Alaska Avalanche set preliminary roster

WASILLA - The Alaska Avalanche took another step toward fielding the team that will ultimately take the ice when the North American Hockey League season starts in September. And the Avalanche are not just keeping the 2006-07 season in mind. The team is working to build a solid foundation for the future.

The Avalanche, the local hockey franchise formerly known as the Wasilla Spirit, have created a preliminary roster of 31 players, drawing the talent from a pool of athletes who attended Alaska's camp in Bloomington, Minn., earlier this month.

Now the players named to the initial roster following the three-day tryout in Minnesota have been invited to participate in Alaska's training camp, which starts Aug. 21 at the Wasilla Multi-Use Sports Complex. At the training camp, players will compete for a spot on the final 25-man roster.

Alaska head coach Dean Larson said he was pleased with the level of talent he and general manager Corey Millen saw at the Bloomington camp.

&#8220I thought the actual quality was definitely up from last year,” Larson said.

The list of 31 players Larson and Millen have chosen includes six athletes who skated for the Spirit last season, and a host of new talent.

Forwards Jesse Bryant, Trevor Tolibas, Paulos Shiferaw and Richard Lietner and defensemen Jeff Dimmen and Reed Rushing are in line to return to the Valley for a second season.

For the franchise's inaugural season in the Valley, Larson and Millen opted for an older, more experienced team. Most of the players on the 2005-06 roster were in their final season of Junior A eligibility. Players born in 1985 or before are no longer eligible to compete at this level.

&#8220We had a lot of 85s last year that aged out. That kind of hurt us this year,” Larson said. &#8220We have only six returning, and 19 spots to fill.”

But as the Avalanche start to fill the holes created by the departures of the veterans, Larson hopes the team can build a core group of talent to lead the team toward the future.

&#8220We tried to go a little younger,” Larson said. &#8220Hopefully we don't have as much turnover for the following season.”

Dimmen, Tolibas and Bryant are three of only four 20-year-olds on the current roster, facing their final years of junior hockey. Larson said he is looking for those returners to be the initial leaders on this squad.

&#8220Those guys were leaders at the end of the year last year, and we're looking for them to step it up again this year, and step into the leadership role,” Larson said. &#8220There'll be a lot of responsibility placed on those guys. This is their team.”

In order to be eligible to play Junior A hockey this year, players must be born in or after 1986. Alaska has 14 players born in 1998 or 1989 on it's roster of 31.

A pair of local products are among the 31 on the current roster. Former Houston High School standout Larry Kincaid and former Colony standout Ryan Pauling have each been invited to Alaska's training camp. After leading the Hawks to the 2006 small-school state title, Kincaid left for Illinois to skate for the Junior B Peoria Mustangs.

Also invited to the camp are four players the Avalanche selected in the 2006 NAHL draft - defensemen Brandon Graffsunder (Brooklyn Park, Minn.), Clay Kasten (Southlake, Texas), JC Richardson (Fort Collins, Colo.) and goaltender Adam Kraus (Woodlyn, Penn.).

Most of the players on the current Alaska roster, 17 to be exact, skated at the Midget AAA level last season. There are also five who played Junior B hockey last year.

In league news, the NAHL has set the dates for its annual Showcase Tournament. The 18-team event is slated for Sept. 13-16 at the Schwan's Super Rink in Blaine, Minn.

According to the league, more than 200 college and professional scouts attended the tournament last year. Alaska drops the puck against Southern Minnesota on the first day of the tourney.

Contact Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com.