MUSKEGON – After a slow start to the season, Muskegon Lumberjacks captain Jack Williams is producing a lot of points – just in a different sort of way.
Last season Williams finished with 18 goals and 20 assists in a breakout year, and the Jacks expected him to become one of their top goal scorers in 2021-22.
The goals have not been coming in bunches yet – he has four so far – but Williams already has 15 assists, good for a tie with Phil Tresca for second on the team behind defenseman Jacob Guevin.
[1]December has been particularly productive for Williams. Ten of his assists have come in the eight games this month, including an impressive four assists in a 5-2 victory over Cedar Rapids on Dec. 4.
His production spree has helped Muskegon win six of its eight games in December and move up in the standings.
The trick for Williams is that he puts the puck on net a lot, giving teammates an opportunity to pop in rebounds, even if the goalie makes an initial save. Williams currently has 70 shots on goal this season, which is fourth on the team.
“A lot of Jack’s assists come from guys cleaning up his scraps,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton, “That comes from him getting the puck to the net, which is a huge thing.
“Jack has a great shot and the ability to score. Of course we want him to score goals, but he continues to play the game the right way. He’s one of the most responsible two-way players on the team every night, and that’s huge.”
Jacks winning, but special teams still an issue
The Lumberjacks will return to action following the Christmas break with a pair of home games this weekend – on Friday in a special New Year’s Eve game against Youngstown, starting at 8:10 p.m., and on Saturday against Team USA at the normal 7:10 start time.
The Jacks hope to continue their recent surge, which has taken them from the basement of the USHL’s Eastern Conference to third place in the eight-team loop.
Muskegon is currently 13-10-3 for 29 points in the standings. The Jacks trail second-place Dubuque by nine points and first-place Chicago by 11.
While moving up in the standings and qualifying for the playoffs are certainly big goals for the Jacks, Hamilton says a lot of improvement is still needed, particularly in the special teams department.
Simply put, the Lumberjacks have given up far too many power-play goals this season, and have not scored nearly enough when they have the man advantage.
The Jacks have scored 15 goals on 89 power-play opportunities this season, which equates to 16.9 percent, the worst in the Eastern Conference. They have played shorthanded 101 times and given up 31 goals for a penalty kill percentage of 69.3 percent, which is also the worst in the conference.
A good example of the problem came in a 6-3 road loss to Green Bay on Dec. 17, when Green Bay scored three times on five power-play opportunities, while Muskegon was 0-for-6.
“We’ve made a nice push (in the standings) and we’re currently in third place, but if we think we’re going to make a run in the playoffs, we have to clean up the special teams,” Hamilton said. “That’s going to be our main focus for the next month or so.
“We need to get more pucks to the net on the power play, and on the penalty kill side, we have to figure out how to get more clears. Those are areas we have to clean up.”
Talented defenseman scores first goal
Lumberjacks rookie forward Jake Richard has received a lot of attention for scoring four goals in recent games, including the game-winner in Green Bay on Dec. 18, the Jacks’ last game before the Christmas break.
Richard, considered a major offensive talent with a lot of future potential, went without a goal this season before he finally found the net on Dec. 11 in Chicago.
Another talented youngster on the team, Nathan McBrayer, also scored his first goal of the season that night. While he hasn’t scored again since then, there are a lot more goals in his future, because McBrayer has a lot of offensive skill for a defenseman, according to Hamilton.
His career numbers back that up. Two years ago, playing AAA juniors in Ohio, McBrayer had 10 goals and 34 assists in 59 games.
[2]“He’s put himself in the lineup on a regular basis, and his minutes have continued to go up,” Hamilton said. “He spent the first 20 games leaning how to defend better and keep the game in front of him. He’s getting comfortable with defending and adjusting to the speed of the league, and hopefully the offense will start coming. He was a big point producer back in his youth days. It’s just a matter of him getting adjusted. He’s just going to continue to get better.”
McBrayer, 17, said the lack of a goal had been driving him crazy, and it was a great relief to finally score.
“Nick Peluso passed it to me at the point, I saw a ton of open space, I shot, then got my own rebound and put it in,” he said. “It was great to finally get that monkey off my back. I had just been waiting for one to go in.”
McBrayer said he texted his parents after the game to tell them about his first goal, then called them the next day.
“They didn’t watch it live,” he said. “They were at the Ohio State hockey game that night. But they were excited for me.”
McBrayer has committed to playing college hockey at Ohio State, but says he will play at least one more season in Muskegon before deciding when to join the Buckeyes.
He said adjusting to the USHL has been challenging, but it’s a good place for him to continue to sharpen his skills.
“It’s definitely a huge jump,” he said about the league. “You’re playing with older guys and they are more skilled. I think my defensive game has definitely improved. The coaches have been helping me with that. And more goals will probably come.”