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Six Aces in a stacked deck

December 31, 2005 - ECHL (ECHL)
Victoria Salmon Kings News Release


Anchorage, AK - The Victoria Salmon Kings and Alaska Aces played the second to last game of 2005 tonight, at Sullivan Arena in Anchorage, Alaska. Despite coming back from two goals down twice, the Salmon Kings dropped the game 6-5.

Nine seconds after the drop of the puck, Forward Chris Minard tipped it to line mate Olivier Filion. Filion stepped into the big circle to the left of Goaltender Rob McVicar and wired the shot through the goalie's shin pads, to give the Aces the 1-0 lead.

Seconds after an unsuccessful powerplay opportunity for the Salmon Kings, Aces Defenseman Pat Wellar dropped the puck to Forward Chris Minard who blew his shot through the legs of McVicar, for his 22nd goal of the game, giving the Aces the 2-0 lead.

With 1:15 left in the opening stanza, penalty killer Mike Josephson broke up a play at the blueline and Captain Ryan Wade streaked out on a two on one with Josephson. Wade faked the pass across the crease and blasted a slapper through Goaltender Matt Underhill to cut the Aces lead in half, shorthanded.

Aces newcomer Ryan Ramsey jumped on an opportunity at 19:24 and made Victoria pay. Ramsey picked up a puck in the circle to the left of Goaltender David Currie, who replaced McVicar after Alaska's second goal. He faked Currie on the shot, and beat the goalie with an impossible finish from below the red line, to give the Aces the 3-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

The Salmon Kings opened the scoring at 4:24 of the middle period. Forward Lanny Gare took advantage of an Aces defensive zone breakdown. Gare passed the puck to Defenseman Steve Lingren coming off the blueline. Lingren fed the pass back to Gare left alone in front, and he tipped it passed Underhill to cut Alaska's lead to 3-2.

Only 51 seconds later Wade notched his second of the night on a sweet give and go passing play with Forward Adam Taylor, on the powerplay. Wade found Taylor in the corner who gave the puck back to Wade in the slot. Wade fired the puck through Underhill to knot the game at three.

At 7:01, Aces Forward Joe Talbot recorded his second goal of the season after a defensive zone breakdown in front of Currie. The puck deflected off a couple of skates in front of the goaltender onto the stick of Talbot. The forward was wide open in front of the net and he tipped into the cage to give Alaska the 4-3 lead.

Two minutes and seven seconds later the Aces struck again. Leading scorer Barrett Heisten found Minard in front with a crisp cross ice pass, and Minard deked around Currie beating the sprawling netminder, to extend the Aces lead to 5-3.

The Salmon Kings started the crawl back into the game at 11:30 of the middle period. After another scrambled play in front of the net, Defenseman Kurt Drummond snuck in from the blueline and banged a loose puck past Underhill to bring Victoria within one, at 5-4.

Victoria completed the comeback for the second time in the period, on the powerplay. At 15:22 Wade carried the puck to the Aces blueline and stopped. He found a streaking Drummond who wired a shot too hot for Underhill's glove hand. The loose puck dropped in front of the goalie and before he could cover the puck Forward Jade Galbraith rippled the twine for the eighth time this season, to tie the game at five heading into the second intermission.

The Aces opened the scoring in the final frame when Ramsey notched his second goal of the night. Currie made the first stop off of a Talbot blast from the slot, but Victoria's defense was unable to clear the rebound in front. Ramsey picked up the loose puck and put it past the sprawling goaltender to give Alaska the 6-5 win.

Victoria finished the game two for nine on the powerplay while the Aces converted two of their five of their chances with the man advantage. Underhill earned his twelfth win of the season while Currie was charged his fifth loss of the season in front of another sell-out at the Sullivan Arena with 6269 fans in attendance.

The Salmon Kings play tomorrow night in Anchorage against the Aces for the final time in 2005. Victoria opens the 2006 portion of the schedule against the Fresno Falcons on January 5th.

Tickets for all Salmon Kings home games are available from Select Your Tickets at the arena, online at www.selectyourtickets.com or by phone at 250-220-7777. To purchase Salmon Kings Season, Half-Season, Super Saturday's, Crazy Eight's, Mini-Pack and Group Ticket Packages please contact Devin Mazur at 250-220-7888 ext.1.

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