Avs hockey: Another tough one

April 1, 2007

By MATT TUNSETH/ Frontiersman

WASILLA - Out of North American Hockey League contention for more than a month, the last-place Alaska Avalanche played Wile E. Coyote to the playoff-bound Santa Fe Road Runners over the weekend.

Alaska was outscored 19-7 in the first two games of the series Thursday and Friday night at the Curtis Menard Memorial Ice Arena in Wasilla. Results from Saturday's final game of the season were unavailable at press time.

The teams got the final series of the year off to a raucous start Thursday night, a 12-5 Santa Fe win that began with a fight and ended with eight consecutive Road Runner goals.

Alaska's Tyler Elbrecht and Santa Fe's Naaman Moorman started the show by getting into a brawl before the opening face-off.

On Saturday, Avalanche general manager Keith Morris said the pregame fight wasn't the result of bad blood between the two teams - which last met in December - but just two individuals with an axe to grind.

&#8220They settled it,” he said.

The score was tied 4-4 after the first period, with Travis Stevens picking up two goals for Alaska and Richard Leitner and Tyler Currier each adding one.

The Avs then briefly took a 5-4 lead on a Trevor Tolibas goal to start the second period before Santa Fe got rolling. By the time the dust settled, the Road Runners had a blowout win in one of the wildest games of the year.

Things weren't much better for the Avalanche Friday, as Santa Fe out-shot Alaska 53-20 to cruise to a 7-2 win.

J.C. Richardson and Josh Erhardt picked up goals for Alaska in the loss, while goalie Nathanial Pellegrino came off the bench to stop 25 of 26 shots in relief of Adam Kraus.

Morris said the Road Runners - which have the league's fifth-highest scoring offense - are a difficult team to slow down.

&#8220They're very skilled, very talented,” he said. &#8220They're the type of team that don't need a lot of chances to score.”

The series wrapped up what has been a long, trying season for the organization both on and off the ice.

In November, head coach Dean Larson and Corey Millen resigned from the struggling team for unspecified reasons. Morris - along with former Houston High coach Jamie Smith and UAA player Justin Johnson - stepped in to fill the void for the rest of the year.

The team struggled with key injures through much of the winter, then had to deal with a car accident in December that ended the season for forward Chris Nicolaou and defenseman Brandon Graffunder. The players were on their way to a reading program at a local elementary school at the time of the crash.

Over the final three months of the season, the team won just five times and wound up with the league's worst record.

Despite the difficult season, Alaska enters the offseason with reason for optimism. The head coaching situation was resolved last week when Smith was named as the permanent head coach. The move will free Morris up to recruit and develop young talent, as well as allow Smith to give his full attention to the head coaching duties.

Morris has also said the team will make a commitment to bring in more home-grown talent in an effort to build stronger ties with the community.

As for this season, Morris said Saturday that wrapping up a long year is always difficult, especially since many of this year's players likely won't be back next year - some moving to college teams, others to different junior programs and some possibly out of hockey entirely.

&#8220It's always tough when the season is over and you're seeing young men making long-term life decisions,” Morris said.

Contact Matt Tunseth at 352-2265 or matt.tunseth@frontiersman.com

Santa Fe 12, Alaska 5

Thursday, Menard Arena

Santa Fe 4 3 5 - 12

Alaska 4 1 0 - 5

First period - 1. Alaska- Leitner (Nordenson, Currier) 0:47, 2. Santa Fe- Kutalek (Hill, Hennig) 4:55, 3. Santa Fe- Moorman (Hill, Worthley) 8:49, 4. Alaska- Stevens (Tolibas, Shiferaw) 11:20, pp, 5. Alaska- Stevens (Tolibas, Graham) 14:59, sh, 6. Santa Fe- Krispel (Kutalek, Hennig) 15:46, pp, 7. Alaska- Currier (Leitner, Nordenson) 17:40, 8. Santa Fe- Laseen (Kappers) 19:37, pp.

Second period - 9. Alaska- Tolibas (Shiferaw, Leitner) 0:50, 10. Santa Fe- Harren (Kappers) 1:42, 11. Santa Fe- Krispel (Kamrass, Hennig) 10:05, pp, 12. Santa Fe- Omilusik (Krispel) 19:41, sh.

Third period - 13. Santa Fe- Kappers (Moorman) 9:55, 14. Santa Fe- Harren (Kappers) 12:19, 15. Santa Fe- Kappers (un) 13:01, 16. Santa Fe- Kutalek (Krispel, Hennig) 15:02, 17. Santa Fe- Kamrass (Hill, Omilusik) 16:49.

Shots on goal: Santa Fe 13-12-21-46, Alaska 9-5-8-22; Saves: Santa Fe-Merriman 5-4-8-17, Hopper x-x-0-0, Alaska- Kraus 9-9-x- 18, Pellegrino x-x-16-16. Power plays: Santa Fe 3-for-6, Alaska 1-for-7; Penalties: Santa Fe 11 for 25, Alaska 12 for 49.

Santa Fe 7, Alaska 2

Friday, Menard Arena

Santa Fe 3 4 0 - 7

Alaska 1 1 0 - 2

First period - 1. Santa Fe- Hennig (Krispel, Kutalek) 2:52, 2. Santa Fe- Laseen (Kamrass, Omilusik) 8:13, 3. Alaska- Richardson (Spellman, Currier) 12:59, 4. Santa Fe- Krispel (Gens) 13:37.

Second period - 5. Alaska- Erhardt (Leitner, Nordenson) 5:51, 6. Santa Fe- Kappers (Jendras, Kinne) 6:00, 7. Santa Fe- Kutalek (Harren, Omilusik) 11:35, 8. Santa Fe- Kinne (Omilusik, Laseen) 13:31, pp, 9. Santa Fe- Jendras (un) 14:36.

Third period - 13. none.

Shots on goal: Santa Fe 15-21-17-53, Alaska 10-3-7-20; Saves: Santa Fe-Hopper 9-2-7-18, Alaska- Kraus 12-9-x- 21, Pellegrino x-8-17-25. Power plays: Santa Fe 1-for-8, Alaska 0-for-5; Penalties: Santa Fe 8 for 19, Alaska 11 for 25.