Kalamazoo Wings @ Muskegon Lumberjacks ... 3-1

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Muskegon Lumberjacks beat Kalamazoo Wings 5-3

IHL/Game Stats -
http://www.pointstreak.com/stats/pro/boxscore.html?gameid=735276

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Wings Website -
http://www.wingsstadium.com/news/2009/03-01_gamerecap_Muskegon.htm

LUKE USED THE FORCE

Muskegon's Luke Stauffacher Nets Three Goals in 5-3 Victory Over Kalamazoo

Mike Modugno-Director of Public Relations and Broadcaster

March 1, 2009

Muskegon, MI – With both teams trying to move up in the standings, it was the Muskegon Lumberjacks that accomplished their goal, defeating the Kalamazoo Wings 5-3 and in the process moving into a first place in the International Hockey League standings with the Port Huron Icehawks.

Timely bounces helped the Lumberjacks in the opening period. A deflected pass from Shea Hamilton to Ryan Jorde two and half minutes into the period led to a two-on-one for Muskegon. Jorde finished the odd-man rush by delivering a perfect pass to Todd Robinson, who flung the puck past goaltender Joel Martin for his 23rd goal and league-leading 95th overall point of the season.

Midway in the period, an innocent neutral zone dump-in by Martin Ondej seemed to tie the game at 1-1. Muskegon’s Clayton Pool tried to cover up the puck in front of his goal, but fell into his own net; however the referee’s whistle sounded before the puck crossed the goal line, which negated the goal.

Later in the period, Billy Collins sent a pass off the glass along the right side wall that ricocheted straight to the K-Wings the net. Muskegon’s Luke Stauffacher (27th) swatted the puck up into the air and off the cross bar and back into the air. Receiving a favorable bounce, the puck hit the ice and landed over the goal line to extend Muskegon’s lead to 2-0.

Regrouping in the second stanza, Kalamazoo exploded for two unanswered. Rick Cleaver registered the K-Wings first tally of the night on the power-play 35 second into the period. The goal was Cleaver’s IHL rookie-leading 22nd of the season.

Fighting back to even, Blair Manning sent a saucer pass right to the blade of Justin Cross (6th), who used a deke on his breakaway opportunity to freeze Pool and scored on a backhander.

With the momentum with Kalamazoo, Muskegon quickly swung the pendulum back to their side. John DiPace regained the lead for the ‘Jacks scoring his 29th goal of the season 12 seconds after Cross tied the contest. DiPace’s tally tied him with Robin Bouchard for Lumberjack team-lead in goals.

Pushing their lead by to two goals, Stauffacher (28th) recorded his second tally of the night on a power-play blast to give Muskegon a 4-2 advantage.

Looking to comeback from a two-goal deficit for the second-time in the contest, Blair Stayzer (3rd) scored on a backhander in the third period to bring the K-Wings back to within a goal.

However, Stauffacher (29th) wrapped up the scoring in the contest earning a hat trick with an empty-netter marker 35 seconds remaining in the game to secure the victory.

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Muskegon Newspaper -
http://www.mlive.com/lumberjacks/index.ssf/2009/03/lumberjacks_skate_past_wings_5.html

Lumberjacks Skate Past Wings, 5-3

Ron Rop |Muskegon Chronicle

March 01, 2009

Muskegon Lumberjack coach Bruce Ramsay knew his team was dead tired heading into Sunday's game against the Kalamazoo Wings.

With 15 games in the span of 26 days, the third-year coach asked his team to do one thing.

The victory moves the Lumberjacks into a first-place tie with the Port Huron Icehawks with both teams having played 56 games. Third-place Fort Wayne is seven points back and the Wings are nine points behind. The Lumberjacks have won eight of their last nine games and 10 of their last 12.

"Drain the tank all the way down," said Ramsay, whose team responded with a 5-3 victory in a game that attracted 3,695 spectators to L.C. Walker Arena. "We wanted more separation between us and them and they wanted to creep back closer."

"First place is huge, but more importantly, we're playing better," said Ramsay.

Luke Stauffacher led the way with three goals while Todd Robinson added a goal and two assists. Robinson, the league's leading scorer, has 97 points. Also scoring for Muskegon was John DiPace, who scored his 29th of the season, fifth in seven games since coming to the Lumberjacks.

"A win today was important," said Stauffacher, who has 29 goals this season. "Lose today and it was an average week. Win today and it's a good week."

And win in front of a big crowd gave the Jacks a boost.

"We were running on 'E', but you come out and see a crowd like that ... We hadn't been playing well in front of big crowds," said Lumberjack defenseman Steven Later. "We came out and played a solid game."

Robinson gave the Lumberjacks' offense a quick boost at 2:28 when he took a crossing pass from Ryan Jorde and buried a wrist shot behind Wing goaltender Joel Martin.

Ten minutes later, Stauffacher added his first of the night on a shot that bounced high into the air before landing in the net behind Martin.

Muskegon's lead after one period didn't last long once second-play action began. Rick Cleaver scored a power-play goal 35 seconds into the period and Justin Cross scored four minutes later to tie the game.

But the most important goal of the game came 12 seconds later when Robinson set up DiPace and Muskegon regained its lead at 3-2.

Stauffacher added his second of the game with a one-time blast from the slot. Robinson and Matt Gens assisted.

Blair Stayzer made things interesting at 11:33 of the final period when he got behind the Jack defense and scored his third of the season, but Stauffacher added an empty-net goal with 35 seconds left to seal the Lumberjacks' 17th victory at home.

Clayton Pool posted the victory in net. He improved his record to 18-5-2-2 by stopping 22-of-25 shots.

Now it's time for a break with the Lumberjacks having two games in the next 10 days, but big games against Fort Wayne and Port Huron at home this weekend.

"We'll use this break in the right way," said Ramsay, whose team has some minor bumps and bruises. He's also got Chad Woollard still on the 30-day injured list and Alec Kirschner sidelined with an injury.