2009–10 NAHL season

2009–10 NAHL season
2009–10 NAHL season
League	North American Hockey League
Sport	Ice hockey
Duration	Regular season; September 11, 2009 – March 28, 2010; Post-season; April 2 – May 9, 2010
Number of games	58
Number of teams	19
Regular season
Season champions	Wenatchee Wild
Top scorer	Erik Higby; (Topeka RoadRunners)
Robertson Cup Playoffs
Finals champions	Bismarck Bobcats
Runners-up	Fairbanks Ice Dogs

The 2009–10 NAHL season was the 26th season of the North American Hockey League. The regular season ran from September 2009 to April 2010 with a 58-game schedule for each team. The Wenatchee Wild won the regular season championship. The Bismarck Bobcats defeated the Fairbanks Ice Dogs 3 to 0 to capture the Robertson Cup.

Member changes

In April of 2009, the United States Hockey League announced that they would be expanding by accepting two NAHL teams, the Mahoning Valley Phantoms and USNTDP, for the upcoming season.^[1]

The Texas Tornado sat out the previous season due to renovations at their home rink, the Deja Blue Arena.^[2] With the venue now ready to host events once more, it was renamed Dr Pepper Arena and Tornado returned to league play.

In 2009, the NAHL approved Janesville, Wisconsin as the site for a new expansion franchise.^[3] In June, the team revealed their new name as the Janesville Jets.

Towards the end of June, the Motor City Machine announced that they were changing their logo and name to Motor City Metal Jackets.^[4]

Regular season

The standings at the end of the regular season were as follows:^[5]

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

Standings

Central Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
xy – Bismarck Bobcats	58	39	11	8	86	195	130
x – Owatonna Express	58	32	22	4	68	188	190
x – Alexandria Blizzard	58	30	22	6	66	180	166
x – Albert Lea Thunder	58	19	34	6	43	153	231
North Iowa Outlaws	58	15	37	6	36	147	234

North Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
xy – Marquette Rangers	58	35	22	1	71	186	154
x – Traverse City North Stars	58	33	20	5	71	217	172
x – Janesville Jets	58	29	23	6	64	169	172
x – Motor City Metal Jackets	58	25	26	7	57	158	189
Alpena IceDiggers	58	22	34	2	46	169	201

South Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
xy – Topeka RoadRunners	58	44	9	5	93	254	147
x – St. Louis Bandits	58	44	11	3	91	211	125
x – Texas Tornado	58	25	28	5	55	170	204
x – Springfield Jr. Blues	58	21	29	8	50	163	193
Wichita Falls Wildcats	58	18	34	6	42	175	251

West Division

Team	GP	W	L	OTL	Pts	GF	GA
xyz – Wenatchee Wild	58	45	10	3	93	219	125
x – Alaska Avalanche	58	32	19	7	71	198	178
x – Fairbanks Ice Dogs	58	32	22	4	68	203	182
x – Kenai River Brown Bears	58	12	40	6	30	144	247

Statistics

Scoring leaders

The following players led the league in regular season points at the completion of all regular season games. ^[6]

Player	Team	GP	G	A	Pts	PIM
Erik Higby	Topeka RoadRunners	57	27	53	80	68
Michael Juola	Fairbanks Ice Dogs	58	22	55	77	70
Jared Rickord	Springfield Jr. Blues	58	28	40	68	14
Andrew Kolb	Marquette Rangers	58	24	41	65	34
Garrett Ladd	Marquette Rangers	55	23	40	63	105
Nardo Nagtzaam	Alexandria Blizzard	54	24	37	61	55
Brian Sheehan	Wichita Falls Wildcats	58	29	31	60	70
Mark Pustin	Fairbanks Ice Dogs	53	23	36	59	29
Jason Fabian	Bismarck Bobcats	57	24	34	58	81
Kyle Clay	Alexandria Blizzard	58	21	36	57	46

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
Brandon Jaeger	Wenatchee Wild	29	1604:35	22	3	1	0	49	3	631	.928	1.83
Lukas Hafner	Marquette Rangers	21	1071:53	11	6	0	0	37	3	558	.938	2.07
Tyler Bruggeman	St. Louis Bandits	36	2136:22	24	8	0	2	75	2	936	.926	2.11
Ryan Faragher	Bismarck Bobcats	38	2125:58	23	6	2	5	77	4	897	.921	2.17
Evan Karambelas	Topeka RoadRunners	27	1622:45	22	4	0	1	62	2	504	.890	2.29

Robertson Cup playoffs

Five teams qualified for the Round Robin semifinal, the host (Wenatchee) and the four division champions. If Wenatchee won the west 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.


Division Semifinals (Best-of-5)							Division Finals (Best-of-5)							Semifinal (Round Robin)							Championship (Best-of-1)



C1	Bismarck Bobcats	4	8	4	-	-

C4	Albert Lea Thunder	2	2	1	-	-
							C1	Bismarck Bobcats	9	5	3	-	-
Central Division
							C2	Alexandria Blizzard	1	2	1	-	-
C2	Owatonna Express	7*	2	2	2	-

C3	Alexandria Blizzard	6	3	6	5	-



N1	Marquette Rangers	2	1	3	-	-

N4	Motor City Machine	5	2	4***	-	-
							N4	Motor City Machine	1	1	3	-	-
North Division
							N2	Traverse City North Stars	4	5	5	-	-
N2	Traverse City North Stars	7	4	2	-	-								C1	Bismarck Bobcats	-	6	5	1	3

