Sports stats



USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Lumberjacks Welcome RoughRiders to Trinity Health Arena for Important Weekend Series

March 23, 2023 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


MUSKEGON, Mich. - For the final time this season the Muskegon Lumberjacks and Cedar Rapids RoughRiders will face off with each other in a two game weekend series at Trinity Health Arena on Friday March, 24th, and Saturday the 25th. The season series is tied up 3-3 ahead of the final two games this weekend.

About Last Weekend

Winless against the NTDP U18 team this season the Lumberjacks opened up the doors to Trinity Health Arena for the 18's to kick off a weekend home-and-home series. Friday night's matchup brought green ice, green jerseys, and green beer to the rink for St. Paddy's Party and the Jacks were having all of the fun. Joe Connor extended his 3 game point streak to start his USHL career, Michael Callow scored twice, and Cody Croal picked up three points in the 4-2 Lumberjacks win.

Saturday wasn't as great for Muskegon as the team hit the road and headed east to Plymouth and USA Hockey Arena for the back end of the weekend series. The success the offense found on Friday didn't make the trip with the team as the NTDP picked up the 10-0 win over the Lumberjacks.

The Matchup

The Lumberjacks and RoughRiders are matched up at three wins a piece in the season series between the two squads. At the beginning of the season Muskegon picked up a weekend sweep at home against the Riders. Ethan Whitcomb scored twice in regulation, and Nathan McBrayer ended things in overtime for a 3-2 OT win in game one. Game two was much more decisive with the Jacks winning 6-2. Both McBrayer and Whitcomb picked up goals while extra production from the rest of the lineup helped Muskegon to the sweep.

The next time the teams met was a weekend series split in Cedar Rapids at the end of January. Another quality game for the offense came in game one with a 5-2 win. McBrayer had an assist in the contest to continue his point streak against Cedar Rapids. Game two was the opposite with the home team winning 7-1.

The last time the teams met was another weekend series at Imon Ice Arena, though this time it was the RoughRiders coming away with the sweep. A pair of 4-1 wins on March 3rd-4th helped the RoughRiders keep their distance from Muskegon in the playoff race. Ethan Fredericks and Whitcomb were the two goal scorers for the Jacks on the weekend.

Road to the Playoffs

Despite picking up a win against the USA NTDP 18s last weekend the road to the playoffs remains a treacherous one for Muskegon. Entering week 25 of the USHL Regular Season Muskegon sits in 7th place of the Eastern Conference with 47 points through 50 games played.That leaves only 12 games on the schedule with a 11 point gap between them and the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders, Green Bay and Dubuque. The Jacks hold a game in hand on all three teams above them in the standings.

What this means for Muskegon is that not only do they need to play very well down the stretch, but they need some help along the way as well. Should one of the aforementioned teams sitting above the Jacks in the standings lose all 11 games remaining the Lumberjacks would need to win 5 out of 12. More realistically if they could go 9-3 over the final stretch of games then they would be in a good spot.

While winning 9 out of 12 games might seem like a tough task it is not as bad as it sounds. Two games remain against Cedar Rapids at home and two against Green Bay with another against Dubuque on the road. These games have a direct impact on closing the gap to a playoff spot. Three games against the USNTDP U18 team, then two against Youngstown Madison, and Chicago can help pick up with an indirect impact on closing the gap.

New Faces for the Jacks

There is no secret that junior hockey sees a lot of player turnover as players progress throughout their hockey careers. For some the next step is the National Hockey League, while for the majority it's the NCAA. The Lumberjacks have used the late stages of this season to get some new faces in the lineup in preparation for the next cast of players.

Joe Connor, Teddy Spitznagel, Garrett Frazer, and Bauer Berry are all affiliate players that are listed on the active roster heading into this weekend. All of the affiliates have had different amounts of experience in the USHL and time in a Lumberjacks uniform. Connor made his Junior Hockey debut just two weeks ago here at Trinity Health Arena in a game against the Dubuque Fighting Saints while Spitznagel has already played 12 games this season as a member of the Jacks. Either way, getting time in the USHL whether its 4 games or 40 games helps prepare a player for not just the rest of their Junior Hockey career, but the rest of their hockey career in general.

Over the Airwaves

For live video streams, all Muskegon Lumberjacks games will be broadcast on FloSports (Video). Additionally, all home games and away games will be streamed on Mixlr (Audio) for free.

Upcoming Games

Tues. March 28 | 7:05 pm EDT | at USA NTDP U18

Fri. March 31 | 7:05 pm EDT | at Youngstown Phantoms

Sat. April 1 | 7:05 pm EDT | at Youngstown Phantoms

Thur. April 6 | 8:00 pm EDT | at Dubuque Fighting Saints

Fri. April 7 | 8:00 pm EDT | at Green Bay Gamblers

Check out the Muskegon Lumberjacks Statistics



United States Hockey League Stories from March 23, 2023


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central