DULUTH, Minn. – If given the chance, coaches will always take the opportunity to script games out. In baseball, coaches call pitches and choose what plays to put on. In football, especially at the college and professional levels, coaches are renowned for scripting out 10-15 plays to start games.
 
In hockey, it's a little bit different. It's next to impossible to script out anything because it's a game of chaos that relies heavily on improvisation. With that in mind, if Yellowjacket men's hockey coach Rich McKenna had wanted to script out his 2021-22 season opener, he couldn't have written anything that would have unfolded better than the way Saturday's contest did.
 
The Yellowjackets struck early, and often, scoring three times in a span of 1:19 early in the game on the way to a 7-0 rout of St. Scholastica Saturday night at Mars-Lakeview Arena in Duluth.
 
The opening period onslaught paralyzed the Saints, and at the same time removed much of the night's drama before the game was even five minutes old. The Yellowjackets (1-0-0, 0-0-0 WIAC) came out with a great deal of jump in the opener, and used some good fortune to move in front early.
 
Newcomer Gavin Rasmussen (Cloquet, Minn./Cloquet Senior) made a neutral zone pass to David Kaplan (Vernon Hills, Ill./Bishop Eustace Prep), and as he was picking up speed a Saints defender fell down, giving Kaplan a breakaway and he wristed a shot over the glove of Saints' goaltender Jack Branby to make it 1-0 just 2:45 in.
 
The lead increased 33 seconds later when Troy MacTavish (Kanata, Ontario/Earl of March) and Jordan Martin (Winnipeg, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) worked the puck below the goal line and then found MacGregor Sinclair (Irma, Alberta/Irma School) in the left circle, and his quick shot made it 2-0. Less than a minute later, Chad Lopez (Arlington, Texas/University of Texas) took advantage of a neutral zone turnover and broke into St. Scholastica territory, moved to the left circle and beat Branby high on the glove side to make it 3-0.
 
In the closing minutes of the first period the Yellowjackets earned a 5-on-3 power play, and Coltyn Bates (Brandon, Manitoba/Vincent Massey Collegiate) fed Bradley Stonnell (Surrey, British Columbia/Tamanawis Secondary School) in the slot, who ripped a one-timer home for his first goal as a Yellowjacket, and it was 4-0 after one period.
 
St. Scholastica came out with more urgency in the second period and took the play to the Yellowjackets early, but they weathered the storm and maintained the lead. They then took the wind completely out of the Saints' sails with a goal at 8:38. Bates picked up his second point of the game, getting a rebound of a rebound and pushing it underneath Branby, increasing the lead to 5-0.
 
In the third the Yellowjackets added two more. With the teams playing 4-on-4 Sinclair fed Artur Terchiyev (Kiev, Ukraine/Everest Academy) in the left circle and the senior defender again beat Branby high on the glove side to make it 6-0. A few minutes later Terchiyev closed out the scoring, getting his second of the night on a power play at 4:14 to make the final score 7-0.
 
It was a night where just about everything went right for the Yellowjackets. Thirteen different players recorded at least one point, and four different players had two-point games. The 'Jackets handily outshot the Saints and owned a big edge in the faceoff circle. When things did break down, Myles Hektor (Lake Bluff, Ill./Lake Forest) was there to shut the door, finishing the game with 26 saves to pick up his first collegiate shutout.
 
Shots in the game were 41-26 Yellowjackets.
 
On special teams, the Yellowjackets went 2-for-6 on the power play and killed off both St. Scholastica man-advantage opportunities.
 
The season opening road trip continues for the Yellowjackets, as they head south to pay a visit to Saint Mary's Friday, Nov. 5. The opening faceoff is set for 7 p.m. at the SMU Ice Arena in Winona, Minn.