newsminer.com

The Alaska Nanooks possessed one of the worst offenses this past season in the Central Collegiate Hockey Association, averaging 2.29 goals per game in 35 games to rank 11th in the 12-team league.

The Nanooks got an offensive injection on Thursday with the signings of forwards Carlo Finucci and Adam Cardwell, who led their junior leagues in scoring in the regular season.

Alaska also signed defenseman and Anchorage native Cody Butcher to a National Letter of Intent to help bolster argroup that saw highly-honored junior Tyler Eckford and freshman Jeff Penner sign National Hockey League two-way contracts after the season.

Finucci, a 5-foot-10, 190-pound center led the British Columbia Hockey League in scoring with 33 goals and 69 assists for 102 points in 60 games this season for his hometown Burnaby Express. The soon-to-be business major at the University of Alaska Fairbanks also earned the BCHL Coastal Conference Most Valuable Player honor.

“He will bring an element of maturity and presence to our program,” Alaska interim coach Dallas Ferguson said about the 21-year-old in a UAF press release. “He led a very good junior hockey league in scoring and we look for him to carry that into college hockey.”

Cardwell, a 5-8, 160-pound center, recently completed his third season with the Wichita Falls (Texas) Wildcats, posting a North American Hockey League-best 32-59-91 scoring line in 56 games.

The 20-year-old native of Long Beach, Calif., also registered a plus-minus rating of +29 and a league-high 12 game-winning goals.

The Fairbanks Ice Dogs were aware of Cardwell’s proficiency because they limited him to one assist in four playoff games in early April.

Ferguson described the NAHL Showcase/Sherwood Most Valuable Player as an intelligent skater who makes plays and creates offense because of his hockey IQ.

“Adam is very comfortable on the power play and will make players around him better because of his intelligence on the ice,” Ferguson said. “He puts up points and he proved that this year by leading his league all year in scoring.”

Butcher, who celebrated his 21st birthday on Wednesday, was the second-highest scoring blueliner for the Sioux City (Iowa) Musketeers, producing 2-19-21 totals in 54 regular-season contests.

The Service High School graduate and well-traveled defenseman spent last season with the BCHL’s Merritt Centennials, with whom he compiled a career-best 41 points (eight goals and 33 assiss) in 58 games and earned a spot on the Interior Conference Team for the BCHL All-Star Showcase. He began the 2005-06 season with the Vernon Vipers before getting traded to Merritt and he skated with the old Billings (Mont.) Bulls of the NAHL in 2004-05.

“Cody is a puck-moving defenseman,” Ferguson said.

“He contributes to a team’s offense because of his ability to make good decisions with the puck on the breakout and in transistion.”

The three signings make it a total of nine recruits who are scheduled to join the Nanooks in the fall.

The previous signees are centers Ron Meyers of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan and Erik Slemp of Red Deer, Alberta; defensemen Kaare Odegard of Red Deer and Scott Enders of Edmonton, Alberta; left wing Jordan VanGuilder of Lino Lakes, Minn., and right wing Jarret Granberg of Foremost, Alberta.