Lumberjacks bounce back with four point weekend

The Muskegon Lumberjacks saw a four-game winning streak snapped the previous weekend but started a new one this past weekend (Oct. 21-22) with a 5-0 shutout win at Bloomington Friday against the Thunder and a 4-3 overtime edge at Waterloo the following night against the Blackhawks.

The impressive weekend pushed the Lumberjacks to a 6-3-0-0 record, good enough for a second-place tie in the East Conference.

Also picking up for points was the Dubuque Fighting Saints who hit the road for 3-0 and 4-1 wins against the host Youngstown Phantoms to boost its record to 5-4-0-0 while the Chicago Steel continues its sizzling start to the season with a 5-2 win at Cedar Rapids against the Roughriders and a 4-2 win against the Omaha Lancers on home ice to push its league best record to 8-0-0-0.

Other Friday games saw the Lancers start out with a 4-1 on the road against Team USA; host Des Moines Buccaneers won a goaltender’s duel 1-0 against the Lincoln Stars; Madison Capitols edged the Blackhawks on home ice 3-2; the Sioux City Musketeers picked up a 5-1 home win against the Fargo Force and the Sioux Falls Stampede got by Green Bay Gamblers 7-2.

In Saturday’s other action, the host Thunder earned a 7-0 shutout against the Roughriders; Lincoln Stars pounded host Madison Capitols 6-1 and the Stampede got by the Gamblers 7-4.

Friday Games

Lumberjacks 5 Thunder 0

Keith Petruzzelli, 17, from Massachusetts, turned aside all the 32 shots he faced in goal for the Lumberjacks to nail down the shutout while five different shooters contributed to the offense at the US Cellular Coliseum in Bloomington.

Axemen goals came from Collin Adams, 18, from Brighton, MI; Casey Gilling, 18, from Gaylord, MI and Will Smith, 20, from New Hampshire in the opening period with Andrei Svechnikov, 16, from Russia scoring the lone middle period marker and Keenan Suthers, 18, from Ontario adding one more in the final frame.

Logan Halladay, 20, from North Carolina started for the Thunder but was relieved by Gabriel Mollot-Hill before the game was eight minutes’ old having allowed three goals on nine shots. Mollot-Hill handled 21 of 23 the rest of the way for the Thunder.

Fighting Saints 3 Phantoms 0

The Dubuque Fighting Saints also got a great effort between the pipes as Jaxon Castor, 19, from Arizona collected an 18-save shutout for the Saints.

Zach Solow, 18, from Florida and Dallas Gerads, 20, from Blaine, MN scored for the Dubuque crew in the opening period and the other goal came from Austin Rueschhoff, 19, from Wentzville, MO with 7:19 to play in the middle frame.

Darion Hanson, 19, from East Bethel, MN turned aside 19 of 22 in goal for the Phantoms.

Steel 5 at Roughriders 2

Early on it seemed a perfect start to the season could be in jeopardy as the host Roughriders went to work quickly with a goal from Zac Robbins, 20, from Glenview, IL 23 seconds into the contest and another from Aleksi Halme, 16, from Finland just past the halfway mark of the opening period at the Cedar Rapids Ice Arena.

The Steel pulled even before the end of the opening frame though with goals by Tyler Gratton, 17, from Pennsylvania and Walker Duehr, 18, from Sioux Falls, SD scored about 90 seconds apart.

Reggie Lutz, 20, from Elk River, MN scored the game winner 8:09 into the second period and added the lone goal of the third into an empty net for the Steel as well. In between was a goal from Johnny Walker, 20, from Arizona scored late in the second period.

Tommy Nappier, 18, from St. Louis made 24 saves to pick up the win in goal for the Steel while Drew DeRidder, 16, from Fenton, MI handled 25 of 29 for the Roughriders,

Lancers 4 at Team USA 1

A pair of middle period goals by Filip Suchy, 19, from Czech Republic helped power the visiting Lancers past Team USA at USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, MI Friday.

The goals broke open a 1-1 draw as Emilio Petterson, 16, from Norway counted one for the Lancers 7:46 into the opening period with Jake Goldowski, 16, from Pennsylvania responding for Team USA late in the session.

