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Stars ground Falcons, 7-3

October 30, 2010 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - For the better part of two periods on Saturday at Centre ICE Arena, the Port Huron Fighting Falcons enjoyed a rare lead. However, hockey games consist of three periods, and the Traverse City North Stars used the final 20 minutes to salt away a weekend sweep of the Falcons with a litany of six unanswered tallies en route to a 7-3 victory in the finale of a two-game series.

One night after he tied a team record with four goals in an 8-5 triumph over Port Huron, Tim Opie (Troy, MI/TC North Stars) had a goal and two assists, as did Eric Rivard (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars). But Chris Waterstreet (Northville, MI/Omaha USHL) keyed the Stars' late-game resurgence, bringing the hosts to within a goal just :45 into the final frame, and putting Traverse City ahead for good near the seven-minute mark. He also assisted on Opie's equalizer 3:56 into the third.

"It's a win, it's a four-point weekend, and those are both positives," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "But the same kind of performance we put forth in the third period is the kind we need throughout the game rather than when our backs are against the wall."

Steve Behm (Grand Rapids, MI/Texas NAHL) opened the scoring for Traverse City (9-4-1) 2:10 into the game, but a pair of rejoinders spaced less than two minutes apart gave the visitors the lead, and when Port Huron levied the only goal of the middle stanza, Palumbo's club went into the last period down a pair.

Waterstreet and Opie accounted for the first three goals in the third, followed by scores from Mike Szmatula (Commerce Twp., MI/Lansing Capitals U18) at 13:57, Alec Shields (Pittsburgh, PA/TC North Stars) less than a minute later, and Rivard's redirection at 15:17. Brennan Knoblock made 20 saves to earn his second win of the season in net for the North Stars.

While Opie (2), Rivard (2), Shields (1), Szmatula (1) and Waterstreet (1) also helped set up goals, Curtis Heinz (Grand Rapids, MI/TC North Stars), Eric Fragoso (Novi, MI/Detroit Cath. Central HS), Ryan Amin (Canton, MI/TC North Stars), Trevor Campbell (Kansas City, MO/TC North Stars), Chris Leibinger (Saginaw, MI/Saginaw Heritage HS), Connor Schmidt (Flat Rock, MI/Little Caesars U18), and Kelin Ainsworth (Thunder Bay, ONT/TC North Stars/Lake Superior St.) also got into the act with one assist apiece.

Traverse City climbed into a tie for third place in the North Division with Springfield, and will travel to sixth-place Michigan next weekend for a Friday-Saturday series at Flint's Perani Arena.



North American Hockey League Stories from October 30, 2010


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