wall and fire a cross-ice pass to Darryl Lloyd. The hard charging Lloyd tipped the puck past Regan to tie the game back up at 3-3. The Salmon Kings committed a costly turnover in their own zone and the Aces capitalized. Luke Erickson fired the initial shot from the slot that Ford stopped. Then Ford robbed Erik Fabian on the rebound, but defenseman Bryan Miller was able to put the rolling puck into the net with just under a minute to go. Aces 4 Salmon Kings 3.

Victoria finished 0/1=0.0% on the power play, while Alaska finished 1/3=33.3%. The Aces out shot the Salmon Kings 39-30.

The Salmon Kings and Aces continue their four-game set on Friday night at 8:15 p.m. PST. The Salmon Kings return to the Save-On-Foods Memorial Centre on Wednesday, March 11th to open a four-game set against the Ontario Reign. For tickets call 220-7777 or visit www.selectyourtickets.com.



ECHL Stories from February 12, 2009


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central