MUSKEGON, MI – This week, the Muskegon Lumberjacks officially turn the page from Clark Cup Champions to Defending Clark Cup Champions when the team raises the 2025 Championship banners on Friday night. The banner raising ceremony is sandwiched between day one of Flannel Fest, the annual street party on home opening weekend, and puck drop between the Jacks and Green Bay Gamblers.
One team opened the new season with a pair of wins at the 2025 Dicks Sporting Goods Fall Classic. The other still searches for its first win of the season, but picked up point #1 with an overtime loss at the event.
Week 2 Preview: Celebration Turns to Defense
The Lumberjacks take to the ice inside Trinity Health Arena for the first time this season against a familiar foe in the Green Bay Gamblers. Eleven skaters from the Gamblers have played a game against the Lumberjacks in their USHL careers, including Geno Carcone, who leads the way with 13 games played against the Jacks.
Green Bay's roster even features a former Lumberjack in Gavin Katz, who was selected by the Lumberjacks with the #34
th overall selection in the 2023 Phase I Draft. Katz was traded from Muskegon to Green Bay during the offseason in a move that saw
Anthony Thomas-Maroon (St. Louis, MO) go the other way.
The familiarity goes both ways. Thomas-Maroon was drafted in the 2024 Phase I Draft with the #117
th overall selection, and
Niles Benson (Tampa, FL) was a prominent member of the Gamblers last season. Benson's 25 points in 2024-25 was good for 7
th on the Gamblers, who entered the postseason as the 6
th seed. Now a Lumberjack, Benson had 3 points in 3 preseason games and started the 2025-26 season with 2 points in 2 games in week 1.
At the Fall Classic, both teams found themselves on opposite ends of tight contests. The Lumberjacks opened the event on Wednesday night in a rematch of the 2025 Clark Cup Final against the Waterloo Black Hawks. The game was a 60-minute chess match with the teams trading goals before entering overtime tied 3-3. No one scored in the sudden-death period, and then a 12-round shootout sent the Jacks to the win column for the first time this season, thanks to a goal from
Ethan Drabicki (Livonia, MI) and a save from
Carl Axelsson (Danderyd, SWE). Thursday night, the Jacks were in another tight contest against the Sioux City Musketeers. Despite trailing 2-0 at the end of the first period, the Jacks remained determined to win the game and tied the game up at 2-2 before the end of regulation.
Melvin Novotny (Stockholm, SWE) potted his second goal of the game in overtime to give the Jacks a 3-2 (OT) win.
Green Bay played its first game on Thursday afternoon against the Omaha Lancers. The back-and-forth game saw Omaha take a 2-0 lead into the first intermission, but the Gamblers responded with four straight goals in the second period to lead 4-2. The Lancers responded before the end of the frame to keep it a one-goal game entering the third. A pair of goals for the Lancers in the third, including the first career USHL goal for Phase I first overall pick Thaddeus McMahon, sent the Gamblers to an 0-1 start to the season.
Their second game of the Fall Classic was just as cruel. The Gamblers struck first in their Friday afternoon tilt with the Sioux Falls Stampede. Despite leading 2-0 at the start of the third period, the Gamblers surrendered a pair of goals and went to overtime, where the Stampede picked up the win in a shootout.
To make matters worse, both Landon Hafele and Nick Knutson earned suspensions in the game. Hafele will be eligible for Saturday's game, but Knutson will sit out the whole weekend.
Fresh off earning the USHL Defenseman of the Week honor for the opening week of competition,
Danny Klaers (Wayzata, MN) put the league on notice for his second full season of Junior Hockey.
Klaers first joined the Lumberjacks as an affiliate skater in the late stages of the 2023-24 season. A team that earned a first-round bye in the postseason as the #2 seed in the Eastern Conference, Klaers was exposed to a winning culture before officially making the jump to Junior Hockey.
To be fair, Klaers has known winning long before his time in Muskegon. A native of Minnetonka, MN, Klaers played youth and high school hockey in his hometown, where he won the Minnesota State Championship in 2023.
While he is impressive in the offensive zone and got off to a great start with 3 points in 2 games this season, Klaers really shines all over the ice. A leader on the Jacks' blue line, he leads by example. Whether it's strong positioning, an active stick, or throwing around his weight with a big hit, Klaers does exactly what his team needs from him.
Lumberjacks at 2025 NHL Training Camps
Following an impressive 15 Lumberjacks' presence at the NHL Rookie Showcases two weeks ago, the Muskegon Lumberjacks have 35 current and former players in attendance at NHL Training Camps, which began this week.
The difference between Rookie Showcases and Training Camp is a big one. The first is designed to help teams see how their prospects are developing and provide development goals for the upcoming season. The latter is how teams determine who will make the opening night roster come October.
Viktor Norringer (Kungsbacka, SWE) is one of a very select few players to start the season at an NHL training camp before returning to the USHL for the remainder of the season. Norringer was selected by the Predators in the 2024 NHL Draft, and is a player that the Lumberjacks, Predators, and Boston University all have high hopes for.
The 35 Lumberjacks are spread out between 22 of the 32 NHL teams. Calgary, Colorado, New York Islanders, and Philadelphia lead the way with three Lumberjacks each.
Ivan Ryabkin (Carolina) and Matvei Gridin (Calgary) are among the most recent Lumberjacks expected to make their professional hockey debuts this season, and were also in attendance for their team's Rookie Showcase.
Quinn Hutson (Edmonton) and Jack Williams (Columbus) both signed their NHL Entry contracts at the end of last season and made their NHL debuts before the end of the year. Now, they are battling for full-time positions on their respective rosters.
Over the Airwaves
FloHockey is the official live stream partner of the Muskegon Lumberjacks. Follow along all season long on FloHockey, or with a free internet radio feed available on Mixlr and the Lumberjacks Hockey Network, with Voice of the Jacks,
Ezra Gennello.
Thirty minutes to puck drop every game day, the West Michigan Honda Dealers Pregame Show takes place on Facebook Live. New for this season, the full pregame show will be available on FloHockey before all Lumberjacks home games.
Upcoming Games
Fri. September 26 | 7:00 pm ET | vs Green Bay
Sat. September 27 | 6:00 pm ET | vs Green Bay
Fri. October 3 | 7:00 pm ET | vs Youngstown
Sat. October 4 | 6:00 pm ET | vs Youngstown
Follow the Jacks
Be sure to follow the Muskegon Lumberjacks on social media!
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About the Muskegon Lumberjacks
The Muskegon Lumberjacks are proud and dedicated members of the United States Hockey League (USHL), the nation's only Tier I junior hockey league and leading producer of NCAA players and National Hockey League draft picks in the United States. The club's goal is to create an environment where student-athletes develop into successful young men on and off the ice, including playing the game the right way while keeping up with their studies in the classroom and staying actively involved in the West Michigan community. The organization is committed to providing quality, affordable, and top-notch family entertainment while providing positive role models for the youth and the local community.
