Avs show NAHL they can compete during Showcase

WASILLA —Following his team’s season-opening three-game sweep of Kenai River, Alaska Avalanche head coach Dave Boitz knew his team had potential to have success this season.

But Boitz still wanted to know how the Avalanche compared to the remainder of the North American Hockey League.

Now, after seeing his team play four times in the NAHL Showcase late last month, Boitz has a much better idea.

“I thought overall, the big question mark was how competitive we’re going to be,” Boitz said of the Avs, who finished 2-2 in the four-day Showcase. “I think we’re going to be very competitive.”

Alaska edged Albert Lea 2-1 and took NAHL Central Division-leading Owatonna to a shootout during the final two days of Shootout play, and now rank second in the West with a 5-1-1 mark.

“Both were really good hockey games,” Boitz said by cell phone on Monday morning.

Even though the Avs were forced to settle for just one point in the standings after taking the shootout loss, Boitz said it could be his team’s most consistent effort to date.

“It’s a closest thing to a full game we’ve played,” Boitz said.

Alaska goalie Landon Peterson stopped 39 shots to lead his team to the shootout, and made what Boitz called an, “acrobatic save,” during the final minute of regulation to preserve the 1-1 tie.

Peterson is one of three goalies on the Alaska roster, and all have had stand out performances early in the season.

On Friday, Kale Robertson recorded 47 saves during the 2-1 win over Albert Lea.

Geoff Sadjadi, the team’s No. 1 goalie entering the season, is 2-1 with a 2.69 goals against average. Combined, the trio has stopped 93 percent of the shots they’ve faced.

Boitz said the Alaska coaching staff still has to determine whether the Avs will carry two or three goalies. While that answer is most likely two, all three have shown the ability to play in the NAHL.

“We’ll have to see,” Boitz said. “Who ever we’re not keeping, we’ll find them a good place to play.”

Veteran forward Nardo Nagtzaam led the Avs with three points (2 goals, 1 assist, 3 points) during the Showcase.

Forwards Zach Smith and Seth Johnson grabbed a goal and an assist each, and seven different players found the back of the net during the annual event, which was designed to offer college coaches and scouts the chance to see all 19 NAHL teams at one venue during a long weekend.

“We had a lot of good feedback from colleges,” Boitz said. “People were real impressed with the team.”

Boitz said second-year forward Matt Friese, who collected a pair of assists, was among the top players for Alaska in the tournament.

“He was one of the strongest players all weekend,” Boitz said.

If Boitz has a complaint, he said, it’d be the need for more offensive production from a few of the Avs’ top scorers.

“We need to get a little more production out of our top scoring guys,” Boitz said, noting top-liners such as Kyle Pichler and Robb Haider, who were held to a combined one assist in four games. “They played great, but they didn’t put pucks in the net. I’m not too worried about it, we had some good shots, some pipes, and that’ s the way it goes. But if we buried a few of those we could have gone 4-0.”

With the Showcase now behind them, the Avs now look forward to a two-game series with the Bismarck Bobcats in Bismarck, N.D.

Bismarck is 0-2-2 in its first four games of the season, but that record may be deceiving. The Bobcats losses came to Traverse City and St. Louis, the three-time defending league champions.

Bismarck took both Texas and the United States National Developmental Program team to shootouts.

“They’re a good team,” Boitz said.

Bismarck hosts Alaska both Friday and Saturday at 4:15 p.m. AST.

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