Muskegon Lumberjacks

LUMBERJACKS MISSION STATEMENT

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 goal of our organization is to create an environment where our student-athletes develop into successful young men both on and off the ice and includes 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 Lumberjacks offer an accomplished and knowledgeable front office and coaching staff, a beautiful and well-kept rink, a positive and safe environment, and an attractive community with quality educational, social, cultural, and recreational opportunities.

Our organization is committed to providing quality, affordable, top-notch family entertainment while providing positive role models for the youth of our local community.

CORE VALUES

• Encourage Teamwork: Open and constructive communication
• Be accountable: Do what you say and say what you mean
• Growth Oriented: Be passionate for yourself and the organization
• Do What's Right: Understand the value of reputation
• Tenaciously Compete: Bring your best when your best is needed

• Over the years, hockey teams in Muskegon have been given numerous monikers including: the Reds, Sailors, Zephyrs, Mohawks, Lumberjacks and Fury.
• Muskegon's first professional sports championship was delivered by the Zephyrs in their second season of competition, when the team won the IHL's Turner Trophy during the 1961-62 campaign.
• The first rink Muskegon hockey teams called home was the Mart Dock Auditorium, which would later become a cold storage facility during World War II.
• The first goal scored for a Muskegon hockey team in the modern era was registered by Stan Konrad of the Zephyrs in the 1960-61 season in a contest with the Omaha Knights.
• Louis Carlisle Walker donated over $1 million of his own money to build a home rink for Muskegon hockey – a hefty sum in the 1950's. Trinity Health Arena was built in 1959.
• At one point, a Muskegon hockey franchise was purchased for $1. Larry Gordon was the man who paid that lump sum to keep professional hockey in Muskegon beyond the 1983-84 season.
• Muskegon hockey teams have won four different trophies in three different leagues including the Huber and Turner cups in the original IHL, the Colonial Cup while in the Colonial Hockey League and the Tarry Cup in the latest incarnation of the IHL.
• In total, Muskegon teams have won 20 trophies - 10 Huber Cups (1961-62, 1965-66, 1967-68, 1969-70, 1970-71, 1971-72, 1974-75, 1987-88, 1988-89, 1989-90); four Turner Cups (1961-62, 1967-68, 1985-86, 1988-89); two Tarry Cups (1998-99, 2004-05); and four Colonial Cups (1998-99, 2001-02, 2003-04, 2004-05).
• Bob Tombari is Muskegon's all-time leader in appearances, having set foot on the ice for the Mohawks 805 times over the course of 11 seasons from 1967-78. The next closest player in appearances is Gary Ford with 600 over the course of 10 seasons for the same Mohawks team. In more recent times, Robin Bouchard spent nine seasons with the Fury from 1997-2006, amassing 591 appearances for a Muskegon team.
• The current Lumberjacks franchise is the first American Tier 1 junior hockey program in the state of Michigan other than the Team USA Developmental Program.