Muskegon Lumberjacks suffer second straight defeat, fall to Team USA 5-1

LocalSportsJournal.com
The Muskegon Lumberjacks haven’t experienced a losing streak this season heading into Wednesday morning’s contest.
The Lumberjacks, who suffered a 1-0 overtime loss to Omaha last Saturday, fell to the Team USA Under-18 squad 5-1 at the USA Hockey Arena in Plymouth, Michigan.
Muskegon is now 20-5-1 on the season, good for 41 points and first place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference. The Lumberjacks are currently 10 points ahead of second place Chicago.
The Lumberjacks will be off for nine days before returning home to face the Madison Capitols next week Friday and Saturday at the L.C Walker Arena.
Team USA jumped out to a 2-0 lead after the first period from a two-goal effort by Owen Lindmark.
Matthew Boldy and Sean Farrell increased Team USA’s lead to 4-0 after the second stanza.
The Lumberjacks finally scored 10:25 into the third period on a goal from Danil Gushchin that was assisted by Bobby Lynch and Nic Belpedio.
Team USA closed out the scoring on Boldy’s second goal of the morning late in the contest.
Muskegon’s goaltender Brandon Bussi suffered the loss in net, stopping 17 of 21 shots during 40 minutes of play. Backup goalie Ryan McInchak stopped all 15 shots faced in relief.
Team USA outshot the Lumberjacks by a 37-32 margin.