NAHL expands West Division

WASILLA — The Alaska Avalanche will have a couple of new foes next season.

Teams from Dawson City, British Columbia, Canada, and Fresno, Calif., will be added to the 19-team NAHL for the 2010-11 season, according to press releases issued by the league earlier this week.

Both will be added to the West Division, Alaska head coach Dave Boitz said on Thursday.

“I think it’s good,” Boitz said.

The four-team West currently includes the Fairbanks Ice Dogs, Kenai River Brown Bears, Wenatchee (Wash.) Wild and the Avalanche. Travel costs are always a concern for teams in the league, especially the three Alaska-based squads, but Boitz said expansion could lead to a way to help keep total travel costs down.

“Financially, it should work out and be a better situation than we have now,” Boitz said.

Expansion will also give the Avalanche more teams to play within the region.

Currently, the bulk of Alaska’s 58-game schedule is made up by games against teams from within the West Division. The Avs play Kenai River 18 times this season, Fairbanks 14 times and Wenatchee 12 times.

“It’ll feel good not playing as many teams as often as we do,” Boitz said. “Hopefully we’ll get away from that a little.”

The NAHL accepted a membership application for the Dawson City Rage, according to the announcement issued by the league on Wednesday, and will play its home games at the 5,000-seat EnCana Events Center in Dawson Creek, a town in northeastern British Columbia most known for being Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway.

The Rage are currently the lone Canadian team in the NAHL. The league first expanded to Canada early in this decade. The Fernie (BC) Ghostriders competed during the 2003-04 season.

On Tuesday, the NAHL granted conditional approval to the Fresno Monsters to begin play at the Selland Arena in Fresno, Calif., beginning next season, according to a press release.

The Monsters, who currently compete in the Tier III Junior A Western States Hockey League, will be the first California team in the 34-year history of the league.

Avs forward standing out in international tournament

Alaska Avalanche forward Nardo Nagtzaam is currently the top scorer of the International Ice Hockey Federation U20B Championships in Estonia.

As of Thursday, Nagtzaam had a tournament-best 14 points (eight goals, six assists) during the first four games for Team Netherlands.

The native of Nijmegen, Netherlands, recorded three goals and an assist during a 5-3 win over Estonia during the first day of the tournament.

Team Netherlands is 3-1 and concludes round-robin play today against Team Romania.

Nagtzaam is also the leading scorer for the Avalanche. He has 28 points (13-15-28) in 27 games, and 51 points (22-29-51) in 73 career games with the Avs.

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