North Stars get to Bird in final period

The host Traverse City North Stars held a 31-11 edge in shots after 40 minutes against the Decatur Blaze in the only United States Premier ‘3’ Hockey League Midwest Division game of the night Friday (Oct. 28)  at Center Ice in Traverse City but had not pulled away on the scoreboard for one simple reason.

Donovan Bird, 18, from Elgin, IL turned aside 28 of those 31 shots, keeping the Blaze in this one as they entered the final period even at 3-3.

The North Stars turned it up another notch through the final period pounding Bird with 23 more shots and finally managed to get some distance for a 7-4 final score, the final one into an empty net with 68 seconds to play.

Cam Fisher, 20, from Traverse City, paced the offense for the home team with two goals and an assist, Austin Flores, 20, from Hartland, MI and Parker Hebden, 18, from Traverse City,  adding a goal and two helpers each and Howie Rose, 20, from Traverse City, setting up three. Other North Stars goals came from: Dominic Sedlacek, 18, from Czech Republic and David Kiel, 18, from Otsego, MI. Aaron Neighbor, 20, from Hartland, MI made 11 saves for the win.

All four Blaze goals came from Luka Znidarsic, 20, from Slovenia with three assists each for Joey Starcevich, 20, from St. John, IN and Jon Urvater, 19, from St. Louis, MO.