McBrayer Scores Winning Goal in Overtime, Giving the Lumberjacks a Thrilling 3-2 Win Over Cedar Rapids
October 7, 2022 – United States Hockey League (USHL) – Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release
MUSKEGON – Owen Mehlenbacher definitely showed off his leadership qualifies, in a violent sort of way, in his first official game as captain of the Muskegon Lumberjacks.
The Jacks were losing 2-0 early in the second period on Friday and looked pretty listless against the visiting Cedar Rapids Roughriders.
Then Mehlenbacher squared off in one corner of the ice with Cedar Rapids’ Brendan Fitzgerald in an old-fashioned hockey fight that the refs didn’t even try to break up.
Mehlenbacher pummeled Fitzgerald with blow after blow and tore his helmet off in the process. That last move earned him a game misconduct and ended his night, but it also fired up his teammates.
The Jacks immediately looked like a new team, started dominating offensively and managed to tie the game by the end of regulation.
Then defenseman Nathan McBrayer settled the issue by scoring just 30 seconds into overtime, giving the Lumberjacks a thrilling 3-2 victory and ending their two-game losing streak.
Muskegon, now 2-2-0 on the season, will host Cedar Rapids for a rematch on Saturday night at 7:05 p.m.
“It was a weird one,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton. “The other guy hit (Mehlenbacher) high and he was just protecting himself, but it lit up the arena and lit up our bench, and from that point on we played as good as we have played.since we’ve had this group of players.
“Now how do we duplicate that and play that way for a full 60 minutes? When we skate and stay on top of pucks like that we’re fun to watch.”
McBrayer said he doesn’t remember ever scoring a game-winning goal before, but he was thrilled to get the job done on Friday.
“It was pretty exciting,” he said. “Celebrating with the boys was awesome. It was kind of a blur. Richie (teammate Jake Richard) passed it to me in the slot. It all happened because of him.”
McBrayer agreed that Mehlenbacher’s fight gave the Jacks the lift they needed.
“That really changed things for the team,” he said. “That’s why he’s the captain. It was great to see him get the boys going. That’s how we should be playing.”
There were several other big stars in the game, including forward Ethan Whitcomb, who scored both of the regulation goals for the Jacks, and Tyler Hotson, who registered two assists.
The Jacks also got a strong performance from goalie Conor Callaghan, who overcame a shaky first period and made several great saves down the stretch to give the Jacks a chance to win.
“Callaghan made three massive saves when we were down 2-1,” Hamilton said. “They didn’t have a lot of shots, but he saved the ones he had to.”
The first period was not good for the Lumberjacks, who spent 6 of the first 20 minutes shorthanded, trying to kill off Cedar Rapids power plays.
They didn’t do wall in that department. The Roughriders took a 1-0 lead at the 6:22 mark on a power play goal by Connor Smith, then went up 2-0 at the 13:62 mark on a power play goal by Fitzgerald.
The Jacks were outshot 10-5 in the first period, but owned the second and third periods, outshooting the visitors 25-12.
Muskegon got on the scoreboard at 6:21 of the second period when Matthew Morden passed to Hotson in one corner, and he sent a perfect centering pass to Whitcomb, who buried the puck from close range.
The Lumberjacks peppered the Cedar Rapids goal with shots for the first half of the third period, but were stopped repeatedly by Roughriders goalie Bruno Bruveris.
Whitcomb finally got the equalizer when he scored from the right of the net 9:10 into the third period.
McBrayer wasted no time ending the game in overtime, popping in the winning goal just 30 seconds after the puck was dropped.
• Discuss this story on the United States Hockey League message board…
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
