I think this may already have been mentioned before, but don't Steeles trio (Nikki, Kaltag and Star) seem very alike to Niju's Trio (Nuk, Sumac and Yak)? First thing: their personalities are quite similar.
Nuk = Nikki: they are both around the biggest in each trio. I do see quite a lot of defferences between these two though, like Nuks love for food and his lazy intelligence
Sumac = Star: he cowers under Niju like Star does with Steele and isn't too bright. They both usually wear a strange expression, most likely with their tongue hanging out their mouth.
Yak = Kaltag: Kaltag gets quite angry at Star a lot in Balto 1, and (not to much) Yak gets a little angry at Sumac (who i think is like Star) and is the smartest in the trio really (like Kaltag i find, but others may disagree)But Yak has fleas, unlike Kaltag, but they can't be exactly the same can they!

- also, they are the trio for Niju (bad guy in Wolf Quest) and Nikki, Kaltag and Star are also trio to the bad guy, Steele
- the same end comes to them, at first they are mean to Balto and are on Nijus side, then they become good and go to Balto and Alues side like the Balto 1 trio who go agaist Steele

There were also some scenes in the movie i noticed were a little similar to the scenes in Balto 1:
- when Niju told the trio to get Balto was similar to when Steele told his trio to 'Get him'
- Nijus trio laugh with Niju at him being part dog, similar to Steele and his trio except the other way around (for being part wolf)
- and of course, in the end, they dicede that unless they want to die by starvation, they must go with Balto and forget about Niju(like Balto 1, they must let Balto lead them to Nome, and forget about Steele for he's no help, or they will die lost in a blizzard)

I like the trio in both movies and i love how they are both similar in some ways! I still want to know though is, did the animators intend on them being alike?