(Walpole, MA) -- Both Walpole Express Jr. teams rocked this year's AJHL and MJHL showcase this past weekend with a 7-0 record, leaving no doubt that they belong at the top of their respective divisions. The Express A team got things going on Friday afternoon with an impressive 1-0 win over a highly skilled New Jersey Rockets team. “We played our best defensive game of the year," said Coach Mark Kumpel. The Rockets had previously beaten the Express in OT at the first league showcase back in September. This time it took the Express a lone goal off the stick of Ed Rohaly, plus some great team defense and timely saves by Derek Kump to gain the two points.

On Saturday, the Express faced the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers, another team that had previously beaten them. Again, it took another strong performance by Kump, who stopped 14 of the 15 shots he faced. Walpole got goals from Austin Grosvenor and Lou Malvasi to secure the 2-1 win. “This was a big weekend," Kumpel said. "We stumbled a bit last weekend, especially in Portland, and we worked hard in practice this week getting back to playing well in our zone. Our hard work definitely showed.”

In Sunday’s final game the Express fell behind 1-0 early to the Binghamton Jr. Senators before pouring on the offense and taking the two points with a 7-1 win. Walpole spread the offense around with seven different goal scorers. Steve Charest, Matt Harrington, Ben Oskroba, Brian Greene, Cody Armstrong, Troy Polino and newcomer Vlad Drobenkijs each found the back of the net. Zach Andrews got back in the win column with a solid performance in net.

“The boys reacted as a good team should after last weekend's loss in Portland, said Coach Tony Dalessio. "We stressed getting back to what has made us successful and that is playing strong in our end. And we got excellent goaltending and some timely offense. We have three other teams in our division that are not going away so we have to continue to be consistent as we move forward.”

While the A team was holding on to its top spot in the AJHL North, the Express B team was working hard to reclaim the top spot in the MJHL Francis division. The B team got off to a good start with a 7-1 win on Friday against the Washington Little Capitals. Donovan Minutolo had two goals and TJ Thornton stopped 13 of 14 shots. On Saturday, the Express played two games. The first was a hard-fought 2-0 win over the Philadelphia Jr. Flyers. Shamus Foster and Ryan Andrews each scored and Brendan Hammatt stopped all 19 shots for the shutout in net. In the second game, Walpole earned a 4-1 win over the Valley Forge thanks to two goals from Foster. The B's capped the weekend on Sunday with another win over the Little Capitals with a score of 5-3. With the eight--point weekend the Express now hold a commanding seven-point lead over second-place New Jersey Rockets and Northern Cyclones.

The Express B is off this weekend and will return to action Dec.12 and 13 when they face the New Jersey Titans in Wall, N.J. The Express A team is back in action this weekend when they host the Laconia Leafs for a pair of games at the Iorio Arena on Saturday, Dec. 5 at 8:30 p.m. and Sunday, December 6 at 12:30 p.m.