Warriors edge Bruins to wrap 2022-23 NAHL season

By Jim den Hollander 

Editor/Publisher 

Midwesthockey.info 

This is the third of seven off season articles representing the junior hockey leagues falling under the Midwesthockey.info umbrella.

The North American Hockey League is one of two ‘Tier 2’ level junior hockey leagues run in USA and it is the only one that includes teams based in the Midwest. 

There are four divisions in the NAHL and two are almost exclusively Midwest-based. The Central Division is the smallest in terms of teams and the lone all-MIdwest based division including the Austin Bruins and St. Cloud Norsemen from Minnesota; the Bismarck Bobcats and Minot Minotauros from North Dakota, the Aberdeen Wings in South Dakota, and the North Iowa Bulls from Iowa. 

The Midwest Division is a bit of a hodge-podge group with five Midwest-based teams and three others from Alaska. 

The Chippewa Steel, Janesville Jets and Wisconsin Windigo are all from the Dairy State with the Minnesota Wilderness out of the state of hockey and the Springfield Jr. Blues from the Land of Lincoln. Also included are the Anchorage Wolverines, Fairbanks Ice Dogs and Kenai River Brown Bears. 

This past season, the Austin Bruins marched all the way to the Robertson Cup final after finishing on top of the Central Division in the regular standings with a record of 34-16-3-7 for 78 points. Oklahoma Warriors from the South Division topped all teams in regular season play with a 44-14-1-1 record for 90 points. 

The Warriors met the Bruins in the Robertson Cup Championship game with the Warriors claiming their first Championship with a 4-3 edge. 

Along with the Bruins and Warriors in the Robertson Cup event were the Maryland Black Bears out of the East Division and the Minnesota Wilderness from the Midwest. Each claimed the championship of their respective divisions. 

The Bruins captured their berth with a 2-1 edge in its Best of Three Series with the Black Bears and the Warriors swept a pair from the Wilderness.  

The Bruins captured its division with a three-game sweep against the Minotauros and rallied back with three consecutive wins against the Norsemen after dropping the opener 4-3 in overtime on home ice. The decisive factor was also an OT win, the Bruins clinching their spot in the Robertson Cup with a 2-1 edge. 

In the Midwest Division, the Wilderness outscored the Brown Bears 7-3 in a three-game opening round sweep and punched their ticket to the championship tournament win a 3-1 edge in games against the Windigo. 

Award Winners from the MIdest-based teams included: 

Hunter Longhi (‘02/Collinsiville, IL) a forward from the Minotauros wrapped up a four-year NAHL run with 22 goals and 71 points in 58 games and was the lone member of a MIdwest-based team selected to the League’s First All Star Team. Longhi collected 78 goals and 197 points in those four seasons playing for the Minotauros; Bismarck Bobcats; Springfield Jr. Blues and Minnesota Magicians (now Wisconsin Windigo). 

Longhi also received the Forward of the Year Award andwill move on to further his education and play hockey at American International College in Massachusetts. 

Other members of the First All-Star Team included forwards David Andreychuk (‘02/Los Angeles, CA — Yale) from the Northeast Generals and Joey Delgreco (‘03/Grand Rapids, MN – Augustana –24/25) from the Warriors; defensemen Owen Baumgartner (‘02/Owatonna, MN – Air Force) from the Warriors and Pierce Patterson (‘02/Valrico, Fl – Army) from the Amarillo Wranglers and goaltender Simon Bucheler (‘02/St-Laurent, QC) from the Shreveport Mudbugs. 

Two other forwards, Chase LaPinta (‘04/Wichita, KS) from the Minotauros and Kevin Marx Noren (‘02/Knivsta, Sweden) from the Wilderness were both named to the Second All Star Team. 

LaPinta was an NAHL rookie, collecting 34 goals and 56 points in 51 games with the Tauros. He has committed to play at Arizona State University beginning this fall.  

Marx Noren played three seasons in the NAHL and wore four different team jerseys. Moving from Fairbanks to the Wilderness early in the 2022-23 season, we went on to collect 34 goals and 60 points in 58 games. He started his NAHL tenure with the Jamestown Rebels in 2021-22 but after 11 games he was moved to Kenai River. Noren will remain in the USA, attending Northern Michigan University this fall. 

Other second team members included forward Jackson Reineke (‘02/Fairbault, MN – Robert Morris) from the Anchorage Wolverines; defenders Joey Potter (‘03/Los Angeles, CA – Union) and Luke Van Why (‘03/Hatfield, PA – Robert Morris) of the Maryland Black Bears and goaltender Jakub Krbececk (‘03/Prague, Czech Republic – RIT). 

