MUSKEGON, Mich. — Take it day by day, that's the motto right now for the Muskegon Lumberjacks players, coaches, and staff.
The 2020-2021 team has been selected and players have been on the ice practicing twice daily for the last two weeks.
The United States Hockey League is finalizing a reduced schedule, this season playing six fewer regular season games. The schedule is expected to be released to teams and fans sometime in the next two weeks. Teams have been told the season will begin during the first week in November, but the exact date is unknown. Also unknown, the date for the Lumberjacks' home opener.
Lumberjacks President Mike McCall hopes the league schedules the team's home opener for later in November.
"We hope everything will be open by then and even if we are open 50% or more we're going to play," McCall said Thursday. "We're hoping that maybe by Thanksgiving weekend you're going to see a Lumberjacks home opener."
The team has committed to playing the full season even if government directives don't allow fans inside the Mercy Health Arena.
The USHL granted the Lumberjacks permission to shut down the hockey team for the season. But team owners Dan Israel and Bob Kaiser said in a release this week, "we feel a responsibility to protect a player’s dream. We cannot, in good conscious, take the game away from these young men at such a pivotal time in their lives. We will not allow temporary circumstances to permanently jeopardize what they have worked so hard to achieve."
Fans can watch home games all season long by tuning in to HockeyTV. The Lumberjacks also offer free audio via Mixlr for every home game.
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