The Muskegon Lumberjacks clinched home ice for the first round of the United States Hockey League playoffs with a 6-2 victory over the Team USA 17-Under squad on Saturday.
With the victory, the Lumberjacks went a perfect 6-0 against the Team USA 17-Under team this season while improving to 32-22-6 overall.
Muskegon took a 1-0 lead at the 18:02 mark of the first period when Ben Strinden scored off an assist from Nathan McBrayer and Phillip Tresca.
After Team USA tied the game at 1-1 early in the second period, Quinn Hutson scored off an assist from Jacob Guevin and Jack Williams at the 8:36 mark on a power play to give the Lumberjacks a 2-1 lead.
With the score 2-2 at the 17:19 mark in the second period, Jacob Braccini found the back of the net off a pass from Strinden to give Muskegon a 3-2 lead at the end of two periods.
Just 3:45 into the third period, Williams scored his 17th goal of the season off an assist from Tyler Dunbar, giving Muskegon a 4-2 lead.
A power play goal from Noah Ellis with eight minutes remaining made the score 5-2 before an empty net goal by Owen Mehlenbacher at the 16:09 mark made the final score 6-2.
Strinden led the Lumberjacks with one goal and one assist on the night while goalie Aleksandr Kuleshov stopped 13-of-15 shots on the night.
With the win, Muskegon remains in third place of the Eastern Conference and will next play at Chicago on Friday.