By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

MUSKEGON – The youngest team in the United States Hockey League currently has the best record in the league.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks completed the three-game home weekend sweep in grand fashion by blanking the Des Moines Buccaneers 3-0 on Sunday at the Trinity Health Arena.

The Lumberjacks, who produced 38 shots in the contest, are now 16-5-3 on the season which is good for 35 points. It is currently not only the most points in the Eastern Conference, but the entire USHL.

Muskegon will look to stay on top of the league on Wednesday when they travel to take on the Under-18 USA squad. Faceoff is slated for 10:30 a.m.

“I am proud of these guys for learning lessons the right way,” said Lumberejacks assistant coach Evan Trupp. “Even though it was a three-game weekend, we still had energy and there is no give up in our game. We could have dipped today after playing a couple of games against our rival in Youngstown, but I believe today was our best game of the weekend.”

Muskegon, which only managed to complete one shutout victory last season, has already produced three shutouts.

Goaltender Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev has all three shutouts for Muskegon including Sunday’s 27-save performance. It was his ninth victory of the season.

“The guys are playing awesome and helping me out,” Gadzhiev said. “I really appreciate their hard work, and without them, I would not have those shutouts.”

The Lumberjacks outshot Des Moines 19-8 during the scoreless opening period. Muskegon had several quality scoring chances.

The Buccaneers came close to opening the scoring in the first minute of the second period, but after video review, it was determined the puck never crossed the goal line.

The Lumberjacks responded with the first goal of the game 1:31 into the period as Tynan Lawrence scored his eighth goal of the season. Chase Stefanek and Danny Klaers assisted on the Lawrence goal.

Des Moines had several chances to score the equalizer with power plays at the 13:13 and 17:22 marks of the frame, but the Lumberjacks managed to kill both off.

The Jacks led 1-0 heading into the third period while outshooting Des Moines 27-19.

Muskegon entered the third period with its second power-play opportunity of the contest as the Buccaneers were ticketed for a two-minute penalty with just two seconds remaining in the second.

The Lumberjacks didn’t open the third period with a power play goal, but they increased their lead to 2-0 with a goal at 6:38. Kurt Gurken scored his second goal of the season in wrap-around fashion to double the Muskegon advantage. Luka Radivojevic and Vaclav Nestrasil were credited with assists.

The Jacks closed out the scoring on the power play with a goal from Teddy Spitznagel 18:32 into the third period to seal the win to take over the top spot in the USHL standings.

Klaers and Nestrasil each assisted on the goal as Muskegon went 1-for-3 on its power plays.