MUSKEGON – Last week, after he was named team captain, Muskegon Lumberjacks forward Owen Mehlenbacher reassured fans that the team’s slow start was misleading, and the high level of talent on the roster would become obvious soon enough.
His words became prophetic just a few days later, when the Jacks rose up and swept the Cedar Rapids Roughriders in consecutive games last weekend, 3-2 in overtime on Friday night and 6-2 on Saturday night, to improve their record to 3-2 on the season.
Mehlenbacher, who was elected captain by his teammates last week, played a very big role in the Jacks’ sudden turnaround, but not in the way most people would have expected.
[1]The Jacks were losing 2-0 in the second period on Friday when Mehlenbacher says he was crosschecked across the face by Cedar Rapids defenseman Brendan Fitzgerald. He reacted by doing something he rarely does and got into one humdinger of a fight.
Mehlenbacher pounded the tar out of Fitzgerald in one of the more lively scraps that Jacks fans have witnessed in some time.
He also tore Fitzgerald’s helmet off during the fight, which earned him in a game misconduct and a one-game suspension, which caused him to miss Saturday’s contest.
Watching their new leader throw down with an opponent lit a fire under the Jacks, and they overcame their slow start, tied the game 2-2 by the end of regulation, then won in overtime.
Mehlenbacher said it was only the third fight he’s had in his career, and two of them have been against Cedar Rapids, a very physical team that’s always ready for the rough stuff.
[2]He said he’s 2-0-1 in fights in his career – and the tie clearly was not on Friday, because Mehelenbacher was the obvious winner.
“He wasn’t that big, so I didn’t expect anything less,” said Mehlenbacher, who will be back in the lineup when the Lumberjacks visit Green Bay for games on Friday and Saturday.
The fight was actually Fitzgerald’s idea, according to Mehlenbacher, and he said he was more than willing to oblige.
“I came behind the net and passed the puck up, he cross-checked me across the face and asked me if I wanted to go,” Mehlenbacher said. “They only had six defensemen in the lineup, so I figured taking one out would be beneficial to our team.
“I kind of ripped off his helmet, which really hurt, but that wasn’t planned. I tried to end the fight by grabbing him and pulling him down, and I kind of grabbed his helmet and pulled it off. It wasn’t ideal.”
Mehlenbacher admitted that, in the back of his mind, he was hoping that the fight would get the Jacks fired up and back into their game.
[3]“We were off to a slow start, we needed some energy, and I was kind of thinking to myself that something like that might get us going,” he said. “I’ll take that for the guys any day of the week.”
Mehlenbacher was not happy when he learned he had to sit out the rest of the game, and Saturday’s game as well, but he was pleased with the way his teammates responded.
He said as well as the Jacks played over the weekend, they haven’t even scratched the surface.
“The was just protecting pucks and working hard,” he said. “The real skill part is yet to come. We have a lot more to bring and we’ll be scoring more goals for sure. We’re getting there. We’re continuing to gel as a team.”
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