MUSKEGON – In any circumstance, a two-game split with a great team like the Chicago Steel would be considered an acceptable weekend.
For the Muskegon Lumberjacks, the split was extra welcome, because it meant gaining their first victory of the season after a frustrating 0-2-2 start on the road.
The big victory came on Friday night in the Jacks’ home opener at Mercy Health Arena, when Joey Larson scored a three-goal hat trick, and Quinn Hutson scored twice, including the game winner in overtime.
The Jacks trailed 5-3 early in the second period, before Larson scored two goals down the stretch to tie the game and send it to OT. Hutson scored the game winner just 44 seconds into the extra period.
The loss was Chicago’s first of the season.
The script was flipped on Saturday night against Chicago. The game was tied 1-1 after two periods, then Chicago took advantage of Muskegon penalties and scored three times down the stretch and won 4-1.
“It was good to get a split against a really good hockey team,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton, whose team is 1-3-2 on the season. “I don’t think anybody was too caught up in (the lack of a victory), but at the end of the day, any time you can beat a first-place hockey team, you have to gain some confidence from it.”
On the flip side, Hamilton was not very happy about the way the Lumberjacks played on Saturday.
“We had an opportunity to win that game and we let it get away from us,” the coach said. “We took some untimely penalties and the penalty kill unit didn’t get it done.”
[1]New faces
In the United States Hockey League, just making a team’s roster out of training camp doesn’t guarantee anything for long.
Teams can be quick to bring in new guys when they see weaknesses, or an opportunity to upgrade at one position or another.
The Lumberjacks have been busy doing that recently, welcoming three new players to the team.
The most noticeable of the three has been goalie Carson Limesand, 19, who started the season with the Northeast Generals in the North American Hockey League before the Lumberjacks snagged him as a free agent. In nine games with the Generals he had a 6-2-0 record with a sparkling 2.10 goals against average.
He saw action right away on Friday night, when Hamilton lifted starting goalie Jan Skorpik just minutes into the third period. Limesand held Chicago scoreless through the rest of the period and the 44 seconds of overtime that were played before Hutson’s goal ended the game.
Limesand got the start on Saturday night and played reasonably well, stopping 16 of 19 shots.
“Our goaltending coach did the homework on him and brought him to our attention,” Hamilton said. “He’s just a solid goalie with great numbers.”
Hamilton said the Jacks will continue with three goalies on the roster – Skorpik (the veteran starter), along with Limesand and Cameron Korpi, who did not dress last weekend. The coach hopes the competition will push all three to play their best before roster decisions have to be made.
“It’s an area we are continually trying to upgrade,” Hamilton said about the goalies. “Right now we have all three, and I think we’re going to carry three goalies for a while.”
The Lumberjacks also added forward Emil Jarventie, 16, a native of Tampere, Finland, and forward Nick Peluso, 17, a native of Rochester, New York. Both demonstrated offensive potential in the lower levels of junior hockey, particularly Peluso, who had 40 goals and 44 assists in 2019-20 in a 15 and under league.
To make room on the roster for the new arrivals, the Jacks released defenseman Michael Quinn and forward Charlie Strobel.
[2]Madison-bound
The Lumberjacks will hit the road for Friday and Saturday games against some old friends – the Madison Capitols – who did not compete in the USHL last season.
The Capitols are off to a great start with a 5-1-1 record, but Hamilton welcomes the chance to play a team the Jacks haven’t matched up with lately.
The Jacks have already played Chicago three times in the regular season, as well as once in the preseason. They have also played the Team USA Under-18 squad in the regular season and the preseason.
“I feel that we’ve played three of the top teams in the league in five games already – Team USA, Chicago and Sioux City,” Hamilton said. “It will be nice to see a team we haven’t played lately.”
The USHL’s regular season schedule has teams playing exclusively within their conference, with no inter-conference play, except for the season-opening USHL Fall Classic. That grew monotonous for the Jacks last season, with many games against the same teams – Chicago, Green Bay, Dubuque, Team USA and Youngstown.
Those teams are still in the Eastern Conference and will play the Jacks a lot this year, but Madison and Cedar Rapids (which also sat out last season) are also in the conference and will provide some fresh competition throughout the season.