ANOTHER season of inline hockey opened in fine fashion on Saturday. The Bermuda InLine Hockey League continues to grow and has attracted many new skaters to the programme, which takes place every Saturday at the Pembroke Community Centre rink at Admiralty Park. The BIHL offers two Learn to Skate sessions at 10:30 and 11:15 and has a Beginner session at noon. The five-team Intermediate League, including an all-girls team, play between 1:00 and 3:30 followed by the seniors division at 4:45.

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Oilers 1 Senators 0

It was a very close game for the first regular game of the year. At the opening face-off the Oilers looked like they were in for a long day as they were short a few key players. However the Oilers did a very quick job recruiting other players to fill in the gap (including Leafs Matthew and Michael Betteto and Canadiens Riley MacNeil and Krishna Boodram). The action was much improved over last year as all of the players seemed to have increased their speed over the summer break. The Oilers got their winning goal midway through the action from an unassisted play be Toby Brooks. He stole the ball, turned and fired a shot at the goal that was just too hard to handle for goalie William Gardner.

The Senators replied with many pounding shots at the Oilers goalie who was just too hot to allow any goals. Daniel Heintzman had three good chances with one shot glancing off the post. Tadgh O'Shaughnessy had a few good shots and kept the momentum at a very exciting pace. Veteran Tyson Harvey added a few more shots on goal as well as setting up some teammates for some good opportunities. Rookie Henry Taylor of the Senators showed some good speed and is a welcome addition to the Senators. All in all a very exciting opening game to lay the foundation for a great season.

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Leafs 5 Canadiens 3

The second game featured two of last year's top teams. The Leafs wasted no time in getting off to a fast start and opened the scoring on a goal by Mikey Daley. The Canadiens responded with a goal from one of last year's leading scorers Ryan Goddard assisted by Riley MacNeil. The action continued back and forth with Krishna Boodram for the Canadiens and Joss Lines for the Leafs making several key saves. The Leafs continued to stay one step ahead and led 3 -2 after 20 minutes.

The Canadiens poured on the pressure and pulled their goalie in the dying minutes of the game to try and get the equaliser. It was not to be as Daly sealed the game with an empty netter. These teams look forward to some great battles during the season.

A stellar performance was turned in by Leafs leader Mikey Daly who had a hat trick. Singles were added by Matthew Betteto and Taylor Ruck. Michael Betteto had two assists.

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Reds 7 Bruins 6

The senior boys intra squad game provided some great action for the season opener. It was a back and forth affair with the game tied at the intermission. In the last period there was never more than a goal difference with the red squad emerging victorious by a goal. Top scorers for the red team were Tucker Moore, Chris West and Keo Darrell with a pair of goals each with Rowan Vickers chipping in with a single and an assist. Leading scorers for the Bruins were George Scully and Tyler MacNeil with a pair of goals each. Courtland Moore and Tobin Voth had a goal each. The rivalry from this group will only continue to grow as the season progresses and the players hit their top form.