Nordiques rout Yettis in season opener Published Sept. 24, 2010 By John Stuart Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- Dudes slapped hands and exchanged summer stories. Bags were unzipped and odious gear extracted for the first time in months. The new kids stood at the fringes. It was like the first day of school for the Nordiques as they started up fall league play Sept. 19. But it didn't take long for the Tinker division two squad to get the old machine firing on all cylinders again. Facing the Rabbid Yettis in their opening game, the Nordiques pulled no punches in stomping their opponents 6-3. The Nordiques are gaining two new players in James Buell and Canadian Ryan Dietzel, but are losing captain Jim Behn, who is deploying for four months. Canadians Will Natyczyk and Jim McCarron will also be rejoining the team following deployments. The Nordiques will have some line-change kinks to work out, said Jeremy Brennan, but with 18 skaters on the roster they should be in the championship running. Especially with the summer league champion Warriors graduated to division one play, the Nordiques are a league favorite this season, Brennan said. The Nordiques lit the offensive torch early in the first period, as Jason Stefanski found the back of the net in the first 30 seconds of play, catching even his own team by surprise. Next up it was forward Bryson Harley who netted his own biscuit on a breakaway at 9:06. He pushed past two defenders at the right blue line to slip it in the net at the crease. The Yettis scored one at 3:30, as Nordiques goalie Dan Publicover had perhaps fallen asleep in what was becoming a one-sided affair. But regardless, Tinker answered back before the period was out, on a surge at the crease. Stefanski again found purchase and put it in point-blank to make it 3-1. The second period belonged to the Nordiques. Behn recorded his first of two goals for the game, with a wrap around shot at the left crease as the clock struck 13:50. The Nordiques had possession most of the period despite the line changes that paired players who had seldom skated together. With 12:15 to play in the third period Mark Keown found himself some scoreboard glory on a wrap around shot at the crease. But the Yettis wouldn't be slighted as they managed two more goals to answer back. With less than a minute to play, the Yettis pulled their goalie and blitzed with six forwards. Sloppy passing and careless stick work -- which had stymied the squad all game -- resulted in a turnover for the Nordiques. It was Stefanski and Behn on a two-man breakaway on the open net. Though Stefanski had the shot mid ice he passed it to Behn at the left hash who put it in for his final score until he returns from deployment. "It's going to be fun," Brennan said of the season. "We still had some cohesion but with the new players we'll just have to adjust."