Sports stats



Stars miss the point

January 27, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - The U.S. National Team Development Program's Under-17 team spends the hockey season globetrotting, facing the rest of the world's top talent in places like Ontario, Slovakia, Russia and destinations beyond. So a side trip to little ol' Traverse City probably wasn't circled in red on the team's calendar. While the U-17s emerged with a 3-2 shootout victory on Saturday at Centre ICE arena, the Stars were able to claim three of four points on the weekend, and picked up a pair of points over that span on fourth- place Marquette in the chase for the fourth and final playoff slot in the NAHL North Division.

"It was another great effort tonight," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo, whose team battled back from an early 2-0 deficit a little more than six minutes into Saturday's affair. "We've stressed the need to compete hard every night, and we certainly got that from the boys tonight. We did have our chances to win, in the third (period) and in the overtime, but we did get a great all-around effort."

In a two-goal hole, the Stars closed out the first period by halving the deficit when Eric O'Hearn (Traverse City, MI/Soo Indians AAA) notched his fourth goal of the season. Harrison Niemann (Canton, MI/ Omaha USHL) assisted.

After a scoreless middle stanza, Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/Indiana USHL) scored the equalizing marker 8:10 into the third, sending the game into a scoreless overtime, and subsequent shootout.

In the shootout session, Bonis, Phil Wendecker (Westland, MI/Livonia Churchill), and Clinton Bourbonais (Whitmore Lake, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's Prep) bested USA netkeeper Nick Maricic, but Jerry D'Amigo's seventh-round score gave the Under-17s an extra point in the standings. Niemann assisted on the Bonis goal, giving the Stars' captain nine points in the past three games, as did Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/Toledo Jr B CSHL), who has seven points over that same span.

"After those two quick goals, Chris (Paliafito) really settled down and had quite a good night in net for us," Palumbo said. "He made one glove save in particular ... on a legit scoring chance, and got some pretty good defense in front of him."

Paliafito (Shelbyville, KY/Indiana USHL) made 28 saves in 30 chances, and stopped the final 25 shots he saw. And in a bit of a statistical anomaly, neither team enjoyed a power play, as the only box time in the entire contest was assessed after a fight between TC's Joe Greener (Camberely, ENG/Cleveland NAHL) and the U-17s' Bjorn Krupp.

The near-1,900 people (1,896) made it the most well-attended series of the season, and Palumbo sensed an appreciation of the Stars' three-point weekend.

"If you looked up there in the stands, when our guys go out to do their salute to the crowd - everyone stayed," he pointed out. "I think the fans were saluting back."

The Stars and U-17s will go at it again on Tuesday in Ann Arbor before a home-and-home series with the rival Alpena IceDiggers next weekend. The Diggers visit Centre ICE arena on Friday, before the teams adjourn to Alpena for the Saturday finale.

We thank you, our media partners, for your continued interest in Traverse City North Stars hockey. If there is anything we can do to help facilitate any aspect of your coverage, please do not hesitate to contact us. You are a valued component of North Stars hockey.

For more information, call Lance-Michael Correia at (231) 632-5047, the Traverse City North Stars office at (231) 941-9200 or visit the team's Web site at: www.traversecitynorthstars.com.



North American Hockey League Stories from January 27, 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.

Other Recent Traverse City North Stars Stories



Sports Statistics from the Stats Crew
OurSports Central