AUBURN — Shots are what a team strives for in hockey, but they don’t mean a thing if they don’t go in.
Such was the situation Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland faced heading into the closing minutes of the first period in its game against Biddeford/Thornton Academy on Wednesday. The Red Hornets had put up 15 shots, but just one had gone in.
Then the goals started coming, with two more finding the back of the in the final two minutes of the first en route to a 7-0 victory in a girls’ hockey game at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
“I think we were feeling confident that eventually they would go in,” Red Hornets coach Shon Collins said. “We had some real good chances. There were some rebounds that were coming out that we wanted to jump on the rebounds and finish those, that maybe early on we didn’t get to as many of the rebounds.”
Madi Simard’s tally five minutes in was all the Red Hornets (2-0) had to show for their early flurry of shots. Then the hosts began to solve Tigers (0-3) goalie Bekah Guay, with Mariah Vaillancourt and Kaylee Younk both scoring off rebounds in the first period. Vaillancourt scored off a rebound of Ally MacKenzie’s shot with 1:24 left, then Younk sealed the deal with her own rebound in transition with just 14.1 seconds left before the first intermission.
“I think it took a lot of pressure off of the girls,” Collins said. “You start pressing when you get a lot of shots like that and they’re not going in, forcing it and feeling dejected. Once we got those two, it kind of just took that pressure off.”
While the Red Hornets were able to find aim on the frame 18 times in the first period, the Tigers were held without a single shot on net, and Red Hornets goalie Manny Guimond rarely had to move out of her crease.
The shots kept coming for the Red Hornets in the second, though the goals took a little longer to follow. Yet they came in bunches again, with Haley Frolich scoring unassisted just before the midway point of the period, and Saige Arseneault took a feed from Taylor Callier for a goal less than three minutes later.
“It’s like a team effort, pass the puck around, make sure you have those good opportunities,” Frolich said. “Everything’s a team effort. Make sure you’re not forcing it. Just getting those good shots off, even if they’re just low and a rebound. Trash goals or any goals, it all counts in the end.”
The Tigers’ first on-target shot of the game soon followed, and the visitors put three on Guimond in the period, yet trailed the Red Hornets’ tally of 33 through 30 minutes.
“I think it was team defense, and playing defense by controlling the puck,” Collins said. “It’s easier to play defense in their end of the ice.”
Callier (on the power play) and MacKenzie added goals early in the third period to round out the scoring. Angel Drouin assisted on Callier’s goal to give the Red Hornets eight different point-producers.
“I think a lot of girls leave this game feeling very confident,” Collins said.
Both teams have already started trends to begin their respective seasons. The Red Hornets followed up a 7-0 win over Winslow/Gardiner (also the Tigers) in their opener with another dominant performance, while Biddeford/TA has been on the wrong side of three lopsided scores (4-0 to Scarborough, 8-0 to Greely) to start the season.
“We’re working as a team, we’re talking. Our lines are (meshing) well together,” Frolich said. “I think it’s important to have that team chemistry.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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