The U18s struck first after 10 minutes of scoreless play when Henry Thrun (Southborough, Mass.) scored with 6:03 left in the first period, tipping in Case McCarthy’s (Clarence Center, N.Y.) shot from the point. The Lumberjacks responded with two unanswered goals to end the period, first by Bobby Lynch with assists from Colby Bukes and Mikael Hakkarainen and second by Brock Bremer, who was awarded the goal after a lengthy video review to give his team a 2-1 lead. 

Team USA outshot Muskegon, 19-15, in the first period.

The second period began with a powerplay goal from Matthew Boldy (Millis, Mass.) at 17:08 of the second period to tie the game at two, taking the puck in traffic in front of Muskegon goaltender Brandon Bussi and scoring on a backhand shot. Five minutes and 42 seconds later, Drew Helleson (Farmington, Minn.) came in late on the play and roofed a shot from the hashmarks past Bussi, scoring shorthanded to put the U18s ahead, 3-2, with Thrun and Danny Weight (Lattingtown, N.Y.) tallying assists. The Lumberjacks answered with two goals to recover its one goal lead. Hakkarainen scored with 7:05 remaining to tie the game at three and Nolan Sullivan put the Lumberjacks ahead by one with 3:34 to go in the second frame.

Muskegon took its first two goal lead of the game when Hakkareinen scored his second of the game at 14:18 of the third period. Jack Hughes (Orlando, Fla.) netted a goal with 9:05 left in regulation off of assists from Ryder Rolston (Birmingham, Mich.) and Cam York (Anaheim Hills, Calif.), cutting Muskegon’s lead in half. Team USA could not complete a comeback as Oliver MacDonald's empty net goal with 22 seconds remaining sealed the 6-4 Lumberjack win. Muskegon outshot Team USA, 51-42.

In goal, Cam Rowe (Wilmette, Ill.) and Spencer Knight (Darien, Conn.) both played for the U18s.  Rowe started and stopped 13-of-15 shots in the first period.  Knight went the rest of the way.

The U18s now travel to the Czech Republic on Sunday to play in the U18 Five Nations Tournament.  Team USA's next USHL game is on Friday, Nov. 16 when the U17s host the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders at 7 pm ET at USA Hockey Arena.  Tickets are available by calling (734) 453-8400 or by visiting USAHockeyNTDP.com/tix.