MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks are finally getting the type of production from Owen Mehlenbacher they knew they would get, sooner or later.

And it’s happening at the perfect time of year, with only four regular season games remaining, following by the playoffs, when the Lumberjacks hope to make a long run and contend for the first Clark Cup championship in franchise history.

The biggest question is whether the Lumberjacks will be able to cash in on a full season from Mehlenbacher, now that he’s found his scoring touch. He’s eligible to return for the 2022-23 season, but also has a hockey scholarship waiting for him at the University of Wisconsin.

He doesn’t know if he will get the call to join the Badgers in the fall or will come back for another turn with the Jacks.

“I’m not sure what’s going to happen yet,” said Mehlenbacher, a 6-2, 190 pound forward from Ontario. “I’m not sure if (Wisconsin) is going to need me yet. There’s a chance that I will be back, and it’s probably leaning more likely that way. If I do come back there will be a lot of good guys from this team coming back with me.”

The Jacks will certainly be happy if he does return, because Mehlenbacher has been on fire over the past two months, totaling four goals and four assists in March and five goals and four assists so far in April.

He has more than doubled his goal-scoring total during his recent hot streak.  He came into March with only seven goals, but now has 15 tallies to go with 22 assists.

Those are the type of numbers the Lumberjacks were expecting when they made Mehlenbacher a tendered draft choice prior to the 2020-21 season. That means he was selected and signed before the draft, and the team had to give up their top pick in return.

The move was based on Mehlenbacher’s numbers in the lower levels of junior hockey, when he started showing the potential to be a major point producer.

In 2019-20, as a 14-year-old, he had 23 goals and 21 assists with the Southern Tier Admirals. The next season he really came on, with 36 goals and 32 assists with the Buffalo Junior Sabres.

Mehlenbacher started off slow in his rookie campaign in Muskegon last season, totaling eight goals and five assists, but he was only 16 and still had a lot to learn.

Everyone expected him to hit his stride this season, but injuries and illness impeded his progress for a good part of the season.

“I separated my shoulder in November and was out for two weeks, then I got a nasty sinus infection that lasted about four weeks, until Christmas break when I went home and got some medication,” said Mehlenbacher, 18. “I played through that, but it wasn’t the easiest thing to do, and I definitely didn’t play my best hockey.”

He really started to produce in recent weeks when he was put on a forward line with talented rookie Jake Richard. The two of them started clicking right away, and each of them have totaled nine points (goals plus assists) over the past six games.

“Once he got on my line we definitely took a turn.” Mehlenbacher said. “I’m more of a hard power forward who goes into the corners and wins battles for the puck, and he’s a natural playmaker who can get me the puck when I’m in the right spot. It just works out perfect.”

Mehlenbacher and Richard were responsible for two of the three goals in Sunday’s 3-2 win in Green Bay, which helped the Jacks avoid a three-loss weekend.

Mehlenbacher scored the first goal of the game in the first period, then Richard scored the game-winner, with an assist from Mehlenbacher, in the third.

It had been a frustrating weekend for the team up to that point, after suffering a narrow 4-3 loss in Dubuque on Friday and a 6-5 loss to Cedar Rapids on Saturday.

The victory was extra impressive because the Jacks had played in Cedar Rapids, Iowa the night before, then got on the bus and made the five-hour drive to Green Bay and arrived around 4 a.m. There was little time for rest coming off the highway, because the game began at 3 p.m.

“That was huge for us,” Mehlenbacher said. “We had a couple little mistakes that cost us two goals, but we dominated the whole game. So when we came back and scored that final goal, it was huge. It was a big weekend for my line.”

The Lumberjacks have been on the road for the past six games covering three weeks, and it’s been a tough stretch for the team from a mental perspective. They only have two wins on the trip, but three of the four losses have only been by one goal.

Now they are down to four regular season games – two this weekend in Plymouth, Michigan against the Team USA 17-Under squad, one in Chicago on April 22, then the last game at home against Chicago on April 23.

Mehlenbacher said the team has been playing good hockey throughout the road swing, but hasn’t been getting many breaks. He said the key is for the players to just keep doing what they’ve been doing, and the sky could be the limit when the playoffs arrive.

“Our game has been great for the past three or four weeks,” he said. “We’re outcompeting every team, but we’re just getting some unlucky bounces. I think the hockey Gods will eventually reward us for playing good.”