MUSKEGON – The victories have been coming in big bunches for the Muskegon Lumberjacks over the past two months.

They have eight wins in a row heading into this weekend’s home games against the Youngstown Phantoms. They have won 10 straight home games and have 18 victories in their last 21 games.

The Jacks’ incredible hot streak, dating back to mid-November, has produced an amazing turnaround that virtually nobody in Muskegon or throughout the United States Hockey League saw coming.

The Lumberjacks started the season with a miserable 2-7-3 record and were stuck in last place, miles from the top of the standings or even playoff contention. Suddenly, after winning all three games last weekend, they find themselves with a 20-10-3 record, good for second place in the eight-team USHL Eastern Conference, only three points behind first-place Chicago.

This could turn out to be the best Lumberjacks team that has ever played, one that has a real chance to win the first Clark Cup championship in the history of the franchise.

Lumberjacks captain Jack Williams, who scored the game-tying goal in regulation last Saturday, and the game-winner in overtime. Photo/Tonya Pardon

But there’s a bigger success story to tell, as well.

Sunday’s 2-1 overtime victory over Green Bay gave the Lumberjacks exactly 350 wins in franchise history. Their overall mark over 12 seasons is now 350-270-65 since 2010-11.

The team reached that milestone much faster than it probably would have if head coach Mike Hamilton had not come to town.

In 3 ½ seasons behind the Lumberjacks’ bench, Hamilton has produced 116 regular season wins, which is very close to a full one-third of the 350 total wins.

Hamilton’s tenure has produced the best era in Lumberjacks history, hands down.

The coach started out hot in his first season, 2018-19, when the Lumberjacks posted a 41-17-3 record and won their first conference title in team history. The next year, with a young roster, they went 21-23-5 before the season was shut down due to the onset of COVID.

Last season the Jacks were back to their winning ways, going 34-16-4 and finishing second in the conference behind Chicago.

This season they are currently 20-10-3 and in second place, despite their horrible start, and the way things are going there should be a lot more victories before the season is over.

‘I love pushing’

So how does the current coaching staff thrive where others have fallen short?

Hamilton says it’s all about selling Muskegon and the Lumberjacks organization to many of the top young players in North America and Europe, often through their agents. The coaches have worked hard to promote Muskegon as a city, Mercy Health Arena as an excellent training facility, and the coaching staff as one that specializes in preparing young players for college hockey.

“it’s about selling the brand, selling the city and selling the facilities,” Hamilton said. “Our staff here takes pride in all of that. I do believe a lot of our success was set up by (former general manager) John Vanbiesbrouck and (former coaches) Todd Krygier and John LaFontaine. They got the organization through the dog days when some guys didn’t want to come here, and we’ve continued to raise the bar. Our goal has been to make it a destination where kids want to play.

“You talk to agents and players, and they will tell you there are programs that do a little more for players, from the amount of ice time available to them and how much the coaches push player development. We are one of those organizations that constantly come up in those conversations.”

Another key is Hamilton’s coaching style, which is intense and driven by results. The Lumberjacks’ practices are focused, challenging and competitive. Players are not handed opportunities based on their reputations – they have to earn their chances on a regular basis.

Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton, who has produced 116 regular season wins in fewer than four full seasons. Photo/Tonya Pardon

A good example came a few weeks ago, on New Year’s Eve, when Cameron Korpi, the Lumberjacks’ young third-string goaltender, was given the chance to start in the first game back after the 10-day holiday break. The 17-year-old responded by stopping 26 of 28 shots and the Jacks won 3-2 in overtime.

“He had a great week of practice,” Hamilton said after the game, when asked why Korpi was given the start in the first post-holiday game. “We had an internal game the other day and he won it and looked really sharp. We believe in what he brings to the table, so we need to remain committed to developing him.”

When the Jacks struggle in certain areas, Hamilton addresses it directly. A good example came earlier this season, when the team was being called for too many penalties at crucial times in several games.

Hamilton implemented a “penalty court,” where the coaches and players review each infraction to determine if it was necessary, or a foolish penalty that hurt the team. If the penalty is determined to be a bad one, the entire team does extra hard skating as punishment.

“This is the first year I’ve done this,” the coach said in November. “Each team is different. Some teams need this type of leadership. One of the things about this team is you have to make sure you are holding them accountable. The penalties have been happening too often. We’ve got to be smarter about who and when and where and how the refs are calling the game.”

Hamilton says being tough is necessary to produce wins and help the players prepare for their future challenges,

“I love pushing, I love seeing things done to perfection,” Hamilton said. “Our guys are always being challenged in terms of how they are doing things and how they can do them better. It takes some guys a while to get there. They may come in and think I’m too much for them at first, but as time goes by they recognize that we’re preparing them for greatness.”

Pieces falling into place

The Jacks’ coaching staff kept pushing the players hard earlier this season when things weren’t going well, and the team eventually responded.

