Avs to battle Brown Bears

WASILLA — Alaska made quick work of the Kenai River Brown Bears during a season-opening three-game series at the Menard Arena in September.

Alaska cruised to a trio of wins, outscoring the Bears 17-5 during the series.

But after a tumultuous first month to Kenai’s season, that included both coaching and personnel changes, Alaska head coach Dave Boitz believes his Avalanche will be facing off against a different Brown Bears squad when Alaska hits the Soldotna Sports Center ice tonight at 7:30 p.m. for the first contest of a two-game series.

“They’re more organized, more together,” Boitz said. “It’s going to be a tough test.”

The first month of Kenai’s season included an early exit for first-year head coach Marty Quarters, and a handful of other moves. The latest transaction was a swap of blueliners that sent Micki Mahailovich to the Avalanche and former Avs defenseman Braden Kinnebrew south to Kenai.

“Obviously with the coaching situation a little helter-skelter, it takes time to put things together,” Boitz said. “But they seem to have things much more together now.”

Oliver David is now the interim coach, and although the Bears still sit in the cellar of the North American Hockey League West with a 4-13-1 mark, Kenai River has shown improvement.

Kenai split a two-game series with defending West Division champion Fairbanks last week, suffered slim defeats of 2-0 and 2-1 to the league-leading Wild earlier this month.

“No doubt they’re playing well right now,” Boitz said.

Forward Dajon Mingo, who is tied for sixth in the NAHL in scoring with seven goals and 10 assists, and former Kenai Central standout Jed McGlasson anchor the Bears’ top line, a certain strength for Kenai, Boitz said.

“That top line is really good,” Boitz said. “They’re getting a lot of real quality play.”

While Kenai is seeing more success, Alaska battled through its biggest series of the season last week at the Menard Arena. And the Avs came out of the two-game set with NAHL leading Wenatchee with three out of a possible four points in the standings.

Alaska became the first team of the season to shut out Wenatchee with a 4-0 win over the Wild last Friday, and took the Wild to a shootout on Saturday.

Boitz said he hopes the success against Wenatchee can spark the Avs as they begin a tough stretch that includes 10 games within the division during the next month.

“The next month is huge,” Boitz said. “Every weekend is big.”

Blueliner honored by league

WASILLA — Alaska defenseman Jake Parenteau has been named the NAHL West Division Player of the Week.

Parenteau recorded a pair of goals and an assist during the 4-0 win, and added an assist during the 3-2 shootout loss.

“He had a big weekend on a really big stage,” Boitz said. “It was nice to see.”

The 6-0, 190-pound defenseman is currently fifth on the squad in scoring with four goals and six assists.

He is one of nine blueliners in the league tied with an NAHL-high of four goals by defensemen. Parenteau is also tied for fifth in the league in scoring by a defenseman.

Last season, Parenteau led all NAHL blueliners with 10 goals.

“He’s just such a good athlete,” Boitz said. “He’s a very highly skilled hockey player.”

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