MUSKEGON – Four Muskegon Lumberjacks standouts got a taste of playing championship hockey on the world stage earlier this month, and now they would love to duplicate their success back home.

Three of those returning stars got off to a good start on Friday night, helping the Jacks beat Team USA 9-6 in Plymouth, Michigan, and they will be in the lineup on Saturday night when the Jacks host a New Year’s Eve rematch with Team USA at 6:10 p.m.

Forwards Jake Richard and Ethan Whitcomb and defensemen Nathan McBrayer and Gavin McCarthy were among the elite United States Hockey League players who were selected to comprise the American team in the World Junior A Challenge international hockey tournament in Cornwall, Ontario between Dec. 11-18.

Playing in an international tournament was a first for all four players, and it couldn’t have been a more successful experience.

The American squad posted a 5-1 record, capped by a 5-2 victory over Canada East in the tournament championship game. The players were awarded Olympic-style gold medals after the title game, which made the entire effort worth it.

“They put the medals around our necks and it was an awesome experience,” said Richard, the Lumberjacks’ leading scorer so far this season. “It was the opportunity of a lifetime and gave us memories for life. To come out of it with a gold medal is something I will always remember.”

Richard, Whitcomb and McBrayer all played key roles for the USA squad throughout the tournament.

Whitcomb totaled three goals and three assists, Richard had one goal and four assists and McBrayer contributed four assists.

The only negative for the Lumberjacks involved McCarthy, who suffered an injury in the first game and missed the rest. He is expected to be out of the Lumberjacks’ lineup for at least a month.

“He stayed the whole time and supported us, and he got a medal,” McBrayer said about his fellow defenseman. “I know it was hard for him to have to sit up in the stands and watch.”

Whitcomb and Richard played together on the same forward line throughout the tournament, along with Dubuque Fighting Saints star Ryan St. Louis. Richard assisted on all three of Whitcomb’s goals and said their familiarity with each other really came in handy.

“I have a lot of experience playing with Ethan over the past two years, so it came together well,” Richard said.

Whitcomb scored the Americans’ fourth goal in the championship game. It came on a centering pass from Richard, and Whitcomb called it “my favorite goal I ever scored.”

“It was a nice play by Richie, he made a spin around his back kind of pass, and I just shot a one-timer,” Whitcomb said. “It was on the international stage in the gold medal game. It was pretty cool.”

McBrayer had assists on the first and fourth goals in the Americans’ 4-3 comeback win over Sweden in the semifinal round. Sweden led 3-1 in the contest before the USA squad roared back to steal the victory.

“We were kind of down a little bit, but once we got another goal to make it 3-2 we knew we had the momentum back,” McBrayer said.

The best overall performance for the three Lumberjacks was in a 9-0 win over Latvia.

Whitcomb scored with an assist from Richard and St. Louis, Whitcomb and Richard both assisted on a goal, Richard scored a goal and McBrayer had an assist.

The tournament did not start out great for the Americans. They lost their first game 5-3 to Canada West, but pulled together to win their next five over Sweden, Canada East, Latvia, Sweden again and Canada East again in the finals.

Rallying to win the gold medal after an opening-game loss was no easy task for the Americans, who all came from USHL teams but had very little experience playing together. But the guys hit it off right away, and their performance quickly improved on the ice, McBrayer said.

“It was hard at first, but we did a lot of things together as a group, and once we got out in the ice it was easy to make plays,” he said. “We gained confidence in each other and just clicked.”

Even while they were competing for gold medals, the four Muskegon players kept on eye on how their team was faring back home.

The Lumberjacks posted a 1-3-1 record with their four standout teammates missing, but a lot of other players got more ice time than usual, performed well, and that will pay off for the team over the rest of the season, according to McBrayer.

“It was nice to see those guys get to play bigger roles and they did well,” he said. “I hope going forward that they can take that confidence they gained and keep rolling with it. We have a really stacked team here, and it’s good for the team to have everyone playing with a lot of confidence.”

They four standouts returned to a slightly different team, because the Lumberjacks were sold to a new owner while they were gone, and associate head coach Parker Burgess replaced Mike Hamilton as the team’s head coach.

“The team did a good job of keeping us in the loop while we were gone,” Richard said about the sudden changes. “They brought us into a zoom team meeting and made sure we knew about everything that was going on.

“It’s a fresh start for everyone and we’re all excited about coming back from break to see what will happen the rest of the season.”

McBrayer said the Lumberjacks are still the talented team they were before the international tournament and the internal changes, and said that will show on the ice.

“We’re confident in our team,” he said. “We want to win every game.”