On Friday, his praises could again be heard as the Dougan line accounted for three of Monroe's goals in a 5-2 Western Professional Hockey League win over Tupelo at the Monroe Civic Center.

"They're line is definitely jelling," Curran said. "Some think that's a surprise and ask will (Sean) Freeman fit in, but they definitely know each other and are moving without the puck and when they're doing that they're tough to catch up with."

Whilr the starting unit provided the knockout punch, Monroe forward Lukas Smital delivered the initial jab.

Smital sent a shot screaming at T-Rex goalie Roby Gropp that he couldn't handle for a 1-0 lead with just 3:33 gone in the first period. Smital's blast came from just inside the blue line and sparked another strong Monroe offensive effort.

"Tupelo didn't play very good defensively," Smital said. "They let us go a lot, and we put a lot of shots on goal. Their goalie just didn't have a good game."

Defenseman Russ Parent was next up, scoring a goal less than two minutes later. Parent took a pass from winger Dorian Anneck and skated untouched to the front of the net for an easy goal.

"He sent me a sause pass that I snapped out of the air," Parent said. "Everyone stood still so I skated in and had a go at it. That doesn't always happen, usually a player comes at you, but Darren was in front of the net, whitch made it easy for me."

Parent's goal upped the Mocs' lead to 2-0. a mark that stood until early in the second period.

On a power play, three Mocs fired shots at Gropp before Dougan knocked the third shot by the besieged T-Rex netminder for a 3-0 lead.

"We'd been in a slump for the past four or five games," Dougan said. "Coach took us in as a unit and told us not to worry about points but just work hard and things will come.

"The last four games we've done that. Even against Alexandria (a 4-3 loss Thursday night), we outplayed them. They just capitalized on every mistake we made."

Monroe fired off 47 shots to the T-Rex's 23 as the Mocs got off to a good start on their extended home stand with the win.

After Jason Dexter goal cut the score to 3-1, Freeman put the puck past Gropp for 4-1 lead, and Ty Hartigan scored on a shorthanded chance for a 5-1 advantage.

Former Moc Jeff Pawluk finished the scoring late in the third period with a goal past Marten Engren.

The Mocs also remained in a first place tie in the Eastern Division of the WPHL with Shreveport at 35 points.

"It was really important for us to get off to a good start." Dougan said.