MUSKEGON, MI – Entering Friday night, the Muskegon Lumberjacks 37-16-4-4, 82 pts.) needed a perfect weekend to entertain the idea of earning a first-round bye in the Clark Cup Playoffs.
Stephen Peck (New York, NY) did his part with his first career USHL shutout to help the Jacks to a 2-0 win over the Chicago Steel (20-35-5-1).
No one found the back of the net in the first period, but that doesn't mean there wasn't any offense. They Jacks fired off 14 shots, all turned aside by Louka Cloutier (8-18-2-0) in the crease for the Steel. All said and done, Cloutier made 34 saves on 35 shots, while Peck (19-6-2-3) earned the shutout with 17 saves on 17 shots.
It took all the way to the final minute of the second period for the Jacks to break open the scoring. At the very end of a power play,
Ivan Ryabkin (Balakovo, RUS) kept the puck in the offensive zone on the far side of the blue line and slid a pass across the slot.
Luka Radivojevic (Trencin, SVK) was on the receiving end of the pass and hammered home a one-time blast for his 3
rd goal of the season to give the Jacks a 1-0 lead.
The only other goal of the game came in the late stages of regulation with an empty netter for
Vaclav Nestrasil (Praha, CZE).
Jack Galanek (Hopkinton, MA) picked up his 50
th point of the season by sliding a pass to the near side of the neutral zone for
Tynan Lawrence (Fredericton, NB, CAN). Despite Lawrence's shot from outside of the zone missing the net, Nestrasil picked up the puck on the far side of the zone and sent it into the empty net for the winning score of 2-0.
The shutout is the fourth of the season for the Jacks and the first since Sunday, December 8th, against the Des Moines Buccaneers.
The teams close out the regular season with a 7 p.m. EST puck drop at Fox Valley Ice Arena on Saturday night. The Jacks continue to battle for a bye in the first round of the playoffs. Stay tuned on social media and at muskegonlumberjacks.com for more information about the upcoming 2025 Clark Cup Playoffs and games at Trinity Health Arena.
