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Muskegon Lumberjacks

Mark Petaccio Nets Two, Thunder Sting Lumberjacks Late in Regulation

March 14, 2015 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


BLOOMINGTON, Illinois - The Muskegon Lumberjacks sought after a two-game Illinois weekend sweep with the sixth and final regular season matchup against the expansion Bloomington Thunder tonight. In a game that featured a four-goal first period and an even draw with seconds remaining in regulation, the Lumberjacks fell victim to a late jolt at the hands of the Thunder with 2.7 seconds to go that turned a potential overtime game into a 4-3 victory for the home team at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum. Offensively, three Lumberjacks led the way with a pair of points each.

Following a scoreless first half of the opening frame, the Lumberjacks (29-18-4, 62 points) drew first blood grabbing an early 1-0 lead at the 13:05 mark just five seconds into their first power play opportunity of the evening as Trevor Hamilton fired a wrist shot in the high slot that beat Logan Halladay (9-10-5) top shelf over the glove hand for his ninth of the season that was set up by Matheson Iacopelli and Ryan Siroky.

Minutes later, the Thunder (23-22-7, 53 points) quickly countered to square the game even at 1-1 by the 15:18 mark with Jacob Slaker winning an offensive zone faceoff to the right of Michael Latorella (8-5-0) and feeding the puck back to Mitch Slattery, who wristed his fifth overall on the season and first as a member of the Thunder over Latorella's glove hand.

Under a minute later at the 16:11 mark, Muskegon retrieved its one goal lead back at 2-1 with Iacopelli feeding a streaking Mark Petaccio behind the Bloomington defense leading to a breakaway opportunity, and the New Jersey native slid his 18th overall on the season and eighth as a Lumberjack through Halladay's five-hole.

Before the first period ended, Bloomington knotted the game back up at 2-2 with just over 36 seconds to go courtesy of a one-timer set up by Matt Mendelson to Jeremy Davies, who buried his fourth overall on the year and third as a member of the Thunder past a sprawled out Latorella from the right faceoff circle. Shane Bednard also aided on the tally.

The tie game remained the same heading into the first intermission break with Bloomington hanging on to the shot battle early by a narrow 16-14 margin.

The Thunder went on to notch the second frame's lone marker with 4:12 remaining right after a power play chance had ended as Mitchell Mattson fed a backdoor feed to an open Max Gottlieb in the left faceoff circle, and the former Lumberjack one-timed his fifth of the season past a sliding Latorella to give the home team its first lead of the night at 3-2. Ryan Galt received the secondary helper on the goal.

As the middle stanza was winding down, Petaccio drew a penalty shot opportunity for the Lumberjacks with 1:35 left only to have his chance stopped by the right pad of Halladay off a backhand attempt in the goal crease.

The host Thunder took its one shot lead into the second and final intermission break of regulation while extending their shots on goal lead to 30-18 after outshooting the visiting Lumberjacks during the middle 20 minutes by a 14-4 spread.

Towards the midway portion of the third, Muskegon potted the game-tying goal at 3-3 by the 7:50 mark as Petaccio stuffed home his second of the night, ninth as a Lumberjack, and 19th on the season in blue paint and through Halladay's five-hole on the power play that was helped by Siroky and Corey Schueneman.

The game steered into the waning seconds of regulation when the last rush opportunity of the night went to the Thunder, and the hosts were able to capitalize to stun the visitors late as Mendelson centered a feed to a streaking Bednard in the slot, who waited until the last possible second to wrist home his 14th of the year past Latorella's blocker with under three seconds left. Bloomington ended up outshooting Muskegon for the game, 42-31.

Logan Halladay stopped 28 of 31 shots in the victory for the Thunder, while Michael Latorella posted a 38-save effort in the road setback for the Lumberjacks. Shane Bednard (one goal, one assist) and Matt Mendelson (two assists) led Bloomington's offense with two points each. Mark Petaccio (two goals), Matheson Iacopelli (two assists), and Ryan Siroky (two assists) each led Muskegon's offensive attack with a pair of points apiece. Petaccio has reached a three-game point streak, and Iacopelli has recorded at least a point in six of his last seven contests. Muskegon went 2-for-4 on the power play, while Bloomington was 0-for-4. Muskegon falls to 2-1-1 on their current six-game road swing and finishes the regular season series with a 4-2-0 record against Bloomington.

The Lumberjacks conclude their season-long six-game road swing next weekend with a pair of games against the Green Bay Gamblers on Friday, March 20th and Saturday, March 21st at 8:05 pm, respectively, at the Green Bay Resch Center.

Muskegon has three home dates remaining for the 2014-15 regular season beginning with a pair of games against the Des Moines Buccaneers on March 27th and 28th and finishing on April 3rd against the USNTDP Under-17 Team. All three games are slated to begin at 7:15 pm.

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