Avs have new head coach

PALMER — After losing a pair of coaches who helped the Alaska Avalanche tie a team record for wins in a season, the Avs have turned to a coach who helped launch Junior A hockey in the Mat-Su Valley.

The Avs have named Corey Millen as the team’s new head coach. Millen will replace former head coach Brian Huebel, who is headed with former Avs assistant Sean Fish to NAHL rival Wichita Falls to join the Wildcats coaching safe.

For more on Huebel and Fish, see the adjacent story on Page B1.

“He’s got a great playing resume and he’s a guy ready to get back into (coaching),” Boitz said of Millen.

Millen, a former University of Minnesota star and National Hockey League veteran, was part of the organization for nearly a year and a half. He, alongside former UAA and Anchorage Aces great Dean Larson, helped bring Junior A hockey to the Mat-Su Valley in 2005. The duo led the then-Wasilla Spirit to the team’s first playoff appearance in the 2005-06 season. The Spirit finished with a 23-33-2 mark and third place in the five-team NAHL West Division. Millen has also long been a staple in the Anchorage-based Alaska-All Stars hockey program.

Millen has made a name for himself in the Alaska hockey community, but Boitz — another Minnesotan — called the Cloquet, Minn., native a legend in his home state. Millen was a four-year standout for the Division I Golden Gophers, tallying more than 240 points in his college career. He had a career-high 41 goals and 42 assists as a junior with the Gophers.

Millen was selected in the third round of the 1982 NHL draft by the New York Rangers. In more than a decade in the NHL, Millen skated with the Rangers, Los Angeles Kings, New Jersey Devils, Dallas Stars and Calgary Flames.

Millen put together a career-high 50 points (20-30-50) with the Devils in 1993-94. Millen scored a career-high 23 goals in 1992-93 and helped the Kings advance to the Stanley Cup Finals.

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