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November 10, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Motor City Metal Jackets News Release


Friday It was a tough battle for the entire game, but the Mahoning Valley Phantoms had too much firepower in the end for the Motor City Machine and, with the help of two third period goals, cruised to a 4-1 win in front of 876 fans at Yack Arena.

The Machine held tough with the Phantoms, one of the league's best teams, for nearly the first 38 minutes, as the team's battled with chances going each way, but goaltenders Zach Hansen and Jordan Tibbett held firm, allowing nothing past them.

Tibbett would come up with, to that point, the game's finest save when he stoned Motor City's Ryan Misiak on a point-blank attempt early in the period.

But much to the disappointment of the large crowd at Yack, it was Mahoning Valley that would strike first, as George Saad would break the deadlock at 17:53 with his second goal of the season. Kyle Verbeek and Nick Shkreli would pick up the assists on the goal.

Unsatisfied with just one goal, Mahoning Valley would quickly add another, as John Houston would score his first of the season, an unassisted tally, just 20 seconds later.

But off what was surely a great intermission speech by head coach Matt Rominiski, the Machine came into the third stanza on fire, as Nick Taurence would fire a hard snapshot from the top of the left circle that beat Tibbett to cut the lead in half, 2-1.

Misiak and Nate Taurence would assist on the goal, Nick's third of the season. The assist by Misiak upped his team-leading point total to 10.

Mahoning Valley, though, would rebound under three minutes later when Alex Lippincott scored his fifth goal of the season to increase the lead back to two, 3-1.

Lippincott would have a hand in the Phantoms' fourth goal, as he put the puck on the stick of captain Johnny Meo, who made no mistake about it, capping the scoring on the night with his second of the year.

Hansen made 32 saves for the Machine, as they dropped their 14th straight game. Tibbett made 21 saves and earned No. 2 Star honors for the Phantoms.

Saturday - The monkey is finally off their back.

Riding a 13-game losing streak into Saturday's game with Mahoning Valley, the Motor City Machine played one of their most complete games of the season Saturday, knocking off the Phantoms 3-2 in front of 567 rabid fans at Yack Arena.

"Anytime you go out there and you have a 13-game losing streak and beat one of the best teams in the league 3-2 at home (it's huge)," Machine head coach Matt Romaniski said. "Our goaltending played great and kept us in there. We had some nice goals tonight going to the net hard. We played 60 minutes for the most part and we didn't have many mistakes out there."

Goaltender Joe Rogers kept Motor City in the game, stopping 24 shots, including 11 in the third period as the Phantoms pressured to tie the game.

The Machine got off to a quick 2-0 lead within the first 13 minutes of the game as Jared Williams scored his team-leading fifth goal of the season unassisted then Nick Taurence scored his fourth of the season off a feed from Ben Danford.

The two-goal lead didn't last long, though, as Stefan Salituro scored for the Phantoms less than a minute later to cut the deficit in half, 2-1.

But the Machine would extend the lead to two halfway through the second period as Josh Bussell, acquired this week from Marquette for defenseman Reed Rushing, lit the lamp for the first time as a member of the Machine. Bennett Schneider and Nate Taurence picked up the assists on the goal.

"I got a pass from Schenider at center ice and came across," Bussell described. "There were two defensemen in front of me, so I came to the middle and took a nice snapshot and luckily it went in."

Romaniski, despite having to give up a veteran defenseman, is happy with the contribution Bussell is making early.

"We get some more scoring up front, some more leadership and he brings some more energy," Romaniski said. "We thought it was a great move."

Bussell, from Gibraltar, is happy to be apart of the Machine.

"I like the team a lot," he said. "We have good chemistry. I like the coaching staff, so I'm pretty excited."

Up two, the Machine went into the third period confident. Mahoning Valley would get an important goal halfway through the period when Salituro tallied his second of the game.

From there, it was a mad scramble as Motor City tried to hold onto the lead and hold off the Phantoms.

Mahoning Valley pulled goaltender Garrett Bartus with over a minute to play but were unable to get a puck past the wall that was Rogers, as the Machine prevailed 3-2.

The win was the Machine's first at home, coming against a tough opponent.

"As the youngest team in the division, to get a win against probably the most veteran team in the division is huge," Romaniski said. "The kids can build off this and hopefully we can keep it going in the right direction."

Bussell is happy to get his first win as a member of the Machine.

"We talked in the locker room before that we had to go out there and work hard for 60 minutes," Bussell said. "We got the job done tonight."

The Machine is off until next Sunday when they head to Ann Arbor to play Team USA.

Player of the Week (11/2-11-9) Nick Taurence made his ice time pay off with a two goals.

Offensive: Nick Taurence (Trenton, Mich.) scored a pair of goals in the split with Mahoning Valley over the weekend. After trailing 2-0 in the third period of Friday's game, Nick took a rebound in front of Tibbett and brought the Machine within one at 2-1 but it wasn't enough.

Saturday night was even sweeter as Motor City was leading 1-0 before Nick found yet another open seam giving the Machine a 2-0 advantage en route to their first home win of the season at 3-2.

"This was a long time coming as we've taken leads before and couldn't hold them. All week we worked hard and finally got this monkey off our backs," protested Taurence.

On the season Taurence has skated in 17 games powering his team to 9 points (4G, 5A).

Home Winner Josh Bussell who was acquired in the trade with Marquette earlier in the week made his presence felt by burying the eventual game-winner Saturday night to snap a 13 game losing streak.

Fall Colors The Machine turn the season with the Alpena Icediggers coming to town on Saturday the 22nd at 7:10pm and Sunday at 5:10pm. Both games at Yack Arena and enjoy $1.00 beers before the pucks drops!

The Motor City Machine is in their first season in Michigan as members of the North American Hockey League. The Motor City Machine are formerly the Southern MN Express, a team that made the playoffs three straight years and twice into the Robertson Cup finals. The NAHL is the nation's largest Junior A hockey league and is now in its 33rd year of operation. For more information, visit machinehockey.com or call (734) 642-0544.

Machine home games will be played at the Yack Arena in Wyandotte, Mich. All games are broadcast on machinehockey.com and video broadcast through B/2 Network.

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