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Opie leads North Stars to 8-5 win

October 29, 2010 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - Tim Opie already held the Traverse City North Stars' record for assists in a game, but after the team's 8-5 triumph over Port Huron on Friday at Centre ICE Arena, Opie might dispute the old adage that it is better to give than receive.

Opie (Troy, MI/TC North Stars) tied a team mark on Friday by scoring four goals, bagging at least one in each period, while opening and closing the game with powerplay markers as the Stars (8-4-1) snapped a two-game skid in the opener of a Friday-Saturday series with the Fighting Falcons.

Traverse City actually trailed 3-2 early in the second period, but rattled off five lamplighters in a span of less than 10 minutes to pull away from yet-winless Port Huron (0-12).

"Offensively, there was a lot to like," admitted Stars head coach/ GM Anthony Palumbo. "We put a lot of pucks on net and did a lot of the things we have been working on in practice, and that was encouraging to see."

After Opie registered his first lamplighter of the evening a mere 3:18 into the affair, and Port Huron evened things up almost seven minutes later, Eric Rivard (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) scored his second goal in as many games with 6:41 remaining before the first intermission. The Falcons scored twice in the first 2:35 of the second, but the lead was short-lived, with Opie scoring at 8:21 and 10:58, followed by tallies from Zack Dorer (Holt, MI/Lansing Capitals U18) at 11:58, Michael Szmatula (Commerce Twp., MI/Lansing Capitals U18) at 13:11 and Chris Waterstreet (Northville, MI/Omaha USHL) sending Traverse City into the second break sporting a 7-3 bulge. The Falcons opened the third with another pair of goals, but Opie's man-up potting with 5:17 to play made it an 8-5 final.

"As well as we played offensively, we do have some work to do on defense," Palumbo admitted. "We missed some assignments, and lost some of the battles in our own zone that we have to win. We'll come back tomorrow with that in mind."

Travis White (Sterling Heights, MI/TC North Stars) had his second career playmaker (three assists in a game), and his eighth multiple- assist outing, setting up Opie's first three goals. Fellow defenseman Curtis Heinz (Grand Rapids, MI/TC North Stars) had a pair of assists, while Rivard, Waterstreet, Alex Wiese (White Lake, MI/ Sioux Falls USHL), Eric Fragoso (Novi, MI/Detroit Cath. Central HS), Ryan Amin (Canton, MI/TC North Stars), Mitchell Snider (Traverse City, MI/Alpena NAHL), Steve Behm (Grand Rapids, MI/Texas NAHL), and Jared Van Wormer (Traverse City, MI/TC Central HS) dished out one apiece.

Tyler Marble (Howell, MI/TC North Stars/Lake Superior St.) worked the hosts' net, stopping 22 shots, while the North Stars amassed a season-high 51 shots on goal and went 3-for-6 on the powerplay.

The same teams will meet up again on Saturday night at Centre ICE in the series finale; Face-off is slated for 7 p.m.



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