S-Kings' rally falls short
Cleve Dheensaw, Times Colonist
Published: Thursday, December 20, 2007

Maybe, defeating the Alaska Aces is just not meant to be for the Victoria Salmon Kings.

Down to 12 skaters, after Aces player after Aces player hobbled off following crushing Victoria checks, Alaska managed to hang tough for an improbable 4-3 ECHL shootout victory yesterday before 5,560 fans at Save-on-Foods Memorial Centre.

Alaska has lost only three times to Victoria in 32 regular-season meetings over four years and is 25-3-4 all-time against the Salmon Kings, including 13-1-3 in Victoria.

But this season's Salmon Kings team isn't the pushover the club once was. Yet it was still left wondering how last night's game slipped away. Victoria, which went to 17-7-1, missed two gaping nets that would have won the game on the power play in overtime as the crowd roared in disbelief.

Alaska responded by scoring on all three of its shots in the shootout against Victoria goalie Julien Ellis to move to 15-8-2 and within three points of first-place Victoria in the West Division.

Victoria's home winning streak, which stood at 10, is now downgraded to an 11-game regulation-time unbeaten streak at the Memorial Centre.

"We definitely had a lot of chances to win the game, and for us, those usually go in," said Victoria head coach Mark Morrison. "But they didn't go in tonight. That's hockey."

The game first star was an old friend, former Salmon King forward F.P. Guenette of the Aces. He was traded in the off-season by the parent Vancouver Canucks to the St. Louis Blues, of which the Aces are the ECHL farm team.

"F.P. had a good game but we're not going to let that happen Friday [in the second game of the three-game set]," said game second-star Marc-Andre Bernier, of his fellow former Canucks draft pick and Quebec Major Junior and Salmon Kings teammate.

"We missed a lot of empty-net chances that could have put the game away and we usually don't do that."

The first period featured more turnovers than local bakeries make in a week, with Victoria making the most of them. They paid for it by trailing 3-1 heading into the first intermission.

Bernier, taking advantage of a giveaway by newly-acquired Alaska defenceman Dave Pszenyczny, showed tremendous patience and took his time in moving around Alaska goalie Derek Gustafson for the game's first goal at 6:27. But that's as good as it got for Victoria in the first period as shaky defensive play allowed the Aces to score three goals through Vladimir Novak at 12:04 and Blues AHL-contracted Tim Spencer at 15:00 and 16:55.

Stung by their poor opening 20 minutes, Victoria came hard after the Aces in the second period and brought it to within one at 3-2 on the power play at 10:01 when Wes Goldie deftly

re-directed a Gary Gladue point shot.

Goldie then looked to have tied the game with 28 seconds remaining in the middle frame with a shorthanded breakaway laser of a shot that beat Gustafson, but was ruled to have hit the crossbar. The crowd lustily booed the call but it looked to be the right one based on TV camera replays available in the press box. The play again brought home the Memorial Centre's greatest shortcoming -- the stingy lack of a video replay scoreboard that kept the crowd in the dark as whether the puck actually went in or not.

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