{"id":42876,"date":"2023-10-27T09:35:34","date_gmt":"2023-10-27T17:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alaskasportsreport.com\/?p=42876"},"modified":"2023-10-27T09:35:34","modified_gmt":"2023-10-27T17:35:34","slug":"friday-flashback-in-2012-13-season-nhl-lockout-meant-alaska-aces-and-their-fans-were-treated-to-half-a-season-with-four-hometown-nhlers-on-the-roster","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alaskasportsreport.com\/2023\/10\/friday-flashback-in-2012-13-season-nhl-lockout-meant-alaska-aces-and-their-fans-were-treated-to-half-a-season-with-four-hometown-nhlers-on-the-roster\/","title":{"rendered":"Friday Flashback: In 2012-13 season, NHL lockout meant Alaska Aces and their fans were treated to half a season with four hometown NHLers on the roster"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In early January 2013, it was hardly surprising the Alaska Aces owned the best record in the ECHL, a 23-team, minor-league circuit two rungs below the NHL on North America\u2019s hockey ladder.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s in part because the Aces savored the services of four NHL forwards from Anchorage \u2013 Scotty Gomez, Brandon Dubinsky, Nate Thompson and Joey Crabb \u2013 who were all psyched to suit up for their hometown team during the NHL lockout.<\/p>\n
Injuries limited the number of games Gomez, Dubinsky and Thompson played, but the Aces nonetheless went 27-8-1 in exactly half a season before the lockout ended Jan. 6, 2013, with a tentative deal on a new collective bargaining agreement.<\/p>\n
The Aces in those 36 games with world-class talent in the fold generated a nine-game winning streak, two six-game winning streaks and a four-game winning streak. And Aces fans got to see their hometown heroes up close. Alaska went 15-3-0 in 18 home games at Sullivan Arena with the NHLers on coach Rob Murray\u2019s roster.<\/p>\n
Crabb, a winger, led the Aces in scoring when the lockout ended \u2013 he delivered 17-21\u201438 totals in 35 games. Thompson, a center, went 7-14\u201421 in 24 games. Dubinsky, a center, checked in with 9-7\u201416 totals in 17 games and Gomez, a center and two-time Stanley Cup winner, checked in at 6-7\u201413 in 11 games.<\/p>\n
Gomez figured the lockout was over the moment he woke up in his hotel room in Ontario, Calif., on Sunday, Jan. 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know something\u2019s going on when you wake up with 26 messages on one (U.S.) phone and then 99 on your Canadian phone,\u2019\u2019 he said at the time.<\/p>\n