MUSKEGON – Of course the mark of a really good team is when it can fall behind a bad team by a few goals, and still feel confident about getting the win.
It appears that the Muskegon Lumberjacks, with a wide array of dangerous scorers, have reached that status.
The Jacks fell behind the Team USA 17-Under squad 3-1 and 4-3 on Saturday night, in a game where they pulled their goalie in the first period and looked listless at times.
But when crunch time came, the guys who seem to always find the net did it again, and the Lumberjacks powered their way to a 5-4 victory at Mercy Health Arena to capture their second victory of the weekend.
Quinn Hutson scored his 15th goal of the year to pull the Jacks within one goal in the second period. The recently hot rookie Jake Richard scored his fifth goal to tie the game up.
[1]Jake Braccini scored his 12th goal of the season in the third period to tie the score again 4-4, then Phil Tresca scored his 14th on a power play at 11:13, giving Muskegon its final edge.
The Lumberjacks improved to 15-10-3 on the season and won for the 13th time in their last 16 games.
“It was a grind and I think we came out there a little slow and didn’t respect our opponent and they outplayed us,” said Lumberjacks coach Mike Hamilton. “The guys didn’t get frustrated, but stayed with the game and found a way to get the W, which is a sign of a good team.”
The game started very badly for the Jacks, who trailed 3-1 after one period following goals by Team USA’s Charlie Cerrato, Oliver Moore and Beckett Hndrickson. Ben Strinden scored the first-period goal for the Jacks.
Muskegon pulled starting goalie Alexander Kuleshov after the third goal, when the home team needed to stop the bleeding before it got too far behind.
[2]Kuleshov stopped two of five shots before leaving the game.
Platon Zadorozhnyy stepped into the net and shut down the Team USA attack the rest of the game, blocking 19 of 20 shots.
“They had three goals on five shots and they were really well-placed, and at the end of the day sometimes you make a move just to get a spark,” Hamilton said. “I really think it was a turning point in the game and the guys responded.”
The Lumberjacks’ comeback hit a bump in the third period, when the game was tied 3-3. The Jacks went on the power play following a Team USA penalty, but gave up a short-handed goal to Gracyn Sawchyn 5:24 into the period and fell behind 4-3.
But Braccini scored his second goal of the weekend at the 10:16 mark, then Tresca did the same when he scored the game-winner on a power play at 11:13.
[3]Muskegon was 1-for-5 on the power play in the game, but scored on the one that counted the most.
“It was deflating,” Hamilton said about the short-handed goal. “At the end of the next power play we finally scored a goal, and of course the power play struggled, but you get one to win the hockey game.”
Hutson had two assists to go with his goal. Joey Larson also had two assists and Strinden has an assist to go with his goal.
Muskegon outshot Team USA 38-25.
SCORING SUMMARY
FIRST PERIOD
Team USA – 1:30 – Charlie Cerrato (Oliver Moore)
Team USA – 6:50 – Oiver Moore (Ryan Leonard, Gabe Perrault)
Muskegon – 7:14 – Ben Strinden (13), (Quinn Hutson)
Team USA – 10:48 – Beckett Hendrickson (Zeev Buium, Zach Schulz)
SECOND PERIOD
Muskegon – 16:29 – Quinn Hutson (Ben Strinden, Joey Larson)
Muskegon – `17:49 – Jake Richard (5) (Quinn Hutson)
THIRD PERIOD
Team USA – 5:24 – Gracyn Sawchyn (shorthanded) (Ryan Fine)
Muskegon – 10:16 – Jake Braccini (12) (David Hymovitch, Joey Larson)
Muskegon – 11:13 – Phil Tresca (14) (Jack Williams. Noah Ellis)