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Stars Put Clamps on Michigan, 4-1

October 1, 2011 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - The Traverse City North Stars may have been clad in purple on Saturday night at Centre ICE Arena, but they were in the black on the scoreboard, skating to a 4-1 triumph over the rival Michigan Warriors.

Eric Rivard (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars NAHL) potted a pair of goals, while linemate Mitchell Snider (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars NAHL) chipped in with a goal and an assist, but it was the defensive lockdown that limited Michigan to just 12 shots on goal in the first meeting of the season between the North Division foes. It was also 'Purple for a Purpose' night, with the Stars donning special purple jerseys as part of a fundraising effort for the Women's Resource Center in observance of National Domestic Violence Awareness Month.

"There wasn't necessarily some kind of magic formula we had, we just played hard," said North Stars head coach Chad Fournier. "They probably had a few more shots than that, but five or six of them were very good scoring chances that Kyle (Laslo) was able to steal."

The teams battled to a scoreless first frame before Traverse City got things going offensively in the second. Kyle Loridon (Howell, MI/ Lansing Capitals U18) was on the end of a perfect Will Badner (Cadillac, MI/Motor City NAHL) pass to open the scoring 2:56 into the middle stanza. Snider made it 2-0 at 8:31 with an unassisted swipe- and-snipe, and Rivard delivered a top-shelf, odd-angle wrister with three seconds left in the period to give the hosts a three-goal bulge at the second break.

"Our forecheck was pretty good," Fournier surmised. "And we started to move the puck better in our own end. We still haven't played a full 60 minutes yet, but we played hard and fast tonight and came away with the win."

The Warriors pared the deficit to two at 6:09 of the third period, but Rivard dropped in a Jared Van Wormer (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars NAHL) delivery just eight seconds later to restore the three- score cushion that would ultimately endure.

Laslo (Fenton, MI/Osoyoos KIJHL) was not tested often on Saturday - he saw just two shots in the first period and five each in subsequent frames - but has been yoked in each of the Stars' first six games and has yielded a 1.62 goals-against average and .938 save percentage. The Traverse City blue line corps - bolstered by the return of Zack Dorer (Holt, MI/Des Moines USHL) - was especially stingy in front of Laslo, clogging passing and shooting lanes.

"Our older guys have been great leaders on the ice, going out and working hard each and every shift," Fournier explained. "We played well in all three zones tonight, but they (Michigan) are better than what tonight's game showed. They had a game last (Friday) night and had their bus ride up here today. I'd expect that they'll come at us pretty hard tomorrow."

The North Stars (5-0-1) and Warriors will close out their series on Sunday afternoon; The finale is set to face-off at 1:05 p.m.



North American Hockey League Stories from October 1, 2011


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