Nick Theriault delivered as advertised for the Blacks Harbour Silverkings Thursday night.

Aaron Molnar wasn't advertised, but he delivered just the same.

The former St. Thomas Tommies teammates -- and another Tommie expatriate, Justin McCutcheon -- helped the Silverkings to a 5-1 victory over the Hilltop Bud Lights at the York Arena in a game that had a little bit of everything.

Theriault, the former Tommie stalwart who came in as the villain in the Blacks Harbour hat, was a force all night. He had, by unofficial count, eight of the 50 shots on goal the Silverkings fired at Gene Chiarello in the Bud Lights net, finally scoring on a penalty shot when he was hauled down on a breakaway with 2:23 to play.

He refused the first invitation to polka from Bud Lights enforcer Corey Toole in the first period, but took him up on a second period invitation. And he got into the last of the three spirited scraps in the final 13 seconds of the game, hooking up with Matt McCoy with three seconds left.

Theriault's goal was the final nail in the coffin for the Bud Lights in a game that was actually a goaltending battle between former junior teammates and cross-campus rivals, Chiarello and Molnar.

The Silverkings led 1-0 after one period on a first period power play goal by Scott Wentworth and went up 2-0 midway through the second on a McCutcheon power play marker. They didn't salt it away, though, until the final 10 minutes, when Luke Betts, Grant Donovan and Theriault, on a showy little zig-zag deke, scored to nullify the Bud Lights single by Scott Markowsky.

"I guess I just waited him out," said Theriault. "I think everyone in the rink probably expected me to shoot it."

Theriault, who would have been a Bud Light this season but for a preseason trade to Blacks Harbour, relished his return. So did the estimated 450 fans.

"I had more friends here than anything," said Theriault. "It's a good time coming here. Everywhere you go, especially in this league, people know you fought in the past.

"If you can fight and play, it's even worse. They'll try to trade guys to get me off the ice. That's what happened in the first "¦ I didn't do it. But that was his job and he was doing his job, so you've got to respect him for that."

Molnar, on the ice for just the second time since putting the pads away last February -- he thought for good -- was solid and more in making 34 saves for the Silverkings. He was particularly strong in the early minutes of the second period, when the Bud Lights -- minus leading scorer Charlie Hoyt, who was away on personal business -- made a determined effort to tie the hockey game.

"I had to play well," Molnar said, grinning. "All the boys from St. Thomas were up in the stands giving me a real hard time."

Molnar is with the Silverkings as an affiliated player, meaning he can play a maximum of five games before entering the league's Christmas draft. He's an account manager for Coca-Cola here in town, which means he hasn't even made it to practices.

"That's two times on the ice in eight months," he said, with a nod to an earlier appearance for the Silverkings. "I'm pretty sure I'm going to be real, real sore (today). It might be a long day at work, but that's OK."

The game was an entertaining affair: it was 6:56 in before the first whistle blew and the first period whisked by in 28 minutes flat. And there were those three spirited scraps in the final 13 seconds.

Bud Lights co-coach Tony Grant wasn't terribly disappointed.

"We've really made a lot of improvements in our hockey team and I knew that would be a good test," he said. "If we had scored on some of our early chances, the outcome could have been different."

The Silverkings improve to a perfect 5-0 while the Bud Lights drop to 1-2. They entertain the River Valley Rock next Thursday at the York Arena, a 7:30 p.m. faceoff.

Nackawic hosts River Valley tonight and Blacks Harbour on Saturday, both 7:30 p.m. starts. Grand Lake meets Saint John at 8 p.m. Saturday and St. Stephen at 2 p.m. Sunday at the Minto Centennial Arena.

By BILL HUNT
hunt.bill@dailygleaner.com