Little did the fans know that they could have picked a variety of goals after whitch to throw the bears as the Moccasins offense exploded in a 7-3 win over Arkansas.

The win kept the Moccasins, now 18-10-1 with 37 points, in a first-place tie with Shreveport in the Eastern Division of the Western Professional Hockey League. It also matched the season-high for goals scored in a game. the other time was in a 7-3 win over Tupelo on Oct. 21.

"Tonight was a funny game," Monroe coach Brian Curran said. "\we had just finished three games in three nights, and we might be tired, but we deserved to get some of the breaks we got. We took advantage of those breaks and put the puck in the net."

Monroe forward Bill McKay had the first goal as he got his stick on a rocket shot from defenseman Jason Smith and knocked the puck past Arkansas goalie Robert Holsinger.

With McKay's goal came a shower of Teddy bears upon Holsinger.

Mocs center Darren Dougan upped the lead to 2-0 three minutes later as he teamed up with Dorian Anneck on a two-on-one chance.

Forward Sean Freeman sent a pass to Anneck, who skated in on Holsinger and fired off a shot. The GlacierCat goaltender repelled the shot, but the puck found Dougan, who put it into an open net.

Dougan was the second of seven different Moccasins to score during the game.

"It was nice to see the goal production," Curran said. "We haven't had a lot of it lately, but as long as they keep playing good defense this is a positive sign for us."

Arkansas cut the lead in half on a Richard Uniacke goal late in the first period, but that wouldn't last long.

Smith came out and rocketed a shot at Holsinger and into the back of the net for a power-play goal and a 3-1 lead early in the second period.

Again the GlacierCats, who were playing with just 14 players, responded. A defensive breakdown allowed Mike Dairon to score and cut the lead to 3-2.

"We knew they had a short bench, and we wanted to wear on their players," Mocs forward Ty Hartigan said. "We knew they weren't going to be all gung ho about fighting so we took advantage of that and wore them out."

That's when the third line got in on the scoring act. Left wing Kelvin Solari and center Jayme Adduono each tallied goals late in the second period to increase the one-goal lead into a comfortable 5-2 margin after two periods.

"Sol's goal was big," Curran said. "It's 3-2 and they're right back in it, then Sol's scores, and they were definitely down a bit after that."

The GlacierCats added a goal midway through the third period, when defenseman Akil Adams slipped one past Owen, but Monroe defenseman Russ Parent scored on a break-away chance and Hartigan sealed the win with a goal less than a minute later.

"A few weeks age I told the guys that I had never received a pass out of the penalty box for a break-away and today it happened," Parent said. "Dorian made a gorgeous pass and I heard (Bill) McKay yelling go shelf and I did."