Casa Loma proved two things in its opening contest of the 2009 Whitehorse Summer Hockey League. One, that it has a resilient group of players and two, it doesn't have to worry about lacking enough goal scorers.

Trailing 3-0 by the midway point of the first period, Casa Loma turned on its offence, netting four before the end of the frame to take a one-goal advantage into the second.

The squad scored its fifth unanswered goal in the second period and eventually went on to beat the Cinderwood Canucks 9-5.

"It was fun," said Casa Loma's Chris Whynot.

The league opener was played Monday at the Canada Games Centre, starting just before 10 p.m. It ended up going late enough that a significant section of lights were turned off with just over 16 minutes remaining on the clock, causing a short delay.

The game might have ended in Casa Loma's favour, but it began with a quick 1-0 lead for the Canucks. The goal was scored at 21:17 by Lawrence Brennan, who stole the puck in Casa Loma's zone, outweighed goalie Evan Grant and then roofed a backhander just under the crossbar. It was Cinderwood's first shot on net.

The Canucks were far from done and less than 10 minutes later added to their lead. The play was created by defenceman Kaleb Dawe, who was in right spot at the right time and able to block a Casa Loma clearing attempt. Dawe then sent a low shot to the net that was deflected right in front by Ted Stephens.

The team's third goal came on the next shift and was put in by Dave Pearson, who made no mistake on a perfect shot close to the net.

The frustration was apparent on Casa Loma, which took a hooking penalty 15 seconds after Cinderwood's third goal. However, despite giving up a few chances, Casa Loma was successful in shutting down the Canucks' scoring attempts.

This proved to be a turning point in the game and Casa Loma began to put the pressure on Cinderwood's goaltender Steven Harlow, who was forced to make a tough pad save on a two-man rush.

Harlow had the presence of mind to cover the puck after making the save, however on the very next play Casa Loma got on the board. The goal scorer was Scott Horsey, who fired the puck into the net after Casa Loma gained control off the face-off.

Three more goals were added in less than eight minutes and by the conclusion of the first period, Casa Loma had taken control of the game. The team's remaining first-period scorers were Ryan Sylvestre, Clayton Thomas and Rob Warner.

The offensive onslaught continued in the second period with both teams scoring on their first shot. Horsey made it 5-3 for Casa Loma, before Stephens brought his team back within one.

Cinderwood ran into some bad luck later on when a three-on-one chance ended in a temporary black out as a result of some of the lights being turned off. The whistle was quickly blown, but play resumed not long after with the lights still warming up.

Casa Loma generated the only shot when the lights were still low, which eluded Stevens and restored its two-goal lead. Thomas was the goal scorer.

Both teams traded goals before Casa Loma added two more to put the game out of reach.

Casa Loma's remaining scorers were Chris Gleason, Scott Horsey, who finished with a hat trick and Matt Horsey.

Cinderwood's final scorer was Matt McCarthy.

"We tried to fight back, but we just couldn't do it," said Cinderwood's Tyson Glass.

"It would be nice to have the win, but it was fun playing out there."

This is Glass' first year playing in the Whitehorse Summer Hockey League. The 14-year-old bantam player said he was just hoping to play well and be able to keep up with some of the older guys on the ice.

"It's nice for me that I'm playing with a lot of older guys," he said. "It will help me out for next season because this hockey is a lot higher paced than bantam."

Stephens also wasn't too disappointed about the loss.

"A lot of us haven't been on the ice for almost two months," he said. "So there's definitely a bit of rust, but I think we got better as the game went on and I think next game we will be even better."

Players in the Whitehorse Summer Hockey League include bantam, midget, junior, college and adults.