The Jacks were scoring very few goals in the early weeks of the season, and many were wondering if any of the forwards would step up to be big point producers.

Through the first dozen games the Jacks were only averaging three goals per game, which was not producing many wins.

Then it soon became apparent that lots of guys could score, and the Jacks have as much or more offensive depth as any team in the league. Since those first 12 games, the team is averaging 4.6 goals per contest and is third in the league in overall goal nscoring.

Muskegon currently has five players with double-digit goals this season – forwards Phil Tresca (19), Joey Larson (18), Quinn Hutson (17), Jake Braccini (15) and Ben Strinden (14). Two other players, Jacob Guevin and team captain Jack Williams, have huge assist totals, with 27 and 24, respectively.

Hutson is currently fourth in the league in total point production while Tresca is 12th.

Lumberjacks forward Phil Tresca (center) currently leads the team with 19 goals. Photo/Tonya Pardon

The scoring bug has spread to younger players, like 17-year-old rookie Jake Richard, who had no goals in the first two months of the season. He finally scored on Dec. 11 in Chicago and has buried the puck six more times since then.

“Early in the season, everyone was leaning really heavy on Williams, Tresca and Hutson, and they were obviously pressing,” Hamilton said. “Now those guys don’t have to press because it’s not just one or two guys who have to win the game for us. A lot of guys are chipping in, including some defensemen.

“From a five-on-five standpoint, we have as much scoring depth as any team you’re going to find in the league.”

The scoring and sound defensive play started falling into place following some early personnel changes, according to Hamilton.

The Jacks opened the season with Jan Skorpik, a part-time starting goalie last season, as the everyday No. 1 netminder, but he struggled in early games and was released.

To replace him, the team acquired two talented and experienced Russian goalies – Platon Zadorozhnny and Aleksander Kuleshov – who both had to gain releases from teams in their native country to come to Muskegon.

Both have played well, particularly the very athletic Zadorozhnny, who is currently 12th in the league among goalies with a 9-4 record and a sparkling 3.11 goals against average.

“We have to tip our caps to Steve Lowe (the Jacks’ president of hockey operations) and Jim McGroarty (general manager) for going out and finding two world-class goalies,” Hamilton said. “We were struggling a bit in net and we went through some tough stretches, then those guys came in and gave us the confidence that we could win hockey games.”

Hamilton said the season really started to turn around on Nov. 13 in Chicago, when Zadorozhnny was making his second start for the team. The last-place Lumberjacks beat the first-place Steel 5-4 and something clicked, according to the coach.

“We won a game in Chicago when we were the last-place team, and you could just feel the difference,” the coach said. “Suddenly the guys were like, ‘We really do have something special here.’”

Winning in lots of different ways

With solid play in all areas, the Lumberjacks have been piling up the wins in lots of different ways.

They can bury people with their offensive depth. The best example came on Jan. 7 in Madison, when 10 different Lumberjacks scored in a 10-6 victory over the Capitols. Six different Madison players scored, as well, making it a 16-goal game with 16 different scorers!

The Jacks can also win when opponents get very physical and try to take them out of their skill game. That happened on Dec. 5, when the Cedar Rapids Roughriders, the most penalized team in the league, came to town and put on a fight-fest with the Lumberjacks.

The teams combined for a total of 156 penalty minutes in that game, including 72 for the Roughriders alone in the second period. The second period also saw an old school brawl with three fights happening at the same time. Despite the rough stuff, the Lumberjacks broke a 1-1 tie in the third period when Tresca scored a rare natural hat trick (three goals in a row) and walked away with a 5-2 victory.

“We were getting pushed around a little bit, and the guys had to stand up for themselves and their teammates,” Hamilton said. “We don’t have many pure fighters, but when it came time they stepped up and stood their ground. For us to go through that and still figure out how to win was great.”

The Lumberjacks swept three weekend games from Cedar Rapids in December and went toe-to-toe with the Roughriders in the fighting category, too. Photo/Tonya Pardon

The Jacks can also rally and win when they’ve fallen far behind. That happened last Saturday in front of a big crowd at Mercy Health Arena, when Muskegon trailed Green Bay 3-0 early in the second period. David Hymovitch, Braccini and Williams all scored to tie the game, when Williams found the net in overtime to give the Jacks a thrilling 4-3 win.

With eight straight wins and 18 victories in 21 games, even Hamilton is a bit surprised at the pace of the turnaround.

“It’s really been a team effort, from the top to the bottom,” the coach said. “We worked together to get through the rough times, and when a team believes and starts to have confidence, you win games.”

Hamilton stresses that there’s a long way to go. While the Lumberjacks’ climb up the league standings has been impressive, the standings don’t mean much with nearly half of the regular season left to play, he said.

“Until about two weeks ago I hadn’t even looked at the standings,” the coach said. “It’s not something we really talk about just yet. We’re not there yet. We have details to address and things to clean up before we worry about being the No. 1 team.”