Muskegon Lumberjacks (1984-1992)

International Hockey League (1984-1992)

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Cleveland Lumberjacks
Classic Logo T-Shirt

This classic-era Lumberjacks t-shirt  represents the original logo and team colors that the team wore from 1992 through 1995. The ‘Jacks brought this color scheme and logo with them from their previous home in Muskegon, Michigan where they played from 1984 to 1992. In 1995, the team created a new logo featuring their Buzz the Beaver mascot and adopted a black-and-blue color scheme that they would use until the team disbanded in 2001. 

This unisex T is available today in sizes Small through 3XL at Old School Shirts!

 

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Background

Muskegon, Michigan was a long-time mainstay of the Rust Belt-based International Hockey League (1945-2001). The IHL arrived in town in 1960 with the formation of the Zephyrs. The Zephyrs changed their name to the Mohawks in 1965.

Muskegon was a steady outpost in the IHL, but by the early 1980’s the Mohawks had fallen on hard times. The ‘Hawks never had a winning record after 1976. City officials threatened the team with eviction over back rent in December 1981 and the team nearly folded again in August 1982

Longtime pro hockey exec Larry Gordon purchased the Mohawks in June 1984 for the reported price of $1.  Gordon was a former World Hockey Association executive and the ex-General Manager of the Edmonton Oilers.  Gordon used his Oilers connections to purchase an expansion club in the Central Hockey League, which he operated in Wichita, Kansas and later Billings, Montana from 1980 to 1984. The CHL gasped its last breath in June of 1984 and Gordon turned his attention to Muskegon.

‘Hawks To ‘Jacks

Gordon re-branded the club, dropping the ‘Mohawks’ moniker in favor of the ‘Lumberjacks’ ahead of the 1984-85 campaign.  Over the next two years, Gordon assembled the pieces that would make the Lumberjacks the dominant IHL club of the late 1980’s. Holdover Scott Gruhl was one of the few bright spots from the listless 1983-84 squad, scoring 40 goals in just 56 games for the Mohawks.  Jock Callander arrived in the fall of 1984 after spending the previous season with Gordon’s Montana Magic CHL club.

After winning just 19 games in 1983-84, the Lumberjacks went 50-29-3 in 1984-85, posting the first 50-win season in Muskegon’s 25-year history.  Callander dished out 68 assists, many of them to Gruhl who scored 62 goals en route to IHL Most Valuable Player honors.  Muskegon advanced to the Turner Cup finals, losing to the Peoria Rivermen four games to three.

Dynasty

The Lumberjacks added the final piece of the puzzle in 1985, signing Callander’s former junior hockey teammate Dave Michayluk.  Michayluk, Gruhl and Callander combined for 150 goals in 1985-86 as Muskegon recorded a second straight 50-win season.  This time the Lumberjacks finished the job, sweeping the Fort Wayne Komets in the finals to earn Muskegon’s first Turner Cup since 1968.

In 1987, Gordon further boosted Muskegon’s fortunes by signing a new affiliation deal with the Pittsburgh Penguins that made Muskegon the top farm club for the rising NHL power.  Pittsburgh would now provide upwards of 16 players per season to augment the roster led by Callander, Gruhl and Michayluk.

In all, the Lumberjacks would play eight seasons in Muskegon and make six appearances in the Turner Cup finals, winning in 1986 and 1989. Perhaps the best Lumberjacks club of the era – the 1987-88 team coached by former NHL star Rick Ley – failed to make the finals after setting a league record with 58 regular season wins.

Gruhl departed after the 1989-90 season, but the Callander-Michayluk combo stayed intact for the rest of the Lumberjacks run in Muskegon.

The Muskegon Line

The Lumberjacks saved their very best story for last.

By the early 1990’s the complexion of the IHL had begun to change. The league was abandoning its Rust Belt roots and expanding into large cities like Kansas City and San Diego. By 1991-92, Muskegon ranked last in the 10-team IHL in attendance, while expenses such as air travel were on the rise. On March 31, 1992, as the team prepared for the Turner Cup playoffs, IHL officials approved the Lumberjacks move to Cleveland for the 1992-93 season, where they would share an NBA arena with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As usual, the ‘Jacks made short work of the rest of the IHL in the playoffs, setting up a best-of-seven Turner Cup finals clash with the Kansas City Blades. Meanwhile, in the NHL, the Pittsburgh Penguins were locked in a savage 2nd round playoff series with the top-seeded New York Rangers. In Game 2, the Pens lost superstar Mario Lemieux to a fractured wrist and 40-goal scorer Joey Mullen to a season-ending knee injury.

Needing reinforcements, Pittsburgh called up Jock Callander and Mike Needham from Muskegon hours before Game 1 of the IHL’s Turner Cup finals. After the Rangers inflicted another series-ending injury to a key Penguins player days later, top penalty killer Bob Errey, Pittsburgh called up Dave Michayluk to join Callanader and Needham. Michayluk, now almost 30 years old, had last skated in the NHL nearly 10 years earlier in the fall of 1982.

The “Muskegon Line” of Callander, Needham and Michayluk helped the injury-depleted Pens to a shocking 11-0 playoff rally. After going down to 2 games to 1 against the Rangers in the Division Finals, Pittsburgh reeled off three straight wins to eliminate the NHL’s best regular season club. The Pens then swept the Boston Bruins in the semis and the Chicago Black Hawks in the Stanley Cup finals.

Meanwhile, back in Muskegon, the Lumberjacks, deprived of their top scoring line, lost the 1992 Turner Cup finals to Kansas City in four straight games. Shortly thereafter, the team’s gear was packed up for the move to Cleveland.

Aftermath

The Lumberjacks played in Cleveland from 1992 until 2001, when the International Hockey League folded.

Dave Michayluk never played in the NHL again after helping the Penguins win the 1992 Stanley Cup.  He returned to Cleveland and played five more seasons with the Lumberjacks alongside his friend Jock Callander.

Callander played briefly for the Tampa Bay Lightning in the NHL before returning to the Cleveland Lumberjacks in 1993.  He retired in 2000 as the IHL’s all-time leading point scorer, a feat he attributes to playing alongside Michayluk.

After the Lumberjacks left town in the summer of 1992, they were swiftly replaced by a lower-level pro hockey team, the Muskegon Fury of the Colonial Hockey League. In 2008, the Fury changed their name back to the Lumberjacks in an unsuccessful effort to cash in on nostalgia for the sport’s late 1980’s glory days in Muskegon. The team folded two years later in 2010.

A third version of the Muskegon Lumberjacks, this time a junior club in the amateur United States Hockey League, formed in 2010 and remains active today.

Voices

“<Dave Michayluk> was such a great player and natural scorer.  I got a lot of assists because of his scoring ability. We had so much confidence playing together and knowing where the other one was going to be.  We loved the game. I know for sure my career would not have been anywhere near as successful without him as a line mate.”

– Jock Callander, Center 1984-1992 (2011 FWiL Interview)

Muskegon Lumberjacks Shop

Muskegon Lumberjacks Video

The ‘Jacks host Sokol Kiev of the Soviet Union in an international exhibition match at L.C. Walker Arena. December 1989.

Links

International Hockey League Media Guides

International Hockey League Programs

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