MUSKEGON, Michigan (February 28th) – In what seemed like an improbable task down four goals early in the second period, the Muskegon Lumberjacks were able to scratch and claw their way to an impressive overtime victory that included a pair of goals from both Matt Iacopelli and Cooper Marody as the hosts potted the final five goals of the evening to storm back to a 5-4 victory over the Des Moines Buccaneers tonight at the L.C. Walker Arena.
In an up-and-down first period, the Buccaneers (17-22-7, 41 points) grabbed the game’s first goal of the evening at the 9:44 mark as a Lumberjacks turnover deep in their own zone led to Nikita Pavlychev feeding an open Paul Fregeau in the low slot in which he roofed his first goal of the season over the glove of Jordan Uhelski to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead that eventually stood going into the first intermission.
Muskegon outshot Des Moines through the first 20 minutes of play by an 11-8 margin.
In the early stages of the second period, the visitors continued to flex their offensive muscles notching three goals with a span of 3:31 to jump out to a 4-0 lead that began at the 3:48 mark as Danny Elser ripped his 10th goal of the season past Uhelski that was set up by Connor Schmidt and Brendan Shane followed by Elser’s second of the evening and 11th of the year at the 5:32 mark that was aided by Ruslan Rakhmatov.
To conclude the offensive flurry by the Buccaneers, Willem Nong-Lambert tallied a power play goal at the 6:19 mark as he slid a forehand around Uhelski’s right pad for his 6th marker of the season while parked at the top of the goal crease that was helped by Michael Marnell and Corey Schueneman.
Following Des Moines’ fourth goal of the evening, Uhelski would be relieved of his goaltending duties for Eric Schierhorn (12-14-1) after stopping 10 of 14 shots that came his way.
The Lumberjacks (21-22-4, 46 points) were able to get one of the goals back at the 7:25 mark as Trevor Morbeck snapped off a shot from the left faceoff circle over the right shoulder of Billy Christopoulos (5-14-4) for his 11th goal of the season to cut the deficit to 4-1 that was assisted by Adam Larkin and Mason Jobst.
No scoring was totaled for the remainder of the middle frame as the visiting team took their three-goal lead into the final 20 minutes while outshooting the Lumberjacks by a 28-19 margin.
The third period would belong to the host Lumberjacks as they continued to chip away at the deficit making it a 4-2 game at the 5:25 mark with the first of two on the night from Matt Iacopelli for his league-leading 34th goal of the season as he wristed a shot past the blocker of Christopoulos from the right faceoff circle that was set up by Jobst and Morbeck.
The game slid into the latter portions of the game when Muskegon made it a 4-3 game with 4:56 remaining in regulation as Iacopelli laced his second of the night and 35th goal of the year from between the faceoff dots over the glove of Christopoulos that was assisted by Jobst.
Just 12 seconds later, the Lumberjacks found the right bounce at the right time as a shot by Haralds Egle deflected off the left pad of Christopoulos and found the stick of Cooper Marody crashing in on the backdoor down the left side in which he slid his 7th goal of the season home to tie the game at 4-4 that was also assisted by Janik Moeser.
The tie game trickled into an overtime session with the Buccaneeers still outshooting the Lumberjacks by a 39-28 margin.
In the extra five-minute four-on-four session, the Lumberjacks received another fortunate bounce to capture the extra point and seal the comeback win as Marody ripped a slapper from just outside the right faceoff circle, and the puck then deflected off of the chest protector of Christopoulos, popped up into the air, and landed behind the Des Moines netminder while continuing to trickle past the goal line for the game-winner with 1:37 to go in the overtime frame. Cullen Hurley and Morbeck assisted on Marody game-winning goal as the Lumberjacks outshot the Buccaneers in the extra session, 4-1.
Eric Schierhorn earned the victory in net stopping all 25 shots that came his way in his 37:04 of relief work, while Billy Christopoulos took the tough overtime loss for Des Moines stopping 27 of 32 shots. The Buccaneers were led offensively by Danny Elser with his pair of goals along with eight other players chipping in with a point each. The Lumberjacks’ offense was spearheaded by Trevor Morbeck (one goal and two assists) and Mason Jobst (three assists) with three points each along with Matt Iacopelli and Cooper Marody each contributing with a pair of goals. Muskegon completes the season sweep against Des Moines going 2-0-0 against the Western Conference foe.
Muskegon will be back in action tomorrow night at home for a 7:15 pm bout with the Waterloo Black Hawks that will be a part of Hockey Weekend Across America presented by Tim Hortons and signals the return of our Subway Saturday promotion. If the Lumberjacks beat the Black Hawks on that Saturday, every fan that is in attendance can redeem their ticket stubs at any participating West Michigan Subway location for a buy one six-inch sub and get another six-inch sub of equal or lesser value for free. Also, the night will feature a postgame skate with the Lumberjacks team.
Individual game tickets will be on sale during the next two weeks 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 for Muskegon’s next pair of home contests on Friday, March 14th and Saturday, March 15th against the Youngstown Phantoms at 7:15 pm. 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. You can also catch the Lumberjacks on Michigan TV and Sports with the Muskegon Lumberjack “Game of the Week” every Wednesday at 8:00 pm on Comcast channel 397 (or over the air on channel 38).
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.
