Avs add assistant coach

PALMER — Josh Petrich believes in a blessing in disguise.

The Elk River, Minn., native has reason to. A few of those blessings have helped drop the puck on a promising career coaching hockey. They also helped him land a position as the new assistant coach of the Alaska Avalanche.

Petrich, who may not even be coaching if it weren’t for a career-ending shoulder injury he suffered in high school, used a chance meeting with former Avs head coach and general manager Dave Boitz and parlayed it into a gig with the Avalanche.

“I ended up talking to Dave Boitz and before I knew it was talking to (Avs head coach Corey Millen), and I had a job offer,” Petrich said.

Petrich comes to the Palmer-based North American Hockey League franchise after pulling double-duty in a pair of leagues last year. He scouted his home state of Minnesota for the NAHL’s Alexandria Blizzard, and also served as an assistant coach and scouting director for the Duluth Clydesdales of the Tier II Superior International Junior Hockey League.

Petrich didn’t reach the junior ranks as a player. He was a two-year starting goaltender for Elk River High, a perennial hockey power in Elk River, Minn., but the multisport athlete suffered a major shoulder injury during his senior season of soccer. Petrich opted against surgery, and muscled his way through his senior season.

Even though Petrich didn’t play at the junior level, he had an opportunity to be part of a top team in Minnesota. Elk River boasted the state’s highest winning percentage from 1990-2006, when Petrich graduated, he said. Petrich has also had the luxury of working with a handful of top coaches during his career, and got his start coaching while attending the University of Minnesota-Duluth.

He credits mentors such as Clydesdales general manager Butch Williams, a former NHL player and member of the U.S. National Team. He also worked with Doc DelCastillo, the Alexandria head coach who was a past head coach at Division I UAF and assistant at Division I St. Cloud State and Nebraska-Omaha. He also noted longtime Elk River High coach Tony Sarsland, who has more than 500 wins to his credit.

Growing up in the hockey hotbed known as Minnesota, Petrich has developed a long list of contacts. He hails from the same hometown as former UAA player and coach Regg Simon, the current head coach of the United States Hockey League’s Des Moines Buccaneers.

Petrich grew up in the same town as new Fairbanks Ice Dogs head coach Trevor Stewart. Elk River also produced Paul Martin, a standout defenseman with the NHL’s Pittsburgh Penguins.

And Petrich is adding to that long list of the who’s who of hockey by now serving under Millen, an NHL veteran and former University of Minnesota great.

As a former goaltender Petrich said he is certainly eager to work with the players between the pipes, but the new assistant will have the chance to work in all facets, Millen said.

“We’ll be working together in a lot of areas,” Millen said.

In addition to coaching, Millen said Petrich, who moved to the Palmer area, will help with recruiting and be in charge of the players’ off-ice activities.

Overall, Millen said he’s excited to welcome the young, enthusiastic coach to the program.

“The kid’s willing to do just about anything,” Millen said. “I like his eagerness. He’s a hard-working kid.”

In the coming weeks, Petrich will help to get players acclimated as they trickle into the Valley. The team’s first practice of the season is slated for Aug. 29. The Avs make their 2011-12 debut Sept. 15 against the Amarillo Bulls at the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minn.

Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman sports editor Jeremiah Bartz at sports@frontiersman.com and follow him at twitter.com/matsu_sports.