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Rangers Face Key Weekend

March 14, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Marquette Rangers News Release


Marquette - The Marquette Rangers face Alpena this Friday and Saturday evening at Lakeview Arena in a key series for both teams' North American Hockey League playoff status.

The IceDiggers (28-20-5 61pts.) are currently in a heated battle for second place with Mahoning Valley, trailing the Phantoms by three points going into this weekend.

Marquette (25-24-3 53 pts.) is in a three-way battle with Traverse City and the U.S. National Team Development Program for the final playoff spot in the North Division. Going into this weekend, the Rangers and the North Stars are tied for fourth-place, one point ahead of the USNTDP.

Traverse City travels to Mahoning Valley this weekend, while the USNTDP is at St. Louis for a pair of games with the Bandits.

Rangers head coach Randy Enders says he knew the North Division would be tight this year. "Knowing the talent level in our division, this is about what we expected" Enders said. "It's funny in a way because even though it's a 58 game season, it's all going to be settled in these three final weekends."

"These are the types of situations that make hockey fun, this is when you need your clutch players to step up, lead and make plays. It's great to be involved in a tight race, I know our guys are excited about it and I think our fans will get to see some good, hard-nosed hockey this weekend."

Adding to the weekend is the intense rivalry that has been formed between the two clubs since the Rangers' inception in 2006.

"It's going to be a great weekend of hockey," Enders added. "We've had some real battles with them, and there's a lot on the line for both clubs this weekend as far as playoff s go so I fully expect this to me one of the better weekends of the season."

The Rangers may have found a bit of a groove heading into the series with the Rangers having split with Mahoning Valley in two very tight games this past weekend.

Josh Bussell, who scored the game winning goal in Saturday's 4-3 Rangers win, says he feels things are heading in the right direction as the team heads down the stretch.

"Even though we got beat Friday we all thought we played really well all weekend against Mahoning" the first year Ranger said.

"We need to put together sixty minutes of hockey every night. If we can do that I like our chances. It's going to be a tough series with (Alpena), it always is with those guys, but it feels like we're on track right now, and I know we're all looking forward to this weekend."

The Rangers and IceDiggers face of at 7:30 both Friday and Saturday at Lakeview Arena. Ticket information is available at the teams' website www.marquetterangers.com.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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