Brie Dube, center, follows through on her shot on York goalie Erin Gray during the second period of Wednesday night’s game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
LEWISTON — Lewiston/Monmouth/Oak Hill and York/Traip/Marshwood both entered Wednesday night’s girls’ hockey clash with 2-0 records and a lot of goals scored during their first two games, but they got there in different ways.
Those goals were harder to come by when the undefeated teams met at Androscoggin Bank Colisee, but the Blue Devils’ style won out in a 5-0 victory.
“We were just outmatched,” Wildcats coach Kevin Banfield said. “They’re faster, more skilled, and we weren’t used to the speed.”
The Blue Devils (3-0) jumped ahead 1-0 early when Gemma Landry redirected Anna Dodge’s knuckling shot at the slot and past Wildcats (2-1) goalie Erin Gray 65 seconds into the game.
“I got it and I saw I had open lane, so I just took the shot,” Dodge said. “I think the bounce kind of put it in the right direction to get it going. It wasn’t a strong shot, but it’s the deception.”
Unlike their first two games, when more goals — 18 combined — soon followed, the Blue Devils found getting pucks into the back of the net difficult against the Wildcats.
“Some of that I think’s attributed to they’re a bigger team than we’ve seen,” Blue Devils coach Ron Dumont said. “It’s early in the season, and what they may lack in speed, for lack of a better word, they have good size and they’re strong on the puck. We got a lot of kids that are young and forwards that are not the biggest around. They did a good job working their way through it, but early on we (almost stopped) moving our feet. We play with speed, that’s what we’re looking to do, and I think that slowed us down. They got kids that are big, strong on the stick.”
The Blue Devils found an opening again just over nine minutes in, when Grace Dumond pounced on a loose puck in the slot and ripped a shot past Gray. Brie Dube assisted on the goal.
When the Wildcats defense did allow the Blue Devils some space to shoot, Gray was often there to make the save. The sophomore stood on her head early in the second to keep it a two-goal game.
“Our goalie played well,” Banfield said. “She’s only a sophomore, second year playing. She’s got a lot of talent, a lot of learning to do.”
Camree St. Hilaire didn’t have as many looks against her in the Blue Devils’ net, but she did come up big to stop Jessa Smith’s shorthanded breakaway attempt midway through a second-period power play.
The Blue Devils’ third goal came in transition. Dodge fed Landry again on a 2-on-1 with less than three minutes to play in the second.
Jordan Mynahan scored an unassisted goal 90 seconds into the third to put the game away, and Sara Robert fed Dumond for the final goal with less than four minutes left.
Gray finished with 34 saves on 39 shots. St. Hilaire made five saves for the shutout.
Both teams saw Wednesday night’s game as a good learning experience going forward.
“I think this a different team than we’ve played. The result may be the same — yes, it’s a win,” Dumont said. “Their style is something that I think is good going forward because we haven’t played a physical team. … It’s good going forward because you’re going to get all kinds of different types of teams that you’re going to play.”
“This will help us a lot, get used to the speed. We play Falmouth on Saturday and it’ll be a similar game,” Banfield said. “We can learn from this and hopefully have some success later.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Lewiston’s Gemma Landry, right, watches her shot sail past York goalie Erin Gray for a goal during the second period of Wednesday night’s game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
Lewiston’s Grace Dumond fires a point-blank shot at York goalie Erin Gray during Wednesday’s game in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
York’s Sophia Santamaria dives in a futile attempt to slow down Lewiston’s Brie Dube as she heads to the net for a shot during the first period of Wednesday night’s game at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee in Lewiston. (Russ Dillingham/Sun Journal)
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