LEWISTON – It took Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill half a period to warm up in Wednesday night’s high school girls’ hockey game against Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland, but once the Blue Devils (2-0) got hot, they stayed that way.
The hosts put four goals in the back of the net during the closing half of the opening period and skated away with an 8-1 victory over the Capers (1-2) at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Corrine Laberge opened the scoring 7:48 into the first period on an unassisted shot from the right circle. That was the first of five goals for the senior captain, who scored from roughly the same spot fewer than four minutes later. Chloe Morin scored at the left post 59 seconds later, and Laberge rounded out the first-period scoring with an unassisted tally, again from inside the right circle, with 1:16 left.
“She got her stride tonight,” Blue Devils head coach Ron Dumont said of Laberge, who he said showed some jitters in a season-opening win against Brunswick. “We actually told her this week, ‘just play hockey.’”
Laberge wasted no time getting back on the scoresheet in the second period, as Jordan Mynahan found her in her favorite spot for her fourth goal of the game just 42 seconds after first-intermission break. Laberge broke from away from that spot to complete her quintet of goals three minutes in, scoring unassisted once again to make it a 6-0 game.
“I’m really happy with her performance, with everybody’s performance,” Dumont said. “Everybody worked hard.”
Mynahan was the finisher on the next two Blue Devils goals. The sophomore was wide open for a feed from Jessica Clavet after freshman Bree Bergeron sent a trio of shots at a sprawling Abby Joy in the Capers’ goal. Bergeron was credited with the secondary assist when her fourth touch got past Joy and found Clavet’s stick.
Bergeron assisted Mynahan directly on the sophomore’s second straight goal, which upped the Blue Devils’ lead to 8-0 eight minutes into the middle period.
Bergeron’s assist was her third of the game, as her and classmate Clavet both helped on Morin’s first period goal. Fellow freshman Emily Bemis also notched an assist.
The Capers showed signs of life in the latter stages of the second period, and made sure Blue Devils goalie Megan Gosselin was awake in the process. The sophomore netminder was forced to make consecutive tough saves — after making just five routine ones up to that point — with 5:30 left. The Capers then placed shots on net on three straight faceoffs to make the Blue Devils sweat for the first time, as Gosselin made as many saves in a matter of seconds as she had during the initial 24 minutes of game action.
Gosselin failed to make consecutive saves in the opening seconds of the third period, as Hannah Bosworth scored on a rebound 16 seconds in to break the shutout.
Roy finished with 17 saves, while Gosselin had 12 stops.
Both teams will be back in action Saturday. The Blue Devils travel to Yarmouth/Freeport/Gray-New Gloucester, while the Capers hit the road to take on Scarborough/Sacopee Valley.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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