The only other goal came from Pierce Crawford, 19, from Park Ridge, IL who clinched the win with his empty netter 10 seconds from the final buzzer.

Peter Thome, 19, from Minneapolis, MN handled 29 of 30 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Lancers while Ryan Ullan, 16, from Hibbing, MN (28:43, 8/9) and Keegan Karki, 16, from Sartell, MN (30:12, 14/16) split the work in goal for Team USA.

Stars 0 at Buccaneers 1

Cameron Orchard, 18, from Dorr, MI picked up the only goal of this one 5:47 from the end of the second period and Jan Ruzicka, 19, from Czech Republic picked up a 30-save shutout in goal for the Buccaneers at Buccaneer Arena.

Josef Korenar, 18, from Czech Republic stopped 37 of 38 in goal for the Lincoln Stars.

Blackhawks 2 at Capitols 3

Shane Bowers, 17, from Nova Scotia scored to get the visiting Hawks within a goal with 6:27 to go in the second period but the team couldn’t net an equalizer as the host Capitols limited the Waterloo crew to just 18 shots in the contest, including just two in a scoreless third period.

Alec Broetzman, 19, from Hudson, WI put the Caps on the board four minutes in but Garrett Wait, 18, from Edina, MN tied it up for the visitors 2:55 later.

Noah Weber, 18, from Eagle River, WI scored to restore the Caps lead just before the halfway mark of the period and the home team opened a two-goal cushion with a goal from Mick Messner, 17, from Madison, WI.

Daniel Lebedeff, 17, from Finland, picked up the win in goal with 16 saves for the Capitols and Robbie Beydoun, 20, from Plymouth, MI stopped 23 shots in goal for the Blackhawks.

Force 1 at Musketeers 5

After falling 2-0 to the Force the previous night, the Musketeers picked up a weekend split with the Fargo crew thanks in part to two goal performance from Connor McMenamin, 17, from Pennsylvania and a 26-save effort from Matiss Kilvenieks, 20, from Latvia, in goal for the home side.

Musketeers opened a two goal first period lead and added two more in the second before Hank Crone, 18, from Texas struck back with the only goal of the contest for the Force.

Cole Koepke, 18, from Hermantown, MN and Matt Hellickson 18, from St. Louis Park, MN had the first period goals for the Musketeers with Eeli Tolvananen, 17, from Finland adding one in the second period along with McMenamin who scored in both the second and third.

Matthew Murray, 18, from Alberta had 26 saves in goal for the Force.

Gamblers 2 at Stampede 7

The Stampede trailed 2-1 7:33 into the second period but fired three straight to end the second period with a 4-2 margin and three more unanswered goals in the final 20 to cruise to an impressive win against the Gamblers.

Josh Passolt, 20, from Maple Grove, MN fired a pair for the winners with other goals added by Leonard Forselius, 20, from Sweden. Austin Albrecht, 20, from New Jersey, Eric McAdams, 19, from Massachusetts, Jake Johnson, 18, from Bloomington, MN and Jack Doremus, 19, from Colorado. Mikhail Berdin, 18, from Russia turned aside 35 Gamblers’ shots to pick up the win in goal for the Stampede.

Matt Jennings, 19, from Georgia and John Leonard, 18, from Massachusetts scored the Gambler goals while David Hrenak, 18, from Slovakia turned aside 30 of 36 shots in goal for the Green Bay squad.

Saturday Games

Lumberjacks 4 Blackhawks 3 (ot)

The Lumberjacks moved on to Young Arena in Waterloo Saturday and got some shootout heroics from Adams, who also added another goal in the game, lifting his squad to the edge against the host Blackhawks.

Waterloo held a 2-1 lead after 20 minutes and teams were even at 3-3 heading to a scoreless third and overtime session.

Along with Adams, the Axemen got goals from Keegan Howdeshell, 18, from Brighton, MI and Garrett VanWhye, 19, from Washington while Petruzzelli stopped 29 shots through 67 minutes as well as all three of the Shootout chances for the Blackhawks.

