Anchorage Daily News

Goaltender Nathan Corey was prepared to call it a career when he skated off the Menard Memorial Arena ice after finishing an unbeaten senior season at South High with another state title.

Graduation was just a few months away, and the pursuit of an engineering degree loomed after that.

Junior hockey wasn't really on his radar.

Then Jamie Smith, the head coach and general manager of the Alaska Avalanche, offered him a tryout. It didn't take long for everyone to figure out he still had a little hockey left in him.

"He came to the rink at tryouts and says to me, 'Coach, can I leave a little early? I've got graduation in two hours,' " Smith said after the Avs' 2-1 shootout win at the Subway Sports Centre Nov. 16. "I was like, 'What are you doing? Get the hell out of here!' "

Corey made it to graduation and made the team.

"Honestly, I never thought about playing after high school," he said. "I'd almost decided to go to college and the opportunity came along, and I thought, 'Why not?' "

In his first 13 games of the season, Corey compiled respectable numbers of 3.24 goals-against and a .913 save percentage. The former is a top-15 mark in the North American Hockey League; the latter is tied for seventh.

"It's been a slower adjustment than I anticipated, to the speed, but I'm getting there," said Corey, whose record stood at 5-7-0 heading into Saturday's game on the Peninsula.

His coach, though, has been pleasantly surprised.

"He's been captain consistency here of late," Smith said. "He's developed very well as a goaltender. He came in as our No. 2 goaltender, but his play has been getting stronger and stronger.

"He's made the adjustment from high school to junior hockey, and we knew it was going to take a little time. We just didn't know it was gong to be this quick."

Corey and Dusan Sidor have been taking turns between the pipes, each appearing in 13 games before this weekend, and have helped lead the Avs to nine wins in their last 13 games -- including four straight -- heading into this weekend's games with Kenai.

That heady stretch ended Friday night, when Corey was lit up for seven goals in a 7-4 loss to Kenai River.

"We really don't have a No. 1 guy. They've played so well lately it's difficult to sit a guy on the bench," Smith said. "He comes from a rich tradition at South, he brings the winning attitude.

"We needed that guy that could sit back and take a lot of shots and still produce some wins."

On Nov. 16, Corey got to play close to home again in South Anchorage. He flashed the Wolverines form that caught Smith's attention with a 36-save performance.

"It's great playing in front of the home crowd," Corey said. "Parents can see it, we've got a great group of guys, it's just a great program."

Still, after not tasting defeat in the final 44 games of his high school career, relearning how to deal with losses hasn't been easy.

"It's been tough," he said. "Everybody out here is competitive and we want to win, but I think we're starting to right now. We've got a really great group of guys and this program is really turning around from where we were last year.

"I'm happy to be here."

Find Andrew Hinkelman online at adn.com/contact/ahinkelman or call 257-4335.