USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks Best Madison, Face Youngstown in First Round of Clark Cup Playoffs

Published on April 10, 2015 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


MADISON, Wisconsin - With playoff positioning still on the line, the Muskegon Lumberjacks made the trek to the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin for the first of two weekend matchups against the expansion Madison Capitols. A wild offensive affair saw the Lumberjacks prevail by a 6-4 decision over the Capitols that saw the team set a new USHL team record for points in a single season with 74 through 59 games played surpassing the 2012-13 team (72 points in 64 games). In addition, a Dubuque Fighting Saints win over the Tri-City Storm at home assured the Lumberjacks of a fourth place finish in the East and a first round Clark Cup Playoff matchup against the top-seeded Youngstown Phantoms with the series beginning Wednesday night at the L.C. Walker Arena and the opening puck drop slated for 7:15 pm.

The Lumberjacks (35-20-4, 74 points) got off to a fast start netting the game's first two goals to take an early 2-0 lead going into the first intermission. Beginning at the 4:24 mark, Joseph Cecconi fired a wrist shot from the right faceoff circle past Ryan Edquist on the short side for his third of the season to make it a 1-0 game that went unassisted.

Later in the opening frame with 2:07 left, Muskegon doubled the advantage courtesy of Corey Schueneman slipping a shot from the right faceoff circle inside the far side post and into the net for his second as a Lumberjack and 16th overall on the season. Matej Paulovic and Mitch Eliot assisted on the marker.

The Capitols outshot the Lumberjacks through the opening 20 minutes of regulation by a wide 20-5 margin while gaining the period's lone power play opportunity but were unable to convert on the chance.

Muskegon continued to add on to their lead during the middle frame grabbing a 3-0 lead 4:21 in as a sharp angle attempt from Ryan Siroky to the left of Edquist found the back of the net for his fourth as a Lumberjack and 14th overall on the season. Christian Wolanin helped set up the tally.

In the waning moments of the second period, the Lumberjacks extended the margin to 4-0 taking advantage of its first power play opportunity of the night with Griffen Molino firing a shot from the left faceoff circle past Edquist's left pad and inside the far post for his 17th of the season. Trevor Hamilton and Wolanin aided on the man advantage strike.

Before the period expired, the Capitols (23-25-11, 57 points) cracked the scoreboard with just under 40 seconds remaining in the second as Jarod Zirbel redirected a shot from the right point by Carver Watson past Eric Schierhorn (26-13-4) while parked in the low slot for his seventh of the season to trim the deficit to 4-1.

Madison slightly outshot Muskegon in the second stanza by the slimmest of margins, 15-14, while continuing to claim the shot battle overall, 35-19. Edquist would be pulled after the period in favor of Garrett Metcalf (9-12-4) after stopping 15 of 19 shots faced for the Capitols.

The Lumberjacks nabbed its largest lead of the night back at 5-1 by the 1:52 mark of the third period with Wolanin blasting his 14th of the season from the left faceoff circle top shelf over Metcalf's left shoulder that was helped by Paulovic.

Following the Wolanin goal, the Capitols went on to net the game's next three tallies to cut the deficit to 5-4 with 4:56 remaining. Haralds Egle buried a rebound power play goal to Schierhorn's right at the 8:54 mark to make it a 5-2 spread for his 18th of the season that was aided by Tommy Muck and Daniel Willett.

At the 11:45 mark, Willett slapped a shot from the point through traffic and past Schierhorn's blocker for his seventh marker of the season to shorten Muskegon's lead to 5-3 that was set up by Cooper Watson and Miguel Fidler. To cap off the rally attempt, Charlie Gerard one-timed a centering feed on the backdoor from Egle into the open net for his 15th of the year to create a one shot contest that was additionally assisted by Guillaume Leclerc.

As time was ticking away in regulation, the Lumberjacks went back to work on the power play and potted a key insurance tally with 1:43 to go as Paulovic redirected a centering feed by Tommy Marchin in the low slot top shelf and over Metcalf for his 17th goal of the season.

Madison eventually pulled Metcalf for the extra attacker with under a minute remaining but could not mount another rally as Muskegon pulled off the two-goal victory on the road while outshooting the hosts in the third, 14-11. The Capitols took the shot spread overall by a 46-33 margin.

Eric Schierhorn earned his 26th victory of the season stopping 42 of 46 shots faced, while Garrett Metcalf took the home loss with a 12-save effort in relief work. Muskegon was a perfect 2-for-2 on the power play, while Madison went 1-for-3. Christian Wolanin and Matej Paulovic both led the Lumberjacks' offensive attack with a goal plus two assists each followed by seven others chipping in a point apiece. Former Lumberjacks Daniel Willett and Haralds Egle led the Capitols offensively with a goal and an assist each. With his power play goal, Griffen Molino reached the 100-point mark for his USHL career. Matej Paulovic became the second Lumberjack this season to hit the 50-point mark joining Molino. The Lumberjacks improve to 3-1-1 against the Capitols this season that includes a 1-0-1 mark at the Alliant Energy Center.

Muskegon wraps up the 2014-15 regular season tomorrow night back at the Alliant Energy Center with a rematch against the Madison Capitols at 8:00 pm.

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United States Hockey League Stories from April 10, 2015


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