Forward LaPinta and defender Weston Knox (‘04/Andover, MN – Air Force 24/25) of Minot were both named to the League’s All-Rookie Team along with goaltender Gavin Moffatt (‘04/Darien, CT) of the Windigo. 

Knox collected six goals and 22 points in 47 games with the Minotauros and Moffatt appeared in 30 games, posting a record of 21-7-0 for the Windigo. Moffatt wrapped up a 2.00 Goals Against Average and a Save Percentage of .938. 

Other all-Rookie team members included forwards Delgreco from the Warriors and David Deputy (‘04/Gurnee, IL – RiT 24/25) from the Philadelphia Rebels and defenseman Trent Powell (‘04/Soldotna, AK – Long Island Universty) from Anchorage. 

Delgreco won both the Rookie of the Year and League MVP honors and Patterson, from the Wranglers was Defenseman of the Year, Goalie of the Year went to Buchelor. 

Matthew Desiderio (‘05/North Caldwell, NJ) represented the Austin Bruins as the recipient of the Apex Learning Virtual School Academic Achievement Award) and MIdwest-based teams were also represented by Zach Defreitas who was named Broadcaster of the Year for his call of the Springfield Jr. Blues and Trina Gilhooly named Volunteer of the Year for her role on the Bismarck Bobcats. 

The regular season and Robertson Cup champion Warriors were represented by Coach of the Year Winner Garrett Roth and Organization of the Year. 

Clint Mylymok was named General Manager of the Year for his work with the Maryland Black Bears and Executive of the Year went to Rick Bouchard from the Johnstown Tomahawks,  

The League’s Leadership Award went to Brad McNeil (‘02/Royal Oak, MI – RPI) of the Black Bears while Hayden Nichol (‘03/Rochester, NY) of the Shreveport Mudbugs. 

There were also awards for each Division. 

Central Division

LaPinta, Longhi and Austin’s Gavin Morrissey (‘03/Dayton, OH –Wisconsin) were the forwards on the all-Central Division team. Morrissey picked up 17 goals and 59 points for the Bruins. Jack Malinski (‘02/Lakeville, MN – Vermont) of Austin and Broten Sabo (‘02/Rosemount, MN – Alaska/Fairbanks) were the all-Central defensemen. Malinski wrapped up his second season with the Bruins notching four goals and 40 points with the Bruins in 51 games, nearly doubling his output from the previous season. Sabo collected 10 goals and 41 points in his third NAHL season with the Norsemen. 

The Bruins were selected as the Central Division’s Organization of the Year and Desiderio doubled as the Academic Achievement Award Winner for the Division. 

LaPinta collected the Division’s Rookie of the Year Award while the Division’s Leadership Award went to Owen Dubois (‘02/Madison, WI – Air Force) of the Aberdeen Wings while the Division’s Community Service Award was presented to Hunter Garvey (‘02/San Diego, CA – St. Norbert’s). 

Midwest Division

All-Midwest Division spots went to forwards Marx Noren and Reineke along with Sam Rice (‘03/Prior Lake – Minnesota State Mankato) of the Chippewa Steel. Rice notched 28 goals and 58 points in 57 games with the Steel. 

On defense was Trent Powell (‘03/Soldotna, AK – Long Island University) of Anchorage and Joey Potter (‘03/Los Angeles, CA – Union) from Fairbanks. 

All-MIdwest Goaltender and Rookie of the Year honors went to Moffatt from the Windigo with the team named as the division’s Organization of the Year. 

Carter Wishart (‘05/Chaska, MN) was the Academic Achievement Player of the Year for the Steel while Conrad (‘02/Green Bay, WI – Lake Superior State) was presented with the Division’s Leadership Award and the Community Service Award went to Jack Olson (‘03/St. Louis Park, MN). Both Olson and Conrad were members of the Fairbanks IceDogs. 

2023-24  

There are a few changes for the 2023-24 schedule but none that affect the membership of the Central of Midwest Divisions. 

The Colorado Grit, out of Greeley, CO will become the ninth team in the South Division while the East will add the Rochester Jr. Americans and New Hampshire Mountain Kings which will make that division grow to nine teams as well. 

The 33 league teams will head into training camps in the next few weeks with teams beginning play as early as Sept. 8. 

The NAHL Showcase will once again be held at the Super Rink in Blaine, MN. One of the best Showcase events in the USA, the tournament will include all 33 teams Sept. 13-16. 

The League also hosts a Top Prospects Tournament with teams from each division. Last year’s event was held in early February in Pittsburgh and this season’s event is TBA.