After celebrating Dow High hockey’s past, the Chargers got a good start on the future with a 5-0 win over the Bay Area Thunder on Wednesday at the Midland Civic Arena.

Following a pregame ceremony that marked the 40th anniversary of Chargers’ hockey, senior captain Josh Storer scored just 13 seconds into the game to set the tone in the shutout win.

“We’re gelling really well as a team,” Storer said after the Chargers improved to 1-1. “We’ve just got to pick up our effort a little bit. We’re a really young team this year, so we just have a lot to work on before we’re really ready. But so far, we’re looking pretty good.”

Sophomore Shane Astrike scored 11:15 into the first period to pad Dow’s lead to 2-0.

Power-play goals by junior Casey LaRue and sophomore Joey Johnson less than two minutes apart in the middle of the second period gave the Chargers some breathing room with a 4-0 lead.

Senior Brendan Holbrook scored about seven minutes into the third period to cap the scoring.

Dow coach Dick Blasy said his team, which hadn’t played since the season opener 13 days earlier, started out shaky but improved as the game went along.

“I think after we got that first goal early, we stopped moving our feet, and usually, you’re more likely to get called for a penalty when you stop moving your feet,” Blasy noted after seeing his team commit two penalties late in the first period and one early in the second. “ ... But all in all, I thought the boys got better as the game went on. I thought our best period was the third period.”

Junior Brendan Sanders had three assists for Dow. Holbrook added two, and Jack Kivi, Jon Baillargeonand Astrike each had one assist.

Dow junior goalie Seamus Belisle turned aside all 13 Bay Area shots, while Dow put 33 shots on Thunder netminder Vasili Ioannidis.

“He didn’t have to make too many saves, but he made a lot of important saves for us,” Blasy said of Belisle. “There were times when the Thunder was outplaying us, and if they (had scored) a goal, then their whole (confidence would have gone up). Seamus did a nice job of never allowing them to believe.”

Bay Area is a co-op team made up of students from Essexville Garber, Pinconning, Bay City John Glennand Bay City All Saints. The Thunder, who lost 9-2 to Midland High on Monday, will be in the same regional as Dow and Midland at the end of the season.

The Chargers travel to the west side of the state for challenging games against Muskegon Mona Shores on Friday and Grand Rapids Forest Hills Central on Saturday.

“We have to play much better than we did tonight to be successful this weekend,” Blasy said.

Storer looks forward to the challenge of playing those two teams.

“They’re really good competition,” he said. “It’s going to be really good for our younger players to play against talent like that. It’s going to be eye-opening for them.”

CELEBRATING 40 YEARS

In an event that was planned well in advance for Dow’s home opener, the Chargers honored their very first hockey team from 1976-77.

Inaugural Dow hockey coach Al Quick and eight jersey-wearing members of his former team joined the current Chargers in the locker room before the game, then were introduced to the crowd on the ice, before Quick did a ceremonial puck drop.

“That really made me feel good,” Quick, 83, said of the celebration of his team. “It brought back a lot of memories. I felt like a celebrity.”

Quick actually coached the Dow football team to the state championship that same year. The Chargers won the football title on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, then Quick coached the Dow hockey team in a game the next day.

“We didn’t have a (hockey) coach (that first year), so I said, ‘I’ll coach,’” said Quick, who was Dow’s first football coach, hockey coach and athletics director. “I had some background in hockey. … (That season) was hectic, but I loved it. It was fun.”

In the locker room, Quick presented Blasy with a memento ­— the puck from the very first goal scored by Dow in that first season.

“That brought a tear to my eye,” Blasy said. “I didn’t know till a couple days ago that he had that puck. I’ll get it encased very nicely and we’ll keep it in the locker room, for sure.”

In turn, Quick was given his own keepsake — a commemorative puck that reads, “40th anniversary, Dow Charger hockey, 1976-2016.”