Stars outlast Marquette, 6-5
December 1, 2006 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release
TRAVERSE CITY - Down 3-1 in the second period, the Traverse City North Stars found themselves in danger of falling out of a third- place tie with Marquette and toward the North American Hockey League basement. But after Eriks Ozollapa scored on a breakaway, the floodgates opened for the hosts on Friday at Centre ICE arena, and the North Stars rattled off five unrequited markers en route to an eventual 6-5 triumph over the Rangers.
"We'll take the two points, but like a loss, we'll put this behind us and go hard tomorrow night," said Stars coach Scott Gardiner. "We played very, very well at times, and not so good at others, but it's a win and we'll take it."
Nic Weight and Christopher Smith got Marquette out to a 2-0 lead in a whistle-fest in the first period. Traverse City was flagged for seven of the first eight infractions of the contest. After Nick Von Bokern pulled the Stars to within 2-1, Smith answered to give Marquette a 3-1 advantage just 4:17 into the middle stanza.
That was when Traverse City came alive, starting with Ozollapa's long run, which was set up by a Nate Urbaniak pass at 11:22. Just over three minutes later, Mike Glaesmer (Aaron Pietila, Patrick Nagorsen) made it a one-goal affair with his power play lamplighter, and Sabastion Kimmel converted another power play chance to knot the contest at three-all with 4:16 to go before the second intermission. Von Bokern and Hughes drew assists on the go-ahead effort.
In the third, Zach Hitch made it 5-3 just 4:18 in - Kimmel and Von Bokern assisted - followed by the sixth and eventual game-winner by Patrick Nagorsen with 9:36 to play. Glaesmer and Pietila collected assists. Nick Kosinski and Jake Hauswirth scored garbage-time goals that almost became components of a potentially deflating comeback by the visitors, but TC netkeep Stefan Shively made a couple of key stops in the waning seconds to preserve the win.
"I wish we could have closed that one out a little differently," Gardiner added. "We gave 'em a little life there at the end and we didn't need to do that. We can't afford to play like the game is over or teams will make us pay for it."
Von Bokern and Pietila led the way for the hosts (9-13-4) with a three points each -- Von Bokern registered a goal and two assists, while Pietila had just the third playmaker (three assists) in team history. Nagorsen Glaesmer, and Kimmel finished with a goal and an assist apiece. Shively stopped 27 of the 32 shots he faced, while Stephen Ritter stopped 22 of 28 for Marquette (9-15-2).
The teams face off again on Saturday night at Centre ICE arena.
North American Hockey League Stories from December 1, 2006
- U.S. National Under-18 Team Falls to No. 10 North Dakota 5-4 in Overtime - U.S. National Team
- Stars outlast Marquette, 6-5 - Traverse City North Stars
- IceDiggers add forward Brandt - Alpena IceDiggers
- North Iowa Reschedules Game for Sunday - North Iowa Outlaws
- Bobcats on road tonight, home Saturday - Bismarck Bobcats
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