Waterloo Warriors men's hockey coach Brian Bourque wants his young team to focus on learning the team's defensive systems in the early stages of the season. But sometimes, the best defence is a good offence.

The Warriors' top line of Colin Behenna (Waterloo/), Justin Larson (Buckhorn/) and Andy Smith (Rosetown/) combined for 7 points and Brett Mackie (Whitby/) added his first career CIS goal as Waterloo cruised to a 6-3 win over the Guelph Gryphons Thursday night at the Gryphon Centre Arena.

Behenna, who was credited with two assists, actually appeared to score the eventual game winner, although it was credited to Smith – who also claims the goal was Behenna's. If the official scoring is changed, it will mark Behenna's third straight game-winning goal, and his fourth in five career CIS games.

Josh Woolley (Cambridge/) and Josh Schappert (Winnipeg/) also tallied for the Warriors, who stayed perfect on the road and pushed their overall record to 4-1-0. Brett Appio potted a pair and Andrew Bathgate added a goal in the losing cause for the 2-4-1 Gryphons, who are now winless in four home games this season.

Waterloo netminder Keaton Hartigan (Kitchener/) turned aside 27 shots for the victory, while Guelph's Andrew Loverock took the two-period loss before being replaced by Brandon Maxwell at the start of the third.

The Gryphons found themselves in early penalty trouble in the first period, as they were forced to kill off an early 26-second 5-on-3 advantage. The Warriors finally cashed on their third power play of the period when Smith took a feed from Behenna and outwaited Loverock to put the Warriors up 1-0 after one period.

The Gryphons came out with more jump after the intermission, and they turned their early-period momentum into a 2-1 lead. Appio beat Hartigan to knot the game at 1 before Bathgate found the back of the net on the power play for Guelph's only lead of the night.

After falling behind, the Warriors found another gear offensively as they rattled off three goals in 4:29 to reclaim the lead for good. First, Woolley took advantage of a defensive breakdown as he was forgotten on the doorstep by the Gryphons defenders. Just over a minute later, Larson beat Loverock off the rush to give Waterloo a 3-2 edge. Then, in the late stages of the second, Smith flew up the middle and dropped the puck for Behenna, who rifled a wrister home – even if the official scorers didn't see it that way – for a 4-2 Warriors lead after 40 minutes.

The Gryphons once again drew to within one before the 7-minute mark of the third when Appio scored his second of the night. But just as a white-knuckle finish looked to be imminent, Mackie went top shelf to beat Maxwell, restoring the two-goal lead. Schappert rounded out the scoring with a late empty netter.

The Warriors will now enjoy a rare Friday night off before they look to extend their winning streak to four when they host the Windsor Lancers on Saturday night. Puck drop is slated for 7:30pm at the Columbia Icefield Arena.

Notes: The Warriors went 2-for-6 on the power play, while the Gryphons went 1-for-4…Bathgate's second-period goal snapped Waterloo's streak of 12 straight successful penalty kills…Waterloo's Micky Sartoretto (Sault Ste. Marie/) earned his first career CIS point, an assist on Woolley's second-period marker…Maxwell made his CIS debut when he relieved Loverock for the third period.