RALSTON, NE – Looking for a season series sweep the Muskegon Lumberjacks (21-12-1-1, 44 pts.) took the to ice at the Liberty First Credit Union Arena for a matchup against the Omaha Lancers (7-23-3-0, 17 pts.) on Saturday night.
No one was able to find the back of the net in the first period with much of the play happening in the middle of the ice. Only 7 shots were fired on net during the opening frame. 6 of them belonging to the Lumberjacks.
Just like last night
Matvei Gridin (Kurgan, RUS) opened the scoring. This time at the 6:25 mark of the second period.
Xavier Veilleux (L'Anncienne-Lorrette, QC, CAN) carried the puck into the offensive zone and to the front of the net before it was poked off his stick. Gridin was in the right place at the far side of the net to meet the puck and squeeze it between the shoulder of the goalie, and the post for his 18
th goal of the season.
Ryan Koering (Eden Prairie, MN) picked up the secondary assist on the goal.
Ten minutes later the Jacks added a second goal. The first of the game for
Ethan Whitcomb (St. Catherines, ON, CAN) was a redirection to the back of the net after a shot from
Cameron Aucoin (Chicago, IL) was released from the middle of the blue line.
With just 4.5 seconds to go in the middle frame Muskegon found the back of the net on the power play.
David Klee (Castle Rock, CO) sent the puck towards the slot for Solovey who instead of shooting decided to send a pass backdoor to
Ty Henricks (Mission Viejo, CA). Solovey made the right choice, because Henricks had the whole net to shoot at for his 12
th goal of the season.
The Third period started like the second period ended with the Jacks making it 3-0 just 5 minutes into the frame. The second of the game for
Ethan Whitcomb (St. Catherines, ON, CAN) came after
Justin Solovey (Holmdel, NJ) forced a turnover just inside the near edge of the Omaha blue line. Solovey tapped the free puck to
Sacha Boisvert (Trois-Rivieres, QC, CAN) who slid it across the zone for Whitcomb to fire into the net. His two goals were the 9
th and 10
th of the season.
Omaha found the back of the net at the mid way point of the period, but Muskegon would regain the four goal lead when
Joe Connor (Amherst, NH) poked the puck away from the Omaha netminder who left his crease to play it in front of the net. Connor took the puck and put it into the back of the net for his third point of the weekend. Gridin picked up the assist for his fourth point of the weekend.
After that everything got crazy. A boarding penalty on a Lancer at the 13:02 mark put Muskegon on the power play. Just 48 seconds into the power play a post whistle scrum resulted in 13 penalties. 5 on the Lumberjacks, 8 on the Lancers. 3 of the Lancer's penalties were 10 minute misconducts, but some how with 5 on each side the Lumberjacks ended up with two penalties on the board to the one for Omaha and the Jacks original power play was erased.
Omaha scored on the 3-on-3 to bring the game back to within 3 before adding another goal on the 4-on-3 power play once the original boarding penalty expired to bring it back to within a pair. With all of the momentum gained by two straight goals Omaha found the back of the net a third time in a three minute span, and a 4 goal Jacks lead turned to a one-goal game.
Despite that Muskegon was able to hold on and pick up the 5-4 win for a weekend sweep, and season long series sweep over the Lancers.
Miles Roberts (Costa Mesa, CA) (3-0) held on to win the game for the Lumberjacks to keep his record this season perfect. Mikhail Yegorov (3-12-3-0) allowed 5 goals on 33 shots in the losing effort.
The Lumberjacks return home next week for three games starting on Friday night at 7 p.m. against the Des Moines Buccaneers. Saturday at 7 p.m. the Jacks take on the Lincoln Stars, and close the weekend with a 3 p.m. game on Sunday against Lincoln.
For schedules, scores, updates, and more visit muskegonlumberjacks.com. Check out the Jacks on social media @muskegonjacks on Instagram and X, @muskegonlumberjacks on tik tok for special content!
