St. Dominic’s Bugsy Hammerton squeezes between Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi and Jayme Morrison in pursuit of the puck during Wednesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
AUBURN — St. Dominic Academy and Greely/Gray-New Gloucester renewed their girls’ hockey playoff rivalry Wednesday night, and the Saints got revenge against the defending state champs.
Senior captain Avery Lutrzykowski scored three goals to help lead the third-seeded Saints past the sixth-seeded Rangers 9-1 in a North regional quarterfinal at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
“That’s typical Avery,” Saints coach Paul Gosselin said. “You know, she gets serious, she’s pumped at this time. She loves the pressure, and she delivers.”
It was unsung senior forward Addie Suckow who got the Saints (13-4-2) on the board first, only 26 seconds into the game, putting home a rebound of fellow senior Bugsy Hammerton’s initial shot.
“We’re definitely motivating our seniors. It’s their last hurrah, you know, so we’re dedicating our playoffs for the four girls graduating, and it’s nice to see one of the seniors get the first goal. So it was awesome,” Gosselin said.
Lutrzykowski then converted a natural hat trick, with the first two goals in the first period to give the Saints a 3-0 lead, then completing the feat 4:25 into the second. Hammerton and Suckow assisted on the first, Hannah Kenney the second, then Hammerton and Taryn Cloutier on the the hat-trick goal.
“She’s a very tough cover. We don’t really have an answer for her. Most teams in the state don’t have an answer for her,” Rangers coach Nate Guerin said. “She was on a different level tonight than I think the previous times we played her, and she looked great.”
Hammerton (from Lutrzykowsi), Emma Roy and Cloutier all added goals in the second to put the Saints up 7-0.
The Rangers (6-13), who lost to St. Dom’s in back-to-back regional finals before knocking off the Saints in the semifinals last year en route to the state title, had a couple chances from Camilla Lattanzi in the first that could have tied the game. Saints sophomore goalie Madyson Boulet stopped a trio of Linnea Koivisto shots in the second, and denied Jayme Morrison’s buzzer-beater to end the period.
“She made the first save, and we just didn’t get a lot of traffic,” Guerin said.
Lattanzi didn’t need traffic to get the Rangers on the board early in the third. The sophomore just sniped a shot into the top-left corner of the goal from the right circle to end the shutout.
Hammerton (from Autumn Gonzales) and Gigi Ouellette on a redirect of Hammerton’s power-play shot finished the scoring for the Saints, who advance to face No. 2 Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland in a semifinal on Saturday night.
“We’re on a roll, and I think we’re peaking at the right time,” Gosselin said.
Boulet stopped 13 of 14 shots for her first career playoff win, while Zahira McLean made 24 saves for the Rangers.
wkramlich@sunjournal.com
St. Dominic’s Avery Lutrzykowski moves the puck past Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi during Wednesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Sawyer Dusch enters the play from the right. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
St. Dominic’s Bugsy Hammerton charges down the ice at Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Jayme Morrison during Wednesday night’s hockey game in Auburn. Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Sawyer Dusch follows the play from the right. (Sun Journal photo by Andree Kehn)
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