MUSKEGON, MI – The Muskegon Lumberjacks (14-9-1-1, 30 pts.) offense continued its strong play with it's second straight six goal performance to defeat the Chicago Steel (8-15-1-1, 18 pts.) 6-2 on Friday night to open a two game weekend series.
 
Muskegon opened the scoring in the first period thanks to a goal from Cody Croal (North Branch, MN) at the 7:05 mark. Sacha Boisvert (Trois-Rivieres, QC, CAN) held the puck on the near side of the Steel zone and sent a pass across the ice to Croal whose shot went off the glove of the netminder and into the back of the net.
 
The Jacks made it 2-0 moments later at the 11:24 mark with a strong forechecking effort. After a turnover was caused behind the Chicago net the puck jumped into the air and banged off the chest of David Klee (Castle Rock, CO) and then the back of the netminder to the back of the net.
 
Chicago was able to get one back and make it 3-1 thanks to a power play goal from Joey DelGreco with 6 minutes to play in the period, but a late goal by the Jacks made it 3-1 after the first period. Croal picked up a pass from Ethan Whitcomb (St. Catherines, ON, CAN) in the slot and continued it across the ice to Matvei Gridin (Kurgan, RUS.) to bang to the net. Gridin had picked up an assist on the first Jacks goal to give him two points in the first period.
 
Coming out of the break the goal scoring picked up right where it left off. The Steel found the back of the net first 4:08 into the second period with a goal from Jordan Brisson, but the Jacks offense went right back to work. Ty Henricks (Mission Viejo, CA) who scored a hat trick last Saturday found the back of the net twice to extend the Jacks lead to 5-2. First at the 9:58 mark Henricks got the puck at the top of the blue line and moved towards the net before splitting the legs of the goalie. Then, at the 14:02 mark Henricks struck again after getting a pass from Beau Lane (Pembroke, MA) back in the Jacks zone and deposited it into the net.
 
Whitcomb added his second point of the game with a goal in the final two minutes of the period tapping home a rebound off a shot by Xavier Veilleux (L'Ancienne-Lorrette, QC, CAN) at the blue line for his 5^th goal of the season.
 
The reigning USHL Goalie of the Week Lane (2-0-0-0) produced another quality start turning aside 26 of the 28 shots sent his way by the Steel. The Jacks offense did not make things easy for Louka Cloutier (2-6-0-0) who allowed 6 goals on 42 shots.
 
The teams close the weekend series tomorrow, Saturday night for the Jacks annual Teddy Bear Toss game. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m. EST at Trinity Health Arena. Tickets can be purchased at muskegonlumberjacks.com or at the box office located inside the VanDyke Mortgage Convention Center on game day.