The Lacombe AA Generals quest for a third straight Vanberg Cup got off to a promising start Friday night in front of about 250 fans at the Gary Moe Auto Group Sportsplex, with a dominating 11-1 win over the Westlock Warriors.
It was the Generals' first NCHL game of the season, while Westlock dropped its third in a row to start the season.
Chase Schaber opened the scoring for the home side close to five minutes in and the goals just kept coming.
Lacombe would add three more in the opening frame including the first of three power play markers with 2:02 remaining from Cam Maclise, his second of the game. The captain would finish the night with two goals and three assists.
"It's all about coming out hard, getting the rust off the wheels," said coach Travis Yonkman. "I thought our legs were going. We just tried to keep things simple, get pucks to the net and really clog up the middle of the ice and keep everything from the outside on the defensive standpoint. Our power play was clicking as it was all last year. Pretty happy about the first game."
Yonkman stated the goal from the opening puck drop was to win that third straight championship.
"The way that we look at it is, we don't plan on losing a game, a shift, a period. Every time we hit the ice we're looking to win," he remarked.
Lacombe product Sam Jardine added another power play tally for the Generals midway into the second to make the score 5-0.
"We were excited to get going," commented Jardine after the game. "Home opener, the guys obviously two years in a row they've won and they have a really good culture in the locker room and it was all business tonight."
Westlock would get on the board before the end of the second period with Allen Borle beating Mackenzie Engel for the Warriors' only goal of the game.
The Generals would go on to add six more before the night was up.
Lacombe outshot Westlock 49-25.
The Generals are back in action on Friday, Oct. 18 in Stony Plain taking on the Eagles at 8 p.m. The next home game is Oct. 19 against Innisfail.
Sign up to get the latest local news headlines delivered directly to your inbox every afternoon.
Send your news tips, story ideas, pictures, and videos to news@centralalbertaonline.com.
CentralAlbertaOnline encourages you to get your news directly from your trusted source by bookmarking this page and downloading the CentralAlbertaOnline app.