Alaska Aces offer local pro hockey action

  • Published
  • By David Bedard
  • JBER/PAO
JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska --  Fans who routinely fill up the stands at the Sullivan Arena to cheer on the Alaska Aces hockey team are perhaps the most fervent group of sports fans in Alaska. They often paint their faces blue and white and ring their signature cowbells to show their support for the state's only ECHL (formerly East Coast Hockey League) team.

Josh Bogorad, Alaska Aces director of media relations and play-by-play broadcaster, said the ECHL is the premier AA hockey league in the country, representing 18 teams divided into two conferences.

The Aces are affiliated with teams higher up in the professional ranks: the American Hockey League's Peoria Rivermen and the National Hockey League's St. Louis Blues.
Several players and team members have graduated to the higher leagues, including Chris Minard who played with the 2009 Stanley Cup champions Pittsburgh Penguins.
According to the Internet Hockey Database, the team was originally founded as the Anchorage Aces in 1989 and were part of a few different leagues before becoming a part of the ECHL and changing their name to the Alaska Aces for the 2003-2004 season.

Bogorad said the team won the ECHL Patrick J. Kelly Cup championship during the 2005-2006 season and lost in game 7 of the 2007-2008 championship.

A regular season consists of 72 games, with seven of eight team's in the National Conference advancing to the playoffs, the top-seeded team getting a buy in the first round. The first round of the playoffs are best of five with the remaining rounds requiring a best of seven to advance.

Bogorad said the Aces have been competitive every year since joining the ECHL, making for a long and thrilling season for their fans.

"To make it to the championship - the equivalent of making it to the Superbowl - two out of four years, it shows the Aces are bred on winning," he said.

Because Aces are typically players who are working their way up the professional ranks, their youth and ambition usually make for athletic and ambitious play.

"We are a young league," Bogorad explained. "You have your veterans in their thirties, but primarily the average age is going to be around 24, 25, and these are guys who are working hard to get noticed by the higher level."

The broadcaster said during a game, each team fields six players on the ice: a goal tender, two defensemen and three forwards.

Unlike most sports, players can shuffle on and off the ice seemingly at will when observed by the untrained eye.

"Hockey is really the only major sport where personnel changes happen without a stop in play," Bogorad said. "It's called a line change. If you've been to a hockey game, it doesn't seem to make sense, if you're not familiar to the game, that players are just jumping over the boards on and off the ice.

"It's actually very structured," he elaborated. "There are times you know when to go and when not to go, because the play is still live."

Because of the breakneck pace of the game, Bogorad said players typically serve 40 to 45 second shifts on the ice.

"That's how much energy these guys are burning, and they are well-conditioned athletes," he assured. "It's not because they are out of shape, it's because you don't stop moving, and it's incredibly difficult to skate an entire shift full speed for longer than a minute."
Bogorad said a common term which brings even more excitement to the the game is the power play, when a player is typically consigned to the penalty box for two minutes for an infraction, granting the other team a five-on-four advantage out on the ice.

He said there are three officials for a game. One referee is responsible for calling penalties and goals, while two linesmen call icing and offside.

Icing occurs when the defending team clears the puck across the red line at center ice, and the puck passes the other team's goal line without the puck being touched.

Offside occurs when any of the attacking team members pass the attacking zone before the puck.

Both rules serve to ensure the puck is continually played during the course of a game.
Additionally, the play is called dead when the puck leaves the perimeter of the rink.

The goal tender is equipped with heavier pads, a helmet with full-cage face mask, and a catching glove for snatching up and gaining control of the puck.

Bogorad said it is illegal for other players to engage the goal tender in full contact, giving him freedom to deflect shots on goal.

Games consist of three 20-minute periods, and ties are decided in the regular season by a five-minute overtime period which subtracts a player from each team to encourage scoring and ends in sudden death.

As complicated as the rules may seem at first blush, Bogorad said neophyte fans shouldn't be intimidated by the regulations, saying the game is as easy to follow as baseball and basketball and is far easier to learn than football.

Bogorad said the Aces are an integral part of the local community, hosting several benefit games and routinely getting involved in the city.

"As important as it is to win for the Aces, it's especially important to represent the City of Anchorage and the State of Alaska well," he said.

The broadcaster said the team understands how much of an impact the military has in the com-munity, and the Aces acknowledge that significance every year with a military appreciation game scheduled after Veterans Day.

"Military members, traditionally speaking, like the high-energy, fast-paced, hard-hitting intensity that hockey brings," Bogorad said. "Beyond that, from a community standpoint, if you come out to a game, you'll see things like military members dropping the ceremonial puck, and at least one game is scheduled specifically around the military which shows just how important the military is to the Aces."

For more information, call 258-ACES (2237) or visit www.alaskaaces.com.
Editor's note: This story is part of a continuing series highlighting major attractions in the area.