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USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks Fall in a Wild Offensive Shootout to Green Bay, 6-5

April 13, 2013 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


GREEN BAY, Wisconsin - The Green Bay Resch Center continues to be a house of horrors for the Muskegon Lumberjacks as they were able to supply a great amount of offense tonight, but could not clamp down defensively when it mattered the most as the Green Bay Gamblers would get a late penalty shot goal to squeeze by with a 6-5 victory.

The Gamblers (37-23-4, 78 points) were able to get the first two goals of the night to take a quick 2-0 lead by the 9:00 mark of the opening frame beginning at the 5:42 mark with Tanner Pond's 13th goal of the season as one-timed a shot from the low slot home off a nice feed from Nicholas Schilkey on the right wing to make it 1-0 Green Bay. Matt Nelson would get the secondary assist on the Pond marker.

A few minutes later, Nicholas Schilkey would one-time another shot from the low slot home past Lumberjacks Goaltender Jordan Uhelski (7-5-4) off a nice feed from Ben Gallacher in the high slot to double the lead.

The Lumberjacks (31-23-10, 72 points) would fight back with a pair of goals of their own to tie the game at 2-2 going into the first intermission. Beginning at the 12:22 mark, Connor Hurley would get his first career USHL goal as he drove the net and rebounded a shot from teammate Cameron Darcy top shelf past Gamblers Goaltender Tony Kujava (11-6-1) to make it 2-1 Green Bay. Ben Storm would get the second assist on the Connor Hurley goal.

In the latest moments of the first period, the Lumberjacks would go on the power play and get the equalizer with 15 seconds left in the opening frame as Darcy would one-time his 11th goal of the season home in the slow slot off a feed from Adam Gilmour in the low left wing. Michael Brodzinski would get the secondary assist on the Darcy goal.

Green Bay would outshoot Muskegon 7-1 through the first ten minutes of the first period, but the Lumberjacks would counter back and outshoot Green Bay in the last ten minutes by a 5-1 margin.

Muskegon would use the late first period momentum into the early part of the second period to take a 3-2 lead at the 1:16 mark as Michael Brodzinski would wrist home is 16th goal of the season from the right point off the crossbar top shelf and into the net that was assisted by Connor Hurley.

The score would remain the same into the latter parts of the second period when Green Bay would get a little luck on the power play at the 16:25 mark as Nick Schmaltz would slide home his 18th goal of the season through Uhelski's five-hole from the low left wing to tie the game at 3-3. Green Bay still had the shot against Muskegon through two periods by a 19-15 margin.

Momentum would continue to go the way of the Gamblers as they would take a 5-3 lead by the 11:53 mark of the third period that began just 1:11 into the period with a goal from Gustav Olofsson as he wristed a screen shot top shelf past Uhelski's blocker side for his 2nd goal of the season that was assisted by Schilkey followed by Anthony Walsh's first goal of the season off another wrist shot from the point that was helped by Schmaltz and Novak.

Muskegon would muscle their way back and eventually tie the game at 5-5 starting with another power play tally from Darcy for his 12th goal of the season as tipped home a shot from Brodzinski at the right point that was also helped by Rasmus Bengtsson at the 15:24 mark followed by Storm's 2nd goal of the season he was roped one home past Kujava's blocker side from the right point that was assisted by Frederik Tiffels.

Just under a minute after the Lumberjacks had tied the game up, Green Bay would try to create some offense as Schilkey would be hauled down by Brodzinski on a breakaway attempt to force a penalty shot. Schilkey would then do no wrong as he went to his backhand to roof one over the sprawled out Uhelski to give Green Bay a lead it would not surrender at 6-5.

The Lumberjacks would pull Uhelski for the extra attacker with 1:12 remaining in regulation, but could not get the equalizer when it counted even though they applied a lot of pressure late on Kujava.

Green Bay outshot Muskegon for the night, 31-27, and Tony Kujava would make 22 saves for the Gamblers to earn his 11th victory of the season. Jordan Uhelski would make 25 of 31 saves in net for the Lumberjacks in the tough road loss. Green Bay was led offensively by Nicholas Schilkey with four points (two goals and two assists), while the Lumberjacks offense was led by Cameron Darcy (two goals and one assist) and Michael Brodzinski (one goal and two assists) with three points each. The Lumberjacks finish the regular season going 3-5-1 against the Gamblers.

Muskegon has qualified for the 2013 USHL Clark Cup Playoffs in which they will face the top-seeded Dubuque Fighting Saints in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. Dubuque earns the home ice advantage in the best-of five first round series and will host games one and two on Wednesday, April 17th and Friday, April 19th, respectively. Game one of the series will drop the puck at 8:05 pm, while game two will face off at 8:35 pm.

The series will then come back to Muskegon at the L.C. Walker arena for game three, and if necessary, a game four on Sunday, April 21st and Monday, April 22nd, respectively. Game three will drop the puck at 5:15 pm, while the face-off for game four will be at 7:15 pm. If the series happens to go the distance, then the deciding game five will go back to Dubuque on Wednesday, April 24th for an 8:05 pm puck drop.

The individual playoff tickets will be on sale all next week for the low price of $10.95 for adults and $5.95 for children ages 3-12 if they are purchased before the day of the game. Tickets can be purchased at the L.C. Walker Arena Box Office or by calling (231) 724-JACK (5225).

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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