By Trevor Grimm

One thing has become obvious after three games of the Clark Cup

When the pace of the game becomes frenetic, end-to-end, and off the rush, it favors Waterloo. Once the game settles down and becomes more structured, it favors Muskegon.

Friday night, the game went from frenetic to more controlled to structured - and the results showed. At one point early in the third, Waterloo was outshooting Muskegon 38-17, despite a 1-1 score.

It was a different story the rest of the way. In 25:59 of overtime, the Lumberjacks outshot the Black Hawks 15-4 and controlled much of the pace.

By now, most USHL fans are probably aware the game ended when Waterloo goalie Carter Casey came out from his net to play the puck behind the goal line, and his attempt to play the puck up the middle was intercepted by a forechecking Ivan Rybakin, and Casey’s diving attempt to get back in front of the puck came just shorts as the puck slid under him.

A lot of focus has been on Casey, but the play was fairly routine. What wasn’t was the three man forecheck from Muskegon - he couldn’t go either way behind the net, leaving him with up the middle as the only option. However, he must not have seen Rybakov.

Once Casey had left the net, it suddenly became obvious this couldn’t end well for the stellar 17-year-old from Minnesota’s Iron Range.

After nearly 86 minutes of hockey in a warm and sold out arena, the two teams go back at it Saturday night. As the game goes on, the ice will likely get softer once again.

Translation - Waterloo would be well advised to get out to a quick start. Their quick skating, up tempo, end-to-end style works better on faster ice.

The Black Hawks will come out early with everything they have to offer. If Muskegon can weather the storm - and not the type of thunderstorms that have hit the region the past two days - their reward will be priceless.