Alaska Aces

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Alaska Aces
founding 1989
history Anchorage Aces
1989–2003
Alaska Aces
2003–2017
Maine Mariners
since 2018
Stadion George M. Sullivan Arena
Location Anchorage , Alaska
Team colors black, glacier blue, silver, white
league ECHL
Conference Western Conference
division Mountain Division
General manager Terry Parks
owner Terry Parks
Cooperations Vancouver Canucks ( NHL )
Utica Comets ( AHL )
Kelly Cups 2005/06 , 2010/11 , 2013/14

The Alaska Aces were an American ice hockey team from the ECHL , which was based in Anchorage , Alaska . From 2015 to 2017 it served as the farm team for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League . The franchise stopped playing at the end of the 2016/17 season.

The team was founded in 1989 under the name Anchorage Aces and played in the Pacific Southwest Hockey League . In 1992 they moved to the Pacific Northwest Hockey League before moving to the West Coast Hockey League in 1996 . In 2002 the team faced financial ruin and was offered for "sale" on eBay. The club was brought into the ECHL under its new name through local donors after the WCHL had taken over. In the 2005/06 season the team won the Kelly Cup , the championship of the ECHL, for the first time . Five seasons later, the second championship title in the ECHL was won.

The Aces played their home games in the George M. Sullivan Arena , a multipurpose hall with 6,399 seats. Their team colors were black, glacier blue, silver and white.

history

Foundation and early years

Dennis Sorenson formed an amateur ice hockey team called Anchorage Aces to create a regional opponent for the Gold Kings playing in Fairbanks . In the 1989/90 season, both teams played four unofficial encounters with each other. The following season there were 22 games, 20 of them with the participation of USA Hockey , which was played as the Senior Men's Open National Championship in Fairbanks. From this series, the Anchorage Aces emerged as the winner.

1991/92 joined the Aces of the Pacific Northwest Hockey League (PNHL) in which they played six of their home games at the Sullivan Arena and eight "home games" at the Central Peninsula Sports Center in Soldotna . They finished the PNHL season with 16 wins, twelve losses and two overtime losses in second place, which they occupied in the same year in the national amateur league.

In the following season they won under the coach Mike Ashley 19 games with only three defeats the PNHL championship and again reached second place in the National Amateur League behind the Chicago Chargers. 1993/94 head coach Steve Gasparini led the team to win the national amateur championship, in which they went in the final as the winner against the Fresno Falcons from the ice. A year later they had to admit defeat to the Fairbanks Gold Kings in the final.

West Coast Hockey League

After the failed attempt to found a new league, the Aces joined the new West Coast Hockey League in 1995/96 , in which they played until they merged with the East Coast Hockey League in the 2002/03 season.

After the season, the team from Alaska got a new owner with Mike Cusack Jr. In the league playoffs, the team was in the semifinals against the Fresno Falcons 3-1 wins, but since the Falcons could not provide the minimum number of players in the fourth game due to injuries and suspensions, this game was rated for Alaska. Then they decided the decisive fifth game 5: 3 for themselves and moved into the final for the Taylor Cup - the championship trophy of the WCHL - which was lost, however.

In November 2000, Stirling Wright was also brought into the franchise as assistant coach and personnel director , who strengthened the team with the former NHL players Vincent Riendeau in goal and Kevin Brown in attack.

For the following season, the team management appointed Wright in addition to vice-president and general manager. Wright signed former NHL player and coach Butch Goring as the new head coach for the Aces. He only extended contracts with four players from the previous season. Instead, other former NHL players - defender Jim Paek , goalkeeper Scott Bailey and strikers Todd Harkins , Daniel Goneau and Clayton Beddoes - were signed. Beddoes ended his career after just five games with a shoulder injury. The Aces introduced a guarantee of victory , according to which the fans were "compensated" with free tickets for the next game in the event of a defeat.

After a bad start to the season Butch Goring was dismissed and replaced by the former head coach Poddubny. After differences of opinion with the team leadership, General Manager Wright left the team, as well as a large part of the players. The team managed well, but the ice hockey team was not spared from the financial difficulties of the owner Cusack, so that some players and employees only received irregular salaries.

In May 2002, Mike Cusack and his business associates filed for bankruptcy because the Aces were about $ 2 million in debt. In June, the franchise was put up for "sale" at an Internet auction house and Cusack accepted the highest bid from Duncan Harrison, who had bid for the team at $ 1.862 million. However, the bankruptcy judge Donald MacDonald turned down Harrison's offer and sold the Anchorage Aces for $ 1.05 million to a seven-person regional investor group led by Terry Parks.

