The Shelburne Muskies kicked off 2009 in fine form this past Saturday night at the CDRC, where they annihilated the visiting Nottawasaga River Rats by a final score of 20-0 .

Following on the heels of a 5-2 loss in Palmerston the week before, Shelburne was out to set the record straight.

Controlling play right from the opening face-off, the Fish generated a couple of great scoring chances for Brad Horan and J J Dickie, but neit was able to beat Nottawasaga starter Jerry O'Hara . Unfortunately for the Rats, O'Hara went a bit too wide in his butterfly on a Muskies breakaway resulting in an injury that ended his night early.

It wasn't long after that the scoring flood gates opened for Shelburne. Shawn Pollard was first to the board, scoring both the first and what would prove to be the eventual game winner exactly 10 minutes into the game.

Making the most of his first time before the hometown crowd since rejoining the Muskie roster the week before, Greg Patton notched his first of two just 33 seconds later.

Before the period was up, Derek Smith, Zac Duerdin and Bill Boyes added goals to make it 5-0 at the end of 20 minutes.

Second period play saw the Muskies assault continue. Smith led it off, followed with shorthanded markers scored by Patton and Horan.

Sly Warren and Anthony Pototschnik also got into the action, with another from Horan and Pollard to wrap up the second.

In the third, Muskie goalie Adam Clarke found himself up to the challenge when called upon a number of times turing away a couple of close calls including on from point blank with just over four minutes to play.

By the time the final buzzer sounded, Horan and Boyes had each added another pair with Smith and Pollard adding to their earlier goals and Chris Greer finally finding the range on his own after assists on four others.

For coach Joe Bakes, the

game gave the guys a chance to get back onto a positive note after the loss to Palmerston.

"We dropped that one 5- 2 (against Palmerston). It was pretty well our biggest game of the year. Once again we took some stupid penalties off the hop. Nine minutes on the power-play (Palmerston), were behind and never caught up." Against Nottawasaga though it wasn't the 20 goals for that was the story but the "nothing at the other end"

A large part of that could possibly be attributed to two old faces returning to patrol the Muskie blueline, Matt Lougheed and the previously mentioned Greg Patton.

Patton, who was undecided on returning at the end of last season, has been watching the team from the sidelines.

After watching the boys battle it out night to night , he finally had to lace up the skates to see "if I still had anything left to give".

He is optimistic about the team's chances, noting that this is a good team. "The talent level is definitely up there. The players they brought in during the off season mixed with those that have been here the last three or four years. It's a great group of guys with a really good skill level".

This weekend ahead finds the Fish taking it to the road. Friday night its off to Shallow Lake, where they go up against the Crushers ,followed by a trip to Walkerton on Saturday to meet the Capitals, for the second time this season, in a game that was postponed due to weather in December.