ACES WIN FINAL MATCHUP AGAINST RUSH

(ANCHORAGE, AK) – Anthony Mastrodicasa scored his first professional goal and Hunter Fejes brought the Rapid City Rush within striking distance, but the Alaska Aces, powered by two Tyler Shattock goals defeated the Rush in their final meeting ever by a 4-2 score on Sunday.

Alaska took a 2-0 lead after one period of play to kick off the final matchup ever between both clubs. Brad Navin kicked things off when he took an east-west pass from Danny Moynihan behind the net and fired a shot from the hash marks by Rush net-minder, Luke Siemens, to give the Aces a 1-0 lead with 14:18 gone by in the first (Moynihan and Chase Van Allen assisted). The lead doubled when Tyler Shattock took a drop pass from Yan-Pavel LaPlante and fired over the shoulder of Siemens to make it 2-0 Alaska with 2:51 left in the frame (LaPlante and Daniel Moynihan assisted, the latter earning his second of the night).

Alaska scored quickly in the opening seconds of the second to take a 3-0 lead. Chase Van Allen took a Tim Coffman pass and slipped his shot through Siemens’ five-hole to score his first professional goal and triple the Aces lead just 19 seconds into the second (Coffman and Charlie Sampair notched the helpers). Not to be outdone by his career first, Anthony Mastrodicasa got the Rush on the board just before the period ended. With 7:12 left in the second, Hunter Fejes found Anthony Mastrodicasa flying off his blue line and fed him with a back-door pass. Mastrodicasa buried behind Aces goaltender, Kevin Carr, and cut the Rush deficit to 3-1 with his first goal as a pro (Fejes and Sam Rothstein assisted).

Fejes brought the Rush within one to start off the third period, but the close gap was short-lived. Fejes hit pay dirt when he slammed a rebound in front of Carr’s net to bring the Rush deficit to 3-2 with 2:59 gone by in the third (Mark Cooper and Sam Rothstein assisted, the latter notching his second of the game). Just 16 seconds later, Shattock struck again and pushed the Aces back to a two-goal lead. With 3:15 played in the third, Shattock took a Daniel Moynihan feed and shot through the arm of Siemens and in, giving the Aces a 4-2 lead (Moynihan assisted for a third time on the goal, while Mackenze Stewart earned his first). Siemens was pulled from the Rush net late, but the club couldn’t muster the two goals needed to force overtime, and fell to the Alaska Aces in their final meeting ever by a 4-2 count.

Luke Siemens fell in the affair, his second start in as many days, notching 38 saves on 42 shots (1-1-0).

The Rush complete their regular season on home ice, and start their five-game home stand on Wednesday, March 29th against the Utah Grizzlies. Puck drop for the first of three meetings is slated for 6:35 p.m. MST.

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