MUSKEGON – Think back a few months ago to Oct. 30, when the Muskegon Lumberjacks lost 4-3 at home to Dubuque and found themselves with a miserable 1-7-2 record after 10 games.
It looked like it was going to be a very long and painful season for the Jacks.
Forward to Sunday, when the Lumberjacks completed a three-game weekend sweep with an exciting 2-1 overtime victory over the Green Bay Gamblers at Mercy Health Arena.
The three weekend victories (beating Team USA on Friday night and Green Bay on Saturday and Sunday) left the Lumberjacks with a sparkling 20-10-3 record, with eight straight wins and 18 victories in their last 21 games.
Season turnarounds don’t get much more dramatic than that.
[1]The best part is that the long winning trend has allowed the Jacks to not only dig themselves out of the early hole they created for themselves, but climb very close to the top of the mountain.
The Lumberjacks are now in second place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference with 43 points, only three points behind the first-place Chicago Steel, who were idle on Sunday.
The Jacks will continue their pursuit of the top stop with two more home games next Friday and Saturday against the Youngstown Phantoms.
“Now it’s not just about running up the mountain, it’s about bringing your equipment with you so you can stay there,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton. “We can hopefully find a way to keep up the winning ways. We are still finding ourselves and what this team can become, and these guys keep impressing me every day.”
The Lumberjacks were a tired crew on Sunday afternoon, playing their third game in three days, and it showed.
[2]Green Bay led in shots on goal for most of the game, and the only regulation scoring came in the first period.
The Gamblers drew first blood with a goal by Brody Lamb at 4:13 of the first. The Jacks tied the score on Phil Tresca’s 19th goal of the season at the 9:16 mark, with assists from Jack Williams and Noah Ellis. That score was the only power play goal of the game,
There was no scoring in the second or third periods, which took the teams to overtime, which is always a good scenario for Muskegon these days.
The Jacks came in with a 3-1 record in overtime games this season, including a 3-0 mark at home. They also had momentum after beating Green Bay 4-3 in overtime on Saturday night.
They pulled off their OT magic again when Ellis took a shot from a tight angle just to the right of the Green Bay net, then Quinn Hutson scooped up the rebound and banged it home for the game-winning goal at the 3:58 mark of overtime.
It was Hutson’s third game-winning overtime goal of the season.
[3]“A win is a win, and we will take it,” Hamilton said. “A lot of guys were running on fumes on both teams, but everybody just dug deep, and we found a way to get it done. We possessed the puck for about three minutes and dominated that overtime.”
Hamilton compared the three weekend games to a short playoff series, and said he liked the way his team handled the challenge.
“In the playoffs you get these short series, sometimes three-game series, and it’s good to see that these guys can dig deep.”
Muskegon got a big boost from goalie Aleksander Kuleshov, who shut Green Bay down after giving up the early goal in the first period. He started two games this weekend because Platon Zhadorozny, usually the Jacks’ top goalie, was feeling under the weather and was unable to play
Kuleshov’s biggest save came in overtime, when he stopped a breakaway by a Green Bay player about two minutes into the extra period, keeping the game alive and allowing Hutson to settle the issue with his goal about two minutes later.
Kuleshov ended up stopping 36 of the 37 shots he faced and collected the win for the second straight night.
“He was great this weekend and he really bailed us out,” Hamilton said about the goalie.
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST PERIOD
Green Bay – 4:13- Brody Lamb (Aaron Brown, Alex Servagno)
Muskegon – 9:16- Phil Tresca (19) (Jack Williams, Noah Ellis)
SECOND PERIOD
NO SCORING
THIRD PERIOD
NO SCORING
OVERTIME
Muskegon – 3:58 – Quinn Hutson (Tyler Hotson, Noah Ellis)
[4]