DUBUQUE, Iowa (April 24th) – For the first time in the franchise’s USHL history, the Muskegon Lumberjacks embarked on the Eastern Conference Finals looking to begin the best-of-five series with a road win at the Mystique Community Ice Center against the host Dubuque Fighting Saints in Game 1. After trailing for the majority of regulation, 
the Lumberjacks used a three-goal third period to erase a 2-1 deficit and come away with a 1-0 series lead following a 4-2 victory over the Fighting Saints led by Corey Schueneman’s pair of goals plus an assist during the final 7:06 of regulation to help capture their second-ever victory in Dubuque.
A clean first period saw a scoreless battle with the Fighting Saints outshooting the Lumberjacks by a 17-7 spread. Muskegon had the only two power play opportunities during the opening 20 minutes of regulation but came up empty on both.
Moments into the second period, the Fighting Saints grabbed the contest’s first goal taking advantage of its first power play opportunity of the night as Seamus Malone (2) ripped a shot from the left faceoff circle under the right arm of Eric Schierhorn (4-1) to give the hosts a 1-0 lead at the 1:12 mark that was helped by Nate Sucese and Jacob Benson.
Just over a minute later at the 2:20 mark, the Lumberjacks knotted the game even at 1-1 with a man advantage tally of their own as a faceoff win led to Mark Petaccio (2) roofing one from the left faceoff circle top shelf over Jacob Nehama (3-1) that was set up by Christian Wolanin and Ryan Siroky.
The fast start to the middle stanza continued on with Dubuque regaining its one shot lead at 2-1 by the 6:02 mark as a two-on-one odd man rush led to a goal by Sucese (2) burying it into the open net on the backdoor that was aided by Dylan Gambrell and Willie Knierim.
The one shot margin held the same heading into the second intermission break with the Fighting Saints slightly extending its shots on goal advantage to 31-20 overall after narrowly outshooting the Lumberjacks during the middle frame, 14-13. Through two periods of play, Dubuque was 1-for-2 on the power play, while Muskegon was 1-for-4.
The third period entered the second half when Schueneman (2, 3) took matters into his own hands lacing a pair of markers within 4:41 of one another to give Muskegon its first and only lead of the night at 3-2 with 2:25 left in regulation. Schueneman’s first came from a slap shot top shelf between the faceoff circles at the 12:54 mark that was assisted by Tommy Marchin, while the Western Michigan commit’s second came from a shot at the left point that found its way through traffic and past the short side on Nehama that was helped off a faceoff win by Matej Paulovic and Marchin.
With time ticking away, the Fighting Saints pulled Nehama for the extra attacker with under 1:30 remaining, but the Lumberjacks added an insurance tally with 13.9 seconds to go courtesy of Siroky (1) potting a breakaway empty net goal that was assisted by Trevor Hamilton and Schueneman to cap off the 4-2 road win. Dubuque outshot Muskegon for the night, 47-32.
Eric Schierhorn captured his fourth victory of the postseason following a 45-save effort, while Jacob Nehama took his first loss of the playoffs after stopping 28 of 31 shots faced. Dubuque finished the night 1-for-3 on the power play, while Muskegon stayed 1-for-4. Corey Schueneman led all scorers with his three-point night for the Lumberjacks followed by Ryan Siroky (one goal, one assist) and Tommy Marchin (two assists) each with two-point nights. Nate Sucese led the Fighting Saints’ offensive push with a goal plus an assist. Corey Schueneman (three goals, three assists) and Ryan Siroky (one goal, five assists) currently lead Muskegon’s postseason output with six points apiece through five games. Nate Sucese (two goals, five goals) climbs into a tie atop the team lead in playoff points at seven with Hayden Shaw (one goal, six assists) after four games played.
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