The Lakeland Eagles of McLennan are off to a rip-roaring start in the 2007-’08 North Peace Hockey League regular season. Lakeland, which lost last year’s Campbell Cup final to Peace River, bolted out of the starting gate last week with back-to-back wins over Manning and Valleyview for an unblemished record to kick off the current campaign. They came in the form of lopsided victories, including a 12-3 romp over Manning in the team’s Nov. 3 season-opener at home followed by a 10-4 win in Valleyview last Thursday. “It’s definitely the kind of start we were looking for to start the season,” says Eagles’ head coach Jimmy McLean. “Hopefully we can continue to build upon it as the season progresses.” A seven-goal third period offensive explosion proved to be the difference Nov. 3 as the Eagles dealt a powerful blow to the Comets at H.W. Fish Arena in McLennan. Manning jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the game after capitalizing on a powerplay opportunity at the 3:36 mark. Lakeland knotted things up just over seven minutes later with a powerplay gem of its own after Travis Cunningham notched his first of three goals on the night on a feed from Jay Anderson. They would add to that total at 11:31 when Junior Anderson finished off a pretty tic-tac-toe passing play from Roland Ducharme and John Giroux by burying a high snapshot from the slot over the outstretched glove of the Comet’s goaltender. That was followed by a shorthanded effort off the stick of Eli Cunningham less than two minutes later that put the Eagles up 3-1 after the first period of play. Assists went to Al Anderson and T. Cunningham. Cunningham would pad that lead just 20 seconds into the middle frame with his second of the game from Jay Anderson and A. Anderson. Manning trimmed the deficit to 4-3 with back-to-back powerplay goals at the 4:57 and 11:17 mark before Lee Lamouche banged home his first of two on the night at 12:49 to put Lakeland up 5-3 after forty minutes (assists to Shawn Hicks/Jr. Anderson). It proved to be an ominous sign of things to come for Manning, which collapsed in the third period under the intense offensive pressure of a Lakeland squad that lit the lamp seven times. Finding the back of the net for the Eagles was Steven Cunningham, Daniel Belcourt, A. Anderson (with a pair), L. Lamouche ,T. Cunningham, E. Cunningham. Picking up goals for Lakeland in Valleyview was A. Anderson (2), T. Chalifoux (2), T. Cunningham (2). Singles, meanwhile, went to J. Anderson, Andrew Lamouche, D. Belcourt and L. Lamouche. The Eagles played in Fort St. John last Saturday. The Eagles’ next action at home is Thursday, Nov. 15 when they host the Valleyview Jets. That’s followed by another home game on Saturday, Nov. 17 when the Eagles take on the visiting Grande Prairie Athletics. Game time is 8:30 p.m. on both nights.