Lumberjacks Goalie Conor Callaghan, Who Made the Jump from Prep School Hockey this Season, Riding a Five-Game Winning Streak
November 4, 2022 – United States Hockey League (USHL) – Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release
MUSKEGON – There apparently isn’t much that can rattle Muskegon Lumberjacks goalie Conor Callaghan.
He quickly adjusted to the United States Hockey League this season, after making the huge jump from playing prep school hockey in Connecticut last season.
He didn’t let a couple of shaky early performances douse his confidence.
He didn’t pay attention to rumblings about the possibility of a new goalie coming in and taking up playing time.
Callaghan just stuck to his game plan, kept focusing, and has been playing extremely well for the past month or so.
He’s now won five straight games, with the latest two coming last weekend in Madison, where the Jacks beat the Capitols 5-3 on Friday and 4-3 on Saturday.
Callaghan is currently sporting a 5-1 record with a very nice 3.13 goals against average, and will be back between the pipes on Saturday night when the Lumberjacks host the Youngstown Phantoms with a three-game winning streak on the line.
Callaghan’s strong play has done a lot to calm the Lumberjacks’ worries about their goalie situation. They went into training camp with three goalies on the roster, including Callaghan, and had no idea if any of the three would rise up and get the job done.
Now the Jacks have settled on Callaghan and Noah Rupprecht, and feel like the position is in pretty good hands.
Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton said goalie coach Dave DeSander assured him all along that the goalies they had would get the job done, and so far he’s been right.
“Dave’s done a great job with the goalies,” Hamilton said. “It’s always a little nerve-racking, but from Day 1 he said we were fine, that these guys just needed time to get up to the USHL pace, and it’s exciting to see them coming along.”
Callaghan started the season with a few shaky outings. He was in goal on Sept. 16 in a 7-2 exhibition loss to Team USA, and was the goalie in the second game of the regular season, a 6-4 loss to Tri City.
Since then, however, Callaghan has been more than solid.
He was the winning goalie on both Oct. 7-8, when the Jacks swept Cedar Rapids at home, 3-2 and 6-2.
Callaghan missed the two games the following weekend in Green Bay, because he had to go home for his sister’s wedding, and the Lumberjacks lost both.
He was back in goal at home on Oct. 22 against Dubuque, a 6-2 victory, then he kept his hot streak alive with the two wins in Madison last weekend.
“I just feel like the team has been playing well in front of me, making it easy for me,” said Callaghan, 19. “It’s just been a lot of fun so far.”
Callaghan’s early struggles this season are understandable when you consider that a year ago he was playing prep school hockey at Avon Old Farms School in Connecticut. While that school has a great hockey program, the quality of play is far lower than in the USHL.
Callaghan admits the jump from prep school to Tier 1 juniors was a big one, and he felt a bit overwhelmed at first.
“It’s definitely a big jump from my team last year,” he said. “Everyone in this league is incredible. Everyone can shoot and skate. It’s a lot better.
“The first couple of days were definitely a big adjustment. I figured it would just take some time and I would be comfortable, and that’s what happened, thankfully.”
Callaghan does not consider himself the everyday starting goalie. He said he’s part of a goaltending team with Rupprecht, and said the two of them work very well together.
“I just feel like it’s me or Noah, whoever is playing better at any given time is going to play,” he said. “Right now I’m lucky that it’s been me, but it could go either way. We have a great relationship. It’s awesome.”
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