Men's Ice Hockey 12/31/2022 9:22:00 PM Steve Gunn/MuskegonSports.com

Lumberjacks give up four goals in the third period, fall 7-3 to Team USA 17-Under squad

The game was tied 3-3 after two periods before it got away from the Jaciks

There's still a lot of hockey to play in the Muskegon Lumberjacks' season, but eventually the playoffs are going to roll around, and there's no guarantee that the Jacks will be participants.

To guarantee themselves a ticket to the postseason, the Jacks will have to string some wins together at some point, and that might require fewer penalties and tighter defense.

Both of those issues were apparent on Saturday night when the Lumberjacks gave up four unanswered goals in the third period and fell 7-3 to the Team USA 17-Under squad at Trinity Health Arena.

The game was tight for two periods, but penalties haunted the Lumberjacks. Team USA broke a 2-2 tie with a power play goal in the second period, and took a 5-2 lead with another in the third.

Overall the visitors were 2-for-4 on the power play against the Jacks, who are by far the most penalized team in the Eastern Conference.

The seven goals the Jacks allowed brought their weekend two-game total to 13. The Jacks gave up six goals on Friday on the road, but turned on the offense and scored nine to win the game.

The loss dropped the Jacks to 13-12-2 on the season. Team USA Improved to 14-7-3.

The Lumberjacks came into the game in fourth place with 28 points in the conference standings. They were only two points out of second place, but only one point out of sixth place, the final playoff spot.

After the game, Lumberjacks coach Parker Burgess said he was more concerned about the team's game-to-game performance, because if that improves, the standings will take care of themselves.

"I think I am less concerned about the wins and losses in the standings," Burgess said. "I am more concerned about consistently finding our game. We competed hard last night and played with passion and energy and tonight we didn't, and the results followed that."

Burgess admitted that penalties and spotty defensive play remain problems, and said the team will continue to work on those issues.

"When you play skilled teams, and you continue to give them a man advantage it is going to put too much pressure on your killers and your goalie and it's not a good recipe for success," he said about the penalties.

When it came to defense, he said, "We are working on improving and it's about the willingness to compete in front of our net. We have to improve and stop getting outworked in the hard areas where teams with good sticks are putting them in the back of the net."

The Jacks opened the scoring in the first period with a goal by Ethan Fredericks, then Team USA tied things up with a tally by Christian Humphreys.

The teams traded goals in the second period, with Brendan McMorrow finding the net for the visitors at the 21 second mark, Muskegon's Ethan Whitcomb answering with his 13th goal at 5:04, USA's Teddy Stiga scoring at 8:14 and the Jacks' Michael Callow cashing in at 12:33.

The game was tied 3-3 headed into the third, then Team USA took control with goals by Austin Baker at 1:17, Brody Ziemer at 12:26, Cole Hutson at 16:17 and Ziemer again at 17:40.
The last two Team USA goals were empty-netters.

Muskegon goalie Raythan Robbins took the loss, stopped 32 of 37 shots. Team USA had a 39-30 advantage in shots on goal.

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Players Mentioned

#11 Ethan Whitcomb: F; 6' 4"; 5/13/2004

#20 Michael Callow: F; 6' 4"; 1/15/2004

#30 Raythan Robbins: G; 6' 0"; 6/5/2002

#17 Ethan Fredericks: F; 6' 1"; 11/22/2004

Players Mentioned

#11 Ethan Whitcomb
: 6' 4"; 5/13/2004
: F

#20 Michael Callow
: 6' 4"; 1/15/2004
: F

#30 Raythan Robbins
: 6' 0"; 6/5/2002
: G

#17 Ethan Fredericks
: 6' 1"; 11/22/2004
: F