Stars purloin 3-2 win

Published on January 10, 2009 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - The antique adage ‘better late than never' was liberally applied by the Traverse City North Stars in a 3-2 victory over Marquette on Saturday night at Centre ICE arena. Down 2-0 for most of the affair - and coming on the heels of a two-game goal famine - the Stars thundered back with three goals over the final 6:21 to salvage a pair of points on the back end of a three-game weekend.

Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/TC North Stars) got Traverse City on the board at long last 13:39 into the final period, Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/TC North Stars) knotted the affair with 1:51 to play, and Urbaniak converted his third game-winning goal of the season 50 seconds later. Phil Wendecker (Westland, MI/TC North Stars) nearly made it a quad-fecta, but a long-range attempt sailed just wide of an empty net in the waning seconds.

"I thought the game turned for us in the second period, actually," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "Even though we gave up a goal (in the second), we turned it up. And by the time we got into the third, we were laying with a real sense of urgency."

The hosts' comeback effort was not without travail, as Traverse City was whistled for 10 penalties in the third period - and Marquette enjoyed 16 power play opportunities on the evening. The North Stars, who rank third in the NAHL in penalty-killing (89.34%), rebuffed all 16.

"We had to endure a lot of adversity tonight, and that was the thing that stuck out the most to me," Palumbo said. "We faced down a deficit on the scoreboard, and did so while not having the luxury of playing 5-on-5 hockey for very extended portions of the game."

The Rangers lit the scoreboard first on Saturday, as James Gallagher completed a nifty top-corner give-and-go from Chad Pietila with 5:41 left in the first period. The North Stars registered their second own- goal in as many nights at 14:43 of the second stanza, and trailed 2-0 well into the third.

Urbaniak ended nearly five periods of scorelessness for the North Stars to open Saturday's third period deluge on assists from Bonis and Chris Heineman (New Boston, MI/TC North Stars). Bonis' equalizer - a point-blank stuff-back that was hotly contested - set the stage for Urbaniak's coup d'etat. Bonis and Garrett Thompson (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) set up the winner.

"It wasn't a pretty game, but we got some pretty big-time performances down the stretch," Palumbo assessed. "Garrett was huge for us, C.J. (Motte) made some giant stops, and it was good to see Nate explode like that."

TC netkeep Motte (St. Clair, MI/Honeybaked AAA) buoyed the club during its early arid offensive stretch, and was named the contest's No.1 star after making 25 saves.

Traverse City (19-9-5) kept pace with first-place Mahoning Valley in the NAHL North Division standings, and remains four points behind the Phantoms, who completed a two-game sweep of Motor City on Saturday. The North Stars will visit Motor City next Saturday for a single- serving series at Yack Arena in Wyandotte ahead of the NAHL Top Prospects Tournament in Ann Arbor the following week.

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.

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North American Hockey League Stories from January 10, 2009


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