North Stars upend Chicago

Rivard, Nagelvoort key 9-0 victory

BOX SCORE  |  PHOTOS  | SATURDAY GAME NOTES

TRAVERSE CITY – The Traverse City North Stars scored four times in the first period, added another quartet in the second, and cruised to a 9-0 victory over interdivisional foe Chicago on Friday evening at Centre ICE Arena.

Eric Rivard (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars)levied the host’s first two goals in the first 7:15 of the game, and closed out the scoring 2:06 into the third.  In between, six different North Stars potted tallies, with Mitchell Snider (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars NAHL)and Kyle Schempp (Saginaw, MI/Compuware U18/Ferris State)dishing out three assists each along the way.  Zach Nagelvoort (Holland, MI/Kalamazoo NAHL)stopped all 21 shots he faced in working his second shutout of the season.

“We’re in the middle of a playoff race and every two points are of critical importance,” Stars GM Anthony Palumbo pointed out. “Our guys went out and did what they had to do, and got two points.  We got a chance to work on our positioning, especially in the defensive zone.”

Chris Waterstreet (Northville, MI/TC North Stars NAHL)made it 3-0 near the halfway point of the first period, and Stars captain Jared Van Wormer (Traverse City, MI/TC North Stars NAHL)just beat the horn, scoring with three-tenths of a second before the intermission.

Michal Toman (Prievidza, Slovakia) opened the second period with his third of the year (1:47), Snider converted a shorthanded breakaway opportunity (5:25), and Sean Murphy (Cary, NC/Tri-City USHL)bagged a power play lamplighter (7:58) before Nathan Harris (Fowlerville, MI/Lansing Capitals U18)made it 8-0 with 7:07 left in the frame.

Murphy and J.D. Cotroneo (Woodbury, MN/Des Moines USHL)dispended a pair of assists each while Van Wormer, Waterstreet, Harris, Will Badner (Cadillac, MI/Motor City NAHL), Chris Leibinger (Saginaw, MI/TC North Stars NAHL/Michigan Tech), and Robert Wiener (Williamston, MI/TC North Stars NAHL)chipped in with one apiece.

The North Stars improved to 23-16-5 (51 pts.), and pulled to within 10 points of idle second-place Kalamazoo in the NAHL North Division standings. First-place Port Huron (71 pts.) and fourth-place Michigan (41) each dropped interdivisional contests on Friday evening.  Traverse City and Chicago will reprise their series on Saturday evening at Centre ICE Arena for GTHA Night.  The Stars will be sporting commemorative GTHA jerseys that will be up for auction during the game; 100 percent of the jersey proceeds benefit the grand Traverse Hockey Association.  Face-off is slated for 7:05 p.m.