STARS’ RUN ENDS IN OT

Kalamazoo knocks TC from playoffs, 3-2

BOX SCORE  |  PHOTOS

TRAVERSE CITY – That’s all, folks.

Andrew Graves collected a puck in his skates, streaked into the Traverse City zone, and deposited the puck into the left side of the net 8:17 into overtime on Saturday evening at Centre ICE Arena, giving Kalamazoo a 3-2 victory in Game 4 of the best-of-five NAHL North Division semifinals, and ending the North Stars’ seven-year run in Traverse City.

The Stars had staved off elimination in the penultimate game of the North semis on Friday at Centre ICE, and had hoped to push the series to a decisive fifth game on Monday in Kalamazoo.  They led 1-0 and 2-1 in the second period on Saturday, as Will Badner (Cadillac, MI/Motor City NAHL)and Seth Adams (Big Rapids, MI/Big Rapids HS/Ferris State)tallied, but could not put away the Jr. K-Wings.

“We left it all out there on the ice, and probably played the best back-to-back games that we have all year,” Traverse City head coach Chad Fournier said. “This was a tough one to go out on, but you have to give the kid credit on the winner. I thought it was impressive enough that he (Graves) was able to take the pass, and then he made a great move to get the goal.”

North Stars players and fans celebrated what initially appeared to be a go-ahead goal late in regulation, but officials conferred after a subsequent whistle and ruled that the puck had not entered the net, calling it an ‘inadvertent light’ despite initiating no discussions with the goal judge.

“The officials made a decision that it wasn’t a third goal, and that’s just a part of the game,” Fournier added. “We had a lot of chances, and went down swinging.”

Chris Waterstreet (Northville, MI/TC North Stars NAHL)set up Badner’s swinging one-timer 2:23 into the second period, but the Stars’ lead was short-lived. Kalamazoo evened things up four minutes later before Badner fed Adams and the hosts reclaimed the edge with 8:02 left in the frame.  The Wings responded again, grabbing the equalizer in a little move than five minutes, setting up a scoreless back-and-forth third period and overtime session.

Kyle Laslo (Fenton, MI/Osoyoos KIJHL)made 29 saves for Traverse City, as the Stars outshot the K-Wings by a 39-32 margin, including an 18-9 advantage in the second period alone.

Kalamazoo advances to the North Division finals against regular-season champion Port Huron.