Early Struggles Hurt Jacks in the End. Fall, 5-1, in Dubuque
USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Early Struggles Hurt Jacks in the End. Fall, 5-1, in Dubuque

Published on April 3, 2026 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


DUBUQUE, IA - Friday night didn't go as planned for the Muskegon Lumberjacks (38-23-1-1, 74 pts.) who solidified their spot as the fifth seed entering the Clark Cup Playoffs after a 5-1 loss at the hands of the Dubuque Fighting Saints (39-18-4-0, 82 pts.) who earned a first round bye with the win.

A quick start helped the Saints take a 2-0 lead with a pair of goals less than two minutes apart from each other. Masun Fleece scored the first goal with 6 seconds remaining on a power play opportunity. A couple of great plays at the blue line from Ludvig Lafton and Dante Jossefson-Westling kept the puck in the offensive zone allowing Fleece to score his 25th goal of the season. Then, at the 8:24 mark Michael Barron picked up his league leading 48th assist of the season by sliding a pass back door to Caden Dabrowski for an easy shot to give his team a 2-0 lead.

Moments later the Jacks were on an Auto Owners powerplay, but watched it end early after a penalty of their own. Skating at 4-on-4, the Jacks won a defensive zone draw by pushing it forward for Louis Jonerheim (Lund, SWE) who carried it up the far side of the ice. Nathan Larioza (Los Gatos, CA) made his way up the ice with Jonerheim receiving a pass on the near side of the slot. Larioza ripped a shot to the back of the net for his 4th of the year getting the Jacks on the board.

Two more goals came in the second period for the Saints to take a 4-1 lead back to the locker room in the intermission. Just like they had done in the first period, the Saints used a power play goal to open the scoring in the frame. This time, Colin Franked ripped a one timer from the near side circle off the far post for his 32nd goal of the season. Teo Besnier picked up the lone assist on the goal just 46 seconds into the period.

Halfway through the frame the Saints scored again to make it 4-1. Eetu Orpana carried the puck into the offensive zone on the far side of the ice. Lincoln Krizizke jumped up in the rush from his position on the back end to catch a pass and send the puck to the back of the net for his 6th goal of the season.

The only goal of the third period was an empty netter for Barron who finished the contest as the second all-time leading scorer in Fighting Saints history with 146 points in 190 games played.

Carl Axelsson (Danderyd, SWE) (23-14-1-0) earned the loss on his record with 10 saves on 14 shots against. Samuel Doyon-Cataquiz (Montreal, QC, CAN) entered halfway through the contest and stopped all 13 shots he faced. Vojtech Hambalek (28-13-1-0) earned the win with 27 saves on 28 shots fired by the Lumberjacks.

Saturday night the teams close out the regular season at 8:05 pm EDT. While the Jacks and Saints are locked into their respective seeds, the opponent for the first round of the playoffs remains a mystery for the Lumberjacks with answers coming following the 8-game slate around the league. Catch the action on the official live stream partner of the Lumberjacks, FloHockey, and for free on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network on Mixlr.

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United States Hockey League Stories from April 3, 2026


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