By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com
MUSKEGON – The Muskegon Lumberjacks 2023 portion was filled with many ups and downs.
Despite some of the team’s struggles, they are very much in the mix for home ice advantage at the end of the regular season or even a potential bye in the first round of the playoffs.
The Lumberjacks continued their climb up the standings with a 5-4 overtime win over the Youngstown Phantoms on Saturday night at the Trinity Health Arena.
Ryan Koering was the surprising game-winning goal scorer as he connected with his first USHL goal to help his squad win a very important game.
Muskegon finds itself near the top of the USHL’s Eastern Conference standings with a 17-10-2 record, which is good for 36 points in the standings. The Lumberjacks are currently in fourth place in the standings, just one point behind the third-place Phantoms and two points behind second-place Green Bay.
Muskegon will return to action next Friday night on the road against the Dubuque Fighting Saints. Faceoff is set for 8:05 p.m.
“We are trending upwards for sure and that’s a really tough weekend to come back with one practice,” said Lumberjacks coach Parker Burgess. “To be able to win the third game when it’s their (Youngstown) second speaks to the guys in the locker room and how much they care and the work they put in.
“You are going to have ups and downs in a season, but it’s how you come out and it helps build your identity and character of your team,” Burgess said. “We need to stay healthy and keep the puck out of the back of our net moving forward.”
The Phantoms struck first in this contest at 4:07 of the opening period with a goal from Miles Gunty.
Muskegon quickly responded seconds later as Joe Connor found the back of the net for his 11th goal of the season to tie the game 1-1. That goal came at 4:34.
The game remained tied 1-1 at the end of the first period. There was just one penalty during the opening period and Youngstown held a slim 15-14 advantage in shots on goal.
The Phantoms regained their one-goal advantage with a power -play goal 6:03 into the middle period. Luke Osburn scored to give Youngstown a 2-1 lead.
Once again, the Lumberjacks quickly responded as Muskegon was given a two-minute power play. Sacha Boisvert found the back of the net at 7:42 tie the contest.
The Jacks took their first lead of the night on an Easton Young unassisted goal at the 9:43 mark of the period to take a 3-2 lead.
Muskegon maintained its one-goal lead heading into the final stanza while getting outshot 34-24.
The Phantoms tied the contest 3-3 with a goal from Kuzma Voronin at the 3:20 mark of the third period.
The Lumberjacks responded with a power-play goal at the 9:32 mark as Boisvert connected with his second goal of the evening. That gave Muskegon a 4-3 lead.
Youngstown did not go away as they tied the game at the 13:43 mark of the third period with a goal from Ryan Rucinski.
The game remained tied through regulation. The Phantoms had a 45-38 edge in the shots on goal.
The Lumberjacks connected with the game-winning goal 3:51 into the extra period as the puck snuck just past the goal line off the stick of Koering.
Youngstown outshot the Lumberjacks 46-41. Goaltender Miles Roberts stopped 42-0f-46 shots he faced.
The Lumberjacks won the special teams battle by scoring on two of their three power plays while killing two of the three Youngstown extra-man advantages.
