Three games into the schedule, the early season growing pains continue for the Shelburne Muskies.

Friday night saw the Fish in Elora for their first meeting of the season with the Rock.

With Marcus McKnight getting the nod for his first start in goal for Shelburne, the teams went into the third period with the squads deadlocked at 5-5.

What Muskie coach Scott Funston best described as "five minutes of bad hockey," proved to be costly with Elora scoring five unanswered goals to double up over the Muskies 10-5 at the final buzzer.

Saturday night had the Fish making an appearance in Palmerston.

While many had anticipated a spirited exchange between the teams, a stellar showing from 81's goalie Scott Richardson kept the Shelburne snipers off the board

From the cadre of former Muskies now playing for Palmerston including Adam Bonneveld, Sheldon Friske and Eddie O'Toole,

only Scott Teeter managed to find the twine on the way to an 8-1 victory for the 81's.

Pointing out that Elora kicked off their championship drive last season going 1-3, Funston is not raising any alarm bells over the team's slow start.

"We are not doing the little things and mental breakdowns are still resulting with us taking what could best be called lazy penalties. Those penalties are costing us goals which are costing us games".

This weekend should be a good chance for Shelburne to get back into the win column.

In their only game this week, the Muskies make the trek to Mildmay then

have the week off to prepare for a tough pair the weekend following on the road against Durham Friday October 27th then in Lucknow to face the Lancers Saturday October 28th.