KTUU.com | Alaska's news and information source | More reinforcements on the way for Alaska

More reinforcements on the way for Alaska

by Channel 2 News staff
Wednesday, September 30, 2009

ANCHORAGE, Alaska -- The St. Louis Blues have assigned NHL-contracted defenseman Alexander Hellstrom and forward Tomas Kana to Alaska. The Aces also have been assigned AHL two-way contracted goaltender Sebastian Dahm.

Kana played in all 21 postseason contests as Alaska marched all the way to Game 7 of the Kelly Cup Finals before losing 4-2 at home to South Carolina with the ECHL championship on the line.

Still only 21, the Czech Republic native scored in an 8-2 rout of Victoria in Game 2 of the West Division Finals and assisted on two other goals in the playoff run. 

Kana racked up 20 points (6 goals, 14 assists) in 30 regular season games for the Aces, who went 22-6-2 with him in the lineup, 23-18-1 without him. He led the team with a plus-14 rating while enjoying a three-point night in an 8-4 win over Utah Nov. 16 and a two-goal game in a 7-1 pummeling of Phoenix March 15.

Selected 31st overall by St. Louis in the second round of the 2006 NHL Draft, Kana also played 18 games for Peoria (AHL) last year and 12 with Alaska in 2007-08.

The 22-year-old Hellstrom, who also was drafted by St. Louis in 2006 (seventh round, 184th overall), has played all but nine of his 84 games in North America for Peoria, but did not appear in the Rivermen's opening-round playoff loss to Houston last season.

He had an assist and finished plus-4 in his first ECHL game at Bakersfield Jan. 23, a 5-2 Alaska victory.

Dahm comes off an impressive rookie campaign, most of which was spent in the AHL with Syracuse, for whom he compiled a 10-11 record with a 2.66 goals against average and a .914 save percentage. He did play five games in the ECHL for Johnstown, posting a 3-2 record (4.99 GAA, .844 save pct.).

The 22-year-old Dahm hails from Copenhagen, Denmark, but has played in North America since turning 18, including Ontario Hockey League stints in Belleville, Sarnia, Sudbury, and Niagara, for whom he went 20-6 with a 2.53 GAA and a .917 save percentage at the tail end of the 2007-08 season.

Forwards Jack Combs, Chris Morehouse, and Patrick Brosnihan also will report to Alaska after having been released from training camp tryouts with Peoria. The 21-year-old Combs racked up 175 points (74 goals, 101 assists) in his last two years of junior hockey in the OHL alone while playing for the Saginaw Spirit, including a 42-goal, 100-point campaign in 2007-08.

Morehouse, 22, scored 31 goals and assisted on 28 others over two seasons with Moncton (2006-07 and 2007-08) in the QMJHL. Selected in the seventh round (212 overall) by the Phoenix Coyotes in 2005, the 6-4, 220-pound Brosnihan enrolled at Yale later that fall and registered 12-6--18 totals in 98 games with the Bulldogs.

Training camp opens with Friday from 2-4 p.m. and Saturday 3-5 p.m. practices at Ben Boeke Arena. Admission to training camp is free and open to the public.