Rangers Deal Stars OT loss

Published on November 14, 2008 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - After enjoying the comforts of home for better than the first month of the season, the Traverse City North Stars had a bout of travel sickness on Friday, dropping a 3-2 overtime decision to Marquette at Lakeview Arena.

Rangers defenseman Michael Thompson's seemingly innocuous knuckler from the right point found its way through a sea of traffic in front of the Stars net, ending the contest and giving the hosts the extra point with 1:00 remaining in the overtime session.

"Marquette is a good team, I don't care what their record was coming in," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "They played better than we did tonight. We'll have to get a better effort from our forwards tomorrow (Saturday) if we want to get the last two points."

Traverse City (13-3-1) took a 1-0 lead 5:45 into the second period on Friday, as Josh Miller (Trenton, MI/Trenton HS) roofed an unassisted near-corner wrister as he led a 2-on-1 rush into the Marquette zone. The Rangers - now 7-10-3 and still 10 points behind TC in the NAHL North Division standings - scored the next two markers to lug a 2-1 lead into the waning moments. Tyler Stephens (Rockford, MI/TC North Stars) bagged an heroic equalizer with 3:29 to play in regulation, fitting the puck betwixt Rangers goalkeep Dan Sullivan and the near post from just below the right face-off circle. Chris Salomone (Homer Glen, IL/Chicago Young Americans AAA) drew the assist.

"That was a great play, a great individual effort from Tyler," Palumbo added. "He was one of our better players tonight. In fact, I thought the entire defensive unit played pretty well. Tyler really helped us to steal a point from tonight's game, because we really didn't deserve it."

C.J. Motte (St. Clair, MI/Honeybaked AAA) matched Sullivan all the way, stopping 29 of the 32 shots he faced. The North Stars fell a point behind in the SmithBarney Challenge Cup series, 4-3, with the teams set to meet nine more times this season, beginning with Saturday's weekend-capper at Lakeview Arena. Face-off is slated for 7:30 p.m.

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