Livonia Stevenson’s Production Line was hitting on all cylinders in Wednesday’s annual Thanksgiving Eve boys hockey clash with Livonia Churchill at Edgar Arena.

The Spartans, in fact, got to feast at the table a day early as they improved to 3-0 overall by carving up the Chargers en route to an 8-0 victory.

Senior Dominic Lutz continued his early season scoring binge with five goals to run his season total of 11.

Lutz had plenty of help from as linemate as Tyler Irvine had a goal and four assists, while Devin Kelly also chipped in with four assists.

Stevenson, ironically, was outshot 10-8 in the first period but led 1-0 thanks to a short-handed goal by Lutz just 1:53 into the game off an assist from Irvine.

Stevenson, however, took control with three goals in the second period and added four more in the final period capped by Alec Allen’s goal from Jon McDonald to end the game with 7:03 left.

“Churchill came out prepared and give them credit,” Stevenson coach David Mitchell said. “They worked really hard and outshot us in the first. Give them all the credit in the world, but it’s good having that line and the chemistry with that line. Those three guys can play at the high level and high speed. When they get rolling and finish that’s what can happen.”

Lutz got his second 7:56 into the second period on a quick wrist shot following a face-off with Kelly assisting.

Ray Chartier then glanced a shot from just inside the left point that caromed off a Churchill defenseman and behind goaltender David Turel at 13:25 to make it 3-0.

Irvine then scored with just 15 seconds left in the second off assists from Chartier and Allen to make it 4-0.

“After one (period) we just reminded them it’s a hockey game,” Mitchell said. “Churchill is a good team over there. They’re solid a solid hockey club, have some good players and well coached, so ... it was no surprise to us. We were good being up 1-0. It was a good, hard-fought game. Churchill-Stevenson games usually are. We just talked about staying the course and maybe limit some of their chances. We gave up some chances that first period and our goalie Andrew Rozenbaum came up big for us and made sure we had the zero on the board after one. He held us in it until our offense got us going.”

It was all Spartans in the final period as Lutz scored three straight – from Kelly and Irvine at 0:34; from Kelly at 3:23; and a power play goal from Irvine and Cole Christie at 7:28.

Stevenson outshot the Chargers 29-11 over the final two periods.

“We had a lot of great energy coming into this game,” said Churchill coach Jason Reynolds, whose team slipped to 0-3-1 overall. “I was really proud of my boys and the way they played in the first half of the game. If we can bottle that for the rest of our games this year I think we’ll win a lot of them.

“That being said, the score sheet doesn’t tell the lie. They have one incredibly productive line over there on the other side. And it’s showing in every game they play. It’s going to take another team to match up a competitive line against them to slow them down, but so far nobody has been able to do it yet.”

Reynolds was searching for answers on how to stop Stevenson’s Production Line.

“The biggest key is just trying to find opportunities to take passing lanes away between Lutz, Kelly and Irvine,” the Churchill coach said. “That’s a tough thing to do consistently for three periods. And I know Dave (Mitchell) has said it in the past, once those guys get going tend to produce in multiples.

“It’s a tough lesson for us, but at the same time there are a lot of good things that come away from this game for us and hopefully after a nice break we’ll get back to work and get back on the winning track.”

If there was any shining light for the Chargers it was the play of senior goaltender David Turel, who made 31 saves.

“I really can’t blame David for any of our shortcomings,” Reynolds said. “He really played fantastic. He certainly deserved a lot better today. I think it was just a couple of unlucky bounces, some deflections and some unlucky plays that just got the better of him tonight. He’s a good goaltender and showed a lot of heart tonight. We’re really proud of him.”

Meanwhile, a demanding non-conference schedule will keep the Spartans, the defending MHSAA Division 2 champions, on their toes throughout the season.

“We preach that our success is due to our approach and the process we go through every single day,” Mitchell said. “We know every game is going to be a difficult hockey game and we have to stay true to what we do to prepare. It’s really in our preparation. And the amount of preparation and the work that these kids put in ... we guard against that overconfidence that on any given night any team can hang with us, and we have to be concerned about what we’re doing. We stay focused on doing the little things shift by shift, period by period, game by game.”