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St. Louis U. High senior defenseman Jack Wachter has heard the question hundreds of times.

Before games. After games. At school. At home.

In fact, he's been asked it so many times he has a stock answer already prepared.

"I hope so," Wachter says calmly.

Wachter is well-prepared when anyone comes up and asks him if this is the year the Junior Billikens finally get over the hump and beat four-time defending champion and rival CBC in the Mid-States Club Hockey Association playoffs.

"When someone wants to talk about the team, that's what always comes up - beating CBC," Wachter said. "Maybe it's a mental thing for us, but we're going to be ready."

The MSCHA season is just weeks old, but the two big dogs are already beginning to distance themselves from the pack.

SLUH remained unbeaten with an impressive 4-0 win over Oakville on Monday in a Municipal Division clash at the Kennedy Ice Complex.

The Junior Billikens have come out of the gate with fire in their eyes - and CBC purple and gold on their minds.

"It's hard not to think about it," SLUH junior goalie Brendan Rasch said. "Our mindset is, don't stop getting better. And to get where we want to go, we'll have to beat them."

SLUH has been near-perfect in its 9-0 start. It has outscored its opponents 68-6 and has recorded four shutouts.

"Knock on wood, we can keep things going," first-year coach Jack Behan said.

The Jr. Billikens may have turned in their best performance of the season against the upset-minded Tigers, who fell to 3-3.

SLUH scored twice in a span of 46 seconds in the second period and then tallied a pair of power-play goals in a lightning-quick 30-second blitz in the third period to put the game away.

Wachter, Louie Perotti, Steven Pawlow and Henry Wagner did the damage offensively.

Rasch stopped 29 shots to keep the Tigers under wraps.

"It was important that we kept our structure," Behan said. "We did what we set out to do and we finally wore them down."

Wachter's tally in the second period was a thing of beauty. Wagner started the play with a nifty, tape-to-tape pass to a wide open Gabe Schwartz, who instead of taking a shot, one-timed the puck to Wachter. He then drilled a drive into the gaping net.

The tick-tack-toe tally drew applause from fans on both sides.

"They made the play getting it to me," Wachter said. "With those (passes) anyone could have scored."

The goal pushed the lead to 2-0 and gave the Jr. Bills some breathing room.

Rasch took over from there with highlight-reel stops on Chase Bradley and Dylan Mooney.

Pawlow pumped the lead to 3-0 on a power-play goal just under six minutes into the final period. Wagner converted on a 5-on-3 advantage just 30 seconds later.

"We played a solid game," Oakville coach Tyler Sollberger said. "There were a couple break downs, a couple times we couldn't clear the puck when we should have. But, I think we proved we can play with one of the best teams in the league. It was a good step for us."

Oakville goalie Chase Christopher played well in the net allowing just two even-man goals.

The Jr. Billikens sport a veteran squad with 10 seniors, all hungry to make their last chance count.

CBC, which is off to a 5-0 start, beat SLUH in each of the last three Challenge Cup Championship games.

"It's early, but we like the way we're playing," Wachter said. "We've just got to make sure we're doing it in February and March too."