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Strandberg, Stars Blank Marquette

October 25, 2009 - North American Hockey League (NAHL)
Traverse City North Stars News Release


TRAVERSE CITY - The Marquette Rangers came into the weekend series against the Traverse City North Stars as the NAHL stingiest defensive unit, permitting less than a pair of goals per contest. However, it was the host North Stars who put the clamps on their opponent all weekend long, closing out the two-game set with a 4-0 victory on Sunday to leapfrog the Rangers into first place in the NAHL North Division.

Drew Strandberg (Thunder Bay, ONT/Thunder Bay SIJHL) turned aside all 16 shots he faced to record his second shutout of the season, improve to 8-2-0, pare his goals-against average to 2.51, and elevate his save percentage to .905. He permitted just a pair of goals in a 7-2 drubbing of Marquette on Saturday in the series opener.

"Just like last night, Drew is making the big saves, setting the tone, and guys play with a lot of confidence when your goalie is going like that," said North Stars head coach/GM Anthony Palumbo. "But what we had was a truly balanced, team effort all weekend. It was by far the best back-to-back games we've had all year, and something that we can hopefully build on going forward."

The line of Kyle Jean (Sault Ste. Marie, MI/TC North Stars/Lake Superior State), Nick Shkreli (Romeo, MI/Mahoning Valley NAHL), and Doug Clifford (Woodhaven, MI/Mahoning Valley NAHL) accounted for three of the team's four goals on Sunday. Jean cleaned up a bouncing rebound just to the right of the crease to open the scoring at 10:55 of the opening period, Shkreli and Clifford played tic-tac-toe on a 2- on-1 break to make it 2-0 less than seven minutes later when Shkreli's return pass deflected in off a defender's skate.

Sean Burke (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars) redirected a Bo Jacobs (Twin Lake, MI/TC North Stars) blast from the right point to push the lead to 3-0 9:17 into the middle frame, and Jean potted his second of the night when his seemingly rink-length reach poke-checked the puck through the legs of Rangers netkeep Kevin Kissaw as he attempted to corral it about three minutes later. Chris Salomone (Homer Glen, IL/ TC North Stars) also drew an assist on Burke's seventh marker of the year.

"That one line might have been on the scoresheet, but we got contributions from everybody, and that's one of the most encouraging aspects of the weekend," Palumbo added. "When you get everyone going hard, coming in waves, and playing their position in all three zones, you're going to be successful far more often than not."

The North Stars improved to 10-4-1 and lead second-place Marquette (10-4-0) by a single point in the standings a quarter of the way through the 2009-10 season. Traverse City will enjoy Halloween weekend off before returning to action for a home-and-away series against Alpena on Nov. 6 at Northern Lights Arena and back at Centre ICE arena the following night.

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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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