Muskegon Lumberjacks
| Muskegon Lumberjacks | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| City | Muskegon, Michigan |
| League | USHL |
| Conference | Eastern |
| Founded | 2010 |
| Home arena | L. C. Walker Arena |
| Colors |
Black, Vegas Gold, Red, White |
| Owner(s) | Chris Ferraro, Peter Ferraro, Ron Friedman, Joel Friedman |
| General manager | John Vanbiesbrouck |
| Head coach | John LaFontaine (2016–17) |
| Franchise history | |
| 2010–present | Muskegon Lumberjacks |
The Muskegon Lumberjacks are a Tier I junior ice hockey team in the Eastern Conference of the United States Hockey League. They play in Muskegon, Michigan, at L.C. Walker Arena. The Lumberjacks replaced the International Hockey League franchise (IHL) of the same name, which relocated to Evansville, Indiana, at the end of the 2009–10 IHL season.
Lou and Josh Mervis, under a company named Blue Ox Hockey, originally owned the Danville Wings when they promoted that team from the Tier II North American Hockey League to the Tier I United States Hockey League. However, after one season, the Mervis family sold the franchise and it was relocated to become the Indiana Ice in 2004. The Mervis family had purchased the dormant Rochester Mustangs franchise to use as a new USHL team on the University of Illinois campus in Champaign, Illinois, but Josh Mervis agreed to be the general manager of the Ice for the first season in Indiana. After less than one season as general manager of the Ice, Josh Mervis left the team in order to focus on starting the Champaign team. However, the new proposed arena project never took off and the family began to look elsewhere such as La Crosse, Wisconsin, Battle Creek, Michigan, and Louisville, Kentucky.
In February 2010, the USHL approved the Mervis family's plan to reactivate their dormant franchise in of Muskegon for the 2010–11 season. At the time, there was a low-level minor professional hockey team playing in the International Hockey League named the Muskegon Lumberjacks. The Mervis family then acquired the Lumberjacks name and folded the professional team with the new USHL team taking on the Lumberjacks identity that had been used on and off since 1984. The Mervis family retained the former owners of the Lumberjacks, Stacey Patulskey, Jeff Patulskey and Tim Taylor, as the managerial team.
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