ALPENA - Andy Huff has scored all kinds of goals so far in his
rookie season. His league-leading 13th of the season was the
biggest - so far.Huff (Howell, MI/Honeybaked U18/Ferris State) wristed the puck just under the crossbar from the top of the face-off circle with 2:31 to play on Friday night at Northern Lights Arena, giving the Traverse City North Stars a 3-2 victory over the host Alpena IceDiggers.
"Andy picked his spot and he absolutely nailed it," said North Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "And it's not like we had our best game tonight, either. We came out like a team that had a couple weeks worth of rust, but the key thing is that we were able to get some great goaltending, and still find a way to win despite not putting forth our best tonight."
Alpena scored a pair of 5-on-3 goals in the opening period, both of which came on shots that were sailing wide of the TC net but deflected in off leg pads. Those Diggers goals were sandwiched around Stars markers from Nilan Nagy (Canonsburg, PA/Pittsburgh Predators) and Dan Radke (Orinda, CA/TC North Stars/Lake Superior State), setting up Huff's late-game exploits.
Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, ONT/Thunder Bay SIJHL) collected 22 saves in 24 chances - and drew a secondary assist on Huff's third game-winner of the 2009-10 campaign. Huff, Josh Miller (Trenton, MI/ TC North Stars), Eric McLintock (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars), captain Travis White (Sterling Heights, MI/TC North Stars), and Kelin Ainsworth (Thunder Bay, ONT/Ft. William SIJHL/Lake Superior State) also dished an assist apiece.
"Drew made some big saves, especially the last minute and a half or so when they had their goalie off for the extra attacker," Palumbo added. "He covered up a lot for us tonight, but there's never a bad road win. We're happy to get it, and now we have to turn it up if we want to get points on the back end (of the series)."
Traverse City improved to 11-4-1 and stayed a point up on Marquette for first place in the NAHL North Division. Alpena dropped to 5-13-0. The series shifts to Centre ICE arena for Saturday's finale, a 7 p.m. contest.
We thank you, our media partners, for your continued interest in Traverse City North Stars hockey. If there is anything we can do to help facilitate any aspect of your coverage, please do not hesitate to contact us. You are a valued component of North Stars hockey.
For more information, call Lance-Michael Correia at (231) 632-5047, the Traverse City North Stars office at (231) 941-9200 or visit the team's Web site at: www.traversecitynorthstars.com.
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