Stars sting Diggers, 2-1

Published on October 3, 2008 under North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


ALPENA - The Traverse City North Stars know what it's like to play a tight game with the geographic rivals to the east. The Stars and Alpena IceDiggers battled to eight one-goal decisions a year ago, with Traverse City on the short end of five of those - including four at Northern Lights Arena. On Friday, however, the North Stars found the formula to road success in Alpena, scoring a 2-1 win over the Diggers.

"I certainly wouldn't call it an artistic performance, but we're finding a way to win some of these close games that we didn't a year ago," said Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo, whose club dropped 18 one-goal contests in 2007-08. "I told our guys after the game that good teams find a way to win, and that's what we have to continue to try to do. I didn't think we were especially sharp, but we'll take a win like that any day."

The IceDiggers got off to an early 1-0 lead a mere 1:27 into the Alpena home opener when the visitors knocked the puck into their own net, but power play goals from TC captain Kyle Bonis (Lindsay, ONT/TC North Stars) at 12:24 of the second period and Marc Thompson (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) 4:14 into the third moved the North Stars to 5-2 and into sole possession of first place in the North American Hockey League North Division.

"It's still early on," Palumbo added. "We're winning some games, but I think the twist on that is that we still a lot of room to grow, to get even better. We got a couple of bounces, blocked a couple of shots, and stayed after it until the end. I thought we got better as the game went on, and played pretty well for the last period and a half."

Travis White (Sterling Heights, MI/St. Louis NAHL) assisted on Bonis' team-leading fifth goal of the season, while Eric O'Hearn (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) set up Thompson on a nifty give- and-go near the Alpena crease. Nate Urbaniak (Perrysburg, OH/TC North Stars) also drew an assist on Thompson's game-winner.

Traverse City backstop C.J. Motte (St. Clair, MI/Honeybaked AAA) won his third straight start with 27 saves on 28 shots, and dropped his goals-against average to 2.25 for the season.

"It was a good win, and C.J. was solid once again," explained Palumbo, whose North Stars are fourth in the NAHL in power play efficiency (20.45%) and fifth in penalty-killing (90.48%). "We scored a couple power play goals, and our penalty kill did a great job again. We scored the goal on ourselves, so it's an unofficial shutout. I don't think that's a team you're going to keep off the scoreboard for too long, so we'll have to be sharp again back home tomorrow."

The teams will face off again on Saturday at Centre ICE arena in a 7 p.m. contest.

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North American Hockey League Stories from October 3, 2008


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