Alaska Aces Hockey

Alaska Aces' 2017 Hall of Fame Class honors 4 from 2006 Kelly Cup champs

The head coach and three defensive stalwarts who in 2006 helped the Alaska Aces seize the first ECHL Kelly Cup in franchise history will comprise the minor-league hockey club's 2017 Hall of Fame Class.

The Aces on Tuesday announced head coach Davis Payne, goaltenders Matt Underhill and Chris Beckford-Tseu, and center Vladimir Novak will be honored at a home game Feb. 10 in Sullivan Arena as the third class in the Hall of Fame.

All four men were instrumental in winning the 2006 Kelly Cup, three seasons after a group of local businessmen bought the franchise out of bankruptcy.

The Aces in 2005-06 blew through the regular season with a 53-12-7 record that earned 113 points and ranks fourth all-time in ECHL history. Alaska went 16-6 in the playoffs that season to win the first of the franchise's three Kelly Cups — the Aces also lifted the Cup in 2011 and 2014.

Payne, a former NHL winger who as a coach seemed to have a knack for knowing which players needed a soft touch and which ones needed a kick in the butt, spent four seasons (2003-2007) behind the Aces bench. He went 185-75-28 (.691 winning percentage) and parlayed that success into coaching jobs in the American Hockey League and the NHL.

Payne left the Aces in 2007 to become an assistant coach with the AHL's Peoria Rivermen, then became Peoria's head coach and was promoted to head coach of the parent St. Louis Blues of the NHL. He is currently in his fifth season as an assistant coach with the NHL's Los Angeles Kings and won a Stanley Cup with the Kings in 2014.

Underhill and Beckford-Tseu in 2005-06 backstopped the best defensive team on the circuit — the Aces permitted 2.33 goals per game.

ADVERTISEMENT

Underhill was the ECHL Goaltender of the Year and a first-team All-ECHL selection after going 36-10-3 with a 2.28 goals-against average and .917 save percentage. He and Beckford-Tseu, who split that season between Alaska and Peoria, each won eight games in the Kelly Cup playoffs, and the Aces beat the Gwinnett Gladiators in five games in the best-of-7 Kelly Cup Finals.

The Aces that season led the ECHL in penalty-killing with 87.6-percent efficiency, and Novak, the native of the Czech Republic and former UAA skater, was a principal penalty-killer. The third-line center also delivered 16-14—30 totals in 65 games.

Alaska won the Brabham Cup in 2006 as the ECHL's regular-season champs, yet its 113 points atop the West Division standings barely held off the division rival Las Vegas Wranglers, who bagged 112 points.

The Aces proved dominating that regular season, when they set franchise records with an 11-game winning streak and a 16-game point streak (15-0-1). They never lost consecutive games in regulation.

Still, it is occasionally forgotten that the Aces twice faced difficult circumstances, and once teetered on the brink of elimination in the 2006 Kelly Cup playoffs.

After dispatching the Utah Grizzlies in four games in the division semifinals, the Aces used Cam Keith's goal in triple overtime of Game 6 to eliminate Las Vegas in the divisions finals. And the Fresno Falcons, then coached by current UAA bench boss Matt Thomas, took the Aces into a second overtime of Game 7 in the conference finals before Chris Minard's strike delivered them to the Kelly Cup Finals.

Underhill retired after the Aces won the Cup and Beckford-Tseu, who played parts of two more seasons with the Aces, retired in 2011. Novak played his entire pro career — five seasons — with the Aces and retired in 2009. He's a banker in Anchorage.

The Class of 2017 will be honored during intermissions of a Feb. 10 game against the Utah Grizzlies, and the ceremony will include previous inductees, a video and a reprise of broadcaster, and Aces Hall of Famer, Jack Michaels' call of the 2006 Kelly Cup-winning moment.

The induction of Payne, Underhill, Beckford-Tseu and Novak brings to 16 the number of people — players, staff and supporters — in the Hall of Fame.

Alaska Aces Hall of Fame

2017 Inductees — Davis Payne (coach); Matt Underhill (goaltender); Chris Beckford-Tseu (goaltender); Vladimir Novak (center).

2016 Inductees — Paul Williams (winger); Matt Shasby (defenseman); Peter Metcalf (defenseman); Barrett Heisten (winger); Jack Michaels (broadcaster, executive); Ron Tomblinson (fan).

2015 Inductees — Keith Street (center); Dean Larson (center); Kimbi Daniels (center); Mike Scott (winger); Bob Lester (public address announcer); Bobby Hill (fan).

Idaho Steelheads

24-12-5

at

Alaska Aces

21-12-5

ADVERTISEMENT

Sullivan Arena

Wednesday, Friday, Saturday, 7:15 p.m.

Radio: Live AM-750 and FM-103.7 KFQD

Doyle Woody

Doyle Woody covered hockey and other sports for the Anchorage Daily News for 34 years.

ADVERTISEMENT