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The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior
ice hockey Ice hockey (or simply hockey) is a team sport played on ice skates, usually on an ice skating rink with lines and markings specific to the sport. It belongs to a family of sports called hockey. In ice hockey, two opposing teams use ice hock ...
team in the Eastern Conference of the
United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...
. They play in
Muskegon, Michigan Muskegon ( ') is a city in Michigan. It is the county seat of Muskegon County. Muskegon is known for fishing, sailing regattas, pleasure boating, and as a commercial and cruise ship port. It is a popular vacation destination because of the expa ...
, at
Mercy Health Arena The Trinity Health Arena is a 3,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Muskegon, Michigan, United States. It was built in 1960 in partnership with philanthropist and industrialist Louis Carlisle Walker at a cost of $2 million, and on October 27, 1960, was ...
. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League franchise (IHL) of the same name, which relocated to
Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city in ...
, at the end of the 2009–10 IHL season.


History

Lou and Josh Mervis, under a company named Blue Ox Hockey, originally owned the Danville Wings when they promoted that team from the Tier II North American Hockey League to the Tier I
United States Hockey League The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...
. However, after one season, the Mervis family sold the franchise and it was relocated to become the
Indiana Ice The Indiana Ice was a Tier I junior ice hockey team and member club of the United States Hockey League (USHL) that was formed in 2004 when the Danville Wings were purchased and moved from their location in Danville, Illinois, to Indianapolis, I ...
in 2004. The Mervis family had purchased the dormant
Rochester Mustangs The Rochester Mustangs were a senior ice hockey team from Rochester, Minnesota that played in the United States Hockey League from 1961 until the senior Mustangs ceased operations after the 1969-70 season. Notable players *Herb Brooks, NHL head ...
franchise to use as a new USHL team on the
University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the Univer ...
campus in
Champaign, Illinois Champaign ( ) is a city in Champaign County, Illinois, United States. The population was 88,302 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-most populous municipality in Illinois and the fourth most populous city in Illinois outside the Chicago metropo ...
, but Josh Mervis agreed to be the general manager of the Ice for the first season in Indiana. After less than one season as general manager of the Ice, Josh Mervis left the team in order to focus on starting the Champaign team. However, the new proposed arena project never took off and the family began to look elsewhere such as La Crosse, Wisconsin, Battle Creek, Michigan, and
Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...
. In February 2010, the USHL approved the Mervis family's plan to reactivate their dormant franchise in of Muskegon for the 2010–11 season. At the time, there was a low-level minor professional hockey team playing in the International Hockey League named the
Muskegon Lumberjacks The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League. They play in Muskegon, Michigan, at Mercy Health Arena. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League franchi ...
. The Mervis family then acquired the Lumberjacks name and folded the professional team with the new USHL team taking on the Lumberjacks identity that had been used on and off since 1984. The Mervis family retained the former owners of the Lumberjacks, Stacey Patulskey, Jeff Patulskey and Tim Taylor, as the managerial team. The Lumberjacks had a fairly successful inaugural season. On November 9, 2010, forward Matt Berry registered the first hat trick in team history in a 5–3 win over the
Chicago Steel The Chicago Steel are members of the United States Hockey League, joining the league in 2000. The Steel have played their home games at Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, Illinois, since 2015; previously, the team played at Edge Ice Arena in Bense ...
. The Lumberjacks clinched a Clark Cup Playoff berth with a victory over the Steel at the L. C. Walker Arena on April 8. Lumberjacks forwards Ryan Misiak and Matt Berry and defenseman Alexx Privitera were named to the CCM Eastern Conference All-Star team. Misiak led the Jacks in both points and assists with 58 and 43, respectively. Berry led the club with 25 goals. In the playoffs, the fifth-seeded Lumberjacks swept
Team USA The United States national team or Team USA may refer to any of a number of sports team representing the United States in international competitions. Olympic teams Additionally, these teams may compete in other international competitions such as ...
in the first round best-of-three series, then lost a best-of-five series 1–3 to the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders. In the 2011–12 season, Muskegon rebounded from an 0–3–0 start by winning six out of seven games from October 30 through November 18. The run put the Lumberjacks at 7–6–0 but a pair of losses to eventual
Anderson Cup The United States Hockey League (USHL) is the top junior ice hockey league sanctioned by USA Hockey. The league consists of 16 active teams located in the midwestern United States, for players between the ages of 16 and 21. The USHL is strictly ...
