USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks Captains and Head Coach Geared up for Dubuque

Published on April 17, 2013 under United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


MUSKEGON, Michigan (April 17th) - Overrated, mediocre, average, pretender, quitters. These are just a few of the words that have sputtered out in the USHL community due to Muskegon Lumberjacks winning three out of their last ten games of the regular season to drop them from potential home ice in the first round of the playoffs to the fourth seed in the Eastern Conference.

Because of that, they are paired up with the league's best regular season team in the Dubuque Fighting Saints in the East Semifinals and hardly no one is giving them a chance to win it, but don't tell that to Lumberjacks captains Carter Foguth, Rasmus Bengtsson, and Chad McDonald. These three have kept the team together all season and provided solid leadership to get the Lumberjacks where they are today, and that is a shot at winning the coveted Clark Cup.

Captain Defenseman Carter Foguth has seen it all as a member of the Lumberjacks as he has been with the team since it began playing in the USHL in the 2010-11 season. The Fenton, Michigan native knows what it's like to experience the ups and downs of winning and losing in the USHL and says it's all about staying focused in the end.

"Did we have a rough ending to our regular season? Yes, we did, but it's not the end of the world because there is still a lot to play for in the playoffs," said Foguth. "When you experience the highs in this league, you have the confidence to compete with anyone in this league, and when you hit the lows, it keeps you aware that anyone can beat anyone at any given time."

Foguth also states that this season has been a huge success compared to last season when the Lumberjacks finished 15th out of 16 teams with a 17-35-8 record, last in the Eastern Conference.

"Last season was a tough pill to swallow as we just could not put together a consistent effort on the ice game-in, game-out," said Foguth. "We have a solid group of guys in place this year that have been hungry from the start to prove that last year was a fluke."

Assistant Captain Rasmus Bengtsson is also no stranger to the difficulties the Lumberjacks endured last season as he came over midway last year from Rögle BK, a professional team in Sweden, and in played in 34 games with Muskegon last season. The Florida Panthers prospect says that it's common for a team to experience the good and bad from a long regular season.

"We started out really hot in the beginning and have had to claw our way through a difficult schedule especially during the last few months of the season," said Bengtsson. "Now that the playoffs are here, the records mean nothing and everyone starts at zero. We have to come out this series with a huge chip on our shoulder and believe in one another."

Bengtsson, the Landskrona, Sweden native, also states that the Lumberjacks have had to adjust with some new acquisitions in which they acquired at the USHL trading deadline on February 7th. Bengtsson believes that the three new players added to the team (Brian Morgan, Christian Heil, and Jeff Kubiak) have provided more depth and grit for the grueling stretch ahead.

"We had quite a bit of roster turnover at the trading deadline, and it took some time to gel with them and figure out what their tendencies are," said Bengtsson. "Over time, we started to click little by little and have made some great strides to be ready for the playoff push."

Assistant Captain Chad McDonald has been a steady presence on and off the ice for the Lumberjacks this season since coming over in a trade during the offseason from the Des Moines Buccaneers. McDonald says that the struggles the team had down the stretch was not a result of playing bad hockey, but rather other teams serving notice that how they played against them is what the Lumberjacks are going to see come playoff time.

"Everyone goes through their peaks and valleys at any level of any sport throughout the regular season, its common nature," said McDonald. "The last few games of the regular season just made us more prepared for the tough battles ahead in the playoffs. Everyone starts at zero now, so it's a new beginning for us."

Head Coach Jim McKenzie recently completed his first full season as the head man behind the bench for the Lumberjacks and led the team to their second USHL playoff berth in just their third season in the league. McKenzie says that it's been a long grind back to prominence in terms of making the second season, but now eyes are on the big prize now that it's down to the final eight teams.

"After finishing near the bottom of the league last season, the realistic goal coming into this year was to make the playoffs even though it wasn't going to be easy," said McKenzie. "Once the goal was in sight and we were able to clinch a playoff spot, you can begin to reassess your goals and realize that the ultimate prize is there for the taking."

