Jets, Minotauros looking to defend NAHL Division titles

It’s difficult to predict what will happen in the North American Hockey League, so this ‘preview’ is based mainly on how things wrapped up last season.

There have been no off-season changes that affect the 11 Midwest teams technically. For a minute, it appeared the Midwest Division would go through some changes as Kenai River – one of two Alaska teams in the Division was on its way to going dark for at least one season. However, the team has returned with some new ownership and a community group that rallied behind the squad to make it stay put.

Janesville Jets were the class of this division a season ago and must be considered a favorite once again, although the Fairbanks crew came on strong in the second half last season. Ultimately, it was the Jets with a 20-point edge on the IceDogs at the end of the regular season with the Minnesota Magicians third and the Coulee Region Chill once again coming out of an intense battle with Springfield for the final playoff position.

The two teams came down the stretch neck and neck a season prior as well with the same result in the end – The Chill moving on to the post season and the Jr. Blues on the sidelines for the playoffs dance, along with Kenai River.

The Jets got by Coulee in three straight games and Fairbanks made the Magicians disappear in three straight as well. Janesville went on to take the Division playoff title in four games.

Perhaps the most exciting division featuring the closest play throughout the season was the all-Midwest Central Division.

Minot Minotauros led the entire season, but never built up enough of a cushion to be comfortable until a late season stumble by the Minnesota Wilderness that helped the Minot crew finish with a 10-point margin. Brookings and Aberdeen tied with 65 points, the Blizzard getting the nod for third spot with one extra regulation win.

Bismarck Bobcats dropped out the race in the final weeks, finishing seven behind the third-place pair and Austin Bruins was one point behind the Bobcats. Both are used to being included in the playoff dance so watch for them to play with a chip on their shoulders this season.

This Division generally has little separation from top to bottom and just to show the parity last season. Fourth place Aberdeen knocked off first place Aberdeen, taking its Best-of-Five series in four games while the Minnesota Wilderness went the distance before getting the nod in Game Five to move on the Central Division final.

The Wilderness also went the five-game distance with the surging Wings, but this time the series win went the other way, the fourth seeded Wings moving on to represent the Division in the Robertson Cup Championship series.

Another team unaccustomed to watching the post season from the sidelines is the only Midwest-based team in the South Division – the Topeka Roadrunners.

Last season though, the Roadrunners started slow and never seemed to recover, ultimately finishing with a 21-34-4-1 record for 47 points – seventh in the seven-team South Division some 18 points behind the playoff line.

Here’s another team that will be looking to make amends this season. Seeing the Roadrunners miss the post season twice in a row would be shocking.

At the Robertson Cup last April, Aberdeen and Janesville were both semi-final victims, the Wings falling in three games to the Aston (now Philadelphia) Rebels while the Jets were swept in two games by the Lone Star Brahmas who went on to claim the league championship with a 3-0 shutout against the Rebels.

Janesville, Springfield and Topeka will be among the teams getting an early start on Sept. 15-16 and the Roadrunners play host to the Corpus Christi IceRays and the Jets start off in Springfield against the Jr. Blues. The other eight Midwest-based teams will all enter the fray during the NAHL Showcase event, beginning on Sept. 20. The four-day event will once again be hosted by the Schwan Super Rink in Blaine, MN.