Van Lare hat trick paces Simon Fraser to big win over UFV

The Simon Fraser University Men's Hockey Team received a hat-trick from offseason addition Ben Van Lare to lead the squad past the University of the Fraser Valley 8-3 in their season opener on Saturday night at the Bill Copeland Sports Centre.

On a night when SFU players received their 2010 BCIHL championship rings, the Texas native looked determined to earn himself one in six months time. He excited the nearly 800 fans in attendance within the first five minutes, rifling a perfect shot over the shoulder of netminder Adam Postmus to open the scoring for SFU.

Van Lare's second goal came on the power play before the midway mark of the first after Andrew Shaw evened the game. The six-foot-three forward blasted a slap shot through a screen to give SFU a 2-1 advantage. And every time he touched the puck following his two first-period goals, the crowd erupted in anticipation of more to come from the assistant captain.

"It's pretty easy to go out play well with my two linemates [Jaime] Laprise and [captain Paul] Moscone. They're solid all around," says Van Lare on his offensive output. "The crowd was absolutely fantastic. Just the energy we got when we hit the ice and our names were announced. It's always nice to come to a barn that has a lot of people."

The hostile environment did not seem to affect the Cascades in the first period, as the visitors battled back to tie the score again. Newcomer Mike Wilson finished off a fortuitous bounce in front of Justin Mulholland. But it didn't take SFU long to regain the lead, as Tadz Brown put home a Kyle Leung pass from the top of the crease to close out the opening period.

That marker put the Clan ahead 3-2 entering the intermission, and it was a lead that the home team wouldn't relinquish. The Clan pulled ahead 5-2 in the middle frame on goals by Mitch Lebreche and Manny Haider, then added three goals in the third to secure their first victory of the new season. SFU heavily outshot the Cascades by a margin of 55-29 and it showed on the scoreboard with the five-goal win.

Laprise contributed three assists to the effort, while Moscone added two helpers to Van Lare's hat-trick performance. Five other SFU players accounted for two-point games. Head coach Mark Coletta will take the opening win, but says there are some areas that need cleaning up before the team's next game on Friday in Kelowna.

"The three goals [in the first period] were nice and the power play was clicking, but as a coach you always look to improve on the negatives and our defensive zone coverage is something were going to have to work on,"he says.

For the Cascades, Wilson and Matt Ehrenreich tallied a goal and an assist each in the team's second loss in as many nights. UFV was beaten 5-4 by Trinity Western University on Friday evening in the BCIHL season opener in Langley.

SFU will now prepare for a Friday night battle with the Okanagan College in Kelowna.