Shelburne Vets 2009 season got off to a less than auspicious beginning this past weekend, dropping their home opener by a score of 15- 9 to the Caledon Bandits at the CDRC on Saturday night.

They bounced back on Tuesday, however, with a 7-4 win over the Innisfil Wolfpack.

Playing even with the 2008 Junior C league champions through most of the opening stanza, the Vets were actually leading 2-1 at the midway point of the first on the strength of singles from Wade MacKey and Travis Galbraith.

Caledon took full advantage of Shelburne penalties by scoring a pair of powerplay markers and an unassisted single from Michael Briliantes to head into the second up 4-2.

They never looked back from there, adding seven more through the second and three in the third while the Vets could only tag a total of seven over the next forty minutes. Cory Sinclair netted the hat trick with Cameron Grasman notching two and Curtis Pike and Miles Montgomery each accounting for one.

Speaking after the game, Vet's coach Paul Falkiner was not overly happy with the result. "It's a tough way to start. We knew we had our hands full coming into this game, they are the defending champs, but we really thought we were better than this."

Falkiner acknowledged his team had "flashes of brilliance" out there on the floor but a lack of consistency was one of their biggest problems. Noting there are a large number of new players joining this year, he conceded they still need to work with the players and help get the new guys to play their system.

On the bright side, he was encouraged by the play of back up goaltender Kevin Gate, a Midget call up who took over for starter Scott Rooney in the third, and the team as a whole for not giving up and playing the game right through until the final buzzer.

That faith in Gate was rewarded on Tuesday night when the team travelled to Innisfil for their second game of the season.

He got the nod to start against the Wolfpack and he stepped up to the challenge, turning away 41 of 45 shots directed his way to lead Shelburne to a 7-4 win.

First period action saw the teams play scoreless for over 16 minutes until Pyke opened the scoring for Shelburne only to have Innisfil answer back less than two minutes later to send the teams tied at 1-1 heading into the second.

It was there, however, that the Vets found their stride.

Leading off the midframe, Matt Volpe teamed up first with Galbraith and Sinclair to break the deadlock then joined once again with Sinclair four minutes later to make it 3-1.

Galbrailth followed with his second of the season and Sinclair wrapped up the second period scoring with 1:32 left on the clock making it 6-1.

Innisfil kept Shelburne on their toes through the third, chipping away at the Vets' lead with three more of their own. But Volpe's third of the night was more than enough to cushion the lead and give Shelburne their first season win by a final score of 7-4.

It will be a short week for the Vets and they will have lots of time to practice, having only one game scheduled this weekend. Monday night they make their way south for a 7 p.m. date with the Centre Wellington Warlords at the Elora Community Centre.