Avs promote assistant

WASILLA — For the last two seasons, Dave Boitz has worked to make the Alaska Avalanche stronger on the ice.

After leading the Wasilla-based North American Hockey League franchise to 55 wins in two seasons and a team-record 32 victories last year, Boitz is stepping away from his duties as head coach and will assume the role of the organization’s full-time general manger. Boitz’ assistant in 2009-10, Brian Huebel, has been promoted to head coach.

“I’m really excited,” Huebel said. “It’s been a smooth transition.”

While titles are being juggled, Huebel’s excited the nucleus of the front office is staying the same. Boitz will take on more responsibility on the business side, while still helping to manage the talent on the team, and part-time assistant Sean Fish has been promoted to full-time coach.

“There’s the support structure. We have a great owner in Mark Lee. We have Dave. And Sean is going to be a great assistant coach,” Huebel said.

Huebel said the decision to jockey positions was made primarily to help strengthen and solidify the business side of the organization.

“That was the situation. We talked about it, different things that were going on as a whole organization. Dave had felt it was time to focus on the general manager duties,” Heubel said. “Beat the streets as far as sponsors go.”

Huebel said Boitz felt it wasn’t fair to the athletes to try to handle the responsibilities of both the coach and general manager.

“This allows him to take over the general manager duties and do that 100 percent,” Heubel said. “It provides me the opportunity to be a head coach now and Sean to be an assistant.”

Avalanche marketing director Patrick O’Neill also plays a key role in the business end of the organization, Huebel said.

Huebel said he’s thrilled to have his first opportunity to be a head coach. Huebel, the Avs fourth head coach in team history, spent two seasons as a general manager and assistant coach for the Wisconsin Mustangs of the Tier III Junior A Minnesota Junior Hockey League. He was also an assistant coach at the prep level in Wisconsin before coming to Alaska.

When Huebel came to Wasilla to be an assistant, he had aspirations of becoming a head coach — his longterm goal is to coach at the college level — but figured that would come sometime later in the future.

“I knew being a head coach was going to be down the path, but definitely didn’t expect it one year after I came up here to be an assistant,” Huebel said. “This was completely unexpected when we first started talking about it.”

Huebel and Fish will handle the bulk of the recruiting. Fish is actually in Minnesota right now attending showcase tournaments. Huebel said he will head outside later in the summer to recruit. The Avalanche also have a series of tryout camps scheduled during the next few months. Boitz will remain active when it comes to setting the roster and making transactions.

“The thing I like about our staff is it’s not just one guy going ‘we’re trading this guy for this guy,”’ Huebel said. “Everything is always discussed.”

Much of the talent expected to return for the 2010-11 season was recruited by either Huebel or Fish.

“We know the kids,” Huebel said. “It makes for an easy transition for them.”

Huebel said he has a style similar to that of Boitz. But as a former college blueliner, Huebel naturally will put an emphasis on his team’s defensive play.

“The defensive zone is the most important zone,” Huebel said. “Everything stems off the defensive zone.”

In training camp and early in the season, Huebel said the Avs will certainly focus on their work on defense.

“That’s not a point we want to be working on late in the season,” Huebel said.

Offensively, Huebel likes his players to be creative and not show a hesitation to shoot the puck.

“I love guys who shoot the puck from all over the ice,” Huebel said. “Even bad angle shots. Get pucks on net and crash the net.”

Boitz was the head coach of two other NAHL programs — Alexandria and North Iowa — before coming to Alaska. Since his arrival, Boitz helped turn around a struggling program. In his first season as head coach, Boitz’ team tied the franchise record with 23 win. This past year, Boitz led the Avs to a team-record 32 wins. The team also boasted its highest regular season finish in team history by placing second in the NAHL West.

“We’re in a situation where we’ve created quite a buzz, and obviously winning is going to do that,” Huebel said. “Now we just have to build off the success we’ve had.”

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