On the eve of the National Hockey League finally ending the lockout, the Lehigh Valley Scholastic Hockey League returned to action after a long holiday break.

Bret McHale netted four goals to help propel Parkland (10-0-1) to an easy 7-0 win over Northampton last Monday night at Lehigh Valley Ice Arena.

The Texas hat trick brings McHale's season tally to a league-leading 26 goals.

"It's all about teamwork out there," said McHale. "Our guys look for each other. We pass the puck around and find the right man. That makes it a lot easier to score."

The Trojans have had many different scorers find the back of the net over the course of the season.

Morgan Bensinger (two goals) and Benjamin Zager (one goal) also contributed in the scoring effort.

There did not seem to be any rust after nearly a two-week layoff.

The Trojans put a lot of early pressure on Northampton's net. The Trojans broke free when Ryan Dumbach slotted a pass through the crease that McHale hit one-timer.

Six minutes later, Jake Hulsizer ripped a shot that went wide. Adam Orsulak was lost out of place in net, and the puck landed right into the path of an open McHale shot for the second goal of the period.

McHale's third goal was on a power play in the second period. Bensinger hit a slap shot from the blue line that whistled past the glove of Orsulak.

In the third, three different Trojans scored. Nicolas Chandik helped McHale to a four-goal night with a sweet pass right onto his stick that gave Orsulak no chance of making a save.

"After that long break, we just came back working hard at practice," said McHale. "That's the most important thing. We have to know the offensive plays that coach wants us to run. We just went over them before the game and came out and played hard."

Head coach Gerry Chandik was satisfied with the win, but was really looking forward to getting a win this weekend.

"We have a game in the Flyers Cup on Sunday night," Chandik said. "This program hasn't won in the Flyers Cup, so the kids really want this."

Parkland faces North Penn on Sunday night at 7 p.m., and before that Cup game, the Trojans have a league game against Bethlehem Catholic/Central Catholic on Friday night at 6 p.m. Both games are at the Lehigh Valley Ice Arena.