AUBURN — Wednesday night’s girls’ hockey game between St. Dominic Academy and Mt. Ararat/Morse started with Saints goalie Payton Winslow having to cover up the puck on the first shift. The next time the junior netminder had to glove the puck was on the visiting Eagles’ first shot on goal.
It was what happened in between that told the story of the Saints’ 12-0 victory at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
St. Dom’s had just taken a 9-0 lead just under four minutes into the second period when the Eagles (0-5) fired a shot off the faceoff that went straight to Winslow. The defending state champion Saints (3-0) scored four goals in those first four minutes, with Avery Lutrzykowski, Emma Theriault, Kristina Cornelio and Bugsy Hammerton all lighting the lamp.
That followed a first period that saw Lutrzykowski, Cornelio, Lexie Kesaris, Izzy Frenette and Dasha Fons all find the back of the net. St. Dom’s fired 26 shots on goal in the first 15-minute period.
Fons and Madison Samson later scored in the second period as the lead grew to 11-0, with a 38-1 disparity in shots on goal.
Lutrzykowski completed the scoring in the third period, succeeding on the Saints’ lone shot of the frame.
St. Dom’s had eight different scorers and 10 different point producers. Katya Fons and Michela Avondetto notched assists.
The Saints used the mismatch to try and work on the parts of their game other than just scoring. The starting lineup was non-traditional, with Samson and Avondetto joining Addie Suckow as normal backups who were given starting nods.
“I think they played well,” Frenette said. “They were actually passing the puck really well and skating hard. Addie was winning some faceoffs, and they were getting pucks to the net, which is what you want them to do.”
“They’ve been working in hard in practice, so they deserve to get some time. And I thought they did well today,” St. Dom’s coach Paul Gosselin said. “Michela is all the way from Italy, never played hockey before.”
St. Dom’s also continued to do what they’ve done in every game this season, and what they did in many games during last year’s championship run, and that is dominate puck possession. The Saints play the opponent’s blue line as if it were their own, and suffocate the opposition in its own end. That was a major factor in the Eagles’ low total of two shots in the game.
“Puck possession is extremely important, so we work on that all the time,” Gosselin said. “Execution was there. We’re continuously working on making that faster. Time of possession is important, so we work on it hard.”
“We try to get the shutout for Payton every time,” Frenette said. “So being able to keep the puck in their end is the best way to do that.”
The Saints didn’t convert on any of their three power plays, but the latter two came with the score already out of hand. St. Dom’s used the opportunity to work on puck possession, peppering passes to each other on the man-advantage rather than shooting.
Lily Schenk stopped 27 of 38 shots playing in net for the Eagles during the first two periods. Gabby mason saw just one shot playing the third. The Eagles have now been outscored 43-1 during their first five games.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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