Jens Meilleur now sits alone at the top in the South Eastern Manitoba Hockey League scoring race after leading the Portage Islanders to a 6-3 road win over the Carman Beavers Thursday.

The Islanders captain scored a hat-trick, increasing his point total to 12. He has 5 goals and 7 assists in only four games.

Before this game, Carman had yet to taste defeat, and the Islanders knew that had to come out strong -- and that's what they did. Meilleur kicked off the scoring halfway into the first period, while Brett Brooks added another with just over four minutes to go. (Brooks is also having a strong season. He sits tied for fourth in league scoring with teammate Jonah Wasylak. They both have 4 goals and 3 assists.)

In the first two minutes of the second period, former Terrier Lane Taylor got on the board, with an assist by Doug Lawrence. (Lawrence had two assists on the night.) Carman refused to go down without a fight, as Derek Wood would help generate two goals in twenty-two seconds, scoring the first, and assisting on another by Jesse Livingston. The Islanders would have the last laugh in the period as Garrett Maly (with an assist from Meilleur) scored to give the Islanders a 4-2 lead.

Halfway through the third, Meilleur would complete his hat-trick with back-to-back goals. Taylor Fisher answered for Carman, but that would be as close as they would get. Ryan Person would earn the win in net for Portage while Rocky Van de Velde took the loss in his season debut.

With the win, the Islanders are now 4-1 and in first place overall with 8 points. Carman is now tied for second with a record of 2-1 (4 points).

Portage's next game is on Thursday, November 25th in Morden when they travel to take on the Bombers (1-1). Carman welcomes the Notre Dame Hawks (1-1) to town on Saturday, November 27th.