ECHL

In the 2003/04 season, the WCHL was integrated into the ECHL, in which it has since participated in gaming operations under the new name Alaska Aces . With the name change, the team also received a new logo and a new jersey design.

In the 2004/05 season, the team attracted attention when they brought the Anchorage NHL striker Scott Gomez into the team during the NHL lockout , which ended the season as the top scorer and MVP of the league.

In 2006, the Aces played the third longest game in ECHL history with 113 minutes and 30 seconds when they left the ice as the winner in the third overtime against the Las Vegas Wranglers . They also became the second club in ECHL history, along with the South Carolina Stingrays , to win the Henry Brabham Cup and the Kelly Cup in the same season . The title win over the Gwinnett Gladiators after five games was the first professional sports title in the northernmost US state since 1980. In the 2006/07 season, the team reached the conference finals and in the 2008/09 season they were again in the finals Kelly Cup, which was lost in the series just 4: 3 against the South Carolina Stingrays. For the 2009/10 season Brent Thompson took over the position of head coach. In the 2010/11 season, the Aces won their second Kelly Cup after beating the Kalamazoo Wings in the final series .

Despite another Kelly Cup win at the end of the 2013/14 season, the franchise had to cope with steadily decreasing audience numbers and dwindling support from sponsors, so that the team announced in February 2017 that it would cease playing due to financial difficulties at the end of the 2016/17 season.

Season statistics

Legend: Sp. = Games, S = wins, N = defeats, U = draws, NNV = defeat after extra time, PNL = defeat after penalty shoot-out, pts. = Points, PCT = win rate, GF = goals scored, GA = goals conceded, PIM = Penalty minutes

season league Sp. S. N U NNV PNL Pt. PCT GF GA PIM Head coach Playoffs
1995/96 WCHL 58 24 29 0 5 0 53 0.414 271 299 1758 Steve Gasparini Not qualified
1996/97 WCHL 64 41 18th 0 5 0 87 0.641 349 260 2142 Walt Poddubny Defeat in the final
1997/98 WCHL 64 36 20th 0 8th 0 80 0.562 308 261 2075 Walt Poddubny Defeat in the second round
1998/99 WCHL 71 46 22nd 0 3 0 95 0.648 332 260 1759 Walt Poddubny Defeat in the second round
1999/00 WCHL 74 31 34 0 9 0 71 0.419 272 334 1828 Walt Poddubny, Bob Wilkie , Derek Donald , Steve MacSwain Not qualified
2000/01 WCHL 72 27 41 0 4th 0 58 0.375 264 324 1820 Walt Poddubny, Stirling Wright Not qualified
2001/02 WCHL 72 19th 44 0 9 0 47 0.264 222 350 1573 Butch Goring , Stirling Wright, Walt Poddubny Defeat in the first round
2002/03 WCHL 72 21st 46 0 5 0 47 0.292 210 327 1926 Rod Davidson , Perry Florio Not qualified
2003/04 ECHL 72 38 28 6th 0 0 82 0.569 220 210 1648 Davis Payne Defeat in the second round
2004/05 ECHL 72 45 19th 8th 0 0 98 0.681 233 187 1389 Davis Payne Defeat in the third round
2005/06 ECHL 72 53 12 7th 0 0 113 0.785 289 168 1786 Davis Payne Kelly Cup
2006/07 ECHL 72 49 16 7th 0 0 105 0.729 270 176 1972 Davis Payne Defeat in the conference finals
2007/08 ECHL 72 41 26th 0 4th 1 87 0.604 245 249 1319 Keith McCambridge Loss in the Conference semifinals
2008/09 ECHL 72 45 24 1 2 0 93 0.646 232 181 1537 Keith McCambridge Defeat in the final
2009/10 ECHL 72 36 28 4th 4th 0 80 0.556 232 240 1566 Brent Thompson Defeat in the first round
2010/11 ECHL 72 47 22nd 2 1 0 97 0.674 241 174 947 Brent Thompson Kelly Cup
2011/12 ECHL 72 43 18th 3 8th 0 97 0.674 224 172 929 Rob Murray Defeat in the third round
total 2 1123 597 422 37 65 1 1297 0.577 4182 3991 26437 13 13 playoff participations, 2 championships

Known players

NHL experienced players

Players in Europe

The lists are not exhaustive

Blocked jersey numbers

Web links

Commons : Alaska Aces  - collection of images, videos, and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Doyle Woody: Financially struggling Alaska Aces will fold at season's end. adn.com, February 23, 2017, accessed February 23, 2017 .