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Stars repeat sweep with shootout win

February 23, 2008 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


ALPENA - Jameson Raymond has gone from ‘power play quarterback' and ‘ultra-reliable rearguard' - to ‘twine maven' - in a matter of 48 hours.

The Flint product capped a stellar weekend with the game-winning tally on Saturday at Northern Lights Arena, giving the Traverse City North Stars a 5-4 nine-round shootout victory over Alpena, and series sweep of the IceDiggers.

"You know, Reg had a real nice goal for us on Friday, and he's shown some ability when we work on the shootout in practice," said North Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo, explaining his seemingly unorthodox choice of participants late in the shootout. "Plus, that's pretty much the definition of ‘pressure situation,' and Reg is a very steady hand at crunch time."

Traverse City, now 6-1-3 over its last 10 contests - including a weekend sweep of the Diggers in the teams' last series back on Feb. 1-2 - fell behind 1-0 just 1:33 into Saturday's affair, but recoiled for the game's next three goals. Harrison Niemann (Canton, MI/Omaha USHL) evened things up at 7:26 of the first period, Kory Kaunisto (Sault Ste. Marie, MI/Waterloo USHL) put TC on top less than seven minutes later, and Jarrod LaBelle (Bay City, MI/Flint Jr B CSHL) made it a 3-1 advantage with the lone goal of the second stanza.

Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/Toledo Jr B CSHL) collaborated with Niemann on the first goal, Jonathan Sheridan (Midland, MI/ Flint Jr B CSHL) set up Kaunisto - with Chris Heineman (New Boston, MI/ Honeybaked AAA) also drawing an assist. Kaunisto and Clinton Bourbonais (Whitmore Lake, MI/Orchard Lake St. Mary's Prep/Air Force Academy) assisted on LaBelle's power play lamplighter.

After Alpena cut the deficit to 3-2 a mere 1:26 into the third period, Ben Plocar (Elkhart Lake, WI/Springfield NAHL) restored the North Stars' two-goal cushion at 9:55 on an even-strength marker made possible by Niemann and Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/Indiana USHL). The IceDiggers then struck for a pair of rapid-fire goals 2:27 apart late in the third to force the scoreless overtime frame, and set up Raymond's shootout heroics.

"After Reg scored his goal, Chris (Paliafito) still had to stop them," Palumbo pointed out. "That was a huge stop, and shows some mental toughness on Chris' part. He's really starting to come into his own right now."

Paliafito went over the .500 mark at 7-6-6 with the victory, saving 27 of 31 attempts. He has not suffered a regulation since Jan. 21 - a span of seven starts.

"We did get a little sloppy there in the third, and Alpena made us pay for it," Palumbo said. "But in the end, we came away with the extra point (in the standings). We seem to be getting the bounces now that we weren't getting earlier in the season, and a lot of that is the product of hard work, and success helping to breed success."

The Stars, now 17-19-11, picked up two points on Marquette in the race for the fourth and final playoff berth in the NAHL North Division, and now trail the Rangers by six points. Marquette dropped a 2-1 decision to the USA Under-17s on Saturday, keeping the U-17s a point ahead of TC with four games in hand. The Stars will get to deal with each directly this week, as Traverse City visits the U-17s on Wednesday in Ann Arbor before welcoming the Rangers to Centre ICE arena next Friday and Saturday evenings.

"We can't get into all that - worrying about who is where and which teams are playing whom," Palumbo said. "We just have to come to play every game. Whoever lines up across from us, that's who we'll play, and we'll try to win each of 'em. That makes it pretty simple."

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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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.

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