Lumberjacks Log: Week 2

Muskegon learns from last week and prepares for a long trip to face Fargo and Sioux Falls

• F John Padulo, added to the Muskegon roster from the OHL’s Barrie Colts following the preseason, led the Lumberjacks in scoring over the weekend. The Rochester, N.Y., native earned his first three USHL points, all assists.
• First-year defensemen Kevin Schulze and Ryan Bullock joined Padulo as the only Jacks to score in both games. Bullock and Schulze both played Minnesota prep hockey last winter; Muskegon drafted Bullock in the 2010 USHL Entry Draft, while Schulze came aboard in similar fashion this spring.
• Returner Paul Berrafato and first-year USHLer Blake Voth each earned a start between the pipes last weekend. New Yorker Berrafato appeared in 27 contests in 2010-11; Voth, from Saskatchewan, established himself as a top netminder in the BCHL with the Vernon Vipers over the last two seasons.
• Muskegon earned points in both meetings with Sioux Falls last year, going 1-0-1 with a 4-3 road victory Dec. 31. The Force got the better of the Jacks in 2010, outscoring Muskegon 8-5 in two clashes.  

• The big news of Fargo’s offseason was the hiring of John Marks as the Force’s new head coach/GM. Marks’ résumé includes coaching under Fargo’s first bench boss Dean Blais and former USHL commissioner Gino Gasparini. He also led teams to championships in two minor pro leagues (ECHL and SPHL).
• F Austin Farley scored 11 points in 33 games with the Force last season, and his four points (3 G, 1 A) lead Fargo’s charge early. His three-point night Oct. 1 against Des Moines jumpstarted his year, while D Taylor Richart earned two assists in the same game, his USHL debut; the effort earned him CCM Defensive Player of the Week honors.
• Returning G Zane Gothberg turned in one of the first great performances of the USHL season last Friday, turning away 36 Omaha shots and all four shootout attempts in Fargo’s 1-0 road win. The 6-foot-2 Minnesotan split duties with Ryan Massa last year but has played every minute so far this time around.
• Fargo finished its 2010-11 season short of the Clark Cup Final for the first time in its three-year history, as eventual champion Dubuque swept the Force in the West Division quarterfinal round.

• Sioux Falls, led by seventh-year coach and 400-game winner Kevin Hartzell, posted the second-most wins in the West last year with 34. The Stampede have made the Clark Cup Playoffs seven straight years, but only five players return from last year’s club.
• After getting shut out at Lincoln Sept. 30, the Stampede found the net enough to squeeze past Waterloo in a shootout in their home opener last Saturday. Two former U.S. National Team defensemen led the way offensively, with Matt Van Voorhis tying the game in the third and Dan Carlson scoring the shootout winner.
• G Stephon Williams has been superb to start his sophomore USHL season. His .952 save percentage ranks second in the league, with his 1.94 goals-against average placing him fourth.
• Sioux Falls opposed Muskegon in the Jacks’ second-ever USHL game last Oct. 8. Williams earned the 5-4 shootout win at L.C. Walker Arena; D Joseph Lordo (goal) is the only other current member of the Stampede to have contributed that night.