GRAND CHUTE - You couldn’t have asked for a better start to the season for the Fox Cities Stars (6-0), who entered Tuesday’s matchup with Badgerland Conference rival Fond du Lac (1-4) unbeaten. Already with their best start in nearly a decade, the Stars have been impressive this season, drawing attention across the entire hockey landscape.

It was more of the same for Fox Cities on Tuesday as they pushed their season winning streak to six games in dominating fashion, taking down the Cardinals by a 7-1 score. Most of the Stars' scoring came in the final two periods as six of their seven goals came in those periods, while five different players lit the lamp in the win. It’s that kind of depth and balance that has made this team so tough in the early part of the season, and should that continue for the remainder of the year, you can expect the Stars to be in the thick of things at the end.

Unlike many of their wins, where the Stars would come out firing, Collin Gamble and the Cardinals' defense did a great job of keeping things close in the first period, as both sides remained scoreless for most of the period. That was until Blake Adamovich found an opening after a Parker Janssen pass as he found the back of the net with just over two minutes to go in the first, putting the Stars on top 1-0, which is where things stood after one period of play.

Looking to build off that late-period goal, the Stars started to look like the team they had looked like most of the season as they got to Gamble for three second-period goals and six over the following two periods. Preston McGinnis kept the scoring going as his goal just over two minutes into the second gave the Stars a 2-0 lead and proved to be the game-winning goal in the game. That was the first of what wound up being a three-goal night for McGinnis as he added a second goal just past the 13-minute mark in the second period.

That goal came after the Cardinals were finally able to put one home with Maddux King scoring less than 30 seconds after McGinnis made things 2-0, pulling the Cardinals to within 2-1. Little did they know, but that would be their only goal of the night as Elliott Reichenbacher continued to do his thing in goal as he came away with 21 saves on 22 shots. That 2-1 score would hold until the second McGinnis goal made things 3-1, only to have Jake Koller push the Stars' lead to 4-1 with just over a minute remaining in the second. Quinn Murphy was credited with the assist on the play as the Stars had this game well in hand.

Despite a comfortable three-goal lead after two, Fox Cities wasn’t about to give up as they continued to pester Gamble in goal. Cale Adamovich wasted no time making things 5-1 as his even-strength goal came one minute into the third. After a long stretch of action that neither team found the back of the net, it was the Stars who tacked on a pair of late-game goals with Andrew Ostermann getting involved at the 12:14 mark while McGinnis closed out his Hat Trick less than two minutes later to lift the Stars to the 7-1 win.

With the win, Fox Cities now moves into sole possession of first place in the Badgerland Conference and are .5 games ahead of second-place Neenah. Reichenbacher continued to do his thing in goal, picking up another win on a near-perfect night between the pipes. McGinnis paced the offense with his three-goal performance, with Janssen, Nathan Mueller, Kellan Murphy, and Cale Adamovich all having two-point nights. King came away with the lone point for Fond du Lac, with Gamble stopping 28 of the 35 shots he faced. Fox Cities will return to the Ice on Saturday when they play host to the West Bend Ice Bears.