Avs scrap to stay on top in West

PALMER — Brian Huebel can’t help but feel like he sounds like a broken record.

Prior to just about every weekend this season, the first-year Alaska head coach has had just about the same thing to say.

But every weekend has been the same for Huebel and his Avalanche. Alaska, currently the top team in the North American Hockey League West Division standings, has spent much of the 2010-11 season firmly entrenched in the battle for the division crown. Tonight, it’ll be much of the same as the first-place Avs host the second-place Fairbanks Ice Dogs at the MTA Palmer Ice Arena.

“(The games) are huge. Standings-wise, they’re always big,” Huebel said earlier this week.

It makes sense that Huebel has had similar things to say prior to each new series. Four teams in the division — Alaska, Fairbanks, Wenatchee and Kenai River — have jockeyed position in the top-4 throughout the 2010-11 campaign. And for the Avs, with a schedule that includes only division opponents for the final 52 games of the season, each series is almost guaranteed to help decide which teams sit in the top spots at the division at the end of the year.

The series between these rivals this season is as even as it can get. Both teams are 3-3-0 through the first six games of the season series. The foes have split each of the first three two-game sets of the year.

“We’ll be reviewing some of the things we’ve done in the past against them to try to prepare,” Huebel said. “We’ve had some success against them, but we’ve also got some things to work on.”

Alaska was in Fairbanks two weeks ago for a series. The Avs ended the 2010 calendar year with 5-2 loss to Fairbanks, but kicked off 2011 with a 4-1 victory. The Avs have had balanced scoring against the Ice Dogs. Four different players have three goals against Fairbanks. Defenseman Jake Williams leads the Avs in scoring against the Ice Dogs with two goals and six assists.

Forward Jared Linnell, a North Pole native, has 4-3-7 totals against Alaska.

Fairbanks has not played since that series. But Alaska is 2-1-0 since seeing the Ice Dogs, taking two wins away from a three-game set at Kenai last weekend.

Following this series, Alaska will be off until heading to Dawson Creek, Canada, for a three-game set that starts Jan. 27.

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