MUSKEGON RISERS WINS 1ST Game Hosting DETROIT WAZA FLO Jan 9 2026

MUSKEGON RISERS WINS 1ST DETROIT WAZA FLO

By Dave Hart
LocalSportsJournal.com

Jan 9, 2026 – The Muskegon Risers started a new chapter on Friday night and managed to overcome several scares to get off on the right foot.

The Risers announced during the offseason that they were joining the MASL 3 league after spending many seasons in the MASL 2.

So far it has paid off as they cruised past their new state rival Detroit Waza Flo 14-6 at Trinity Health Arena.

The Risers will play Waza Flo in two weeks at home in their next contest.

“We have a lot of great new guys this year,” said Risers second-year coach Mike Boogaart. “We recruited a lot of talent from all over the place.”

The Risers had a couple of scares in the contest as they let an early two-goal lead disappear and they also almost relinquished a four-goal advantage.

But as it looked like Waza Flo was going to find a way to take control of the game, Muskegon responded with a four-goal and five-goal run to remain in control of the game.

“It was just laziness,” Boogaart said. “We got overconfident, and we will have to work on some of that attitude. We also must work on transition.”

There was a lot of scoring distribution for the Risers as 13 different players either had a goal or an assist. Emmanuel Velazques paced Muskegon with a three-goal hat trick to go along with an assist, while Marcos Real added two goals and an assist. Elmedin Zukic chipped in a goal and two assists while both Miguel Flores and Fikret Hasovic scored two goals, and Jair Real had a goal and an assist.

“We have a lot of people who can go to the goal,” Boogaart said. “We now need to find more people to defend.”

The Risers opened the scoring with a goal from Hasovic at the 4:47 mark of the first quarter.

Muskegon extended the advantage to 2-0 at 8:54 as Velazques scored.

The Risers led 2-0 after one quarter.

Waza Flo quickly responded in the second quarter with a pair of goals to tie the game 2-2 as David Galaxy Kabuaya and Omar Lahbiki scored at the 1:22 and 1:40 marks.

The Risers countered with four goals in a span of 2:30 to take a 6-2 advantage in the second quarter.

Darren Collins (2:30), Hasovic (3:17), Daniel Arellano (3:50), and Zukic (5:00) each found the back of the net to give the Risers the commanding four-goal advantage.

Waza Flo cut into their deficit with a goal from Victor Viana at the 5:47 mark.

Detroit added a power-play goal late in the first half off the foot of Adam Mobarack.

The Risers led 6-4 at the half.

Waza Flo got within a single goal as Lahbiki scored his second of the game to cut the Risers lead to 6-5 at the 1:16 mark of the third quarter.

Muskegon responded once again, this time scoring three unanswered goals to take a 9-5 lead.

Marcos Real and Jacob Potts scored at the 4:55 and 7:37 marks then Velazques found the back of the net at the 9:15 mark.

Muskegon added another goal as time expired in the quarter as Velazques scored his second straight goal and third of the night.

The Risers led 10-5 through three quarters.

Muskegon extended the advantage to 11-5 with Marcos Real’s second goal of the night at the 2:06 mark of the fourth quarter.

Waza Flo scored while shorthanded at 8:31 off the toe of Cody Granville, which cut the Muskegon lead to 11-6.

Muskegon native Flores added a pair of goals at the 10:02 and 13:22 marks to give the Risers a 13-6 advantage.

Jair Real closed out the scoring for the Risers with a goal with just 25 seconds remaining.