SHELBURNE MUSKIES marked their return to the CDRC after a six game road trip with a 7-4 win over the visiting Durham Thundercats on Saturday. Photo/MIKE MALONEY After a long month on the road, the Shelburne Muskies finally found their way home this past weekend and registered a 7-4 victory over the Durham Thundercats at the CDRC on Saturday.

The return home and the win was a well needed tonic for the Muskies who were beginning to tire on the road, having dropped a 4-3 overtime decision last Sunday against Lucknow before coming up short to the Rocks by a final score of 5-4 in Elora Friday night.

Playing in Elora, the Fish were first to the board when Sean Connor teamed up with Tristan Fairburn and Matt Lougheed just 39 seconds into the game.

Penalties would prove costly for Shelburne with the Rocks making the most of their opportunities, cashing in of powerplay opportunities late in the first to take a 2-1 lead.

Elora returned the favour midway through the second and again Lougheed was again in on the action, scoring a power-play with assists going to John MacArthur and Sean Thompson.

Third period play saw Elora take the lead by two before Zac Duerden popped in a pair,evening the score at 4-4 with just over eight minutes left on the clock.

But Elora is a tough barn to play in and with the crowd rallying behind the hometown team Rocks Jeremy Machin slipped one past Muskies netminder Mike Tardiff with 3:12 left on the clock. Elora then held on f to take the 5-4 win.

Back home Saturday with a large crowd in attendance, Shelburne was more than up for getting back into the win column against Durham.

Rob Senay got the call to start in goal and Kevin Tuckey opened the scoring for Shelburne with his fourth goal of the season late in the first, assisted by Duerden

Horan would get one of his own midway through period two, tossing a shot up and over a very busy Scott Kuglin who faced 32 shots alone in the second between the pipes for Durham.

Fairburn would wrap up the mid-frame with his first of two goals on the night but not before Durham's Mike Nixon redirected a bobbled puck past Senay on the power-play to make it 3-1 at the end of two.

A disputed goal for the 'Cats early in the third proved lucrative for Durham. Taking exception to the referee's ruling earned Lougheed a trip to the penalty box for unsportsmanlike conduct. Durhams took advantage less than a minute later to even the score at 3-3. Lougheed wasted no time atoning for his actions, however, with a shorthanded goal at 15:25.

Kevin Shoebridge marked his return to the Muskie fold, passing one back to Josh Duerden on the blue line, who rifled one home to make it 5-3.

Nixon added one more on the power-play for Durham but that was all the offense they could muster as Thompson and then Fairburn added one each to boost the Muskies to a 7-4 victory.

With the win, Shelburne currently sits alone in second place with 13 points, three points behind Elora in the WOAA Northern division standings.

Saturday night, Palmerston will be on the visitors bench of the CDRC for the second meeting of these two teams this season. Having defeated the 81's 9-3 in their previous contest, you can count on Palmerston looking for some revenge while the Fish will be intent on improving their 6-2 record with hopefully another win at home in their only game of the weekend, which is scheduled for an 8 p.m. start at the arena in Shelburne.