Sports

Two roads to the Kelly Cup Finals

This current edition of the Alaska Aces endured a midseason meltdown before rebooting and cruising into the ECHL's Kelly Cup Finals, but the franchise's Cup-winning crew in 2006 took the opposite journey.

The 2006 Aces rocked the regular season -- they never lost consecutive hockey games in regulation and racked a league-leading 113 points -- yet faced some tenuous, and trying, moments in the postseason.

In Game 7 of the 2006 National Conference finals, with a trip to the Kelly Cup Finals at stake, the Aces needed double overtime and strike from the left wing by sniper Chris Minard to eliminate the Fresno Falcons. In Game 6 of the previous round, Cam Keith swooped in off the right wing in triple overtime and batted his own rebound out of mid-air to escape the Las Vegas Wranglers.

"I think in that Game 7, there was a shot that hit a post and the puck was behind (Aces goaltender Chris) Beckford-Tseu, and he didn't know where it was,'' Keith recalled. "There were times we got lucky. We haven't had to use luck yet this postseason.''

Amen, said current Aces coach Keith McCambridge, who in 2006 captained the Aces in his last season as a player.

"It could have easily gone the other way,'' McCambridge said. "That '06 team didn't face adversity in the regular season, but we did in the playoffs -- not once, but twice.

"With this team, we saw adversity in the regular season, when we had our challenges.''

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This season's Aces, who open the Finals against the visiting South Carolina Stingrays on Friday night, started the regular season on a 11-2-1 roll but suffered through a 6-10-1 stretch from late November to early January. After a four-game losing streak on the road in early February, the Aces went 18-6-0 during the last one-third of the season.

The Aces have gone 12-2 in the postseason this year, with only one loss in regulation. Their three best-of-7 series have gone, in order, five games (Utah), five games (Victoria) and four games (Las Vegas).

The 2006 Aces went 16-6 in the playoffs, but given their regular season excellence -- those 113 points were the fourth-most in league history -- nothing short of hoisting the Kelly Cup would suffice.

"We were the best team from the start of the year, and throughout the season, and there was no other option from Day 1 except winning the Cup,'' said Aces defenseman Matt Shasby. "We didn't even know what a down streak was. We lost a game and thought, 'OK, we'll just win seven straight.'

"This team, we've matured to the point where we became contenders.''

Shasby, McCambridge and Keith are among several connections who remain from the 2006 club. Also still with the team are center Vladimir Novak and defenseman Corbin Schmidt (injured).

The league in 2006 was positively stacked with Kelly Cup contenders -- 10 of 25 teams finished with 91 points or more in the regular season, and five clubs earned 100 points or more. In the playoffs, the Aces, in order, beat Utah (78 points), Las Vegas (112), Fresno (100) and Gwinnett (107).

This season, Alaska's 93 points ranked second to Florida's 103. South Carolina (fourth overall, 90 points), eliminated Florida in six games in the second round.

As far as personnel, the current Aces club is captained by a veteran, just like in 2006 -- Aces captain Scott Burt is in his 11th pro season, just as McCambridge was in 2006.

Both clubs also possessed a bona-fide sniper -- Minard bagged 40 goals in 55 regular-season and playoff games in 2005-06, and Josh Soares this season has furnished 20 goals in 26 games. The 2006 Aces were more explosive scorers in the regular season -- 4.01 goals per game to this season's 3.22 -- but this edition is more prolific in the playoffs (3.71) than the 2006 club (3.18).

Both the 2006 and 2009 teams also have prolific pests. Mike Scott, the Kelly Cup Finals MVP in 2006, scored 37 goals in the regular season and 11 more in the playoffs for 48 goals in 94 combined games. He also warranted 224 total penalty minutes. This time around, Lance Galbraith owns 25 goals in 60 combined games, with 174 penalty minutes.

Spectacular goaltending is another similarity. Beckford-Tseu and Matt Underhill were money in the regular season and playoffs in 2006, and rookie Jean-Philippe Lamoureux has been lights out in these playoffs with a 1.57 goals-against average, .949 save percentage and four shutouts.

The 2006 club possessed a more lethal blue line -- Peter Metcalf, Ryan Gaucher and Shasby were three elite-level offensive defensemen -- but this year's defensive crew is generally more physical. Both clubs were exceptional on the penalty kill -- the 2006 team led the league in the regular season (87.6-percent efficiency) and this season the Aces set a league record (89.3 percent).

"This time, we're a more defensive-minded team,'' Keith said. "This team can win 2-1 and grind it out. In '06, we might blow you out, but maybe not show up the next game. But we had that ability to blow you out -- that '06 team just had so much firepower.''

This season's team is deeper up front -- all three lines have produced in the postseason.

"We have three lines capable of scoring and stepping into the spotlight,'' Keith said. "No one on the bench is looking for one guy to do it.''

But this season's Aces have yet to be threatened in the postseason, when they have jumped out to a 2-0 lead in all three series leading to the Finals. By contrast, those 2006 Aces trailed Las Vegas 2-1 -- and their Game 2 win came in overtime -- before winning the last three games of that second-round series.

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"The playoffs that year were so dramatic, so emotional,'' Shasby said. "Usually, you go through a lot of drama to win a championship.

"It's such a weird feeling this year. Adversity is going to come in the Finals, and what matters is how we respond to it.''

Find Doyle Woody's blog online at adn.com/hockeyblog or call him at 257-4335.

By DOYLE WOODY

dwoody@adn.com

Doyle Woody

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

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