Avalanche hit the ice for final home stand of the season

WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche are entering the final stretch of the 2008-09 regular season and their final week at the Curtis C. Menard II Memorial Ice Arena.

Alaska has just four games left on its home schedule and all wil come during the next five days.

The Avs begin their final week of the season at home tonight with the start of a two-game set against the Wenachee Wild. Alaska hosts Fairbanks on Friday and Saturday.

“It’s just a crazy schedule,” Alaska head coach Dave Boitz said of a brutal stretch that includes four games on three consecutive weeks.

Alaska ended a six-game road trip with four games last week, and will play four at Wenatchee during a five-day stretch next week.

The Avs capped a successful road trip with a 4-3 shootout win over Topeka, the top team in the North American Hockey League, last Saturday and ended the trip with a 3-3-0 mark.

“We’re happy with 3-3,” Boitz said. “We easily could have gone 4-2.”

Nardo Nagtzaam scored in a shootout to give Alaska the 4-3 win over the league-leading RoadRunners on Saturday. Alaska posted a 3-2 win over the NAHL’s top team last week.

“It’s some of the best hockey we’ve been playing all year,” Boitz said.

Alaska is 4-3-0 in their last seven. The Avs scored 4-3 win over Fairbanks before the long road trip.

Alaska’s wins pushed the Avs to 21-25-2 and 44 points. With 10 games left in the season, Alaska is within reach of the franchise records for wins in a season and points in a season.

The franchise set both marks during the 2005-06 season with 23 wins and 48 points.

Alaska was then known as the Wasilla Spirit.