MUSKEGON- Go figure.
One night after rallying with three unanswered goals and posting an exciting win, the Muskegon Lumberjacks had nothing on Saturday.
Nothing, as in no goals. The Jacks lost to the visiting Green Bay Gamblers 3-0 and were shut out for the first time in 13 games this season.
The Lumberjacks fell to 7-6-0 on the season and have 14 points in the standings. Green Bay improved to 7-6-1 and jumped ahead of the Jacks in the USHL’sEastern Conference with 15 points.
[1]The Jacks will spend next weekend on the road with Friday and Saturday night games in Dubuque against the Fighting Saints.
It’s not as if offense has been a problem for the Jacks. They came into the game second in scoring in the Eastern Conference and have talented offensive players up and down their roster.
But nobody on the team displayed much offense on Saturday, a fact that Coach Mike Hamilton found downright offensive.
“We were lifeless the entire game,” Hamilton said. “It was the worst first two periods that I have seen as far as our effort since I came to Muskegon five years ago.
“I was disappointed in how our guys competed in those first 40 minutes. At the end of the day, we’ve all got to look in the mirror and figure out what we did wrong.
[2]“You can look at excuses and talk about not playing enough two-game weekends, but your heart has to be big, and today we didn’t play with heart.”
The power play was a particular problem are the Jacks, on Saturday and the entire weekend.
On Friday they went scoreless in six power play opportunities and on Saturday they were 0-for-5.
“You’ve got to want it more than they do,” Hamilton said. “Loose pucks, faceoffs and all the little details where it goes down to hard work, they won all those battles.”
The lone bright spot for the Jacks was goalie Noah Rupprecht, who played another good game after posting the victory on Friday. He stopped 27 of 30 shots and on any other night might have been the winning goalie.
[3]“Rupprecht played well again and gave us an opportunity to stay in that game, and gave us an opportunity to decide if we wanted to win it, and tonight we chose not to compete and play hard,” Hamilton said. “Noah worked hard and played great, and his teammates didn’t help him out.”
The first period was scoreless with the Jacks outshooting the Gamblers 9-8.
Green Bay took the lead in the second period with a goal by Mike DeAngelo at the 7:34 mark, and the score was 1-0 heading into the third.
Muskegon only managed five shots in the second period, compared to Green Bay’s 13.
The Gamblers finished off the scoring in the third period with goals from Nicholas VanTassell at the 45 second mark and Jayden Davis at 16:03.
[4]