Sometimes the simplest way is the best way.

That philosophy on defense is working for the St. Clair Shores Unified hockey team.

“We try to be as simple as possible,” said Lakers defenseman Ashton Stonik after St. Clair Shores defeated L’Anse Creuse Unified 5-0 on Tuesday in a Macomb Area Conference Red Division game. “We move the puck quickly out of the zone — get it over the red line, get it into their end and get some shots on net.”

The Lakers’ stellar defense and outstanding goaltending from Will Young limited LCU’s chances in its first game back from a successful trip up north.

“We’re pretty tight back there,” said SCS coach Nick Radjewski. “We’re not giving up much and we’ve got a really good goalie. If we make a mistake he’s big and soft and there’s not going to be a rebound. Will has gotten really good at playing the puck so he gets it out of harm’s way for us.”

The five defensemen in front of Young, who turned away all 23 shots he faced, are Stonik, Zach Delmonte, Dylan Dzikowski, Kelan Farrell and Nathan Carrithers.

“It’s something we strive for, but you never really know how well you’ll execute,” Radjewski said of his defense. “We try to take away the middle, lead them to the outside and be tough in front of the net. We’re going to be a team that clears the rebounds and gets out of the zone fast. We’re stressing playing faster.”

Young’s knack for limiting rebounds is a key to the Lakers’ offense which fired 39 shots at the LCU net.

“When you have a goalie like Will it makes it easier on us because he doesn’t give up a bunch of rebounds,” Stonik said. “He knows how to play the puck. Then we get the puck on net. That’s how we generate goals.”

It didn’t take SCS long to take some of the enthusiasm out of the LCU crowd at the Mount Clemens Ice Arena.

Chase Sidick opened the scoring 50 seconds into the game, assisted by freshman Zach Zmijewski.

“That was huge,” Radjewski said. “L’Anse Creuse is good. It’s a rivalry. A lot of these kids have played together growing up. There’s a lot of excitement. It’s a home game for them. When you score in the first minute it kind of takes the wind out of their sails. It takes some of the energy out of their crowd.

“When you’re chasing from the first minute of the game, it’s tough. And the more (that) went in the harder it became for them.”

Gavin McKee made it 2-0 on a power play at 8:46 of the first period. Caden Gersch and Stonik assisted.

The Lakers continued to attack in the second period with goals from Gersch, assisted by McKee and Stonik at 2:50, and an unassisted shorthanded goal from Brennan Lenk at 6:10.

An unassisted goal from freshman Tommy Petroske at 9:33 of the third period wrapped up the scoring.

LCU coach Jon Nader was disappointed with his team’s performance, but promised better things ahead.

“We’re going to build on this,” he said. “We’re going to keep this in the back of our heads. We beat ourselves. We got outworked. We lost the little battles. When you get thrown off the horse you have to get back on. We’re going to have a tough, hard practice tomorrow.

“Their goalie played really well but we gave up way too many shots. They’re a good team. That first goal took some of the steam out. We didn’t capitalize on their mistakes and they capitalized on ours. That was the name of the game tonight.”

St. Clair Shores improved to 3-1 but that doesn’t mean the Lakers are going to start coasting.

“We think we’re good. We think we have a chance to make a run in the state playoffs,” Radjewski said. “We’re turning the screws on them pretty hard right now, getting them to play a certain way. There’s still three months to go but I like where we are now.”

L’Anse Creuse played well last weekend in winning all three games on its northern trip. LCU opened with a 7-2 win against Tawas, edged Traverse City West 2-1 and had a strong third period on a 6-3 win against Gaylord.

“We’re not going to pout about this loss,” Nader said. “We’re just going to work harder. I think anyone can win the MAC this year. We all have very competitive teams.”