MU8KEGON – When Jake Richard scored a goal in overtime last Friday, giving the Muskegon Lumberjacks a come-from-behind 5-4 victory on the road over Cedar Rapids, Chase Clark might have been the happiest person in the building.

The 19-year-old goalie, getting his first start for Muskegon, had just won his first game in months, following a bumpy season and an up-and-down couple of years.

Clark started the 2020-21 season with the USHL’s Omaha Lancers, was injured in training camp, then ended up playing for the New Jersey Hitmen of the Tier 2 National Collegiate Development Conference.

He did well there, helping the Hitmen win a league title, and was picked up by the USHL’s Tri-City Storm toward the end of last season. He began this season with the Storm as well, alternating game-to-game with another goalie.

He had several very good games, including a shutout victory against Omaha on Oct. 29, before a concussion sent him to the sidelines for weeks.

Clark returned to the Storm in December and played in a few games, but was a healthy scratch from the lineup by January and was finally traded to Muskegon in early February.

“It was a weird situation,” Clark said about his last few weeks with Tri-City. “(The trade) wasn’t my decision, but it is what it is. I appreciate them giving me the chance to break into the USHL, and I have nothing but good things to say about the boys on the team and the coaching staff.”

As luck would have it, Clark came down with a hard case of the flu just after arriving in Muskegon. He got into a game on Feb. 11 in relief of goalie Aleksandr Kuleshov, and played well in a 7-3 loss to Madison, but felt horrible the whole time.

“I got the stomach flu two days after I got here,” he said. “I started getting really sick that Friday, but everything came up that morning, so I thought I was good to go (for the game) that night. But just before the game everything came up again. I did not leave my bed for a while once I got home that night.

“It was definitely a rough start.”

Clark got into another game a week later, in relief of rookie goalie Cameron Korpi, and it turned out to be another loss. He dressed for the three games after that but served as the backup goalie and did not see ice time.

Clark finally got his first start with the Jacks last Friday in Cedar Rapids, after Kuleshov was injured the previous weekend against Chicago.  He played well on a very busy night, when the Jacks were outshot 49-30, stopping 45 shots.

All of those saves kept Muskegon in the game until forward Jake Braccini scored the tying goal late in regulation, and Richard scored the winner in overtime.

“It felt amazing to get that monkey off my back,” Clark said about last weekend’s victory. “I have been working as hard as I can in practice and did the best I could in the games.

“It was a close game. We went up early, then they crawled back and took the lead, then it went to overtime and we won. It was a really fun game to play in.”

While Clark has not stuck with any USHL team for very long, his potential is unquestionable.

The big 6-foot-6, 218-pound goalie was selected in the sixth round of last year’s National Hockey League draft by the Washington Capitals, who clearly liked his size and skill set. He is only one of two players on the Jacks roster – along with defenseman Noah Ellis – who was been drafted by an NHL team so far.

Clark remembers sitting at home in upstate New York last summer, watching television with his mom, when he learned he had been selected.

“I had talked to a lot of teams before the draft, but you never know for sure until you see your name up there,” Clark said. “I remember I went for an hour and a half bike ride before the draft, then I came home and I was sitting on the couch with my mom, and five minutes later my name popped up. I just started crying. I couldn’t believe it. My mom started crying too. They were tears of joy. It was something I had been working toward since I was a kid.”

The Lumberjacks are hoping that Clark can stabilize their goaltending situation, which has been somewhat chaotic all season. The original starter, Jan Skorpik, was released early in the season, and his replacement, Russian Platon Zadorozhnny, was lost for the season due to the lingering effects of a case of COVID.

That left Kuleshov and Korpi as the remaining goalies, so the Jacks brought Clark to town to add depth and compete for playing time.

“He got here and got sick just as we went into the Chicago series, so the timing wasn’t great,” said Lumberjacks Coach Mike Hamilton about Clark. “But he got a win on Friday, and it was good to see him play well at a time we really needed him.

“He’s very athletic. I think overall he moves well side-to-side and plays the puck well. He’s going to keep working with our goalie coach and he’ll do nothing but improve.”

Clark never expected to be with the Lumberjacks, but says he likes it here and is working hard to knock the rust off his skills, after so many weeks of not seeing much game action. He said he’s excited about helping the Jacks compete for an Eastern Conference title and Clark Cup championship during the stretch drive of the season.

“I’m kind of finding my rhythm and my game again,” he said. “Every game I play I feel better. I look at this as an opportunity to show everyone what I’m made of, and hopefully we can make a long run in the playoffs.”