The 2010–11 NAHL season was the 27th season of the North American Hockey League. The regular season ran from September 2011 to April 2012 with a 58-game schedule for each team. The Topeka RoadRunners won the regular season championship. The Fairbanks Ice Dogs defeated the Michigan Warriors 4 to 2 to capture the Robertson Cup.

Member changes In April of 2009, the NAHL approved of an expansion team in Dawson Creek, British Columbia. The franchise would be the first Canadian club in the NAHL 2004. However, in order to give the new club, the Dawson Creek Rage, enough time to properly outfit themselves, their entry into the league was delayed until this season.

On December 15, 2009, the Fresno Monsters, a junior team in the Western States Hockey League, were granted conditional approved to join the NAHL as an expansion franchise. The organization eventually decided to continue operating their original club in the WSHL as well as a separate Tier II franchise.

Less than a month later, the NAHL added a second expansion team for 2010 when the Aberdeen Wings were approved.

A few days later, the Chicago Hitmen received approval to join the league as an expansion franchise.

At the beginning of March, the Austin Bruins were announced as another expansion club for this season.

One day later, the NAHL approved the relocation of the North Iowa Outlaws. The club moved to Onalaska, Wisconsin and became the Coulee Region Chill.

In late March, the NAHL approved Rio Rancho, New Mexico as the site for a new expansion franchise. The team would eventually be named 'New Mexico Mustangs'.

In early May, the NAHL approved the relocation of the Marquette Rangers to Flint, Michigan. The franchise was renamed the Michigan Warriors.

By the middle of the month, the NAHL was able to find new owners for Albert Lea Thunder. The league had assumed control of the club in the middle of the season due to USA Hockey rule violations and now permitted the franchise to relocate to Texas and become the Amarillo Bulls.

A few days later, the Corpus Christi IceRays, a professional team from the Central Hockey League, purchased the Alpena IceDiggers. The IceRays folded their professional club and moved all of their assets, including the team's name, to the NAHL.

In early July, the Port Huron Fighting Falcons were added to the league as yet another expansion club.http://www.thetimesherald.com/article/20100701/SPORTS/7010317/Port-Huron-lands-hockey-team This brought the final number of teams joining the league up to seven.

Regular season

The standings at the end of the regular season were as follows:

Note: x = clinched playoff berth; y = clinched division title; z = clinched regular season title Standings Central Division

Team xy – Alexandria Blizzard 583319672208177 x – Coulee Region Chill 583320571204180 x – Owatonna Express 583219771175179 x – Bismarck Bobcats 583122567179156 Austin Bruins 582331450151186 Aberdeen Wings 582034444166219

North Division

Team xy – St. Louis Bandits 584113486215120 x – Traverse City North Stars 584017181211159 x – Michigan Warriors 583517676202141 x – Janesville Jets 58359474170121 Springfield Jr. Blues 583124365191170 Motor City Metal Jackets 583125264228188 Chicago Hitmen 58945422132286 Port Huron Fighting Falcons 58646618127312

South Division

Team xyz – Topeka RoadRunners 584312389237146 x – Amarillo Bulls 583616678209171 x – Texas Tornado 583516878213164 x – Wichita Falls Wildcats 582627557189190 Corpus Christi IceRays 581934543158238 New Mexico Mustangs 581935442141220

West Division

Team xy – Fairbanks Ice Dogs 584015383245171 x – Wenatchee Wild 583421371207148 x – Alaska Avalanche 583222468193173 x – Kenai River Brown Bears 582724761189191 Dawson Creek Rage 582431351160209 Fresno Monsters 581934543158243

Statistics Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of all regular season games.

Player Team Cody Wydo Motor City Metal Jackets 58 40 51 91 55 Nardo Nagtzaam Alexandria Blizzard 58 36 51 87 57 Steve Brancheau Motor City Metal Jackets 55 28 43 71 96 R. J. Kleiman Motor City/St. Louis 50 28 41 69 39 Chris Ciotti St. Louis Bandits 57 31 37 68 54 Michael Hill Topeka RoadRunners 43 37 29 66 105 Justin Hussar Topeka RoadRunners 58 33 33 66 20 Jared Linnell Fairbanks Ice Dogs 58 34 31 65 68 Andrew Kolb Michigan Warriors 44 31 34 65 34 Zac Frischmon Coulee Region Chill 58 31 34 65 39

Leading goaltenders

Note: GP = Games played; Mins = Minutes played; W = Wins; L = Losses; OTL = Overtime losses; SOL = Shootout losses; SO = Shutouts; GAA = Goals against average; SV% = Save percentage

Player Team GP Mins W L OTL SOL GA SV SV% GAA Robert Tadazak Michigan Warriors 45 2508:39 27 9 2 3 73 1,307 .944 1.75 Tom Comunale St. Louis Bandits 25 1403:42 15 7 0 1 41 475 .914 1.75 Matt Green St. Louis Bandits 23 1321:52 17 4 0 1 45 470 .904 2.04 David Jacobson Janesville Jets 43 2538:53 26 14 1 2 88 1,076 .918 2.08 Steve Bolton New Mexico/Amarillo/Traverse City 22 1252:36 15 5 0 1 47 582 .919 2.25

Robertson Cup playoffs Five teams qualify for the Robertson cup quarterfinals, the four division champions and the host (Topeka). If Topeka won their division final, the runner-up would receive the final qualifying spot.The five qualifiers were then reseeded based upon their regular season record. The top three teams automatically advanced to the round-robin while the lowest two reams faced one another for the final spot.The team with the best record in the Round Robin series would receive a bye to the championship game. The second and third place teams would meet in a semifinal match to determine the other finals qualifier.For the Round Robin, ties were broken first by head-to-head matchup and then by goal differential.

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

Division Semifinals

Central Division

(C1) Alexandria Blizzard vs. (C4) Bismarck Bobcats

(C2) Coulee Region Chill vs. (C3) Owatonna Express

North Division

(N1) St. Louis Bandits vs. (N4) Janesville Jets

(N2) Traverse City North Stars vs. (N3) Michigan Warriors

South Division

(S1) Topeka RoadRunners vs. (S4) Wichita Falls Wildcats

(S2) St. Louis Bandits vs. (S3) Texas Tornado

West Division

(W1) Fairbanks Ice Dogs vs. (W4) Kenai River Brown Bears

(W2) Wenatchee Wild vs. (W3) Alaska Avalanche

Division Finals

Central Division

(C2) Coulee Region Chill vs. (C4) Bismarck Bobcats

North Division

(N1) St. Louis Bandits vs. (N3) Michigan Warriors

South Division

(S1) Topeka RoadRunners vs. (S2) Amarillo Bulls

West Division

(W1) Fairbanks Ice Dogs vs. (W3) Bismarck Bobcats

Quarterfinal Play-in

(N3) Michigan Warriors vs. (C4) Bismarck Bobcats

Quarterfinals

May 3

May 4

May 5

Semifinals

(S2) Amarillo Bulls vs. (N3) Michigan Warriors

Robertson Cup Finals

(W1) Fairbanks Ice Dogs vs. (N3) Michigan Warriors

References

NAHL reference

External links Official website of the North American Hockey League