MELTDOWN

By MARK OPFERMANN

mopferma@mlive.com

MUSKEGON, Mich.

The Muskegon Lumberjacks are underdogs no more.

The fourth-seeded Lumberjacks proved that label wrong by knocking off the USHL regular-season champion Youngstown Phantoms in the opening round of the playoffs with Monday’s 4-2 victory in Game 4 at L.C. Walker Arena.

The Phantoms bow out with a 3-1 series loss.

“You play four [close] games, double-overtime, overtime, a one-goal [plus empty-netter] game tonight, a one-goal [plus empty-netter] game Game 2,” Phantoms coach Anthony Noreen said. “It’s one of those games that could have gone either way and it shows the strength of our league and how tough it is to win every night.”

It was a heartbreaking series for the Phantoms who totaled 86 points and had five of the league’s top 25 scorers in the regular season, including USHL leader Kyle Connor.

“I thought we did everything possible to come away with three wins in the series, but unfortunately things didn’t go our way,” Phantoms co-captain Josh Nenadal said. “I couldn’t be more proud of these guys right now.

“They are my brothers and I can’t even begin to explain how proud I am and how honored I am to be a part of this organization,” Nenadal said. “It’s been an absolute honor and privilege.”

The Phantoms took the early lead as Josh Melnick worked behind the net to set up an open Kiefer Sherwood.

Sherwood put the puck in the top right corner for a 1-0 lead at the 1:35 mark of the first period.

The Phantoms had a couple other shots hit the post in the first period and had a 5-on-3 advantage for nearly a minute in the first period, but the Lumberjacks killed it off and weathered the early storm.

Youngstown finished 0-for-3 on the power play compared to 1-of-5 for Muskegon.

Noreen thought that was a key part of the game as both sides took turns putting the pressure on the rest of the way.

“The guys that scored their whole lives, that scored a ton of goals this season, the chances that we missed, it’s almost an anomaly,” Noreen said. “Obviously, credit their goaltender [Eric Schierhorn] and them, but we thought that’s a game we should have had.”

Muskegon tied it at 1-1 when Christian Wolanin fired a shot from near the blue line past Phantoms goalie Chris Birdsall at 11:33 of the first. Mark Petaccio and Molino were credited with assists.

In the second period, the Lumberjacks kept the pressure on and took a 2-1 lead as Wolanin scored again, this one from out front at 11:52.

Youngstown tied it at 2-2 as Taylor Best scored from the right crease at the 13:15 mark, but Muskegon came right back and retook the lead as Corey Schueneman fired a shot past Birdsall from the left circle at the 16:14 mark of the second.

The third period was scoreless until Griffen Molino’s empty-netter.

Muskegon advances to play third-seeded Dubuque in the Eastern Conference finals.

“We knew we were playing the best team In the league and we knew we had to be at the tops in our game and we felt as though if we contained a couple of their players, we’d give ourselves a chance to win and we did that systematically through four games,” Muskegon coach Todd Krygier said. “Even the game we lost was a great hockey game.”

Krygier credited Muskegon’s team play and the goaltending of Schierhorn was outstanding. He made 26 saves while Birdsall stopped 39-of-42 shots for Youngstown.

“It was a full team effort. We knew coming in that we could beat these guys,” Schierhorn said. “We believed from the start and we showed it on the ice. We outworked them, we out-executed them. We just outplayed them all-around.

“It just feels good.”

Mark Opfermann covers sports for MLive Muskegon Chronicle. Email him at mopferma@mlive.com and follow him on Twitter and Facebook.