The 2006–07 NAHL season was the 23rd season of the North American Hockey League. The regular season ran from September 2006 to April 2007 with a 62-game schedule for each team. The Mahoning Valley Phantoms won the regular season championship and went on be defeated by the St. Louis Bandits 8 to 4 for the Robertson Cup.
Member changes During the season, the NAHL approved the addition of the Marquette Rangers as an expansion team beginning with this season.
On May 3, 2006, the United States Hockey League approved the addition of a Columbus-area expansion team for this season. The ownership group transferred their NAHL franchise, the Cleveland Jr. Barons, in its entirety and rebranded it as the Ohio Junior Blue Jackets.
Later in May, the Billings Bulls, Bozeman Icedogs and Helena Bighorns all left the NAHL to join the Northern Pacific Hockey League.
During the summer, the Minnesota Blizzard rebranded as the Alexandria Blizzard. Additionally, the Wasilla Spirit changed their name to the Alaska Avalanche.
Around the same time, the Texarkana Bandits relocated to St. Louis. The franchise retained its nickname.
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 – Fargo-Moorhead Jets 623719680216192 x – Southern Minnesota Express 623523474206177 x – Alexandria Blizzard 622829561165193 x – North Iowa Outlaws 622729660174198 Bismarck Bobcats 622630658193221 Springfield Jr. Blues 622631557188203
North Division
Team xyz – Mahoning Valley Phantoms 624714195283168 x – Alpena IceDiggers 623720579232194 x – USNTDP 622830460211215 x – Marquette Rangers 622532555189227 Traverse City North Stars 621938543177276
South Division
Team xy – St. Louis Bandits 624314591228153 x – Santa Fe RoadRunners 624117486221154 x – Texas Tornado 623818682211174 x – Fairbanks Ice Dogs 623424472223203 Wichita Falls Wildcats 622234650175227 Alaska Avalanche 621639739148242
Statistics Scoring leaders
The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of all regular season games.
Player Team Patrick Maroon St. Louis Bandits 57 40 55 95 160 Todd Rudasill Alpena IceDiggers 59 33 56 89 101 Dustin Cloutier Mahoning Valley Phantoms 52 41 41 82 81 Jesse Echternach Fargo-Moorhead Jets 61 35 45 80 52 Joe Shean Fairbanks Ice Dogs 62 22 57 79 84 Kyle Schmidt Fairbanks Ice Dogs 62 45 33 78 74 Drew Pierson Alpena IceDiggers 62 35 42 77 66 Chris Connolly Fargo-Moorhead Jets 62 20 56 76 12 Tibor Kutalek Mahoning Valley Phantoms 60 44 32 76 65 Nathan Longpre Mahoning Valley Phantoms 61 27 38 65 36 Nolan Craner Alpena IceDiggers 59 25 40 65 97
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 SO SV SV% GAA Nick Hopper Wichita Falls Wildcats 48 2746:25 30 12 0 3 99 8 1,050 .906 2.16 Pat Nagle St. Louis Bandits 36 2136:12 24 8 2 2 81 1 965 .916 2.28 Ryan Zapolski Mahoning Valley Phantoms 51 3002:02 42 8 0 1 116 4 1,610 .928 2.32 Thomas Tragust Texas Tornado 46 2586:22 27 11 2 3 109 2 1,089 .900 2.53 Lars Paulgaard Southern Minnesota Express 51 2878:34 30 18 0 2 122 8 1,373 .911 2.54
Robertson Cup playoffs Four teams qualified for the Round Robin semifinal, the host (Fairbanks) and the three division champions. If Fairbanks won the South division final, the runner-up would receive the final qualifying spot. For the round robin semifinal, ties were broken first by head-to-head matchup and then by goal differential.The team with the best record advanced directly to the championship game while the second- and third-place teams met in a semifinal.
Note: * denotes overtime period(s)
References
NAHL reference
External links Official website of the North American Hockey League