NOVI –The Northville Mustangs played Kensington Lakes Activities Association Central Division rival Novi Wednesday evening at the Novi Ice Arena.

There were big hits, tape-to-tape passes and lots of goals. Unfortunately, they were pretty much all in favor of Novi in a lopsided 8-1 win over Northville.

Northville coach, Jeff Hatley didn't have much to say about the loss.

"Novi played well, we didn't. That's about it." he said. "We were off. They [Novi] played well. They're a good team. We gotta play better."

So how does a team rebound from such a hard loss? Coach Hatley says it's all about hard work.

"We play Trenton at Bowling Green on Saturday, so we gotta regroup. No one's gonna do us any favors. We gotta come back and focus."

It didn't take long for the Wildcats to open up the scoring. Barely two minutes in, Novi captain Joey Ferriss scored on a rebound off of goalie David Ketelhut's right pad, starting a parade of goals that seemed to never end. A little over a minute later, the Cats struck again with a blast from the point, going up 2-0. A minute and a half after that, another shot from the point found its way into Northville's net.

The Mustangs gained their composure and held Novi off the score sheet the rest of the period. Northville worked hard to get chances, but Novi's defense held the line and was pretty stingy at letting them into their zone. When they did get in, Wildcats goalie Michael Pesendorfer was solid in net, stopping all shots but one.

The start of the second found Northville on a two-man power play and Stephen Champagne got his team on the board. It was all Novi after that, scoring four in the second, including another by Joey Ferriss, this time short-handed. Nolan Valleau and Michael Kruse contributed goals to the total as well.

Northville's defense was simply outworked by the speedy Wildcats forwards. Every time the puck was dumped into Northville's zone, there was a Novi player on top of it immediately.

The beginning of the third started out with another quick Novi goal, giving them their eighth and final goal of the game. Northville continued to play hard; never giving up until the final buzzer went off. While Novi kept a steady pressure throughout the third, it did call off the dogs offensively.