EAST ALTON - Aiden Stevens, Will Schuster, Carson Weber and Justin Harper all scored twice, and Edwardsville had a power-play goal and two shorthanded goals on the same penalty kill in the first period as the Tigers went on to a 14-0 win over Eureka in a Mid-States Club Hockey Association Suburban Division game Thursday night at the East Alton Ice Arena.

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The power play and shorthanded goals were the first three of the game scored by Edwardsville as part of a four-goal first period. The Tigers then scored six times in the second to make it 10-0 and kick in the MSCHA's running clock rule in the third period.

Edwardsville took charge right from the start and played well from start to finish in getting the shutout for goalie Jonas Akeman, who stopped all 11 Wildcat shots on the night.

"This was just one of those games where we able to create a lot of chances," Tigers head coach Jason Walker said, "and the guys did a good job. One of the things we've really been lacking the last few games is finishing those scoring chances off, and the guys did that tonight, which is nice."

The power play and shorthanded goals helped set the tone for the game, and it's definitely a great sign for the Tigers that things are going in the right direction.

"Yeah, I mean, whenever you can capitalize on special teams, that's obviously a big part of the game," Walker said. "Like I said, I think overall, we're happy with the game, created those chances, and when we got those chances, we scored. A lot of guys who don't normally score were able to get on the scoresheet, really contributed tonight, which is a good sign."

That four different players scored two goals each is also a good sign for the Tigers, as different players are contributing to the team's success.

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"That's what we told them," Walker said, "is a lot of guys on this team have the ability to be plus offensive players, and really contribute with goals. And tonight, they did that. Hopefully, that will give them confidence moving forward here."

There's also the fact that it was a win in a divisional game, which is always important.

"Yeah, we're kind of working through the season, like I said, kind of one at a time," Walker said, "playing some different teams. Obviously, division game's big, and it's just nice to be playing well."

After killing off an early penalty, the Tigers got off on the right foot at 4:57 of the first period when, with Ricky Klein serving a bench penalty for too many men on the ice, Sam Gibbons took a pass from Schuster and put the puck past goalie Lucianna Burke to give Edwardsville a 1-0 lead. Later on, with Gibbons being off on a roughing penalty, Schuster got a pass from Mark Tucker and scored at 8:39, then at 10:01, Stevens got his first of the night, the second shorthanded goal off of the Gibbons penalty, assisted by Nate Frey to put the Tigers ahead 3-0. Later on, at 11:19, it became 4-0 when Harper scored his first of the night, the assist going to Stevens.

The Tigers' six-goal second began at 2:01, with Gabe Noll scoring off an assist from Matt Clark to make it 5-0. Thirty seconds later, at 2:31, it was Parker Terch finding the back of the net off a nice pass from Noll to make it 6-0 for Edwardsville. Ethan Bogner scored the seventh goal at 7:07, assisted by Anthony Ruklic, then Rucklic assisted on the eighth goal at 8:09, setting up Schuster with a nice pass for the goal. It became 9-0 eight seconds later on a goal by Cam Gillen, assisted by Gibbons, then 10-0 at 8:51 when Frey scored from Terch, which is how it stood after two periods.

There was a running clock in the third period, but the Tigers scored four times in the period, starting with Stevens' second goal of the game at 1:42, assisted by Frey, then Harper scored his second at 7:55, with an assist again to Frey. Weber then scored his two goals exactly one minute apart, first scoring at 12:16, assisted by Bogner, then scoring unassisted at 13:16 to make the final 14-0 for the Tigers.

Edwardsville outshot the Wildcats in each period, 12-3, 19-4 and 6-4 for a game total of 37-11.

The Tigers, now 5-2-1 on the season, get back to practice tomorrow and enjoy the weekend off before facing Rockwood Summit for the first time ever Monday night at the Kennedy Recreation Center in South St. Louis County Monday night in an 8:45 p.m. face-off, return home Dec. 12 against Lindbergh, then go against perennial power CBC at the Affton rink Dec. 14 at 9:40 p.m. Walker's looking forward to the first-ever meeting against summit.

"It'll be the first time we've played them," Walker said, "so we've seen what they've done thus far this season. They should be one of the best teams we've played thus far. We'll be ready."Chris Rhodes also contributed to this story.

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