By Trevor Grimm

A few days after the Muskegon Lumberjacks won the Clark Cup final in front of a standing room only crowd at Young Arena, only one question remains.

Was this the best Clark Cup ever?

It’s hard to outright say yes or no. Certainly, it’s difficult for a best of five series to create the drama and momentum shifts of a best of seven, simply because there are less games.

But this series did that. Momentum shifts weren't game to game or period to period, they were shift to shift. Or even within the same shift, as was the case with the series’ final shift.

After Muskegon and Waterloo traded chances, Louis Christ put his name forever into junior hockey lore with the overtime winner, giving the Lumberjacks a 4-3 overtime win in the decisive game five.

What came next made the USHL go viral on social media. Skating to the far end of the ice in celebration, Christ put his stick in the air and twisted it to resemble someone taking a selfie on a selfie stick.

For a sport that went from the Tiger Williams “ride the stick” celebrations of the 1980s, to the dull “act like you’ve been there before” of the early 2000s, it’s nice to see “cellys” are, well, celebrated again.

It seemed like an appropriate ending to a remarkable series. There was a bit of everything, from the wide open frenzy of game one, to the shutdown style of game two, and the next three games going to overtime.

Every game was sold out. When tickets for game five went on sale Saturday night after game four ended, within an hour, less than 100 tickets were left, many of them singles. An hour later, nothing was left. Standing room was released at a couple of points during the week, but those didn’t last long.

In a modern era when it often seems difficult to convince people to go to the rink, especially on weeknights, Waterloo proved the days of big games overcoming the obstacles and selling out are not gone.

By the end of the week, both coaches had moved on. We know Waterloo coach Matt Smaby has accepted the position of associate head coach at North Dakota, while we also know Colton St. Clair is the new coach in Muskegon.

We don’t know where Muskegon coach Parker Burgess is headed, although an uneducated guess would indicate it may be to a team that’s still in the playoffs at some level. We also do not know who Smaby’s replacement will be, but that person will inherit a an excellent program that is built on speed, grit, and hard work.

In the end, only one team can skate with the cup. But both teams felt like winners this series.

The ultimate winners? The fans.

Let’s do this again next year.