AUBURN — Five minutes.
That’s all it took for Edward Little’s solid start to fade away, and for rival St. Dominic Academy to all but seal up another resounding victory in the series.
The Saints scored twice late in the first period, twice more early in the second and skated away to a 6-0 win in a Class A North boys’ hockey game at Norway Savings Bank Arena on Saturday.
The Red Eddies (1-5), who lost 7-0 to their rivals earlier this season, looked much improved early in the rematch. They even had a prime chance to jump on the scoreboard first when Cody Woodward got a mini breakaway less than six minutes in, only to be stopped by St. Dom’s goalie Kyle Welsh.
EL out-shot the Saints 9-7 in the first period, but St. Dom’s had the only two to go in.
Senior captain Noah Toussaint did the honors both times. His first lamp-lighter came on a tough-angle shot to the right of the goal, beating his younger brother, EL freshman goalie Gavin Toussaint, with 2:17 left in the first period.
Toussaint scored from a similar area with 28 seconds left on a power play to make it 2-0 in a blur.
Fellow senior Justin Keaney made it 3-0 just 15 seconds into the second, and Toussaint assisted on Zack Pelletier’s power play goal 2:38 into the frame.
“One of our goals was to get ahead,” St. Dom’s coach Bob Parker said. “If we were going to fall behind, (the game) would have been a lot harder.”
In an instant, what looked like a better result the second time around for the Red Eddies turned into another lopsided score.
But there were still positives to be found for first-year EL coach Brett Barrett.
“I think we played well. Defensively, we were much better. We held them to half the shots we did last game,” Barrett said. “They put one goal in off a crossbar, one goal in off a post, and a empty-netter. There’s three goals that no goaltender (stops).
“The problem is we don’t have guys that score goals. We don’t have a natural goal-scorer, like the Toussaint kid, and (don’t) have guys that can shoot the puck like that.”
The Red Eddies’ chances were fewer after the first period, but there were still opportunities. They just didn’t capitalize on them, including Jason Cote’s miss on a breakaway late in the second just one culprit.
“Guys are frustrated because we’re not putting pucks in the net,” Barrett said.
The Saints added more insult to injury with an early third-period goal. Mack Pelletier sliced through the EL defense and beat Toussaint from the slot 84 seconds in to make it 5-0.
That made it three upperclassmen scoring four of the the Saints’ first five goals. That’s not a surprise to Parker.
“They have the most experience,” Parker said. “They’re hungrier. They know it could be their last year or second-to-last year. And that motivates the kids. And I motivate them to show the younger guys what it takes to get the job done.”
Toussaint got done scoring on a shorthanded, empty-net goal with 32 seconds left to complete a hat trick.
Welsh stopped all 21 shots he faced for his second shutout of the season against the rival Red Eddies.
“It’s nice to have a Kyle Welsh, in that he’s a stellar goalie, he’s focused, he’s my stallion, and he’s leading the team right now,” Parker said.
Toussaint made 17 saves for EL, and Ben Feldman made four more in relief in the third period.
“It’s hard right now to look at (the positives), because obviously they’re young and blood’s going and pumping; it’s an embarrassing thing,” Barrett said. “It’s not fun. But we’ll look at it next week.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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