This past January, forward Jean-Cristoph Lemieux was the centerpiece on the receiving end to a Sudbury Wolves' trade that would send veterans Nathan Villeneuve and Alex Pharand to the Windsor Spitfires.

Thursday night at the WFCU (Windsor Family Credit Union) Centre, Lemieux reminded fans of his former team of just why he was quite so coveted an asset for Wolves' GM Rob Papineau.

With Lemieux leading the way with a hat-trick and goaltender Bjorn Bronas sparkling in his first start of the season, Sudbury tripled the Spits 6-2, kicking off a three game in four night road stand with their seventh win in eight games this year.

Lemieux, who has nine goals and 13 points to show for the six games in which he has dressed to date this fall, was joined on the scoresheet by rookie Kash Kwajah (3rd goal), defenseman Liam Ladds and speedster Rowan Henderson, who netted his 6th goal and third short-handed tally already this year.

Sidelined by an injury to start the season, Bjorn Bronas stopped 29 of the 31 shots that he faced, stifling the Spits until midway through the third, allowing the visitors to build a 4-0 lead and rendering a pair of late strikes from John McLaughlin and Hamza Havusic relatively inconsequential.

Improving their Central Division leading record to 7-0-1-0, four points clear of the Niagara Ice Dogs, the Wolves continue to display an impressive amount of "next man up" fortitude in their roster.

With Tanner Adams, Hudson Chitaroni, Blake Clayton and Brayden Bennett all sidelined with injuries and defenseman Fin Kearns serving the first of a two-game suspension, the northern crew tapped into their organizational depth in this encounter.

A veteran of more than 120 OHL games, forward Ethan Dean was in the lineup for the first time this year while 6'4" 16 year-old blueliner Ivan Belikov continues to draw in as well, suiting up for the fifth time.

The Wolves are expected to be put to the test over the course of the weekend, facing the London Knights (5-1-0-1) on Friday and the Guelph Storm (7-2-0-0) on Sunday, the top two teams in the Midwest Division.