LocalSportsJournal.com

ROCHESTER, NY. – The Muskegon Lumberjacks finished the month of November strong after struggling a bit early on during the first few weeks.

The Jacks posted a 1-5-2 from late October through the middle of November.

But Muskegon returned to its winning ways and it continued Thursday night at the American Cup in Rochester, NY.

The Lumberjacks scored the first five goals of the contest en route to a 6-2 victory over the defending Clark Cup champion Youngstown Phantoms. Muskegon has now won four straight games and improved to 12-7-2 on the season, good for 26 points and fourth place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.

Cody Croal scored two goals in the Lumberjack victory.

The Lumberjacks will look to continue their rise in the conference at 6:39 p.m. Friday when they face the Phantoms in a rematch to close out the American Cup event.

Muskegon played a solid opening period, outscoring Youngstown, 3-0. Cooper Pierson (4:17), Cody Croal (13:28) and Matvei Gridin each found the back of the net for Muskegon during the first 20 minutes of play. Jack Galanek and Teddy Spitznagel each assisted on the Pierson goal, while Sacha Boisvert was credited with a helper on Gridin’s tally.

Both teams mustered just six shots on goal during the first period.

The Lumberjacks added to their lead 14:26 into the second period with a goal from David Klee that was assisted by Ethan Whitcomb. Muskegon then closed out the period with another goal to increase its advantage to 5-0 heading into the final period.

Croal connected with his second goal of the night, and seventh of the season, from Gridin with just 9 seconds left in the period.

The Jacks had a slim 15-14 advantage in shots on goal heading into the third period.

The Phantoms finally ended their scoring drought 2:08 into the third period with a goal from Andrew Strathmann.

The game remained 5-1 in favor of the Jacks until the 18:20 mark of the third period with a power-play goal from Bauer Berry. Whitcomb assisted on the tally.

Youngstown closed out the scoring late with 5 seconds remaining in the contest with a goal by Miles Gunty.

The Phantoms outshot Muskegon 13-4 during the third period and 27-19 overall.

Lukas Swedin stopped 25-of-27 shots on goal for the Lumberjacks to earn the win in net.

Muskegon went 1-for-8 on the power play and killed off both of the Phantoms man advantages.