FALMOUTH — On a night that offense was plentiful, it was an embattled goalie who swung a pivotal late-season girls’ hockey game Thursday night at Family Ice Center.
Payton Winslow, protecting a two-goal lead, stopped a clean breakaway by Courtney Sullivan, a career 100-goal scorer, late in the game and St. Dominic held on for a 7-5 win over Greely/Gray-New Gloucester.
“I knew I had to make sure they didn’t score so we could keep our confidence,” said Winslow, who finished with 30 saves. “It was a big sigh of relief.”
The game was the first of back-to-back meetings for the Saints (15-2) and Rangers (14-3), who, along with Lewiston, are two of the top three teams in the North.
Avery Lutrzykowski scored eight seconds in, but St. Dom’s never was able to shake Greely, which received three goals from Sullivan.
Lutrzykowski got control of the puck off the opening faceoff, skated in and beat goalie Jordyn Owens.
“Avery is a gamer,” St. Dom’s coach Paul Gosselin said. “A natural goal-scorer. She draws a lot of attention, and that lets the other girls get some room.”
Sullivan countered, and 20 seconds into the game, the score was tied.
Addie Suckow scored on a rush at 6:07 to put the Saints back on top, but again Sullivan countered, finishing off a rebound of her own shot at 9:28 to make it 2-2.
The second period featured even more offense, and again, St. Dom’s scored quickly, this time in 18 seconds when Lutrzykowski was able to finish off a rush.
Lutrzykowski completed her hat trick at 1:49, and after Danielle Holt answered for the Rangers with a highlight-reel backhander at 5:29, Suckow poked home a loose puck in front for a 5-3 lead at 7:03.
Sullivan finished off her hat trick 35 seconds later, but again the Saints countered. Emma Theriault, who struck the post with a shot seconds earlier, finished unassisted at 9:11.
Holt cut the deficit to one at 9:35, and when Greely went on the power play at 11:17, it had a golden opportunity to draw even.
But Winslow denied shots from Leah Walker and Sullivan, and St. Dom’s clung to a 6-5 lead entering the final period.
There again, the Saints struck immediately. Theriault set up Callie Samson 35 seconds in, and all that was left was for Winslow to hold the fort.
She did so, denying a dozen shots in the period, none bigger than Sullivan’s breakaway attempt.
“We have a rivalry with Greely,” Lutrzykowski said. “It was a typical game, with us scoring, them scoring. We knew we had to keep skating until the last whistle and that’s what we did.”
The Rangers had a 35-28 advantage in shots and got 21 saves from Owens, but fell just short.
“It was fun, great competition,” Guerin said. “They’re a very strong team. We look forward to doing it again (Friday) night.”
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