Muskegon Scores Three in the Third to Defeat Steel

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USHL Chicago Steel

Muskegon Scores Three in the Third to Defeat Steel

April 12, 2025 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Chicago Steel News Release


GENEVA, IL - A perfect three-for-three outing on the power play helped the Muskegon Lumberjacks (38-16-4-4, 84 pts.) to a 4-2 win over the Chicago Steel (20-36-5-1, 46 pts.) in front of 2,325 fans in the final game of the season for the Steel at Fox Valley Ice Arena Saturday night.

Steel netminder Jack Parsons stopped 28 of 31 shots in defeat. Aidan Dyer scored his tenth goal of the season and Chris Reiniger scored his sixth of the year.

Early in the opening frame, Blake Vanek entered Muskegon's zone on a two-on-one rush with Henry Major. With Major covered, Vanek shot from the right wing but was stopped by Muskegon netminder Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev.

The Steel matched the Lumberjacks' physicality from the prior night's game, with Erick Comstock laying a massive hit on Matthew Van Blaricom that sent him flying into the Steel bench.

Chicago's tenacity paid dividends just after the halfway point of the period when Dyer fended off a defender and lifted a perfect backhand shot over the right shoulder of Gadzhiev.

A Muskegon penalty at 16:21 gave the Steel the first power play of the night. The Steel had chances, including one when Ben Yurchuk dragged into the slot from the left circle and released a strong shot but Gadzhiev got a piece of the puck.

The Steel outshot the Lumberjacks 10-5 in the opening frame.

Chicago continued to pressure Muskegon with solid looks in the second period, with Luke Goukler getting off a shot in the high slot off a feed from Ben Yurchuk that was turned aside by Gadzhiev.

Four minutes into the middle frame, Muskegon went to its first power play of the night and scored just over one minute in when Tynan Lawrence capitalized on a failed clear by the Steel. The Lumberjacks forward scooped the puck and skated to his left before firing through a partial screen to tie the game at one.

A pair of Lumberjacks penalties minutes later gave the Steel a five-on-three advantage that was killed off. Just as the five-on-three advantage turned to five-on-four, David Deputy skated in on a shorthanded two-on-none and shot low glove on Parsons, but the Steel netminder made a great left pad save.

With four minutes left in the second, Chicago took the lead back after Goukler made a superb pass to Reiniger at the right circle. The Princeton commit dragged and fired a low shot to make it 2-1.

A collision with Parsons in the crease with 18 seconds left in the period created a melee between all ten skaters on the ice. The tense gathering resulted in a Steel power play and 30 minutes worth of penalties between the two teams.

Just before the buzzer sounded, Ashton Schultz ripped a one-timer from the slot that was kept out by Gadzhiev.

Muskegon went to the power play twice early in the third period and connected on each, scoring on the first when Ivan Ryabkin tapped in a rebound off a Tynan Lawrence shot to even the score 2-2.

Less than one minute later, David Deputy scored again on the man advantage to put the Lumberjacks ahead 3-2.

An empty net goal by Xavier Veilleux made it 4-2, icing the game for Muskegon.

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