The North American Hockey League released its schedule for the 2016-17 season Thursday.
The Kenai River Brown Bears will play a 60-game regular season schedule.
The Bears face 11 different squads during the season, but face only one team — the Fairbanks Ice Dogs — more than five times. Kenai River and Fairbanks, the defending Robertson Cup Champions, will face off 13 times.
The NAHL schedule does not have a balanced division format. The Bears are in the Midwest Division with the Coulee Region (Wisconsin) Chill, the Ice Dogs, the Janesville (Wisconsin) Jets, the Minnesota Magicians and the Springfield (Illinois) Jr. Blues.
Except for the Ice Dogs, the Bears face each of the division foes four times.
Kenai River will be packing most of its travel out of Alaska into the middle of the season. In addition to two four-game trips to the Midwest, the Bears have a 13-game trip to the Midwest and East Coast that starts Dec. 2 and ends Jan. 13.
The season begins for Kenai River at the NAHL Showcase in Blaine, Minnesota, from Sept. 21 to 24.
The Bears’ home opener at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex is Sept. 30, when they face the New Jersey Titans at 7:30 p.m.
