The Belleville Senators returned to action at CAA Arena in Belleville for the first time since March of 2020 in an exhibition bout against the Laval Rocket Friday night.
The Rocket opened the scoring halfway through the first period with a power play goal by defenceman Cory Schueneman but the B-Sens answered just minutes later when forward Rourke Chartier got one past Rocket goaltender Kevin Poulin.
The Senators took control in the second period with late goals from Mitchell Hoelscher and Philippe Daoust to make it 3-1.
With just a minute and a half left in the frame Laval bit into the lead when Jake Lucchini scored to make it 3-2.
Belleville took the lead into the third period and from there it was all Senators.
Two goals inside the first four minutes of the period, from forwards Matthew Wedman and Roby Jarventie would prove to be enough to down the Rocket despite one more Laval goal halfway through the third.
Belleville took their first game at CAA in well over a year by a final score of 5-3.
Leading the way for the Belleville Senators was forward Egor Sokolov who notched three assists and Philippe Daoust who had a goal and an assist.
Belleville netminder Kevin Mandolese held strong in the crease stopping 24 of 26 shots faced in two periods of play while the B-Sens fired a whopping 39 shots on goal for the night.
The Belleville Senators are back in action on Sunday when they take on the Toronto Marlies in further exhibition action at 4 p.m. in Belleville.
