PITTSBURGH – The Muskegon Lumberjacks stay hot as they dominateUSNTDP 5-0 in their final preseason game of of the 2015-16 season.
The first period was full of back and forth action, with both teams generating plenty of chances. Joey Daccord stood tall on the back end, stopping everything thrown his way. It wasn’t until the final 15 seconds of the period where the Lumber- jacks were able to break the tie. Defenseman Carson Vance was able to find the back of the net off of a feed forDominick Sacco to give the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead heading in to the locker room for the first intermission. 
The Lumberjacks were able to really find their offensive touch in the 2nd period, despite starting a man down, due to a Mitch Eliot roughing penalty. A few minutes after killing it off, with 14:31 remaining in the 2nd, Danny Digrande was able to break through the Team USA defensemen and sneak one through the goalie’s five hole to double the Jacks lead. The Jacks didn’t let up, continuing to apply pressure in the offensive zone. Jake Coleman drew a penalty battling behind the Team USA goal, which led to a Lumberjack power play. The Jacks wasted no time, and capitalized on apicture-perfect passing play where Pitlick found Paulovic down low, who found Collin Adams wide open on the backdoor. The scoring didn’t stop there, as Pittsburgh native Jake Coleman was able to bury one in front of his hometown crowd to give the Jacks a 4-0 lead heading into the second intermission.
The third period got physical, as they typically do when a team is up by more than a few goals. The period totaled 27 minutes of penalty time, including a game misconduct for USA’s Farrance. Dominick Sacco was on the other side of the Farrance ejection, where he took a glove to the mouth and didn’t return. Out of all the special teams play in the third, the only goal came when the Jack’s were able to cash in on a Coleman redirect of a rocket from the point by Hamilton. Green picked up the other helper on the goal, increasing the Jacks lead to 5, which would end up being the final tally of the night.
Daccord was spectacular all evening, posting a perfect shutout. He turned aside every shot he faced, and was a key factor leading to the 100% killing success of the Lumberjack penalty kill.
The Lumberjacks start their regular season next Saturday, September 26th in Waterloo. Catch the Lumberjacks back in action at L.C. Walker Arena on October 3rd for their home opener when they take on the U17’s once again as theybegin their quest for the Clark Cup.
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