The Kenai River Brown Bears open up the 2024-25 season — the 18th in the North American Hockey League for the squad — on Friday and Saturday in Janesville, Wisconsin.
The Bears take on the Jets at 4:05 p.m. AKDT both nights.
The NAHL, celebrating its 50th anniversary this season, is a developmental league, with 400 NCAA commitments earned last season.
For that reason, there can be wild swings in fortune from year to year. For example, in 2022-23, Kenai River went 32-24-4, earned a playoff berth, and set the wins and points record for the franchise.
Last season, Kenai River finished last in the Midwest Division at 20-24-6, solely due to an 18-game losing streak. Take that skid out and the Bears were 20-18-2-2 the rest of the season, including 8-4-0-2 to end the season.
One area where the Bears have had continuity is the coaching staff. This will be the third full year for head coach Taylor Shaw, and he also spent a good portion of another season as the team’s interim head coach. Dean Weasler has been an assistant that whole time.
Shaw said he’s been around the league long enough now to know not to get wrapped up what happened last season, or even last weekend.
“We can’t look back at how we finished,” Shaw said. “We’ve just got to continue to take steps forward with this new group. Our biggest thing has been the day to day.”
In addition to losing all the players that aged out, Kenai River also lost Brady Engelkes, Landon MacDonald and AJ Reyelts to the United States Hockey League.
Losing that much talent to the Tier I USHL is actually a good sign for the Tier II Bears.
“It just goes to show the organization’s doing the right things,” Shaw said.
The head coach said the team begins the season with 13 of the 25 players having previous experience with the team. Shaw said many also have experience in other junior leagues.
Forward Andy Larson and defenseman Luke Hause are the only ones who were with the Bears for the playoff run of 2022-23.
“Those two obviously know what it takes,” Shaw said. “They were a part of it. Certainly their voice and the way they go about their business is going to be key for the group in general.”
Hause heads up an experienced group of defensemen, with six of the eight returning to the Bears.
“I think that’s going to be huge,” Shaw said. “I really like our core.”
The forward group will be a big rebuild, with just two of the top 10 in scoring — Larson and Hause — returning from last season. That showed in the NAHL Draft in June, when seven of the eight players taken by the Bears were forwards.
“We lost some of our scoring, but I think we’ve added some pieces that are going to put the puck in the net or create opportunities,” Shaw said.
The goalie group also is mostly new. Owen Zenone played for the Bears last season, but only for three games. Zenone then went to the NA3HL and was named Goaltender of the Year and Rookie of the Year, so Shaw is excited to welcome the goalie back.
Overall, Shaw said one of the big goals of the offseason was to add more size. Kenai River plays its home games on the Olympic-sized ice sheet at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex, so speed also is important.
“I think a big piece is finding the right mix of guys that have size but could still skate and take advantage of the big sheet,” Shaw said. “We play a lot of road games as well, so it’s just finding the balance.”
Shaw liked the way his squad looking in a couple scrimmages against NAHL squads coming into the season, but he said staying focused on each day is what will be important in the always tight Midwest Division.
“It’s anybody can win on any given night,” he said. “We’ve been preparing the group for the style of play and how hard it is each night.
“That’s why our big focus has been the day to day.”
The Bears play seven games on the road before the home opener against the Jets on Oct. 4 at 7:30 p.m.
