Soares Named To ECHL All-Rookie Team
April 3, 2008 - ECHL (ECHL)
Alaska Aces News Release
VICTORIA, BC - Alaska Aces winger Josh Soares has been named to the ECHL All-Rookie team for the 2007-08 season.
The honor was determined in a vote of ECHL coaches, who were asked to select a goaltender, two defensemen and three forwards. A rookie is defined by the league as a player who has played in less than 25 professional games prior to the start of the current season. Despite seeing his 14-game point streak come to an end last night in Alaska's 6-4 win at Victoria, the 26-year-old Soares remains tied for second among rookies and tied for third overall with 81 points in 59 games. He ranks second among rookies and fourth overall with 36 goals and is tied for second among first-year players and tied for sixth overall with six game-winning goals.
Soares, who led Maine to consecutive NCAA Frozen Four appearances at the University of Maine in 2006 and 2007, served as Alaska's lone representative at the 2008 ECHL All-Star Game after scoring 30 points (14g-16a) in 24 games. Currently under contract to Alaska's AHL affiliate in Peoria, the six-foot, 202-pounder has two goals and a pair of helpers in seven games in two separate stints with the Rivermen this season. Since the ECHL began naming the All-Rookie Team in 2000-01, seven players selected have gone on to play in the NHL.
Early Thursday, Soares finished runner-up to Johnstown's Randy Rowe in voting for ECHL Player of the Month honors. He scored 11 goals and assisted on 10 others in 15 games during the month of March to help lead the Aces to a 10-5 record and into position to win their fourth straight West Division title. An Alaska win in regulation over Victoria tomorrow night, coupled with any kind of Fresno victory at Idaho would clinch first place for the Aces, who, as recently as February 9, trailed the Salmon Kings by 16 points in the division race. Alaska owns a 34-9-4 record head-to-head against Victoria since 2004, including a first-round playoff series victory last year and a 6-4 mark this year. Tomorrow night's game will be broadcast live on the flagship home of Aces hockey, AM 750 KFQD, with coverage beginning at 5:45 p.m. ADT.
Goaltender Chris Beckford-Tseu, who stopped 30 shots last night to run his record with the Aces to 12-4 this season and 35-5-2 lifetime, has been re-called by Peoria, where in 31 AHL games this year, he has gone 15-11-2 with a 2.55 GAA and a .900 save percentage. Mike Brown, 9-2 with a 2.57 GAA and a .919 save percentage since being acquired by Alaska in late January, will start tomorrow night's rematch with the Salmon Kings, with Derek Gustafson on the bench.
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