BENSENVILLE, Illinois (December 14th) – In the final game before the two-week holiday break for the USHL, the Muskegon Lumberjacks were unable to shake their recent road woes as the host Chicago Steel notched six goals on 46 shots for the night to claim the 6-4 victory tonight in an offensive duel at The Edge Ice Arena.  With the loss, the Lumberjacks have now gone winless in their last seven road contests (0-5-2).

The Lumberjacks (11-13-4, 26 points) wasted no time getting the game’s first goal of the night as Matt Mendelson gave Muskegon a 1-0 lead at the 3:17 mark one-timing a shot past Steel netminder Chris Nell (7-13-1) from between the faceoff circles off a nice feed from Mason Jobst from behind the Chicago net.  Tommy Panico also helped on Mendelson’s ninth goal of the year.

After that marker, the rest of the opening frame belonged to the host Steel (11-15-1, 21 points) as former Lumberjack C.J. Smith evened the game at 1-1 at the 8:18 mark with his 11th goal of the season and seventh as a member of the Steel firing a shot from the right faceoff circle past Jordan Uhelski (6-6-3).  Artem Artemov received the lone helper on the game-tying goal.

Minutes later at the 12:25 mark, Chicago grabbed their first lead of the night at 2-1 from Robbie Payne for his sixth goal of the season off a shot from the left faceoff circle that was set up by Robby Jackson and John Ernsting.

The home team continued to apply the offensive pressure making it a 3-1 game with 3:56 left in the first period from Ernsting sliding one between Uhelski’s five-hole from the low slot for his sixth marker of the year off a feed from Payne from behind the Muskegon net.  Jackson also aided on the Ernsting tally.

The Steel took their two-goal lead into the first intermission while outshooting the Lumberjacks by a 16-13 margin.

Early in the second period, the Lumberjacks fought back to make it a 3-2 game at the 3:56 mark from Robbie DeMontis for his third of the season that was assisted by Matt McArdle and Janik Moeser, but the Steel regained their two-goal lead at 4-2 at the 6:14 mark as Danny Fetzer wristed a shot past Uhelski for his sixth of the season that was aided by Patrick Polino and Liam McGing.

Again, Muskegon would counter and make it a one goal affair at 4-3 at the 13:21 mark from Mason Jobst as he posted his fourth goal of the season off a Chicago turnover in which Trevor Morbeck fed him in between the faceoff circles and fired it past Nell’s blocker side.  However, the Steel continued to throw counter punches of their own notching a power play goal with 42 seconds left in the middle frame from Artem Artemov for his 11th marker of the year that was set up by Brendon Kearney and Smith.

The wild offensive matchup went into the final 20 minutes with the Steel holding the shot advantage by a 37-23 margin.

In the early stages of the final frame, the Lumberjacks made it a one shot game again at the 3:22 mark as Carson Gatt laced his fourth goal of the season pinching in from the left point and beating Nell high on the short side that was assisted by Cooper Marody.  Again, Chicago would not let their lead slip away as they had the final say for the game at the 7:14 mark with Payne’s second of the night and seventh of the season from the high slot wristing the puck past Uhelski’s glove side that was helped by Ernsting.

No scoring happened the rest of the way as both teams accumulated the penalty minutes through the waning moments of regulation leading to players being ejected on both sides.  Chicago outshot Muskegon for the game, 46-43.

Chris Nell picked up his seventh victory for the Steel making 39 saves on the night, while Jordan Uhelski took the loss for the Lumberjacks with 40 saves for the road team.  The Steel were led by offensively by Robbie Payne (two goals and one assist) and John Ernsting (one goal and two assists) with three points each, while the Lumberjacks were led by Mason Jobst with a goal and an assist.  Muskegon falls to 1-1-0 against Chicago with three regular season meetings remaining between the two squads.

Following the league-wide two-week holiday break, the Lumberjacks will return home for the team’s only Sunday home game of the season on December 29th against the Youngstown Phantoms at 5:15 pm that will feature Car Load Night.  Fans can pile any number of people into one car for the low price of $40 that will include a ticket to the game along with a complimentary parking pass.

Individual game tickets will be on sale for the next two weeks for the December 29th home game for the low price of $10 for adults and $6 for children ages 3-12 if they are purchased before the day of the game.  Tickets can be purchased at the Lumberjacks’ Box Office or by calling (231) 724-5225.

The exclusive radio home for the Muskegon Lumberjacks all season long is 92.5 FM WLAW “The Outlaw” as Bryan Fongers delivers the call beginning ten minutes prior to puck drop.

The proud home of all Muskegon Lumberjacks home games is the L.C. Walker Arena in downtown Muskegon located just minutes from the beautiful Lake Michigan Shoreline.  Muskegon Lumberjacks hockey, “Experience the Buzz!”

The Muskegon Lumberjacks are proud members of the United States Hockey League, the nation’s only Tier I junior hockey league and the leading producer of NCAA players and National Hockey League draft picks in the United States.  The Lumberjacks’ organization prides itself on developing not just premier hockey talent, but also exceptional young men outside the arena of sports.  For more information, visit www.muskegonlumberjacks.com.