Lewiston’s Paige Pomerleau controls the ball as Cheverus’ Zoe Mazur gets her stick into the action during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
LEWISTON — Tired legs are not something a team wants to bring into a game against this year’s Lewiston girls’ hockey team
That’s what Cheverus/Kennebunk brought to Saturday night’s battle, though, planing its third game in three nights.
Luckily for the Stags, they had sophomore goalie Trinity Atwater to lean on, and she gave her team a chance.
She had no chance, however, of trying to blindly stop a slap shot from Blue Devils blue-liner Grace Dumond, who scored the only goal of the game in a 1-0 Lewiston win at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
“To have Grace there and put that shot in, not a lot of girls can take it from that far out with that much zip on it,” Blue Devils (11-0) coach Ron Dumont said.
Despite heavily out-shooting the Stags (10-2), it took until four minutes left in the second period to get one past Atwater, who had stopped 15 shots up to that point.
“You know, we haven’t needed her to be our best player many nights. And yesterday, playing our second game (in a row) with Cape, she was tremendous. And tonight she was our best player,” Stags coach Scott Rousseau said.
The Blue Devils had a couple close calls at scoring before Dumond’s tally. Less than one minute into the second period a shot squirted under Atwater and was headed toward the goal, but Hannah Woodford cleared it off the line for the Stags. Another shot went through the crease two minutes later.
Gemma Landry seemingly scored just over five minutes into the frame, but the goal was waved off because an official had blown his whistle just before Landry poked the loose puck in.
Throughout all of the Blue Devils’ bad luck they never got frustrated, according to Dumont.
“I have a patient team,” Dumont said. “Yes, they’re kids, like any athlete you want to get it. Frustrated for that minute, but it doesn’t carry over. There’s no long faces. I said, ‘You know, you got plenty of time.’ The best word I can use is they’re very patient, and I think that’s going to serve them well down the road.”
The patience paid off for Lewiston later in the period. The puck cycled its way to Dumond at the right circle, and the sophomore defender ripped a shot that zoomed past Atwater (26 saves).
“For her to get that through like that, and even the girls were mentioning — you know, we had talked about getting some traffic. But it takes a little courage to get in front of Grace’s shot, because it’s heavy, it comes at you quick,” Dumont said. “But the kids have been learning to do that. And if I’m not mistaken, I think it was Brie Dube who was down low there, and she basically sealed off the goalie’s view.”
Leah Landry and Katie Lemieux notched assists on the goal.
The Blue Devils had plenty of chances to add to their lead, including four power plays, but they only mustered one shot each on the quartet of man-advantages.
“We work hard on our penalty killing, we take a lot of pride in our penalty killing,” Rousseau said.
The Stags had few chances, with just seven shots on goal for the whole game, but they did make Lewiston goalie Camree St. Hilaire sweat a little. Much of that came on counter-attacks by Abby Lamontagne, who Dumont said his team “absolutely” kept an eye on.
“That’s the best chance we have, is to get plays in transition up the neutral zone,” Rousseau said. “We never really were able to generate, you know, consistent cycle and pressure against them. So that was the strategy, and, you know, we had a couple looks there.
“But it wasn’t our night. So we’ll go back to the drawing board, get a good night’s rest tonight and try to look at that team and figure out somehow. We got to figure out something to get something by them.”
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
Lewiston’s Grace Dumond looks toward the goal during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. Cheverus’ Terryn MacDonald keeps pace behind Dumond. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
Cheverus’ Terryn MacDonald and Lewiston’s Brie Dube struggle in front of Chevrus goalie Trinity Atwater during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. Chevrus’ Abby Ench stands at the left ready to enter the play. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
Lewiston’s Paige Pomerleau shoots the puck at the goal as Cheverus’ Abby Ench looks on during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
Lewiston’s Madison Conley takes the puck down the ice while Cheverus’ Terryn MacDonald follows in hot pursuit during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
Cheverus’ Terryn MacDonald and Lewiston’s Leah Landry race down the ice to gain control of the puck during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
Lewiston’s Leah Landry dives for the puck during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Colisee in Lewiston. Protecting the Cheverus goal is goalie Trinity Atwater, along with teammates Terryn MacDonald and Abby Ench assist in defense. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
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