HARTLAND >> Lakes Area United started hot and rolled to a 9-1 victory over the Walled Lake United Whitecaps Thursday night in the regional playoffs.

Lakes Area came out on fire, scoring on four of its first nine shots to help build a 5-0 lead at the end of the first period. Five different players accounted for those goals as Gavin Grondin, Kyle Kerr, Brady Scheidt, Joe Aiello, and Logan Scheidt all lit the lamp in that dominating opening period for Lakes Area.

“It’s nice when we come out strong. We always score in bunches, so once we get one, we’re going to keep going. It was nice to start that way,” Lakes Area United head coach John McMahon said.Walled Lake United was much better in the second period. The Whitecaps came out fired up, outshot Lakes Area 15-9 and largely controlled the play in the middle set. But for all that dominance, they could not find the net against Lakes Area United goalie Jakob Van Zweden, and Lakes Area picked up a late goal from Brayden Kelly to extend its lead to 6-0 by period’s end.

“We came out pretty flat in the first period. They came out flying. They were ready to go from the puck drop, and we weren’t. So kudos to them. They did what they were supposed to do, and they shut us down early. Once you dig yourself that deep of a hole, it’s tough to come back,” Whitecaps head coach Collin Elkins said. “But I give our boys a lot of credit. They didn’t stop. They didn’t give up, and they played with a lot of heart for the rest of the game.”

Walled Lake United did get a power play goal from Dillon Anderson to finally get on the board in the third period, but it was just too little, too late for the Whitecaps, despite their much better play over the final two periods. Ultimately, they were never able to recover on the scoreboard from their disastrous start.

Lakes Area’s top two lines were flying all night, but particularly the line of Adam Ayar with Logan and Brady Scheidt. The group combined for five goals — one for Brady Scheidt and two each for Logan Scheidt and Ayar.

“They worked today. They’re going to have another hard battle, so they’re going to have to come back and work again tomorrow, too,” McMahon said.

Lakes Area (22-4) moves on to Friday’s regional semifinal where it will face the host Hartland Eagles.

“We played hard in the last game. We’re going to have some chances tomorrow, and we have just got to bear down and take care of every chance we get,” McMahon said. “We’re going to be ready to play,” he added.

Walled Lake United finishes the season 10-16.

“We’ve got a lot of talent on our team. We lost a lot of close games. I think that we could have won a few of those back, and sometimes that’s just the way it goes. I don’t think it’s anything we did wrong. It’s just hockey sometimes,” Elkins said. “But the team played really well. They gelled great.”

The Whitecaps will graduate seven players from this year’s team and should bring back 14 players from this year’s group next season.