USHL Muskegon Lumberjacks

Offense Erupts for Nine as Lumberjacks Pound Steel

March 13, 2015 - United States Hockey League (USHL)
Muskegon Lumberjacks News Release


BENSENVILLE, Illinois - The Muskegon Lumberjacks kicked off their two-game Illinois road trip with the sixth and final regular season matchup against the Chicago Steel seeking a regular season series split against its Eastern Conference rival. Unlike the previous five meetings, the Lumberjacks put forth its best offensive showing since joining the USHL with their nine goals marking a new team high since joining the league. In the end, Muskegon took the wind out of the Chicago's sails early and never looked back in crushing the hosts by a 9-2 decision at The Edge Ice Arena in Bensenville, Illinois to increase their current unbeaten streak to four in a row.

The Lumberjacks (29-17-4, 62 points) controlled the opening 20 minutes of play potting a pair of markers to grab an early 2-0 lead heading into the first intermission. Beginning at the 5:30 mark, Corey Schueneman wristed a shot from the left point through traffic and top shelf past Trevor Gorsuch (6-9-1) for his first as a Lumberjack and 15th overall on the season to make it a 1-0 contest. Robbie DeMontis and Juraj Mily helped set up the Schueneman goal.

Later in the opening frame with 1:44 left, Muskegon created a goal on the rush to double their lead courtesy of Matheson Iacopelli finding a loose rebound to the right of Gorsuch and burying his team-leading 21st of the season top shelf. Matej Paulovic and Mark Petaccio assisted on the tally.

The visitors took their two-lead into the first intermission break while slightly outshooting the hosts through the opening frame by the slimmest of margins at 15-14.

Muskegon continued to force the issue on the offensive end tallying four goals during the middle 20 minutes of regulation to extend the lead to 6-0 going into the third period. At the 4:19 mark, Griffen Molino buried a breakaway goal off his own rebound for his 13th of the season to make it 3-0 Lumberjacks that was aided by Paulovic and Christian Wolanin.

A few minutes later at the 8:47 mark, Max Humitz helped create a Chicago turnover at the blue line into a shorthanded breakaway opportunity in which the Lake Superior State commit slid his fifth as a Lumberjack and eighth overall on the season past the outstretched right pad of Gorsuch to increase the margin to 4-0 that was helped by DeMontis.

Towards the latter stages of the middle stanza, Muskegon made it a 5-0 spread with 3:01 to go as Tommy Marchin slid a backdoor feed to an open Molino in the right faceoff circle, and the Western Michigan commit wristed his second of the night and 14th of the year top shelf past Gorsuch.

Just over a minute later with 1:53 remaining, Dante Palecco stuffed home his first career USHL goal off a loose rebound to the left of Gorsuch to expand the lead to six goals that was helped by Petaccio and Ryan Siroky.

Muskegon went to the second intermission break up by the six-goal difference while still holding on to the shot advantage by a 23-21 margin.

The visitors added three more to the score sheet during the third with Paulovic redirecting his 14th of the year in the slot area off a shot from the right point by Marchin to make it 7-0 that was also assisted by Molino.

Muskegon made it 8-0 at the 6:55 mark courtesy of Marchin snapping a shot from the left faceoff circle past Gorsuch's glove hand for his 20th marker of the season that was set up by Molino and Wolanin. To complete the offense for the Lumberjacks, David Keefer one-timed his seventh of the season in the left faceoff circle at the 13:36 mark to increase the spread to 9-0 that was helped by Tyler Drevitch and Palecco.

The Steel (24-22-3, 51 points) eventually broke the shutout netting the game's final two goals that began with 3:39 left courtesy of a breakaway unassisted tally by Tanner Laczynski for his 12th of the year to make it 9-1 Muskegon. Over a minute later with 2:11 left, Marcel Godbout potted a rebound goal to the left of Eric Schierhorn (21-12-4) for his fifth as a member of the Steel and seventh overall on the season to trim the deficit to 9-2 that was helped by Peter Tischke and Mason Bergh.

Muskegon outshot Chicago for the night, 37-33, after outshooting the Steel during the final 20 minutes of regulation by a 14-12 margin.

Eric Schierhorn nabbed his 21st win of the season in net stopping 31 of 33 shots for Muskegon, while Trevor Gorsuch took the home loss following a 28-save effort between the pipes. Griffen Molino led the Lumberjacks' offense with a pair of goals plus two assists followed by Matej Paulovic, who extended his point streak to seven straight games, and Tommy Marchin with a goal and two assists each. Four additional Lumberjacks in Dante Palecco (one goal, one assist), Christian Wolanin (two assists), Mark Petaccio (two assists), and Robbie DeMontis (two assists) chipped in to the cause with two points each. Both teams finished 0-for-5 on the power play. The nine goals netted broke the team record of eight goals scored at home against the Green Bay Gamblers back on January 16th, 2011. Muskegon picks up their first win of the season in Chicago finishes the six-game regular season series against the Steel with a 3-3-0 record.

The Lumberjacks wrap up their two-game Illinois weekend trip tomorrow night at the U.S. Cellular Coliseum against the expansion Bloomington Thunder at 8:00 pm.

Muskegon has three home dates remaining for the 2014-15 regular season beginning with a pair of games against the Des Moines Buccaneers on March 27th and 28th and finishing on April 3rd against the USNTDP Under-17 Team. All three games are slated to begin at 7:15 pm.

To purchase tickets to any of the upcoming three home games while taking advantage of our discounted advance game day prices, fans can stop by the L.C. Walker Arena Box Office during the normal business hours of 10:00 am - 6:00 pm on Monday - Friday or call (231) 724-5225. In addition, fans take advantage of our $5 Fridays promotion for the March 27th and April 3rd contests while also purchasing the new Fantastic Five Special and updated Moose Family Four Pack good for any remaining 2014-15 regular season home game.

The Lumberjacks are on the radio waves as Nash Icon 92.5 FM is the team's flagship provider for the 2014-15 season. Tune in as the "Voice of the Lumberjacks" Bryan Fongers delivers the call beginning 15 minutes prior to the opening puck drop. All games can also be listened and watched live online at www.fasthockey.com.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks are celebrating their Fifth Anniversary Season as 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 . Muskegon Lumberjacks Hockey - A Cut Above!

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