LEWISTON — The Lewiston Blue Devils played loose early but refocused midway through the contest and pulled off a 5-1 girls hockey victory over Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee on Friday.
The Blue Devils were sparked by three goals in the second period.
“It was solid. I thought we were pretty loose at times, but that comes with the territory,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “It’s hard to be on point all the time, and we tried to do some different things.”
Lewiston was led by Leah Dube, who finished with two goals.
Red Hornets coach Dana Berube said that he thought his team battled to the final second. Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s first year goalie McKenzi Horton stopped 32 shots.
“She’s a rare bird to start this late (Horton is a junior playing as a goalie for the first time), and to see her come along this quick is fantastic,” Berube said. “I called that timeout (in the third period) because I thought we were feeling a little sorry for ourselves and I wanted to see some push back, which I thought we got.”
Lewiston defeated the Red Hornets 12-1 in the first meeting of the season.
The Blue Devils fired 13 shots on Horton in the first period and only one got behind her, a left-point shot by Charlotte Cloutier. Bailee St. Hilaire had the lone assist on the goal, which was scored nearly nine minutes into the first period.
Momentum started to shift near the end of the first period when the Red Hornets fired three shots on goal.
The Red Hornets carried the momentum into the second period, and Caroline Tracey scored on a partial breakaway early in the stanza.
“She was upset at herself for missing the net on the first (opportunity earlier in the game), and I reminded her a couple of the little things that worked for her in the past,” Berube said. “She went right back out there and got (the goal). Caroline has been a great player for us for four years, and it was nice to see her get on the board tonight.”
Tracey’s goal might have been a wakeup call for the Blue Devils.
“Like I told the girls, one goal can give them life and put them in the game,” Dumont said. “Even though we got one, when they got one back, you could see (the Red Hornets) changed their attitude, and that’s just normal, and we have to recapture that momentum, which we did.”
Lewiston was able to wear down the Red Hornets and scored three times in a 125-second span in the middle of the second period. Rebecca Lussier’s goal put Lewiston back on top, with St. Hilaire notching her second assist and Alyssa Marcoux the secondary assist.
Madison Conley potted the Blue Devils’ third goal with an unassisted effort. Then Leah Dube scored to stretch the lead to 4-1.
Dube scored again nearly two minutes into the third period, unleashing a snap shot from the slot after receiving a pass from Leah Landry.
“She always knows where I am; I don’t know how she does it,” Dube said. “She’s such a good player and she always makes the best passes to me, and I love her as my teammate.”
Lewiston goalie Kim McLauglin made 14 saves in the win.
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