Muskegon Lumberjacks host the Youngstown Phantoms Friday and Saturday, looking to end a two-game slide

MUSKEGON, Mich. — The Muskegon Lumberjacks return to Trinity Health Arena this weekend trying to snap a two-game losing streak, with back-to-back USHL games against the Youngstown Phantoms at 7 p.m. Friday and 6 p.m. Saturday.

It is the first regular-season meeting of 2026-27 between the two clubs, which the Lumberjacks’ weekly preview calls divisional rivals.

Muskegon is 3-4-0-1 after a rough trip to the Chicago Steel last weekend, when it lost 5-0 on Oct. 9 and 5-4 on Oct. 10, the team’s schedule shows. The Lumberjacks have been better at home, going 2-1-0-1, including a 6-3 win over the Madison Capitols on Oct. 2 before a shootout loss to Madison the next night.

Youngstown is 2-5-0-0, but both of its wins came in the past week. The Phantoms split a series with the Dubuque Fighting Saints and then beat the U.S. National Team Development Program’s under-17 team 7-2 on Tuesday, according to the preview. Goaltender Owen Lepak played every minute of both wins.

The Phantoms also had the better of the preseason. They beat Muskegon 5-3 and 4-3 in exhibition games at Trinity Health Arena on Sept. 5 and 6.

Neither team has swept a series yet this season, the Lumberjacks noted.

The team pointed to three of its players to watch. Louis Jonerheim, a 6-foot-5 forward from Lund, Sweden, announced last Friday that he has committed to play NCAA Division I hockey at the University of Nebraska Omaha. Drew Fox, a forward from Hickory Creek, Texas, born in 2009, has been climbing the team’s goal-scoring list in his first season. Defenseman Teddy Lechner of Bloomington, Minnesota, a Colorado Avalanche draft pick committed to Augustana University, has two assists.

Fans who cannot make it downtown can follow on the Lumberjacks Hockey Network with play-by-play voice Ezra Gennello. FloHockey streams every game, a free radio stream is available on Mixlr, and a pregame show streams on Facebook 30 minutes before puck drop, the team said.

After this weekend, Muskegon plays at the Lincoln Stars on Oct. 23 and 24 and at the USNTDP under-17 team in Plymouth on Oct. 28. The Lumberjacks’ next home series is Nov. 13 and 14 against the Cedar Rapids RoughRiders.

Sources:
Muskegon Lumberjacks, “Week 4 Preview: Chopping Down the Phantoms,” Oct. 14, 2026 (records, Chicago sweep, Youngstown’s week, Lepak, players to watch, broadcast details, upcoming games), https://muskegonlumberjacks.com/news/2026/10/14/mens-ice-hockey-week-4-preview-chopping-down-the-phantoms.aspx
Muskegon Lumberjacks, “2026-27 Men’s Ice Hockey Schedule” (game times, scores, home record, preseason results, November home dates), https://muskegonlumberjacks.com/sports/mhockey/schedule/2026-27
Wikipedia, “Trinity Health Arena” (former L.C. Walker Arena name), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trinity_Health_Arena
Photo: rossograph, “L.C. Walker Arena.jpg,” March 20, 2019, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/), cropped and color-adjusted; derivative under the same license, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:L.C._Walker_Arena.jpg

Muskegon

Tags: Muskegon · Sports · Muskegon Lumberjacks · USHL · Hockey · Youngstown Phantoms