MUSKEGON, MI – Despite missing three of the teams top five point scorers the Muskegon Lumberjacks (19-12-1-1, 40 pts.) played a really strong game against the Fargo Force (28-4-1-0, 57 pts.) on Saturday night though. In the end though it was the Force who were victorious 3-1 to earn the weekend series split.
 
Fargo opened the scoring with the only goal of the first period at the 14:09 mark when Leo Gruba centered a puck to the front of the net from below the goal line for Zam Plante, a draft pick of the Pittsburgh Penguins to fire into the back of the net.
 
In the second period scoring waited until the final two minutes of the frame to open. With 2:01 until the intermission Ethan Whitcomb (St. Catherines, ON, CAN) carried the puck into the  offensive zone on the near side and dropped it off for Cody Croal (North Branch, MN) from the area between the top of the circle and the blue line Croal sent a pass to the far side of the zone where Justin Solovey (Holmdel, NJ) met the puck and one-timed it to the back of the net. For Solovey it was his second goal of the weekend, 13^th of the season.
 
Just 40 seconds later the Force found themselves on a powerplay looking to regain their lead. After being stoned on a back door pass by Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev (Makhachkala, RUS) Lee Parks was able to find the rebound in the slot and beat Gadzhiev who was still recovering from his initial desperation save.
 
Fargo extended their lead late in the third period with another power play goal. This one coming from Tanner Walos with 1:59 to play in regulation. Walos followed the rush as the trailer into the Muskegon zone and tapped home a rebound for his first goal of the season.
 
Gadzhiev (2-2) earned the loss despite turning aside 37 shots on the 40 sent his way by the Force. Hampton Slukynsky (14-0) keeps his undefeated record alive with 14 saves on 15 shots.
 
The Jacks are on the road next week in Omaha for an inter-conference matchup against the Lancers. Catch the action on the official live stream partner of the USHL, FloHockey, and for free on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on Mixlr.
 
For schedules, scores, updates, and more check out www.muskegonlumberjacks.com, and follow the Lumberjacks on social media @muskegonjacks on X (Twitter), and Instagram, and @muskegonlumberjacks for content throughout the week.