Phantoms stop Stars' streak
November 1, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release
TRAVERSE CITY - It was bound to happen eventually. After winning 12 of their first 14 games this season - including the previous nine consecutive contests - the Traverse City North Stars lost a 6-2 decision to Mahoning Valley on Saturday night at Centre ICE arena in the second of a three-game series.
The Phantoms rattled off the first four goals of the contest over the first 12:37 of the first period and the host Stars couldn't recover, despite outshooting Mahoning by a 35-24 margin. It was TC's first home loss of the season.
"We did not come out ready to play and they did," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "I think we may have come out thinking it was going to be easy, though I have no idea why anyone would think that against a team like Mahoning. That surprised me, but we try not to get too high after wins and too low after losses."
Down 4-0, the North Stars (12-3) made a bid in the second stanza, halving the deficit on goals by Dean Pawlaczyk (Madison Heights, MI/ Belle Tire AAA) and Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/TC North Stars), but couldn't get any closer. Dan Radke (Orinda, CA/Soo Indians AAA) and Eric McLintock (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) assisted on Pawalczyk's goal, while TC cap Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/TC North Stars) set up Urbaniak's goal on a pretty give-and-go rush in the Mahoning zone.
The Phantoms, however, made it 5-2 just 1:05 into the third period to blunt any momentum TC had amassed.
With the loss - and Team USA's rout of Motor City on Saturday - the Stars' lead in the NAHL North shrunk to five points over the second-place Nationals, and seven over third-place Mahoning.
"If we come out and duplicate our effort tomorrow (Sunday), then I'll be very disappointed," Palumbo added. "It's pretty easy to go out and enjoy winning games, but it's the bouncing back from games like this that might be a more true measure of a team's makeup."
The clubs face off at 12:30 p.m. on Sunday in a de facto series rubber match. It's the first of just two matinee games this season.
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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North American Hockey League Stories from November 1, 2008
- Phantoms Offense Comes Alive in 6-2 Win - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- U.S. Nat'l U17 Tops Motor City, 6-3 - U.S. National Team
- Phantoms stop Stars' streak - Traverse City North Stars
- U.S. Nat'l U18 Team Blanks Harvard, 4-0 - U.S. National Team
- Not so Halloween as USA Carves a Shutout, 4-0 - Motor City Metal Jackets
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