NORTON SHORES – At the beginning of the season, the Mona Shores hockey team established a set of goals, and one was to avoid losing two games in a row.

So far that goal remains intact.

Last Saturday Mona Shores lost an overtime heartbreaker 3-2 to Hartland, the No. 1 ranked Division 2 team in the state, which ended a four-game winning streak.

So the Sailors, who aren’t accustomed to losing very often at all, showed up with a bit of an attitude in their conference showdown against Forest Hills Northern/Eastern at Lakeshore Ice Centre on Wednesday.

They jumped on the visitors right away and skated off with a 6-0 victory that ended their losing streak at the acceptable level – one game.

Mona Shores improved to 16-3 overall on the season and took a big step toward clinching a third straight conference championship.

The Sailors came into the game with a 6-0 record in the O-K Conference Baum Division, while Forest Hills was 5-1.

Now the Sailor have a two-game cushion in the standings and can clinch the championship in a rematch with Forest Hills on Saturday on the road.

“I would say we played a little harder because of what happened in the last game,” said junior forward Jack Reelman, who had two goals and two assists in the victory. “That was a close game, real tough to the end.”

“I would say that contributed to us coming out strong,” added Mona Shores Coach Chris Benedict about the effort to avoid two straight losses. “Also Forest Hills was right behind us (in the conference) and that gave us a little more motivation there. We were trying to get a little separation and work toward another conference championship.”

Reelman was one of five different goal scorers for the Sailors, who have a lot of players who can put the puck in the net. Ty Langlois, Isaac Habetler, Landon Taylor and Jake Nanna also scored for Mona Shores.

Langlois and Habetler also had three assists while Nanna and Chase Knowlton each had two.

Junior Trent Benedict, who leads the entire state with 32 goals, did not have a goal or an assist in the easy win. That’s how potent the Sailors’ lineup is.

“It speaks wonders about our team,” Coach Benedict said. “Guys just step up. We have a lot of talent, and everyone is capable of scoring.”

The Sailors got on the scoreboard midway through the first period, when Forest Hills had a power play. Langlois got the puck just after a faceoff in the Sailor zone, broke in alone and scored a shorthanded goal.

Habetler added a power play goal before the end of the period, and the Sailors led 2-0 at the first break.

Reelman scored his first goal midway through the second period, and Shores led 3-0 leadheading into the third.

Taylor stole the puck from a Forest Hills player near the middle of the rink, broke in alone and scored just 25 seconds into the third period, extending the lead to 4-0.

The Sailors added power play goals by Nanna and Reelman down the stretch to put the victory on ice.

The Sailors played a very strong defensive game, keeping Forest Hills from getting a shot on goal in the entire first period. Mona Shores outshot the visitors 35-6 in the game. Goalie Carter Dethloff recorded the shutout.

Mona Shores was only whistled for three penalties, which continued a general downward trend from the beginning of the season, when the Sailors were constantly hurting themselves by landing in the box.

They were perfect in killing off all three penalties and collected one shorthanded goal in the process.

“When you take as many penalties as we did earlier in the season, your penalty killing gets really good,” Benedict said.