LEWISTON — A short break rather than a full intermission between periods allowed Lewiston to keep its foot on the gas Wednesday night.
The Blue Devils scored with 8.7 seconds left in the first period, then scored five more goals in the first 7:33 of the second to skate away with an 8-0 girls’ hockey victory over Greely/Gray-New Gloucester at Androscoggin Bank Colisee.
Lewiston (17-0) held a slim 1-0 lead late in the opening period when it went on the power play for the first time with 32.7 seconds remaining in the first. Head coach Ron Dumont told his team that was plenty of time for a goal.
“What I didn’t want them to do is, because in their head the clock is thin, with 32-something seconds or whatever, the second you win the draw you just take a shot that’s not set up,” Dumont said. “So I said, ‘Be patient, you got plenty of time, you can move it around a little bit before you get the shot that you want.’”
It was more than enough time for Sara Robert to score off an assist from Gemma Landry and Lilly Gish to double the Blue Devils’ lead heading into the three-minute break between frames.
“We’re getting looks, but they just don’t seem to go in. Once we do, and that power play did, especially at the end of the period a point gives you that boost, and then I think it carried over,” Dumont said.
Brie Dube opened the second-period with a goal 80 seconds in that was set up by Leah Landry. The pair then swapped roles for another goal 3:43 in. Gemma Landry and Robert teamed up 64 seconds after that to make it 5-0.
“It was a one-goal game. We give up one late in the period, we give up one right off the bat in the second period, and then all of a sudden its 3-0,” Rangers coach Nate Guerin said. “So kind of a foolish penalty there at the end of the first, and they made us pay.”
Camilla Lattanzi ripped a shot on net soon after the faceoff for the Rangers (6-11), but Blue Devils goalie Camree St. Hilaire made the save at chest level. St. Hilaire had earlier made back-to-back saves on Kerry Roberts and Anna Rosenthal when it was still a three-goal game.
Grace Dumond got the Lewiston offense going again the other way, scoring unassisted 5:12 into the second. Gish then rounded out the five-goal period, with assists from Katie Lemieux and Emma Begin.
Veda Leclerc scored from an assist by Kristen Lachance to complete the scoring 2:47 into the third, then the game finished up with a running clock.
The Rangers and junior goalie Zahira McLean made scoring difficult for the Blue Devils in the opening period. Leah Landry’s goal from Dube and Lemieux 6:06 in was the only one of 11 shots to get past McLean until Robert’s power-play tally.
“They were forechecking, and they have some big girls, and they were putting pressure on us that I think it was good for us,” Dumont said.
The Rangers notched the first shot on goal of the game, then later made St. Hilaire stop three shots in 18 seconds when the game was still 1-0.
“Well, Cam is awesome. She’s one of the best in the state, definitely,” Guerin said. “We’re not going to score probably too many first shots on her. We just struggled to get our second body there, third body there for the put-back chances and the tips.”
St. Hilaire stopped all 14 shots for a shutout, while McLean tallied 16 saves.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
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