AUGUSTA – When the York hockey team strolled into the Kennebec Ice Arena Saturday night, the Wildcats appeared ready to play.

It didn’t take long in the opening period for the Wildcats to prove just that.

After braving a winter storm and arriving in Augusta nearly an hour late, the unbeaten Wildcats still managed to strike three times in the opening period. York jumped out to a 4-0 lead overall and went on to beat the Windale Ice Dogs, 7-3.

“They came out like a house of fire,” said Windale coach Dave St. Hilaire. “Our guys didn’t know we could play with them until the second period.”

The Ice Dogs (2-3) trimmed the deficit to 4-2 with goals from Nate Frechette and Seth Kimball in the second period, but York (8-0) got a power-play tally with 2:32 left in the second to make it 5-2.

Tim Berrigan had three goals and two assists for York. Andy Ohlson added a goal and an assist while Eric Murdough had two goals and an assist. Frechette finished with a pair and an assist.

“We played the first period like we’ve been playing most of the year,” said York coach Mike Vessey. “After that we stopped playing.”

Berrigan scored his first of the night just 1:50 into the game. He tipped in his own rebound through the legs of Windale goaltender Tavis Hasenfus.

Murdough made it 2-0 at 6:30 when he one-timed a Barrigan pass. Berrigan notched his second off the period by eluding a defender and wristing one home from the left circle with 4:25 left.

“We beefed up our defensive line against that first line,” said St. Hilaire. “It was hard to try to match their three lines. So we put our top two defenders together.”

York made it 4-0 just 29 seconds into the second. Ohlson finished a two-on-one with a backhander.

“That was a killer right there,” said St. Hilaire.

Windale moved to within 4-2. Frechette scored from the right side at 1:28. Then two minutes later, Seth Kimball’s wrister had the Ice Dogs rallying.

“One thing is our guys never give up,” said St. Hilaire. “They play hard until the end.”

Windale had a few rushes that produced quality shots, and Hasenfus had a strong period to keep the Ice Dogs within reach.

“He bought us time,” said St. Hilaire, whose team was outshot 19-5 in the second period, 42-13 overall. “We needed time to get things going offensively and be able to take some chances. He really stood on his head.”

Berrigan finished off the hat trick on the power play with 2:32 left in the second. Though Windale got a Frechette shorthanded goal with 1:04 left in the game, the Wildcats received an empty net tally from Murdough and a goal from Ryan Clauson in the final minute.

“The first period we played our style of hockey, which is team hockey,” said Vessey. “After that, with the lead we had, we broke down a little bit and guys started to play individual hockey. When we get up early that’s what happens.”