2010–11 NAHL Season

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 un 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. 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

North Division

South Division

West Division

Statistics

Scoring leaders

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

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 ''

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)

References

NAHL reference

External links

Official website of the North American Hockey League

{{DEFAULTSORT:NAHL season, 2010–11
North American Hockey League seasons
NAHL