General | 5/17/2025 8:46:19 PM

Waterloo 3, Muskegon 2 (OT)
(Series Tied 2-2)
Box Score

Chase Jette played hero just 95 seconds into overtime, rifling home the game-winner and lifting the Waterloo Black Hawks to a 3–2 victory over the Muskegon Lumberjacks in Game 4 of the Clark Cup Finals on Saturday. 

With the win, Waterloo staved off elimination and forced a decisive Game 5 at Young Arena on Tuesday night.

Easton Hewson opened the scoring late in the second period, blasting a power-play wrister from the slot for his second postseason tally, giving the Black Hawks a 1–0 lead.

In the third, Grady Deering extended the lead to 2–0 with his fifth goal of the playoffs, scoring on a wrister from the right-wing circle off a setup by Samuel Huck.

But the Lumberjacks weren’t going down quietly.

With their goalie pulled and the extra attacker on, Muskegon made it a one-goal deficit on a net-front redirect by Teddy Spitznagel.

Then came the shocker. Xavier Veilleux launched a desperate shot with just one second left in regulation, finding twine and sending the home crowd at Trinity Health Arena into a frenzy.

The drama didn’t end there.

Early in overtime, Jette unleashed a low wrister from above the left circle through heavy traffic, finding the back of the net to send the series back to Waterloo. 

Carter Casey made 28 saves on 30 shots for the Black Hawks, while Shikhabutdin Gadzhiev stopped 29 for Muskegon.

About the USHL
?
The United States Hockey League and its 16 member clubs are committed to being the world's leading 16–20-year-old junior hockey league. During the 2024-25 season, USHL alumni held over 50% of NCAA Division I roster spots, and over 25% of NHL players had USHL experience. With 10 first-round selections and 49 total picks in the 2024 NHL Draft, the USHL has developed the most draft choices of any junior hockey league since 2012.

Elevated through the recently announced Declaration of Excellence with the NHL and USA Hockey, the league's player-first approach, including a 2:1 practice-to-game ratio and a schedule with 92% of games played on weekends, provides its players with the optimal environment for athletic and personal growth, creating pathways for the next generation of stars like Kyle Connor (Youngstown Phantoms), Macklin Celebrini (Chicago Steel), Matthew Knies (Tri-City Storm), Adam Fantilli (Chicago Steel) and Jeremy Swayman (Sioux Falls Stampede). More.