MUSKEGON – Everyone knows how the Muskegon Lumberjacks shot up the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings over the past few months, going from dead last to first place.
Fewer people have noticed a less positive trend – how the Jacks have crept up the conference standings in terms of penalty minutes.
It’s not that the Lumberjacks have a roster full of fighters or goons. On the contrary, they are a very skill-based team with more pure hockey talent than most teams in the league.
But they certainly get their share of penalties, which was impossible to ignore in two home games last weekend against the Madison Capitols.
On Friday the Jacks were whistled for seven penalties for 25 minutes in the box, compared to two penalties for 10 minutes for Madison.
[1]Tyler Hotson had the biggest infraction of the night when he was whistled for head contact with an opponent in the second period. He received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct, which means he was tossed from the contest.
On Saturday the Lumberjacks had eight penalties for 35 minutes, compared to five penalties for 10 minutes for Madison. Owen Mehlenbacher was called for cross checking and received a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct. Ethan Whitcomb was called for checking from behind and roughing on the same play. He was also given a 10-minute misconduct.
Overall the Jacks have served 606 minutes in the penalty box this season. They are second in the Eastern Conference in that category behind Cedar Rapids (821 minutes), but far ahead of everyone else. Green Bay has 534 penalty minutes, and no other team in the conference even has 500.
All of those penalties have been costly for the Jacks, because they are the worst team in the 16-team USHL in penalty killing at 72 percent. They have given up 46 power play goals, while only scoring 29 of their own.
The Lumberjacks are a very dangerous team when they play opponents 5-on-5, because they have more offensive depth than most opponents. But when it comes to special teams, they clearly struggle.
“You always have to go back and question your self-discipline,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton. “We have to make sure we stay out of the box. One of our keys is that we have four lines (of forwards) and we grind other teams down. We’re not going to go very far in the playoffs if we lack self-discipline and have to win the special teams battle on a nightly basis.”
Continuing saga in goal
The Lumberjacks’ continuing goalie saga was a topic of discussion on Friday night after an ugly 7-3 loss to Madison, which extended the Jacks’ winless streak to three games, the longest since late October.
Starting goalie Aleksandr Kuleshov struggled in the game, giving up five goals on 17 shots and was pulled in the second period.
He was replaced by newcomer Chase Clark, who stopped 11 of 13 shots the rest of the way.
Hamilton was not pleased about the overall goalie performance after the game.
“We have let our goalies off the hook for a long time,” the coach said. “We need to stop more pucks.”
Clark was set to get the start the following night in a rematch against Madison, but was sick, so Kuleshov played again and was much better, stopping 38 of 41 shots in a much-needed 4-3 victory.
[2]Both goalies will likely see action this weekend when the Jacks visit Youngstown on Friday and Saturday night.
“(Kuleshov) did not have the best game on Friday, but he responded really well on Saturday,” Hamilton said. “We always talk about how important it is to respond well from a loss.
“The goalies are all very clear on where we stand right now. All year it has been an open competition, and we need someone to take over the net and run with it.”
That has been a challenge for the Jacks all season. Their first starter, Jan Skorpik, struggled in the early weeks of the season and was released. Russian Platon Zadorozhnyy was signed to replace him and played well, but recently left the team for the rest of the season due to ongoing symptoms from a case of COVID he had last summer.
The Lumberjacks obtained Clark from Tri-City in a recent trade, and now he, Kuleshov and rookie Cameron Korpi are competing for playing time.
Hamilton said he’s eager to get a good look at Clark, a hulking 6-foot-6, 218-pounder with a lot of potential, which is why he was drafted last year by the USHL’s Washington Capitals.
“He’s been practicing all week and should be ready to go for the weekend,” the coach said about Clark. “He’s obviously a big boy, very athletic, moves well from side-to-side, and plays the puck very well. He’s an NHL draft pick for a reason, and he’s been very impressive in practice.”
One downside is that Clark has been inactive for the better part of the last few months, with no game time to speak of. But that could also be a plus, according to Hamilton.
“He might be a little game rusty, but he’s fresh and excited and ready to go,” the coach said.
Don’t look now….
The Lumberjacks’ 1-1 weekend moved them back into a tie for first place in the Eastern Conference with the Chicago Steel.
The Jacks are currently 23-11-3 for 52 points in the standings, while Chicago also has 52 points.
For a short time it looked like those two teams would battle for first place the rest of the season, but suddenly there’s a new contender, the Dubuque Fighting Saints, who are 6-3-1 in their last 10 games and have 51 points in the standings, only one point behind the leaders.
[3]“They’ve been playing really well lately, and they have played two less games than us,” Hamilton said. “It’s going to come down to a tightly-contested race.”
While every team’s focus is ultimately on the postseason playoffs, the playoff pairings are determined by the regular season standings.
The first and second place teams in the conference will get a first-round bye in the Clark Cup playoffs, while the third-place team will have to play the sixth-place team in the first round.
That means an extra opponent to eliminate and a lot of extra energy to expend for the third-place team.
“(A first-round bye) saves wear and tear,” Hamilton said. “If you told me we could play in the first round, with a guarantee that we would win in two games, I would take that, but with the risk of injuries and suspensions and things like that, we would rather have that bye.”