champion Green Bay Gamblers started a 2–9–2 slump, which led to the dismissal of head coach and general manager
Kevin Patrick Kevin Patrick is an American ice hockey coach from Schenectady, New York. In 2020 Patrick was named boys' hockey program manager at Culver Academies. Prior to becoming the program manager at Culver, Patrick served the past eight seasons as an assis ...
on January 13. Patrick was replaced by 15-year
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
veteran and 2003 Stanley Cup winner Jim McKenzie. The team would finish last in the Eastern Conference with a 17-35-8 record and miss the playoffs. In late January 2012, the Lumberjacks hosted the inaugural USHL/NHL Top Prospects Game at L.C. Walker Arena, featuring the league's best talent eligible for the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Muskegon was represented by Matt DeBlouw, Mark Yanis and Czech winger Adam Chlapik. Team East beat Team West 5–3 in a game that set a record for event viewership on FastHockey.com; it was called by Lumberjacks' broadcaster Matt Gajtka and
Youngstown Phantoms The Youngstown Phantoms are a junior ice hockey#Tier I, Tier I junior ice hockey team that plays in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the 5,200-seat Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. ...
' play-by-play announcer Bart Logan. The 2012 offseason began on a positive note as five players with Lumberjacks ties were taken in the 2012 NHL Entry Draft. Michigan State recruit Matt DeBlouw was the Lumberjacks' only active player to be drafted; he went to the
Calgary Flames The Calgary Flames are a professional ice hockey team based in Calgary. The Flames compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Pacific Division (NHL), Pacific Division in the Western Conference (NHL), Western Conference, and ...
in the seventh round. Two Lumberjacks from the team's inaugural USHL season (Brendan Woods – Carolina, Jaycob Megna – Anaheim) and two of Muskegon's future prospects (Adam Gilmour – Minnesota, Doyle Somerby – New York Islanders) were also drafted. In June 2013, the Mervis family sold the franchise to three former
NHL The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
players; brothers
Chris Chris is a short form of various names including Christopher, Christian, Christina, Christine, and Christos. Chris is also used as a name in its own right, however it is not as common. People with the given name *Chris Abani (born 1966), Nige ...
and
Peter Ferraro Peter Joseph Ferraro (born January 24, 1973) is an American former professional ice hockey forward who played in the National Hockey League (NHL). He and his twin brother Chris became the second set of identical twins to play on the same NHL tea ...
and John Vanbiesbrouck. In 2014–15, the Lumberjacks finished the regular season in fourth place in the Eastern Conference, earning Muskegon a berth in the Clark Cup playoffs. In the first round of the playoffs, Muskegon faced the regular season champion
Youngstown Phantoms The Youngstown Phantoms are a junior ice hockey#Tier I, Tier I junior ice hockey team that plays in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the 5,200-seat Covelli Centre in Youngstown, Ohio. ...
. Muskegon won game one of the five-game series by a final of 5–4 after Matheson Iacopelli's overtime goal. The Lumberjacks would fall in game two 4–2, leveling the series at one game apiece. In game three, each team managed only one goal through regulation and overtime. Muskegon goaltender Eric Schierhorn, the Lumberjacks' career wins leader, stopped 44 shots in over 90 minutes and Will Graber scored the double-overtime winner for the 2–1 win and series lead. The Lumberjacks won game four and the series. In the Eastern Conference finals, the Lumberjacks faced the
Dubuque Fighting Saints The Dubuque Fighting Saints are a Tier I junior ice hockey team playing in the United States Hockey League (USHL) and are based in the city of Dubuque, Iowa, on the banks of the Mississippi River at the border intersects of Iowa, Illinois, and W ...
, who finished the regular season in third place in the East. The two teams alternated wins in the first four games, setting up a decisive game five at Dubuque. Max Humitz and the Lumberjacks took a 4–1 lead after two periods before giving up two goals to the Fighting Saints in the third to make the score 4–3 with 6:16 to play. However, Schierhorn and the Lumberacks held off Dubuque's comeback and advanced to the Clark Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history. The Lumberjacks were then swept in the finals by the
Sioux Falls Stampede The Sioux Falls Stampede are a Tier I junior ice hockey team based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The Stampede are members of the Western Conference of the United States Hockey League (USHL). The team plays home games at the Denny Sanford Premi ...
. In August 2015, Dan Israel, a businessman from
Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...
, purchased the team. In the 2015–16 season, the team was able to tie with the Chicago Steel with 61 points each, landing them in seventh in the Eastern Conference and twelfth overall, but was not good enough to qualify for the playoffs. However, center Rem Pitlick was a bright spot for the team leading the league with 89 points (46 Goals and 43 Assists) in 56 games - a 1.59 points per game average. Pitlick was also the first Lumberjack to win an award as the USHL's 2015–16 Player of the Year and Forward of the Year, and being only the 22nd player to accept both. He was also named CCM Forward of the year, USA Dave Tyler Junior Player of the Year, made the All-USHL first team, named to World Junior A Challenge U.S. Select Team. He was drafted in the third round of the
