All Smiles This Weekend Even With The Lumberjacks Suffering First Loss

Even with the first loss of the season coming Friday night at the lumber mill, the Granite City Lumberjacks and their fans were still all smiles this weekend. It was a charitable weekend for the Lumberjacks, as the team welcomed in the Alexandria Blizzard Friday night and the Minnesota Wilderness Saturday while raising money for Smiles for Jake.

The Lumberjacks were leading 3-0 heading into the third period Friday night, but the Blizzard scored 4 unanswered goals to win the game 4-3, giving the Lumberjacks their first regular-season loss of the year.

On Saturday night, the second night of Smiles for Jake weekend at the Miller Buick GMC Arena, the Minnesota Wilderness took the Lumberjacks to overtime. Still, the Lumberjacks came away with a hard-fought 4-3 win.

As mentioned it was Smiles for Jake weekend, so there were silent auctions going on during the games both Friday and Saturday, and the jerseys that the players were wearing, which were different than their normal jerseys, were auctioned off after the weekend series.

Smiles for Jake works "to eliminate suicide and provide hope to all that suffer from darkness and despair. The hashtag #wearealljake was created to represent everyone needing an extra smile, a hug, a high five, kind words, or simply a moment of attention."

It wasn't clear how much was raised this weekend for Smiles for Jake from the auctions.

On the season the Lumberjacks sit at 12-1, still atop the Western Division. Next weekend the Lumberjacks will be on the road, up in Eveleth taking on the Minnesota Wilderness at the legendary Hippodrome.

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Game time on Friday is 7:05, and on Saturday the puck drops at 6:05. The Lumberjacks will be back at home the following weekend to host a weekend series with Willmar.