Matchup: Alaska Aces at Idaho Steelheads. Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday at Qwest Arena. Game time each night is 7 PM.
You used to be here, right? The guy who has almost single-handedly resurrected Alaska’s season is goaltender Frank Doyle. Acquired in a midseason trade with Charlotte, Doyle won seven of his first ten starts in Alaska to help steady the Aces’ ship. If Doyle’s name sounds familiar, it should – Doyle was an all-star for Idaho in 2004-2005 and has the best goals-against average (2.16) since the Steelheads joined the ECHL.
Steady Rej-y: On the topic of goaltenders, the Steelheads have benefited greatly from the steady hand of Rejean Beauchemin this season. Among the ECHL leaders in wins and goals-against average, the 24-year-old recently passed Doyle for second-most wins in net for Idaho in the ECHL era, behind only Steve Silverthorn.
The Idaho Steelheads (35-12-5) topped the Alaska Aces (26-24-5) by a 6-2 score, earning Rejean Beauchemin his 20th win of the season in net for Idaho. The Steelheads had multi-point games from Mark Derlago, Kevin Devergilio, Mark McCutcheon, Tyler Spurgeon, and John Swanson in the win.
Mark McCutcheon opened the scoring on the power play at 3:54 of the first period when a rebound from a Kevin DeVergilio shot squirted onto McCutcheon’s tape, and he fired the puck into the net for his seventh goal of the season. John Swanson also assisted on the goal, along with DeVergilio.
McCutcheon tacked on his second goal, and eighth of the season, also a power play tally, just over 10 minutes later to give Idaho a 2-0 lead. McCutcheon ripped a shot from the left circle and found the top corner, glove-side, on Alaska’s Scott Reid. Cody Lampl and DeVergilio assisted on the goal.
Before the period could come to a close, Judd Blackwater put Alaska on the board after some slick stickhandling beat Rejean Beauchemin.
In the second period, Ashton Rome scored his 13th of the season to regain a two-goal lead for Idaho; Guillaume Monast snapped a puck toward the goal, and Rome had his stick on the ice to redirect it home.
Blackwater again scored for Alaska from point-blank at 16:42 to pull the Aces to within a goal. For Blackwater, his 25th goal of the season was also his eighth of the season in 11 games against Idaho. Blackwater began the season as a member of the Stockton Thunder.
Tyler Spurgeon put the Steelheads up 4-2 when he directed a pass toward Mark Derlago, but the pass bounced into the net off the stick of the Aces’ Nick Tuzzolino for Spurgeon’s 18th of the season. Derlago assisted on the goal.
The Steelheads added two more goals in the third period, and the first of which was Mark Derlago’s 25th of the season. Spurgeon and Derlago skated in two-on-one, and Spurgeon fed Derlago, who popped the puck into a vacated net behind Reid, who had committed to Spurgeon at his left. McCutcheon also assisted on the goal at 7:10.
Evan Barlow extended his ECHL goal-scoring streak to five games when he scored on a play similar to the Derlago goal. Barlow and Swanson marched in on the net two-on-one, and Swanson fed Barlow on the left wing for the one-timer into the net.
Rejean Beauchemin picked up his 20th win of the season as he stopped 19 of 21 in the Idaho goal. Beauchemin is now 20-7-2. Scott Reid suffers the loss for Alaska; he is now 10-10-3 for the Aces. He turned away 30 of 36 shots in the Alaska net.
The Steelheads and Aces play again at Qwest Arena on Friday night. The puck drops at 7:00 PM.