Localsportsjournal.com
The Muskegon Lumberjacks’ five game road trip ended on a sour note Saturday with a 5-3 loss to the Chicago Steel at the Chicago Edge Arena.
The Jacks started the trip with two straight wins, then lost the last three games.
The Lumberjacks are now 26-16-3, good for 55 points in the standings. They dropped from a tie for second in the Eastern Conference to fourth place, with Youngstown and Dubuque both winning.
Youngstown now has 57 points while Dubuque has 56.
Chicago’s Jake Bresser opened the scoring at 13:14 of the first period.
Muskegon’s Matheson Iacopelli tied the game 1-1 at 15:02 of the first period. Trevor Hamilton and Max Humitz assisted on the goal.
The Lumberjacks took the lead on a goal by Mark Petaccio at 9:27 of the second period. Robbie DeMontis had the lone assist on the goal.
Chicago’s Brendon Kearney tied the game at 2-2 at the 16 minute mark of the second period.
The Steel took a 3-2 lead on a goal by Tanner Laczynski at 2:06 of the third period.
The Steel’s Fredrik Olofsson gave Chicago a 4-2 lead on a goal at 10:07 of the third period.
Tom Marchin cut the Jacks’ deficit to 4-3 with an unassisted goal a 16:32 of the third period.
Olofsson put the game on ice for the Steel with an empty net goal with 31 second left.
The Lumberjacks will return home next weekend to play a pair of games with the first place Cedar Rapids Roughriders.
