The no. 1 Pioneers had no problem in their first game of the season last Saturday as junior Ryan Helgason and sophomore Paul Stastny each netted two goals. DU then rolled to a 7-1 victory over Lakehead University of Canada. “It was exciting tonight to get a game going again and with new guys and different line mates than last year, and if you work hard you will get goals,” said Stastny.Helgason got things started for DU just two minutes into the game off an assist from Stastny and junior Matt Carle. Three minutes later Stastny put one of his own into the net thanks to freshman Chris Butler and senior Ted O’Leary. “These kind of games are very valuable for us, because it gives you at least a starting point for what we need to improve on,” said coach Gwozdecky.After one period of play Denver led 2-1 in the exhibition match-up in front of 5,871 fans. Then the scoring really started to pour in, including three goals in the first minute of the second period.”Overall it was good to score a lot of goals, we had a lot of good puck possession time and our timing is off, which is probably normal for this time of year,” said Gwozdecky. “We had a lot of chances that we should have buried, but we also did a lot of things that caused us a lot of problems.”The first minute of the second period started with junior Mike Handza lighting up the red light followed by sophomore Andrew Thomas and finished off by junior Adrian Veideman. Later in the period Stastny put in his second goal of the night to give DU a 6-1 lead after two periods.Helgason finished off the scoring netting his second of the evening two minutes into the third period. O’leary finished with three assists on the evening, along with freshmen Brock Trotter, Chris Butler and Patrick Mullen ,each having one.”Our freshmen are coming in and playing big right away and we are really starting to come together as a team,” said Helgason.”I think the freshman were my least concern tonight,” said Gwozdecky. “I thought they played hard, they got better as the game went on, for a game wh ere the score was pretty lopsided I thought our goaltenders had to work hard and make some good saves,” he said.All three goaltenders, sophomore Peter Mannino, juniors Glenn Fisher and Danny King saw action in the contest. King was credited as the winning goaltender. “We got a lot of good games coming up and I think it is good for our team to get an eye-opener right away so we come out strong when conference play starts,” said Helgason.DU outshot Lakehead 43-14 en route to the 7-1 victory.The Pioneers will open the regular season this Friday at Maine with the contest starting at 6 p.m. and being telecasted on CSTV. DU will finish off the trip on Saturday with a 5 p.m. puck drop.”I know Maine probably had this weekend circled on their calendar since we beat them in the National Championship. We are real excited to go up there and have a fun time,” said Helgason.This weekend’s match up will mark the first time the two teams have met since DU defeated the Blackbears 1-0 in the NCAA Championship game two years ago. Don’t forget to get your tickets for the home-opener Oct. 22 against Notre Dame at 7 p.m. The game will be broadcast on Comcast and CSTV.