North Stars Blank Alpena, 3-0

March 10, 2010 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - A long night of hard work was decided in 14 seconds on Wednesday night at Centre ICE arena, as the Traverse City North Stars got a pair of rapid-fire scores early in the third period en route to a 3-0 shutout of Alpena.

Dan Radke (Orinda, CA/TC North Stars/Lake Superior St.) roofed the game's first goal at 3:33 of the third stanza, and Eric Rivard (Traverse City, MI/TC West HS) followed with a nifty backhand before arena emcee Super Dave Block could announce the first goal. Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, ONT/Thunder Bay SIJHL) and the Traverse City defense took care of everything that came their way, collecting all 20 shots the IceDiggers offered.

TC (28-18-5) pulled to within two points of Marquette in the NAHL North with seven games to play. The first-place Rangers play a pair of games at third-place Janesville this weekend, while the North Stars are idle.

"We got great minutes from everybody, and everybody did exactly what they were supposed to do," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "Drew was there for everything he had to stop, and our defense didn't allow many grade-A scoring chances at all. It was one of those total team wins, with contributions across the board."

Chris Heineman (New Boston, MI/TC North Stars), who assisted on Radke's 17th of the season, added an empty-net blast with :19 to play to make it a three-goal differential. Garrett Thompson (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars), who has 30 points over his last 25 contests, also assisted on Radke's power play tally, Phil Wendecker (Westland, MI/TC North Stars) and Chris Salomone (Homer Glen, IL/TC North Stars) set up Rivard's marker, and Kelin Ainsworth (Thunder Bay, ONT/Ft. William SIJHL/Lake Superior St.) and Nick Shkreli (Romeo, MI/Mahoning Valley NAHL) drew helper's on Heineman's second score of the year.

Strandberg improved to 19-8-2, posted his third shutout of the year, and pared his goals-against average to 2.45, fifth-best in the NAHL.

"There were a lot of things to be pleased about," Palumbo added. "Now, we get the weekend off before we close out with four games in five days, and three more together at the end. I like playing a bunch of games like that. I think it helps you keep your edge going in (to the playoffs)."

The North Stars will the weekend respite before closing out the year with that tightly-packed sequence: Seven games in 11 days, starting with a St. Patrick's Day (Mar. 17) showdown with Motor City at Centre ICE. The first-place Rangers come into TC for a three-game weekend set Mar. 19-21. The regular season home finale on Mar. 26 against the Diggers is wedged between road games at Marquette (Mar. 25) and Alpena (Mar. 27).



North American Hockey League Stories from March 10, 2010


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