Lumberjacks Complete Weekend Sweep of Cedar Rapids with a 6-2 Come-From-Behind Victory
October 8, 2022 – United States Hockey League (USHL) – Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release
MUSKEGON – Well before the season started, Muskegon Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton said he expected his team to score a lot of goals with a lot of talented forwards on the roster.
There were times during the preseason, and the first few regular season games, when it was hard to tell what the coach was talking about, because the offense was hit-and-miss.
But it all became clearer on Saturday when six different Lumberjacks found the net in an impressive 6-2 victory over Cedar Rapids at Trinity Health Arena.
The Jacks showed poise in the win, coming back from a 2-1 deficit to dominate the game. That followed a similar performance on Friday, when they rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win in overtime.
The win completed a two-game weekend sweep over Cedar Rapids and gave the Jacks a 3-2-0 record on the season.
The Jacks will play two games in Green Bay next weekend before returning home to play the Dubuque Fighting Saints on Saturday, Oct. 22. .
Hamilton said the players have so much confidence in their ability to score that they sometimes don’t mind falling behind in a game.
“These guys aren’t afraid to score goals,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes it’s a challenge to find the urgency to control a game instead of playing at the pace that is out there.
“We are a better team the longer we go five-on-five and when we roll our lines over. It’s that depth and firepower across the board, and you’re starting to see some of the younger guys get comfortable.”
Ethan Whitcomb is one player who has shown a lot of firepower lately, scoring three goals in two games over the weekend. ,
“It was nice to be able to get a goal on the power play,” said Whitcomb, who leads the team with four goals.. “All week we have been doing set plays involving our power play.
“Coming into my second year in the league I feel way more comfortable. We have a lot of returners from last year mixed with some great newcomers.”
The victory also demonstrated that the Jacks’ special teams have come a long way in a short period of time.
It was only a few weeks ago that the Jacks struggled badly in that regard, scoring only once in 11 power opportunities against Tri-City in the second game of the season.
Hamilton said at the time that he didn’t blame the players, because the team hadn’t had much of a chance to work on special teams yet.
That problem has obviously been addressed, because the Jacks scored three power play goals on six opportunities on Saturday, and kept Cedar Rapids from scoring in five chances.
“Tonight we went plus-three on special teams, and the penalty kill went five-for-five, and that is something that we are going to keep working on and getting better at,” Hamilton said.
Lumberjacks rookie Sacha Boisvert opened the scoring at 13:15 of the first period with a power play goal. It was his third of the season and came with an assist from David Hymovitch.
Cedar Rapids scored the first two goals of the second period, collecting tallies from Ryan O’Connell at the 4:55 mark and Dylan Hryckowian at 5:49.
But the Jacks roared back with goals from Whitcomb (power play) at the 8:08 mark and George Fegaras at 15:20 and took a 3-2 lead into the third period.
Tyler Dunbar (:40), Tyler Hotson (8:51) and Nathan McBrayer (18:42, power play) finished things off with third period goals for Muskegon.
Goalie Conor Callaghan turned in his second straight strong performance, stopping 24 of 26 shots to collect the win. The Lumberjacks had a 36-26 advantage in shots on goal.
Gavin McCarthy had two assists for the Lumberjacks.
• 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.