The Lumberjacks first round opponent, the Dubuque Fighting Saints, provided a consistent presence throughout the entire 2012-13 regular season which led to them clinching the Anderson Cup for being the league's top team in the regular season. Muskegon has been crowned as the typical cliché word, the "underdog," for this series. However, the Lumberjack captains and head coach state that in order to do well in this series, you must embrace the term with open arms.

"To me, being in the underdog role is much better than being tabbed as the "˜overrated' team," said Bengtsson.

"It means that we have nothing to lose, and we can be able to relax, play our game, and bring the fight to them," said Foguth.

"The word means nothing in the end as long as you get three wins to move on to the next round, and it doesn't matter how you get those victories," said McDonald.

"To be honest, you take that opportunity when you get tabbed as the "˜underdog' after coming from where we were a season ago," said McKenzie. "It is certainly not an insult to be tabbed that term when you are playing a team like Dubuque that had great success this season. It's all about embracing the role and having fun with it."

In their three-year USHL tenure, Dubuque's barn in the Mystique Ice Center has been a house of horrors for the Lumberjacks since joining the league (0-7-2 all-time). Foguth has been with the team for all previous nine games in Dubuque and has strong faith that the boys can break out of that slump in the playoffs.

"It's a tough place to play in as it is a very active crowd and can get very loud at times," said Foguth. "However, if we play with a sense of urgency and stay focused on the game at hand, we can absolutely pull off a few victories in that building. Anything's possible."

Bengtsson reiterates that it's going to take all 23 guys coming together, trusting one another, and taking it one game at a time to try and make a statement early in the series.

"We can't play scared because other teams can pick up on that and take advantage of it," said Bengtsson. "If we stay together and play to our strengths one shift at a time, then we should be fine."

McDonald talks about the inexperience of some of the players on the Lumberjacks team being in their first seasons in the league. The future Ferris State Bulldog explains that it's all about treating the playoffs like it's any other game.

"It's normal for everyone, whether you're a veteran or rookie in this league, to have nerves going into big games like the ones coming up in Dubuque and for the rest of the series," explained McDonald. "Yes, there is some inexperience with this team, but what team doesn't have that? Once the puck is dropped, all of that goes out the window and it's all about the final score at the end of the night."

Putting it all into perspective, Head Coach Jim McKenzie states that while it's exciting to play in a passionate atmosphere like Dubuque, it's all about how you execute when all is said and done.

"When you're playing a team like Dubuque, the location of where the game is being played really doesn't matter. It's more a matter of how to play against them and playing a full 60 minutes of hockey," explained McKenzie. "Dubuque is a great environment to play in. If it happens to get away from the guys for a shift or two throughout the game, then they have to just settle down, refocus, and move on to the next shift."

When previewing the best-of five series, McKenzie says that in order to knock off the big dog, it's all about consistency and embracing the challenge in front of you.

"To beat a team like Dubuque, it's going to have to take everyone on the bench playing with a consistent effort every shift," said McKenzie. "Don't get too high when things are going well and don't get too low when things are going bad; that's what the playoffs are all about. You must stay even keel throughout."

"You don't have to win the first three games of the series to move on; you just have to win three out of the five. This series is going to be a handful, but we are excited for this opportunity to show everyone what we are made of," said McKenzie.

You can attach any storyline to this series, such as "David versus Goliath," but that's not going to faze this year's Lumberjacks team going into the series with Dubuque. The slates have been wiped clean in terms of records, and there is a reason why they call this time of year the "second season." As the old saying goes by Mark Twain, "It's not the size of the dog in the fight; it's the size of the fight in the dog."

The Muskegon Lumberjacks are proud members of the United States Hockey League, the nation's only Tier I junior hockey league and the leading producer of NCAA players and National Hockey League draft picks in the United States. The Lumberjacks' organization prides itself on developing not just premier hockey talent, but also exceptional young men outside the arena of sports. For more information, visit www.muskegonlumberjacks.com.

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United States Hockey League Stories from April 17, 2013


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