Ethan Johnson, 19, from Newfolden, MN; Bailey Conger, 19 from Idaho and Bowers scored for the host side while Beydoun made 26 saves in goal for the Hawks.

Fighting Saints 4 at Phantoms 1

Rueschoff’s goal 1:55 into the third period padded a 2-1 Fighting Saints lead and Jacob Hamacher, 19, from California put it away for the Fighting Saints at the Covelli Center with an empty net marker with 1:47 to play.

Cole Guttman, 17, from California, scored the lone first period goal, for the Saints and both teams added one in the second, Veli-Matti Tiuraniemi, 19, from Finland counting the Dubuque goal and Curtis Hall, 16, from Chagrin Falls, OH with the lone Phantom’s goal.

Castor stopped 22 shots to pick up the win in goal for the Fighting Saints and Ivan Kulbakov, 20, from Belarus turned aside 25 in goal for the Phantoms.

Lancers 2 at Steel 4

The Lancers started out with good intentions at the Fox Valley Ice Arena, grabbing a 2-0 first period lead with goals from Jacob Paganelli, 19, from New Jersey and Brannon McManus, 17, from California.

But the Steel struck back with goals by Jack Badini, 18, from Connecticut and Walker in the first seven minutes of the middle period and another from Mitch Lewandowski, 18, from Clarkston, MI late in the frame, to carry in a 3-2 cushion into the final 20 minutes.

Duehr put an exclamation point on it with his empty net tally with seven seconds to play in the contest.

Alex Stezka, 19 from Czech Republic turned aside 27 Omaha chances including all of the 15 he saw in the second and third periods, nailing down the win in goal for the Steel. For the Lancers, Thome turned in a 29 save effort.

Roughriders 0 at Thunder 7 

The Thunder rallied for a home win on Saturday, bouncing the last place Roughriders, firing three unanswered goals in both the first and second periods and one more in the final frame to claim a win with a touchdown margin.

Vladislav Dzhioshvilli, 18, from Russia and Ethan Somoza, 20, from California scored two each for the Thunder with other goals added by Tarek Baker, 19, from Verona, WI; Daniel Willett, 20, from New York and Sean Harrison, 20, from Alaska. Mollot-Hill stopped 27 shots to earn the shutout in goal for the Thunder.

Both DeRidder (25:38 17/21) and Harrison Feeney, 18, from Pennsylvania (34:22 19/22) took a turn in the blue paint for the Roughriders.

Stars 6 at Capitols 1 

The Stars carried a 2-1 lead out of the opening period at the Alliant, adding two more in both the second and third while the host Capitols failed to find the mesh again.
Henry Bowlby, 19, from Edina, MN scored a pair for the Stars with other goals added by: Casey Dornbach, 19, from Edina, MN: Justin Richards, 18, from Columbus, OH; Gustaf Westlund, 19, from Sweden and Dominick Mersch, 18, from Park Ridge, IL.

Cayden Primeau, 17, from New Jersey played the first period in goal, stopping eight of nine Capitols’ shots before Korenar took over, handling all of the 19 shots he faced in the final two periods.

Marshall Moise, 19, from St. Clair Shores, MI scored the lone Capitols’ goal and the goaltending work was split by Lebedeff (30:11 19/23) and Dryden McKay, 19, from Downers Grove, IL (24:49 6/8).

Gamblers 4 at Stampede 2 

Two goals in 24 seconds scored by Jared Spooner, 20, from Bismarck, ND and Brody Stevens, 19, from Ann Arbor, MI turned a 1-1 game into a 3-1 lead for the visiting Gamblers early in the second period and the Stampede was never able to pull all the way back into this one.

Matthew Quercia, 17, from Massachusetts pulled one back for the Stampede just before the halfway mark of the second, but Maksim Zhukov, 17, from Russia was never beaten again on his way to a 22 save win in goal for the Gamblers.

Casey Mittelstadt, 18, from Eden Prairie fired the first period goal for the Gamblers and added the final one into an empty net with seven seconds to play in the final period.

Jason O’Neill, 19, from Maryland had the first period goal and Jeremy Swayman, 18, from Alaska stopped 26 of 29 shots in goal for the Stampede.