MUSKEGON, Mich – The Muskegon Lumberjacks looked to close out the Eastern Conference’s top seed in the Anderson Cup Champion Youngstown Phantoms tonight at the L.C. Walker Arena in Game 4 of the Eastern Conference Semifinal series. Like the first three games of the series, a close-knit affair saw the Lumberjacks hang on to a one goal lead for nearly the last period and a half until an empty net goal from Griffen Molino with around six seconds remaining helped seal a 4-2 victory over the Phantoms 
to win the series 3-1 and earn their first-ever berth into the Eastern Conference Finals, where Muskegon gets set to take on the Dubuque Fighting Saints.
Just like Game 1, the Phantoms snatched the game’s first goal quickly just 1:35 into the game to take an early 1-0 advantage as a centering feed led to Kiefer Sherwood (1) snapping a shot from the left faceoff circle top shelf over Eric Schierhorn (3-1) that was assisted by Max Letunov and Josh Melnick.
The one goal spread held into the second half of the first stanza when the Lumberjacks evened the score at 1-1 by the 11:33 mark courtesy of Christian Wolanin (2) firing a wrist shot from the point through traffic and under the crossbar past Chris Birdsall (1-1) that was aided by Mark Petaccio and Molino.
The tie game stood pat leaning into the first intermission break with each team notching 11 shots on goal through the opening 20 minutes of regulation. Youngstown was 0-for-3 on the power play, while Muskegon went 0-for-2.
Past the halfway point of the contest, Muskegon grabbed its first lead of the night at 2-1 by the 11:52 mark with a power play tally by Wolanin (3) for his second of the night off a rebound to the left of Birdsall that was helped by Tommy Marchin and Corey Schueneman.
Shortly after, the Phantoms squared the game back up at 2-2 just 1:23 after the Wolanin man advantage marker off a transition counter with Josh Nenadal centering a feed to a crashing Taylor Best (1) in front of the net, who went on to redirect the puck past Schierhorn that was also assisted by Connor Yau.
Under two minutes later at the 16:14 mark, the Lumberjacks took its second lead of the night at 3-2 with the eventual game-winner by Schueneman (1) rifling a wrist shot in the high slot top shelf over Birdsall’s left shoulder that was aided by Ryan Siroky and Juraj Mily.
Muskegon took its one shot lead into the final period of regulation after outshooting Youngstown by a substantial 18-5 margin during the middle stanza and extending the overall shot lead to 29-16. Muskegon was 1-for-4 on the power play, and Youngstown remained 0-for-3.
Throughout the entire third period, the defense from the Lumberjacks stood tall and kept the Phantoms off the scoreboard for the duration of the final frame. With just over a minute remaining in regulation, Youngstown pulled Birdsall for the extra attacker, but Muskegon went on to add an empty-netter with slightly over six seconds left from Molino (2) that was set up by Matej Paulovic to complete the two-goal victory. Muskegon outshot Youngstown for the night, 43-28.
Eric Schierhorn grabbed his third victory of the postseason following a 26-save effort for the Lumberjacks, and Chris Birdsall took the road defeat for Youngstown after stopping 39 of 42 shots faced. Muskegon finished 1-for-5 on the power play, and Youngstown was 0-for-3. Christian Wolanin led the Lumberjacks offense with his pair of markers followed by Corey Schueneman and Griffen Molino with a goal and an assist each. Six different players recorded a point apiece to contribute to the Phantoms’ offensive push. Matheson Iacopelli (four goals, one assist) and Griffen Molino (two goals, three assists) led Muskegon’s offense during the Youngstown series with five points each in four games played. The Lumberjacks clinch their first playoff series since the first round of the 2011 Clark Cup Playoffs when they swept the USNTDP Under-17 Team in a best-of-three series, 2-0, following a pair of road victories at the Ann Arbor Ice Cube.
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