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December 15, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Motor City Metal Jackets News Release


Friday Solid defense and goaltending were the name of the game Friday night for the Marquette Rangers, as they cruised to a 4-1 win over the Motor City Machine in front of 546 fans at Yack Arena.

Former Machine defenseman Reed Rushing, making his return to Yack, kick started the Marquette offense, scoring the first goal for the Rangers at the 4:27 mark of the first period. Rushing then pick up the primary assists on Marquette's second goal, another power play tally, this time by Chad Pietila.

Up 2-0 going into the third period, Marquette poured it on, as the exact same combination of Garrett Ladd, Collin Saint-Onge and Colin Smith combined for two goals, both by Ladd, in the first seven minutes of the period to put the Rangers ahead to stay.

Not all was lost for the Machine, though, as Ryan Misiak scored his fifth goal of the season on a nice play late in the period and new goaltender Matt Delaney stopped 27 shots.

Kevin Kissaw stopped 26 shots, earning No. 1 star honors for his performance.

Saturday - Josh Bussell scored two goals, but it wasn't enough as the Motor City Machine couldn't hold on to an early 2-0 lead en route to a tough 4-3 loss to Marquette on Saturday night at Yack Arena.

The Machine got off to an extremely torrid start, jumping out to a 2-0 lead in the first 3:06 of the game.

Bussell got things start for Motor City as he tipped home Ben Danford's point blast. Jared Williams followed that up with a power play goal from Alec Theida and Ryan Misiak to give the Machine an impressive early 2-0 lead.

From there, though, the Rangers would rattle off four straight goals with two coming off the stick of James Gallagher.

The fourth, and eventual winner, came at 13:17 of the third period off the stick of Chad Pietila, who blasted a shot that beat Matt Delaney right off the draw. Aaron Pietila, who won the faceoff clean, picked up the sole assist.

Despite finding themselves in a two-goal hole, the Machine would not be deterred. Bussell struck again at 17:43, another Motor City power play goal, from newcomers Cody Holzworth and Adam Sponseller.

The Machine would get Delaney out of the net with just over a minute to play and would have chances, but Marquette's Kevin Kissaw stood firm, making by far the most important of his 25 saves with time running out, stoning Motor City's Jared Williams from point-blank range to preserve the victory.

Delaney stopped 22 shots for Motor City, who return to action Friday for the beginning of a two-game set with Alpena. The Machine returns home Dec. 21 action Traverse City. Game time is set for 5:10 p.m. at Yack.

Player of the Week (12/12-12/14) Josh Bussell (LaSalle, Mich.) pounded home six points including the game-winning goal against the Bandits in Saturday's 5-3 win.

Offensive: Josh worked deep into the zone and tipped a ripper off the stick of Ben Danford for game's first goal. Trailing late in the third 4-2, Bussell once again went to work on power-play knifing a goal to bring the Machine to within one at 4-3, but it wouldn't be enough.

"Josh took advantage of his playing time against his former team and made his efforts count," comments head coach Sean Clark.

On the season Bussell has skated in 26 games collecting 19 points (11G, 8A).

Power-Play on the Rise The Machine used a different approach as of the late to the man advantage... win the face-off and shoot the puck! In their last three games the team has gone 5-14 on the power-play which has drastically improved their and confidence on the ice. The Machine still remain last in the league on PP but things are starting to power up.

A December to Remember Motor City hopes to turn it fortune around on the ice when they battle the Ice Diggers in Alpena this coming weekend. Alpena has escaped all three wins with close affair 3-2, 3-1 and 1-0. Mostly recently the Machine battled the Ice Diggers but gave up a late goal in a losing effort, 1-0.

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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North American Hockey League Stories from December 15, 2008


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