New Alaska Expansion Team

[hockeydude12345]

NAHL team in Anchorage, Alaska approved for the 2021-22 season

Click to read more...

 

[JMCx4]

Well, now Minnesota will need THREE rinks to accommodate the NAHL Alaska teams for the next pandemic. Presuming this season doesn't bankrupt the Ice Dogs or the Brown Bears.

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

HOCKEY SHOWCASE: With NAHL expansion possible, Alaska junior hockey teams hosting game at Palmer’s MTA Events Center

The NAHL has been actively pursuing another Alaska franchise for years. It helps makes both Kenai and Fairbanks more financially viable as well as helping the other teams that make their inevitable Alaska trip.

It will also help fill the market void that will be left if/when Alaska-Anchorage cuts their hockey program.

 

[JMCx4]

Co-owners in the group Ryan Binkley & Kai Binkley Sims are both part of the parent company who own the Anchorage Daily News, so hopefully the team will get some preferential local press coverage.

 

[mk80]

The NAHL has been wanting to add another Alaska team for awhile now. Good for everyone, another close opponent for Kenai and Fairbanks, and provides another team to swing by on the Alaska trips for traveling teams from the rest of the "Midwest Division"

 

[JMCx4]

... The NAHL has been actively pursuing another Alaska franchise for years. It helps makes both Kenai and Fairbanks more financially viable as well as helping the other teams that make their inevitable Alaska trip. ...

So do you reckon a standard visiting team schedule would involve one night in each city? Would it make sense (and would it be feasible) for two or even three of Midwest teams to visit Alaska on the same weekend & cycle through? I'm just trying to wrap my head around your "helping the other teams" statement.

 

[JMCx4]

The NAHL has been wanting to add another Alaska team for awhile now. Good for everyone ...

Have you ever worked in Alaska?

 

[Barclay Donaldson]

So do you reckon a standard visiting team schedule would involve one night in each city? Would it make sense (and would it be feasible) for two or even three of Midwest teams to visit Alaska on the same weekend & cycle through? I just trying to wrap my head around your "helping the other teams" statement.

Traveling teams typically play three nights in each city, usually Friday night, Saturday night, and a Sunday matinée before moving on to the other for the same. Fairbanks and Kenai spend a synchronized month or so on the road and a month or so at home. Jet fuel is more expensive than coach bus. Playing a third team helps maximize their trip.

Think of it as the equivalent of adding two more ECHL teams in Newfoundland. It is so expensive and time consuming getting there, that traveling around by bus against more teams makes the venture cheaper and more financially viable.

 

[mk80]

Have you ever worked in Alaska?

I wouldn't mind visiting for work and vacation.

 

[PCSPounder]

Considering the pandemic scrubbed our Inside Passage/Glacier Bay cruise, and said pandemic scrubbed my wife’s idea of wanting to ever be on a cruise, I’d be good with this.

What would really be fun is two Anchorage teams. I won’t hold my breath, of course.

 

[mk80]

Considering the pandemic scrubbed our Inside Passage/Glacier Bay cruise, and said pandemic scrubbed my wife’s idea of wanting to ever be on a cruise, I’d be good with this.

What would really be fun is two Anchorage teams. I won’t hold my breath, of course.

I'm not sure we'll get more than 3 Alaska teams, but I know the NAHL would still like to build a presence in the Pacific Northwest and West Coast.

 

[hockeydude12345]

small rumor is that amarillo staff is moving to this new team, since the north iowa coach will now coach the bulls nahl team

 

[mk80]

small rumor is that amarillo staff is moving to this new team, since the north iowa coach will now coach the bulls nahl team

That’s quite the move from Texas to Alaska. Rocky Russo is one of the top NAHL head coaches I doubt he’ll stay out of job for long this offseason.