WATERLOO, Iowa (January 31st) – In the first and only regular season meeting between the Muskegon Lumberjacks and Waterloo Black Hawks at the Young Arena in Waterloo, Iowa, the Black Hawks showed why they are one of the league’s premiere teams as they overcame an early deficit only to race away in the end to a comfortable 5-1 victory that included the hosts potting the last five goals on the night.  With the win, Waterloo has now gone unbeaten in their last 20 games played (19-0-1).

In the beginning moments of the first period, the Lumberjacks (18-18-4, 40 points) cracked the scoreboard first on the evening at the 5:31 mark as Trevor Morbeck entered the Waterloo zone skating down the near side and fed a pass to the trailer Matt Iacopelli from between the faceoff circles in which he wristed his team-leading 28th goal of the season past the left blocker side of Cal Petersen (22-2-1) to give the visitors an early 1-0 lead.  Joseph Cecconi also helped on the Iacopelli marker.

The lead for the Lumberjacks lasted for almost five minutes as the host Black Hawks (30-5-1, 61 points) evened the game 1-1 at the 10:28 mark as a shot from the left point by Brandon Montour was initially saved with the right pad by Eric Schierhorn (11-11-1), but Peter Krieger was able to tip the rebound home while parked to the right of the net for his 15th marker of the season that was also set up by Patrick Russell.

Waterloo owned the pace of play through the first 20 minutes, but Schierhorn was the story for the Lumberjacks stopping 25 of 26 shots faced to keep the game tied going into the first intermission.  Muskegon only mustered 3 shots on goal during the opening frame.

The second period proved to be the major difference in the game as the Black Hawks continued to press offensively grabbing a 2-1 lead at the 8:26 mark as Drew Melanson slid a backhand from the right faceoff circle that had eyes and crept under the right pad of Schierhorn for his 11th tally of the season that was assisted by Tyler Sheehy and Montour.

Just under a minute later at the 9:14 mark, Waterloo quickly made it a 3-1 game as Tim Lappin potted a rebound home to the right of Schierhorn for his 4th goal of the year that was aided by Alec McCrea and Blake Winiecki.  As the middle frame was winding down, the Black Hawks would tally a shorthanded marker with 1:19 to go as Jake Horton ripped a one-time shot from the top of the slot area past Schierhorn’s glove hand for his 5th goal of the season to make it 4-1 in favor of the hosts that was helped by Montour and Lappin.

Waterloo took their three-goal lead into the second intermission while still outshooting the Lumberjacks by a very wide margin at 41-11.

To cap off the night, the Black Hawks wasted no time in making it 5-1 as Kreiger recorded his second of the night and 16th goal of the season just 51 seconds into the final stanza that was set up by Melanson.

The Lumberjacks outshot Waterloo in the third period, 12-11, but were unable to put more dents in the scoreboard that included going 0-2 on the power play in the final frame.  Waterloo outshot Muskegon on the night overall by a 52-23 margin.

Cal Petersen earned another victory in net stopping 22 of 23 shots for the host Black Hawks, while Eric Schierhorn stopped a career and season-high in shots with 47 in the road loss for the Lumberjacks.  Waterloo was led offensively by Brandon Montour with his three assists along with three others helping in the cause with two points each.  The 52 shots given up by Muskegon for the game was a season-high along with the 26 shots allowed in the first period being the most given up in a single period this year.  The Lumberjacks and Black Hawks will meet up again at the L.C. Walker Arena on Saturday, March 1st.

The Lumberjacks will return home to take on the rival Indiana Ice tomorrow night at 7:15 pm that features Boy Scout Night where numerous local Boy Scout troops will be in attendance with the first 250 scouts entering the arena receiving a commemorative patch.  In addition, $2 from every Boy Scout ticket sold goes back to benefit the Boy Scouts.

Subway Saturday returns again tomorrow where if the Lumberjacks beat the Ice, 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.

Individual game tickets are on sale during the next two weeks for the low price of $10 for adults and $6 for children ages 3-12 for the Lumberjacks’ next pair of home games on Friday, February 14th and Saturday, February 15th against the Youngstown Phantoms and Chicago Steel, respectively, 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.