N3	Janesville Jets	1	0	0	-	-								N2	Traverse City North Stars	1	-	1	5	2
																					C1	Bismarck Bobcats	3
														S2	St. Louis Bandits	3	4	-	4	3
																					W3	Fairbanks Ice Dogs	0
S1	Topeka RoadRunners	1	7	8	4	-								W1	Wenatchee Wild	2	4	5*	-	2

S4	Springfield Jr. Blues	4	2	1	3	-								W3	Fairbanks Ice Dogs	4	1	4	3	-
							S1	Topeka RoadRunners	1	6	1	4	0
South Division
							S2	St. Louis Bandits	2	2	4	1	5
S2	St. Louis Bandits	2	1	1	3***	3*

S3	Texas Tornado	3	3	0	2	2



W1	Wenatchee Wild	5	5	3	-	-

W4	Kenai River Brown Bears	2	2	1	-	-
							W1	Wenatchee Wild	6	6	7	-	-
West Division
							W3	Fairbanks Ice Dogs	2	2	1	-	-
W2	Alaska Avalanche	1	4	2	-	-

W3	Fairbanks Ice Dogs	2*	6	4	-	-

Note: * denotes overtime period(s)

References

^ "USHL adds two teams for 2009-2010". Arena Digest. April 29, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2025.
^ "Dr Pepper Arena reopens in June". Dallas Business Journal. April 30, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2021.
^ "Jets touch down in Janesville". NAHL. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2025.
^ "Motor City changes nickname, logo". NAHL. June 25, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2025.
^ "NAHL Standings". North American Hockey League. Retrieved May 26, 2025.
^ "NAHL Stats". North American Hockey League. Retrieved May 26, 2025.

NAHL reference

External links

Official website of the North American Hockey League

[1] "USHL adds two teams for 2009-2010". Arena Digest. April 29, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2025.

[2] "Dr Pepper Arena reopens in June". Dallas Business Journal. April 30, 2009. Retrieved September 27, 2021.

[3] "Jets touch down in Janesville". NAHL. June 5, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2025.

[4] "Motor City changes nickname, logo". NAHL. June 25, 2009. Retrieved June 7, 2025.

[5] "NAHL Standings". North American Hockey League. Retrieved May 26, 2025.

[6] "NAHL Stats". North American Hockey League. Retrieved May 26, 2025.

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North American Hockey League
Central Division	Aberdeen Wings Austin Bruins Bismarck Bobcats Minnesota Mallards Minot Minotauros North Iowa Bulls St. Cloud Norsemen Watertown Shamrocks
East Division	Danbury Jr. Hat Tricks Elmira Aviators Johnstown Tomahawks Maine Nordiques Maryland Black Bears New Hampshire Mountain Kings New Jersey Titans Northeast Generals Philadelphia Rebels Rochester Jr. Americans
Midwest Division	Anchorage Wolverines Chippewa Steel Fairbanks Ice Dogs Janesville Jets Kenai River Brown Bears Minnesota Wilderness Springfield Jr. Blues Wisconsin Windigo
South Division	Amarillo Wranglers Colorado Grit Corpus Christi IceRays El Paso Rhinos Lone Star Brahmas New Mexico Ice Wolves Odessa Jackalopes Oklahoma Warriors Shreveport Mudbugs
Former teams	Alaska Avalanche Albert Lea Thunder Alexandria Blizzard Amarillo Bulls Aston Rebels Billings Bulls Bozeman Icedogs Bloomfield Jets Bozeman Icedogs Brookings Blizzard Buffalo Jr. Sabres C & H Piping Capital Centre Pride Central Texas Blackhawks Central Texas Marshals Chicago Cougars Chicago Freeze Chicago Hitmen Chicago Patriots Chicago Young Americans Cleveland Jr. Barons Cleveland Jr. Barons Coulee Region Chill Danville Wings Dawson Creek Rage Dayton Gems Dearborn Heights Nationals Dearborn Magic Detroit Compuware Ambassadors Detroit Falcons Detroit Freeze Detroit Jr. Wings Detroit Little Caesars Fargo-Moorhead Jets Fernie Ghostriders Fraser Flags Fraser Highlanders Fresno Monsters Gaylord Grizzlies Grand Rapids Bearcats Grand Rapids Rockets Helena Bighorns Hennessey Engineers Indianapolis Jr. Ice Jamestown Ironmen Jamestown Rebels Kalamazoo Jr. Wings Kalamazoo Jr. K-Wings Kansas City Scouts Keystone Ice Miners Lakeland Jets Lone Star Cavalry Lytes Rustlers Mahoning Valley Phantoms Marquette Rangers Melvindale Blades Melvindale Lakers Michigan Nationals Michigan Warriors Minnesota Blizzard Minnesota Magicians Motor City Machine Motor City Metal Jackets New Mexico Mustangs Niagara Scenic North Iowa Outlaws Oakland Chiefs Owatonna Express Paddock Pool Saints Pittsburgh Forge Port Huron Fighting Falcons Port Huron Fogcutters Redford Royals Rio Grande Valley Killer Bees Rochester Jr. Americans Saginaw Gears Santa Fe RoadRunners Soo Eagles Soo Indians Southern Minnesota Express Springfield Spirit St. Clair Shores Falcons St. Cloud Blizzard St. Louis Bandits St. Louis Sting Texarkana Bandits Texas Tornado Toledo IceDiggers Topeka Pilots Topeka RoadRunners Traverse City North Stars USNTDP Wasilla Spirit Waterford Lakers Wayne Chiefs Wenatchee Wild Western Michigan Wolves Wichita Falls Rustlers Wichita Falls Warriors Wichita Falls Wildcats Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Knights Youngstown Phantoms
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