Stars complete sweep, 4-2

November 7, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - Drew Strandberg saw plenty of action on Saturday night at Centre ICE arena, and was more than up to the task, backstopping the Traverse City North Stars to a 4-2 win over Alpena and capping a weekend sweep of the NAHL North Division rivals.

Strandberg (Thunder Bay, ONT/Thunder Bay SIJHL) made 32 stops - including several of the spectacular variety - in earning his 10th victory of the season, second among NAHL netkeeps. His greatest body of work came in the third period, with 18 saves that kept the hard- charging Diggers at bay.

"Drew was especially focused tonight," Traverse City head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo commented. "I think there may have been an adjustment period to this league for him entering the season, but he's really starting to come into his own and really finding his stride. When we didn't have our best game in front of him tonight, he was very calm and made the huge stops we needed him to make. I'd call this a ‘win by goaltending' type of game."

The North Stars improved to 12-4-1, and have a three-point cushion in the NAHL North following a Marquette loss against Janesville on Saturday. Alpena fell to 5-14-0.

Andy Huff (Howell, MI/Honeybaked U18/Ferris State) opened the scoring with the lone goal of the first period, wristing the puck just inside the far post from the top of the slot. It was Huff's NAHL-leading 14th of the season, and fourth in the last five outings. Defensemen Curtis Heinz (Grand Rapids, MI/Wichita Falls NAHL) and Travis White (Sterling Heights, MI/TC North Stars) assisted.

After Alpena evened things up a mere 1:59 into the second period, Tim Opie (Troy, MI/TC North Stars) put the host back in front to stay, setting up shop in front of an empty crease and accepting a perfect centering pass from Nick Shkreli (Romero, MI/Mahoning Valley NAHL) before roofing the puck past newly-acquired Alpena goalie Garrett Jensen. Doug Clifford (Woodhaven, MI/Mahoning Valley NAHL) also assisted on the play, as well as Shkreli's top-shelf marker that made it a 3-1 contest 7:03 into the third frame.

After the IceDiggers cut the deficit to one goal less than a minute and a half later, Strandberg proceeded to put the visitors on lock- down, including an unbelievable stick save in the waning moments that slammed the door on Alpena. Dan Radke (Orinda, CA/TC North Stars/Lake Superior State) guided home a long-range empty-netter in the final minute to make it a 4-2 final. Kelin Ainsworth (Thunder Bay, ONT/Ft. William SIJHL) drew an assist on the insurance lamplighter.

We controlled the game for the first 10 minutes or so, but from there we sort of let them dictate what kind of game we would play, rather than us imposing our style on them," Palumbo added. "They're a hard-working, blue-collar kind of team and work very hard and play with a little more of an ‘edge' than we did. We weren't able to match their hard work, but found a way to come out of it with two points."

The North Stars were forced to play for 16 minutes on the penalty kill, including a protracted 5-on-3 disadvantage in the second period. Traverse City enjoyed a scant 9.4 seconds of power play time on the evening.

"I haven't seen many games with that kind of disparity," Palumbo lamented. "When you're out there killing penalty after penalty, it's kind of hard to get back into that offensive flow. It puts you back on your heels a bit, and we didn't come out of that defensive posture very easily."

The North Stars will travel to Janesville next weekend for a pair of games at the southern Wisconsin foe's rink. The Jets (10-9-0) are presently in third place, just five points behind Traverse City, which has won four straight and five of its last six.

"They're tough, and especially so in their own building," Palumbo said. "We can't afford to come out with anything less than a high-energy, intense effort or we won't be successful."



North American Hockey League Stories from November 7, 2009


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.

OurSports Central