LocalSportsJournal.com
The Muskegon Lumberjacks had seven different players find the back of the net as they exploded offensively in a 7-2 win over the Under-17 Team USA squad on Friday night.
The Lumberjacks are now 3-2-3 on the season, good for nine points and second place in the USHL’s Eastern Conference.
Muskegon will finish its long season-opening road trip on Saturday in a rematch against the Under-17 Team USA squad. Faceoff is slated for 7 p.m.
Both teams failed to score during the opening 20 minutes of play.
The Lumberjacks scored the first four goals to take a 4-0 lead as Kurt Gurkan (3:07), Jack Galanek (7:02), Ethan Drabicki (9:24), and Teddy Spitznagel (17:41) each had second-period goals.
JP Hurlbert cut the Lumberjacks advantage to 4-1 with a goal at the 18:39 mark of the middle period.
Luka Radivojevic and David Klee scored at the 7:19 and 9:53 marks of the third period, respectively, to increase the Lumberjacks lead to a 6-1 advantage.
Casey Mutryn scored a goal for Team USA at the 10:53 mark of the third period before Bauer Berry closed out the scoring for the Jacks 11:43 into the final frame.
The Lumberjacks outshot Team USA 42-27 as Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev stopped 25-of-27 shots faced in the Muskegon net.
Muskegon went 2-for-4 on the power play while killing off Team USA’s lone man advantage.
