Avs confident against league-leading Wild

WASILLA — Alaska head coach Dave Boitz calls the Town Center in Wenatchee, Wash., “an exciting place to play.”

Boitz doesn’t see the home rink of the North American Hockey League-leading Wenatchee Wild as intimidating, even though the Wild draw in NAHL-high 3,100 fans per night.

Regardless, Boitz and the Avs are excited about the potential of having some success at the Town Center, which also happens to be the site of the 2009-10 NAHL championships.

Alaska will have its first shot of beating the Wild on their home ice when the Avs hit the Town Center for a pair of games this weekend.

“There’s a lot of big hockey being played in Wenatchee this year,” Boitz said. “We need to rise to the challenge.”

The weekend series marks the first of three regular-season trips to the central Washington town that sits about halfway between Seattle and Spokane.

If the Wild maintain its comfortable lead at the top of the NAHL West standings, the division series of the playoffs would come through Wenatchee. The Wild also are hosting the Robertson Cup, which decides the country’s Junior A Tier II national title.

The Avs would love to start a tradition of winning in Wenatchee. But Boitz also knows the series is part of a key stretch of the season.

“This is a pretty crucial stretch for a lot of reasons,” Boitz said.

Following the games at Wenatchee on Friday and Saturday, 6:05 p.m. AST, the Avs will head north for a three-game set at the Big Dipper Ice Arena in Fairbanks in early December.

During the second week of December, the Avs meet Kenai River for a home-and-home series.

Then the Avs are on break until after the New Year.

And then there’s third-place Fairbanks, which sits 10 points behind Alaska in the West Division standings. Seven of the Ice Dogs’ next 10 are against the Brown Bears, who have permanently resided in the West Division cellar this season.

“They’re looking to take care of business,” Boitz said of the Ice Dogs.

The Avs have certainly taken care of business during October and November. Alaska has gained at least a point in the standings in 12 straight games, and has not lost a contest in regulation since a 4-0 loss to Bismarck on Oct. 6.

The Avs are 9-0-3 during that stretch, and Boitz feels the Avs have still not played to their full potential.

“The good thing is, we have not played our best hockey,” Boitz said.

Alaska’s play in net has been stellar. Kale Robertson is second among league goalies with a 1.95 goals against. Landon Peterson is seventh with a 2.21 GAA.

Alaska has also had steady play on its back line, and its penalty kill unit sports the league’s fourth-best percentage, 87.9.

The Avs are averaging 3.6 goals per game, but Boitz said Alaska is still looking for more consistency from its forwards.

Alaska scored at least eight goals in three straight series, but lit the lamp five times in two games against Wenatchee. Two of those goals came from defensemen.

“We need to get some consistency up front,” Boitz said. “Guys are having big weekends against Kenai River and then are shutout against Wenatchee. That’s not a trend we want to stick with. I challenged those guys to have big weekends.”

But once again, even though the Avs may not be playing their best hockey, Alaska continues to add to its point totals.

Alaska already has more points in the standings than it did during the entire 2007-08 season, and are well on its way to eclipse the franchise record of 51 set last season.

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