AUBURN — After an early flurry of shots that included the game’s first goal, St. Dominic/Gray-New Gloucester/Winthrop/Monmouth’s attack went cold.
The Saints didn’t slay the Dragons when they had the chance, and instead Brunswick rallied and skated away with a 2-1 girls hockey victory Saturday night at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Emma Roy finished off a feed from Emily Andrews three minutes into the game on the Saints’ (0-2) sixth shot of the game. Their next 23 shots on goal were denied by Brunswick senior goalie Alamea McCarthy.
“I just think that they came out, we had some nice breakouts, put it on net, and we didn’t finish,” Saints coach Paul Gosselin said. “This is the second game in a row that scoring opportunities have been abundant and we’ve not finished, and unfortunately that’s what counts at the end of the game.”
The Saints outshot the Dragons (1-1) 9-5 in the first period. The disparity in scoring opportunities was even bigger than that, but the score stayed 1-0 after the first period.
“Going into the second, we talked about taking the body transitioning back into our ‘D’ zone,” first-year Brunswick coach Tala Glass said. “We talked a lot about getting pucks on net and getting bodies to the net. … And we talked about transition, coming back to the play and supporting the puck.”
The Dragons opened the middle frame with the better looks, but Mia Klimash, Lily Calderwood and Elysia Palmer were all stopped by Saints freshman goalie Aubrianna White within the first five minutes. Palmer later rang the crossbar in the second period.
The Saints outshot Brunswick by a bigger margin in the second frame, 11 shots to five, but still didn’t get another puck past McCarthy.
“We’re working on different things, and hopefully our work works out because we can’t continue not scoring,” Gosselin said. “It’s, in a sense, demoralizing, and you lose momentum, as you could see today. We let teams get back in the game when we don’t finish.”
Palmer lowered her target early in the third period, and her shot on goal went over White’s shoulder and under the crossbar to tie the game at 1-1 with 12:10 to play. Molly Taub assisted on the goal.
“The bench erupted, it was super fun, it was really exciting,” Glass said. “It was the first high school for (Elysia Palmer). That was really exciting. And it was super fun to see how excited they were for each other.”
The Dragons killed off a Saints power play soon after — St. Dom’s third unsuccessful advantage of the game. Then McCarthy denied Gabby Allen with her glove and stopped Bella Webster point-blank to keep the game tied.
Taub broke the stalemate less than a minute after McCarthy’s denial of Webster, as the senior persisted at the right post and finally pushed the puck past White with 3:29 to play.
“I think the second one, I think the post was actually moved,” Gosselin said. “The refs didn’t notice it, but it was a scrum and it went in, so nothing you can do.”
McCarthy stopped Roy’s breakaway less than a minute later, and also stopped a shot while the Saints deployed an extra attacker with White pulled in the final minute. McCarthy finished with 28 saves on 29 shots. White made 12 saves.
The win is Glass’ first as Brunswick’s coach.
“It gives us a little bit of fire,” Glass said. “And it’s like the carrot out in front. Now it’s like, you’ve tasted it and we want more and we want more.”
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