For Alaska Aces center Stephen Perfetto, success is in the details

They have a phrase in hockey for guys like Stephen Perfetto: First-on, last-off.

They're on the rink before practice begins because they can't wait to dump a bucket of pucks on a fresh, smooth sheet and get started. When practice ends, they remain on the ice to work on their shot, or a particular skill, until the Zamboni driver says, hey, beat it.

So it was late Wednesday morning at Sullivan Arena. The Alaska Aces' practice had ended more than 30 minutes earlier. Perfetto stayed on the ice for some 3-on-3 with teammates. When it was time to Zam the ice, the second-year center collected pucks in a bucket — last guy off.

"He just loves the game,'' veteran winger Garet Hunt explained. "There's no other place he'd rather be than out there.''

That devotion to his craft, that drive to be all he can be and squeeze everything he can from his talent, is a principle reason Perfetto has emerged as the Aces' top pivot. He assumed that role as a rookie late last season, when injury to a teammate prompted opportunity and he seized it.

Dedication goes beyond first-on, last-off. Perfetto is earnest about supplementing his conditioning with strength work in the gym. He's learned to bank rest when he can. And he's so serious about his diet that on road trips he'll occasionally text his sister, Vanessa, a nutritionist back home in Toronto, a picture of a restaurant menu to get her advice.

"He brings his own pasta on the road too,'' said Hunt, Perfetto's road roomie. "That's how much he cares about his body.''

Perfetto, Hunt said, packs a hot plate, pot and pasta in his carry-on backpack.

Perfetto possessed such attention to detail when he arrived as a rookie last season after four seasons of college hockey at Lake Superior State on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. Still, the 25-year-old has a couple of veteran wingmen, so to speak, who furnish great examples in Hunt and Peter Sivak.

Hunt, 29, is renowned for his training regimen and diet — he's also a guy who always wants to play 3-on-3 after practice, and a guy, Perfetto said, "who took me under his wing.'' Hunt has instilled in Perfetto the value of rest, even in something as small as a 15-minute nap, during the ECHL's grind of a 72-game regular season and the Aces' extensive travel schedule. Teammates jokingly refer to Perfetto and Hunt as father-son, or brothers.

Sivak, 34, can often be found riding the stationary bike after practices and games. When Perfetto was interviewed post-practice earlier this week, Sivak was performing a series of bounds up a nearby staircase. The gifted Sivak, a pro's pro who helped the Aces to the 2014 Kelly Cup, is Perfetto's roommate in Anchorage. Perfetto said Sivak often stretches and regularly ices ailments in their apartment, and he has followed suit.

"It's like a monkey-see, monkey-do type of situation,'' Perfetto said.

Aces coach Rob Murray, who was a 16-year pro and played 107 NHL games, said Perfetto is even more fit than last season when he reported to the Aces.

"He's faster, he's stronger, and he's a kid when he got here last year, impressed me with his conditioning,'' Murray said. "There's going to be highs and lows, swings, but he's not going to waver from his ultimate goals.''

As the Aces' top-line center and leading scorer through five games this season — four goals, four assists, and three multiple-point games — Perfetto has asserted himself as a threat in all situations. He's had Sivak on his right wing all season, and they've been supplemented by several left wings.

Sivak and Perfetto showed near-instant chemistry last season, when an injury to center Tim Coffman roughly two-thirds of the way through the grind elevated Perfetto from the second line to the first line.

In his first 48 games last season, Perfetto put up 9-17—26 totals, solid rookie numbers. In his last 24 games, he went 6-16—22. Combined with his start this season, he's delivered 11-20—31 totals in his last 29 games.

"Coach had more faith in me to make plays,'' Perfetto said. "And when you get the opportunity to play with a guy like Peter, who's a bona-fide scorer, and get help from a guy like Garet, who gives me confidence, that's a great opportunity.''

As Hunt noted, no shortage of talented players have drifted through the ECHL and frittered away their chance to rise to the American Hockey League or higher, choosing short-cuts instead and failing to put in the work required to ascend. Not so Perfetto, whose labor last season convinced Murray to get him a training-camp spot this fall with AHL Utica, the Aces' affiliate.

"You need confidence and opportunity,'' Hunt said. "Everybody here has been a go-to guy somewhere in his career. You have to find that opportunity at this level.

"When Stephen got his, everything sky-rocketed, and he never looked back. He was a guy who ran with it.''

Murray likewise has witnessed Perfetto make the most of opportunity.

"He's committed,'' Murray said. "He has this air about him — from last year at the tail-end, playing with Peter — of purpose.

"He's here for a reason. Every day, he's the hardest-working guy on the ice. He's got that attitude of, 'There's no reason I can't play in the AHL,' and he's taken it from there.''

Perfetto said his parents have always told him hard work produces good results, in life and sport. And his takeaway from his training-camp experience in Utica reinforced that mantra — all around him, Perfetto said, guys worked, worked, worked.

So he keeps grinding, keeps putting in the work.

"I play the game to see how far I can go, and how much better I can be,'' Perfetto said.

First-on, last-off.

This column is the opinion of sports reporter Doyle Woody. Reach him at dwoody@alaskadispatch.com, check out his blog at adn.com/hockeyblog and follow him @JaromirBlagr.

Alaska Aces (3-2-0) at Allen Americans (4-4-0)

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