2016 NHL Entry Draft The 2016 NHL Entry Draft was the 54th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 24–25, 2016 at the First Niagara Center in Buffalo, New York. The first three selections were Auston Matthews going to the Toronto Maple Leafs, Patrik Laine go ...
by the
Nashville Predators The Nashville Predators (commonly referred to as the Preds) are a professional ice hockey team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Central Division in the Western Conference, and ha ...
. Following the 2015–16 season, head coach
Todd Krygier Todd Andrew Krygier (born October 12, 1965) is an American former professional ice hockey player. He played in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the Hartford Whalers, Washington Capitals, and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim between 1989 and 1997. Inter ...
was fired. On July 13, 2016, the Lumberjacks announced the hire of John LaFontaine The older brother of Hockey Hall of Famer
Pat LaFontaine Patrick Michael LaFontaine (born February 22, 1965) is an American former ice hockey center who played in the National Hockey League (NHL) and spent his entire playing career with the league's New York State-based teams. LaFontaine played for th ...
, John was named the North American Hockey League Coach of the Year in 2015–16, leading the
Wichita Falls Wildcats The Wichita Falls Wildcats were a Tier II junior ice hockey team in the North American Hockey League's South Division. The Wildcats played out of the 7,380-seat Kay Yeager Coliseum in Wichita Falls, Texas. After failing to find a buyer, the Wil ...
to the Robertson Cup Finals. In 2016–17, the Lumberjacks used their tender to bring Andrei Svechnikov to Muskegon. Svechnikov, along with defenseman Bo Hanson, forward Collin Adams, and goaltenders Keith Petruzzelli and Adam Brizgala, helped the Lumberjacks to the best regular season in their history. Muskegon set team records in wins (37), points (79), goals scored (192) and goals allowed (157). Svechnikov would be named USHL Rookie of the Year after scoring 29 goals and 58 points in 48 games. Petruzzelli would set single-season records for goals against average (2.40), and go on to be drafted by the
Detroit Red Wings The Detroit Red Wings (colloquially referred to as the Wings) are a professional ice hockey team based in Detroit. The Red Wings compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Atlantic Division (NHL), Atlantic Division in the East ...
in the third round of the
2017 NHL draft The 2017 NHL Entry Draft was the 55th NHL Entry Draft. The draft was held on June 23–24, 2017, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The first three selections were Nico Hischier going to the New Jersey Devils, Nolan Patrick going to t ...
. Muskegon earned the third seed in the Eastern Conference, but fell to Dubuque in four games. In the playoff series, the Lumberjacks were without Svechnikov and Jachym Kondelik, who were representing their countries internationally. Mikael Hakkarainen and Casey Gilling also missed game four due to injury. After two seasons as head coach, and the first to lead the Lumberjacks to back-to-back playoff appearances, the Lumberjacks parted with LaFontaine on April 23, 2018, after being eliminated in the first round of the 2018 Clark Cup playoffs. LaFontaine was replaced by assistant coach Mike Hamilton. General manager and part owner John Vanbiesbrouck was also hired by
USA Hockey USA Hockey is the national ice hockey organization in the United States. It is recognized by the International Olympic Committee and the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee as the governing body for organized ice hockey in the United ...
as the assistant executive director of hockey operations and would be involved with selecting players for the US national teams. The Lumberjacks then hired the
Chicago Steel The Chicago Steel are members of the United States Hockey League, joining the league in 2000. The Steel have played their home games at Fox Valley Ice Arena in Geneva, Illinois, since 2015; previously, the team played at Edge Ice Arena in Bense ...
's general manager Ryan Bennett for the same position.


Lumberjacks in the NHL

Several Lumberjacks have been selected in the NHL draft. , Andrei Svechnikov is the highest-drafted former Lumberjack when he was selected by the
Carolina Hurricanes The Carolina Hurricanes (colloquially known as the Canes) are a professional ice hockey team based in Raleigh, North Carolina. They compete in the National Hockey League (NHL) as a member of the Metropolitan Division in the Eastern Conference, ...
with the second overall pick in the 2018 NHL Draft. Other Lumberjacks to have played in the NHL include Ducks' defenseman Jaycob Megna, Flyers defenseman
Nick Seeler Nick Seeler (born June 3, 1993) is an American professional ice hockey defenseman who is currently playing for the Philadelphia Flyers of the National Hockey League (NHL). He was drafted by the Minnesota Wild in the fifth round, 131st overall, i ...
, Flames' forward Ryan Lomberg, Canucks' forward Griffen Molino, and Senators' defenseman Christian Wolanin .


Roster

As of December 24, 2022.


References


External links


Muskegon LumberjacksUnited States Hockey LeaguePointstreak
{{Michigan Sports United States Hockey League teams Amateur ice hockey teams in Michigan Sports in Muskegon, Michigan Ice hockey clubs established in 2010 2010 establishments in Michigan