MUSKEGON – Phil Tresca admits that playing in front of his parents – which doesn’t happen very often – provided a little more incentive for him to do well last weekend.

And the Muskegon Lumberjacks forward did very well, indeed, breaking loose for five goals over two games.

It all started on Friday night, when Tresca scored twice to lead the Jacks to a 4-2 win over the Cedar Rapids Roughriders at Mercy Health Arena.

Then he really heated up during Saturday night’s rematch with Cedar Rapids. The game was tied 1-1 after two periods, then Tresca erupted for three straight goals in the third period – a very rare natural hat trick – leading the Jacks to a thrilling 5-2 victory.

Tresca’s two best games of the season were witnessed by his parents, Steven and Laura Tresca, who flew in from their home in Massachusetts for the weekend series.

Tresca said he saw his mom and dad right away after Saturday’s game – shortly after the natural hat trick – and “they were super happy for me.”

“That was really special,” said Tresca, 19. “I obviously don’t get to see them nearly as much as I would like to. This was only the second time this season.

“I definitely was a little extra pumped up. I don’t want to say them being here was the reason I did so well, but you want to put on a little bit of a show  for your parents and play your heart out.”

Tresca doubled his season goal total from five to 10 in just two games and was the undisputed star of the weekend for the Lumberjacks, who swept all three games from Cedar Rapids on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

“It’s funny how that works out,” Tresca said. “I kind of just always try to go out and play my game, I never try to chase points, but they just kind of came to me. That’s how it went this weekend.”

Two of Tresca’s three natural hat trick goals on Saturday came on the power play.

“They switched up my role on the power play,” he said. “Before I was more of a net-front guy, but they moved me out higher in the slot to be more of a bumper, which made me a little more mobile and gave me more options, and it worked in our favor.”

Ironically, Tresca’s three big goals came right after a crazy second period, which was filled with fights and penalties and ended with the game tied 1-1.

After all of that, the challenge was to calm down and focus on getting the win, Tresca said.

“That was a pretty crazy second period, but the excitement gets a little too high,” he said. “In the locker room after that, the number one message was to stay focused, to catch our breaths and get our heartbeats down. Then we came out like it was any other period and it worked for us.”

The big weekend was a breakthrough for Tresca, who’s in his second year with the Lumberjacks.

Last season he was more of a secondary forward, because the Jacks had a lot of star forwards who scored a lot of goals, like Danil Gushchin and Cameron Berg.

So Tresca patiently did what he could to help the team and worked on improving his game, knowing the big guys would be gone this season and he would be one of the returnees expected to fil their roles.

“Last year we had such a great team, such a deep team, and me and some other guys didn’t have as big of a role as we imagined we would going into the year,” said Tresca, who finished last season with seven goals and two assists. “But we took what we were given and added a lot of depth to the team.

“I learned a lot more about the defensive side of the game and being responsible in all areas. I think that was probably one of my weaknesses. By the end of the year that was one of my strengths.”

Like a lot of Lumberjacks forwards, Tresca started out a little slower than he would have liked this season, but said he tried to stay patient and wait for the goals to come.

“I would be lying if I said I wasn’t getting a little bit annoyed,” he said about his early lack of goal scoring. “I just knew my chances would come, I stuck to that mindset, and lately it’s been going in.”

After this season Tresca will be playing college hockey at prestigious Yale University, an opportunity he earned by being a great hockey player and a great student.

“It’s really exciting,” he said. “I always wanted to go to an Ivy League school. For me it will be kind of a dream come true. They do have a higher standard. They don’t flex regulations as much for athletes as other schools do. You have to take pride in all aspects of school, not just hockey.”