The Muskegon Lumberjacks ended their preseason portion of the schedule with a 6-4 loss to the defending Clark Cup champion Chicago Steel on Sunday at Mercy Health Arena.
Muskegon finished its preseason with a 2-4 record and will open the regular season on Saturday against the Sioux Falls Stampede at the USHL Fall Classic in Pittsburgh, PA.
The Lumberjack will also face the Sioux City Musketeers next Sunday to close out the two-day event. Both games will start at 12:00 p.m. EST.
Muskegon will then play two more road games before hosting its home opener on Friday October 15 against the Steel for a 7:15 p.m. faceoff.
The Steel jumped out to a 3-1 lead after the first period.
Jayden Perron opened the scoring with an unassisted goal 6:12 into the game to give Chicago a 1-0 lead.
The Lumberjacks quickly tied the game at 1-1 on a goal from Laker Aldridge at the 7:53 mark of the first period.
The Steel responded with a pair of goals from Jackson Blake 9:44 and 13:38 into the opening period.
Muskegon cut the deficit to 3-2 at the 5:30 mark of the second period on a goal by Ben Strinden.
Chicago answered with three straight goals to take a 6-2 advantage late in the second period.
Evan Hunter (9:02), Sam Lipkin (10:05), Perron (14:13) each found the back of the net for the Steel.
The Lumberjacks added a goal at the 17:56 mark of the second period on a tally from Phillip Tresca.
Muskegon closed out the scoring with the lone goal in the third period from Charlie Strobel 8:09 into the final stanza.
Jan Skorpik suffered the loss in net for the Lumberjacks, stopping 23-of-29 shots.
Muskegon outshot the Steel by a slim 30-29 margin.
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