Stars fall to Alpena
February 27, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release
TRAVERSE CITY - In a contest that was eerily similar to Thursday's affair, the Traverse City North Stars piled on the shots but couldn't find the back of the net often enough to overcome Alpena on Friday, dropping a 6-3 decision at Centre ICE arena. The Stars outshot the IceDiggers by a 34-26 count - one night after a 35-20 advantage on Marquette resulted in a 5-0 setback.
"We haven't gotten 30-plus shots on goal in months," surmised Stars coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "And then we get two night of 30- plus and we get no points out of it. I can't be unhappy with our effort. We played hard, and when we got down a couple goals we kept playing. I thought we played well, especially with the puck."
Alpena, a team teetering on the brink of postseason inclusion, grabbed the lead a mere 31 seconds into Friday's game, then made it 2-0 six minutes later. Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/TC North Stars) halved the Stars' deficit at 12:09, but the visitors regained a two- goal bulge less than four minutes later.
The Diggers nabbed the only goal of the second stanza, then answered goals by TC's Eric McLintock (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) and Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/TC North Stars) - the final tally coming with the Stars' net vacated and less than a minute remaining.
"I thought our special teams let us down," Palumbo continued. "Once again, we failed to convert on the power play, and just like on Thursday, we gave up three power play goals to our opponent. That's not necessarily a recipe for success."
Brandon Stephenson (Saline, MI/TC North Stars) and C.J. Motte (St. Clair, MI/Honeybaked AAA) split time in net for the hosts, stopping 20 of the 25 shots they saw collectively. Tyler Stephens (Rockford, MI/TC North Stars) and Dan Radke (Orinda, CA/Soo Indians AAA) assisted on McLintock's 10th goal of the season, while Sean Burke (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) and Travis White (Sterling Hts., MI/St. Louis NAHL) set up Urbaniak. Bonis' 24th of the year was an unassisted tally.
The North Stars (27-14-6) lost two points in the chase for the top spot in the NAHL North Division, as first-place Mahoning Valley knocked off Motor City 8-4 on Friday, but stayed seven points up on third-place Team USA, who suffered a 2-1 loss at St. Louis. TC travels to Alpena on Saturday and will try to salvage two points on the weekend at Northern Lights Arena.
"We just lost two games in which we played well," Palumbo added. "We don't need to do anything to get the guys 'up' (for Saturday's game). It wasn't a bad effort at all. Sometimes you can play well and lose. And sometimes you can play well and lose two in a row."
The Stars and Diggers get underway on Saturday at 7 p.m.
North American Hockey League Stories from February 27, 2009
- Stars fall to Alpena - Traverse City North Stars
- U.S. National Under-18 Team Outlasted by Bemidji State, 3-1 - U.S. National Team
- Phantoms Explode to 8-4 Win over Machine - Mahoning Valley Phantoms
- U.S. National Under-17 Team Edged by St. Louis, 2-1 - U.S. National Team
- Machine downed by Phantoms 8-4 - Motor City Metal Jackets
- Jr. Blues Host Alexandria for Three-Game Weekend - Springfield Jr. Blues
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