Las Vegas Aces (inline hockey)

This article is about the professional inline hockey team. For the minor league basketball team, see Las Vegas Aces (basketball).
Las Vegas Aces
League AIHL
Conference Western
Division Southwest
Founded 2008
History Las Vegas Aces
(2008-present)
Home Arena Las Vegas Roller Hockey Center
City Las Vegas, NV
Colors Red, White and Blue
              
Owner(s) Daniel Corsatea
Minor League Affiliates Las Vegas Jr. Aces

The Las Vegas Aces are a professional inline hockey team based in Las Vegas, Nevada. They were a member of the inaugural season of the American Inline Hockey League (AIHL) in 2009. The Aces colors are red, blue and white and play their games at the Las Vegas Roller Hockey Center on 953 E. Sahara Ave. inside the Commercial Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. The team is owned and coached by Daniel Corsatea and compete in the Southwest Division of the AIHL's Western Conference.

History

2009 season

The Las Vegas Aces began their inaugural season on the January 16-18 weekend with five home games during the three days all against the Tucson Desparados. The Aces won their first game on January 16 with a 5–4 overtime victory over Tucson. The Aces would sweep all five games away from Tucson by also winning 7–3 and 7–5 on January 17 and 9–4 and 6–2 on January 18. The following weekend, the Aces played a five game set with regional powerhouse, Phoenix Dragons. The Aces and Dragons played a triple header on January 24 with the Aces winning the first and third games 6–3 and 4–3, while Phoenix won the middle game 7–4. Phoenix and Las Vegas would split the doubleheader the following day with Phoenix winning the first game 8–7 and Las Vegas winning the second game 3–2.

After playing their first ten games at home, the Aces would have to play the next three weekend series on the road. Their first road game was on February 28 in Phoenix, with the Dragons defeating the Aces 5–4. The Aces would then play a triple header at Tucson the following day. The Aces lost the first game 11–10, won the second game 11–6, but lost the third game in the a 9–8 overtime heartbreaker. A week later, the Aces found themselves away to the El Paso Black Diamonds for six games over two days on March 7-8. The Aces would drop the first game 4–3, but would win the remaining five games against El Paso. The next series saw Las Vegas play six games in Phoenix (four against Phoenix and two against Tucson) in which the Aces would go 1-5 during the series with the lone win coming in a 5–1 victory over Tucson on March 21.

The Aces would finish off the regular season with a six game homestand on the May 9-10 weekend against El Paso. The Aces would drop the first two games of the series, before winning the last four. The Aces finished their inaugural campaign with a record of 19-11-2 giving the Aces 40 points and a second place finish, two points behind division champion Phoenix.

Despite great regular season success, the Aces were not as lucky during the playoffs. The Aces took on Tucson in the best-of-three Southwest Division semifinals in Phoenix. The Aces won first game 7–3, but would drop the last two games 6–4 and 7–3.

Junior Aces

The Aces minor league affiliate is the Las Vegas Junior Aces. The Junior Aces also began their first season in 2009 and were comparable to the their parent club. During the regular season, the Junior Aces posted a 21-10-1 record giving the Jr. Aces 43 points and a second place finish, eight points behind Phoenix Dragons U18.

The Aces would take on the El Paso Black Diamonds (Minors) in the Southwest Division semifinals in Phoenix. El Paso took the first game of the best-of-three series 6–5, but the Jr. Aces came back to win the remaining two games 8–5 and 6–3 and advanced to the Southwest Division finals against Phoenix Dragons U18. The Southwest Division finals proved to be exciting as the two teams would go all three games to decide the winner. Phoenix took the first game 4–3, while the Junior Aces took the second game 5–4. Phoenix would go on to win the decisive third game 6–5 and advanced to win the Southwest Division championship.

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