CEDAR RAPIDS, IA – It was a strong overall performance for the Muskegon Lumberjacks (35-20-1-1, 72 pts.) on Friday night as they dominated the majority of play against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders (23-27-5-2, 53 pts.) on their way to a 4-1 win.
It wasn't long before the Jacks took their 1-0 lead. In fact it took just 1:18 when their first shot of the game found the back of the net. A bouncing puck at the Jacks blue line lead to a tap pass from
Joe Connor (Amherst, NH) out of the zone sending
Matvei Gridin (Kurgan, RUS) on a breakaway. It was technically a 2-on-0 with Connor just a few steps behind Gridin, but from the middle of the slot Gridin fired a shot over the glove of James Norton for his team leading 34
th goal of the season.
Special teams was a strong suit of the Jacks tonight going 2/3 on the power play, and a perfect 4/4 on the penalty kill. The two power play goals came in the second period with the first at the 5:03 mark. While on a 4-minute power play
Ethan Whitcomb (St. Catherines, ON, CAN) got the puck in the far side circle and slid a pass up to the blue line to
Easton Young (Grand Rapids, MN). A shot from Young and the middle of the blue line went off the near side post and straight to the stick of
Sacha Boisvert (Trois-Rivieres, QC, CAN). Now with 34 goals on the season Boisvert's latest came with almost an entire net to shoot at on the rebound.
Just 1:25 later the Jacks were still on the power play allowing for a quality look from the other unit.
Justin Solovey (Holmdel, NJ) sent the puck to
Ty Henricks (Mission Viejo, CA), and the New York Rangers prospect used his powerful shot to beat Norton and extend the Jacks lead to 3-0.
Cedar Rapids opened the scoring in the third, but it took them 14 and a half minutes to do so. Haeden Ellis scored his first career USHL goal after receiving a pass on the far side from Amine Hajibi.
Solovey netted the empty netter in the final 3 minutes to make it 4-1 and pick up his second point of the affair. Gridin had the assist giving him his second point, and extending his USHL league leading total to 75.
Shikhabudtin Gadzhiev (Makhachkala, RUS) (15-8-0-0) earned the win with 31 saves on 32 shots against. Norton (9-6-1-2) stopped 17 of 20 in the losing effort.
The teams close out the weekend series tomorrow night at 7:05 pm CST at ImOn Ice Arena in Cedar Rapids, IA. The game can be found 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 visit muskegonlumberjacks.com. Check out the Jacks on social media @muskegonjacks on Instagram and X, @muskegonlumberjacks on TikTok for special content!
