In front of 400 fans the Perth Blue Wings opened their Eastern Ontario Junior Hockey League on Friday night against their tough rivals, the Renfrew Timberwolves with a tough 5-1 loss.

But that's not the only thing the team has lost at this early stage of the season.

"We have 17 rookies in the lineup. Ten of our guys have made Jr. A this year and we're happy with their development, but it puts us in a position where we are working on new pairings and trying to get things going," said Colin Glenn, head coach and general manager.

Plus, "a few bone moves... rookie mistakes" in their weekend games, has given the coaching staff ample opportunities for tough, but fun, drills and practise sessions.

"We are on the ice three times a week, seeing who has chemistry together. We tried different things and we are liking what we are seeing," Glenn said.

Despite the outcome Friday night, the Blue Wings only trailed by one at the end of the first period. Renfrew scored another loner in the second period before a barrage of goals in the third.

Perth got its single goal in the final stanza when Chris Smith opened the scoring with assistance from Cole Timchuk and Anthony Scattolon with 7:26 on the clock.

Renfrew goals were scored by Stephane Pare in the first, Lucas Gonu on the power play in the second, Teddy Suckow (PP), Andrew Ryan and Jacob Collins in the third.

Matt Gagne was the winning netminder turning away 29 of 30 shots.

Phil Miller took the loss facing 42 shots. Both teams were assessed with eight minutes of minor infractions.

Perth is missing three key players, including Christian Bueti after suffering a separated shoulder Friday night when he took a check into the boards "and wasn't braced for it

properly," Glenn said. "He'll be out at least three months."

Brian Fancy is also out with a slight concussion and Tyler Murphy is sitting out one more game of a three-game suspension brought with him to the Blue Wings camp from his minor midget team last season.

Clarence 8 Perth 3 On Saturday as part of the EOJHL Showcase, the Blue Wings lost an 8-3 game to the Clarence Beavers at the Renfrew Arena.

"Clarence was good, but we made them look better," Glenn said. "We weren't expecting them to be as good as they were."

Clarence head a 3-1 and 6-1 lead at the breaks with Perth's single marker coming from captain Blair Barr in the first period. He was assisted by Jordan Pedlar and Campbell Schoular on the goal.

In the second, Perth was shut out of the scoring with three goals coming from the opposition within the first four minutes.

In the third, Zachery Desnoyers had Perth's second goal of the game, assisted by Barr and Bradley Stitt. Then Pedlar scored from Timchuk for the team's final goal.

Clarence got its goals from Sylvain Quesnel and Sebastion Dion with two each, Luke Witzel, Jean-Francois Lupien, Karl Lariviere and Pier-Olivier Fournier with singles.

Phillippe Quesnel was the winning netminder, turning away 29 of 32 shots.

Alex Desjardins suffered the loss with 25 saves.

Coming up This week's games sees the Blue Wings hosting the Stittsville Royals Friday night at 7:30 p.m. and on Saturday, they're at the B. Ann Scott Arena to take on the Ottawa West Golden Knights at 7:15 p.m. "We're not hitting the panic button yet," said Glenn. "We have some tough games this weekend and it will be nice to get that first win."