Dallas Morning News
03/24/2011 09:01:12 AM

There was plenty of ice time to go around for all TNT skaters Wednesday night… all 7 of them.  TNT was about 2 more players on a softball team away from a forfeit.  In a rare mid-week match, TNT played host to second place North Stars mustering up a team four forwards and three defensemen.  However, no thanks to Jim Fish, Ben Fehr, Matt Broadus, Danny Kunath, Brian Long, and Chris Day who missed the game for various reasons, the squad of seven went on to prevail 5-2.  It was the first of two back-to-back games against them.  The North Stars jumped out to an early 1-0 lead during the first period, but TNT was able to right the ship and buckle down defensively while applying offensive pressure.  Forward Brandon Latreille, who was a game-time decision with an ailing back, went on to post two goals in the contest.  Said forward Pete Vollbrecht on the collective effort, “We really had to dig deep for this win.  Anytime you can get the points this late in the season with such a limited crew really speaks to the character of your team.”

With a 3-2 lead going into the 3rd period, TNT knew they had to come out and get the next goal to put away the North Stars.  Storming out of the gates for the 3rd, TNT got the next two goals which would eventually seal the victory.  Majority of the 3rd period was spent making sure they did not give up any more chances.

Turning in his best rendition of Pekka Rinne, goaltender Adam Weber made a number of spectacular — and quite uncharacteristic — saves.  In only allowing two goals, his GAA was lowered to 3.82.  He remains the leader among all goaltender stats for the entire league.  During this 8 game win streak, Weber’s GAA is an unheard of 3.37.  Some of the saves Weber made was to the surprise of his teammates who were quite impressed.  When asked about the level of his play during the win streak, a humble Weber only wanted to credit his defense. “Maybe I make a few saves here and there to help the guys out, but really I owe a lot of credit to my defense.  They have been playing very solid….mainly Ryan Latreille,” said Weber.

With only 5 regular season games remaining, TNT still has a couple of road blocks ahead of them looking at the schedule.  After they face North Stars again this Sunday, TNT still has a date with Thunder in a couple weeks.  To say the least, it will be interesting to see how things play out for seeds 2-6.  Any information regarding a post-season is yet to surface but it is safe to assume TNT will more than likely face 5 Holes in the first round of playoffs with one more victory.  TNT will drop the puck against North Stars Sunday, 03/27 at 8:55PM.  Beer duty is TBD.

Notes: TNT stretched their winning streak to 8; a first in franchise history. This game is only the second time this season TNT has won when only scoring 5 goals…Defenseman Roland Baggot recorded his first multi-point game since Nov. 21 with 2 assists. …With one more win over North Stars on Sunday, TNT can clinch the President’s Trophy for best regular season record – which would also be a franchise first.