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Rangers to Host USNTDP

December 3, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Marquette Rangers News Release


Marquette- For the first and only time in the month of December the Marquette Rangers Tier II Junior A Hockey team will skate at Lakeview Arena, taking on the U.S. National Team Development Program this Friday and Saturday evening.

Marquette (10-12-4, 24pts.) currently sits in a fourth place tie with the Alpena Ice Diggers in the North American Hockey League North Division. Both Marquette and Alpena trail the USNTDP by two points coming into this weekend.

According to head coach Kenny Miller the Rangers come into this series with mixed results from last weekends' NAHL North Division Showcase hosted by Mahoning Valley.

"We are obviously not happy with the 1-2 record," Miller said. "The way we were playing before the Showcase we felt as though we could get all six points, so to get two out of six points was not what we expected."

"In order for us to win we need our best players to be better than the other teams' best players, and that really showed Saturday night (a 5-2 win over Mahoning Valley.) Unfortunately for us on Sunday we got production from those players, but it wasn't enough to get the win against Alpena."

The Rangers return home to take on a U-17 team that swept the Rangers earlier this season in Ann Arbor by scores of 4-0 and 3-2. John Hynes' team continues to be lead in scoring by Emerson Etem and Matthew Nieto, each with 11 points on the season.

The USNTDP did not play in the NAHL North Division Showcase last weekend.

Miller knows his team has to be ready to play.

"We will continue to play our game plan, but may be more physical with them then we normally would." Miller continued, "We will stick to the things that make us successful which is competing, playing hard, and solid goaltending. If we can do that, it will translate into offensive and everything should work out accordingly."

The Rangers are lead in scoring by Chad Pietila with 24 points (7g, 17a) and Jimmy Gallagher with 22 points on nine goals to go along with 13 assists. The Rangers have also been getting solid offensive production from their defensive corps this season. Defensemen Michael Thompson, Reed Rushing, and Ryan McGrath are all in the top 12 among defensive players in scoring in the NAHL.

The puck drops at 7:30 each evening at Lakeview Arena. For ticket information and more on in game activities see the teams' website at www.marquetterangers.com. Tickets for each game are available at the Rangers office in the Lakeview Arena, or the Wal-Mart branch of the Ishpeming Community Federal Credit Union.



North American Hockey League Stories from December 3, 2008


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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