PORTLAND — Leah Dube is seemingly unstoppable at the moment.
The Lewiston junior forward scored a hat trick in the Blue Devils’ 3-0 win over Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland in the North regional girls hockey championship at Troubh Ice Arena on Wednesday.
It’s No. 1 Lewiston’s (16-2) third straight regional title.
Dube had two goals in Saturday’s 10-1 win over St. Dom’s/Gray-New Gloucester/Winthrop/Monmouth in the regional semifinals.
She and the rest of her teammates wanted to play one more game together as a team.
“I think we are just connected as a team. We can’t make this our last game, we need to make it to (Saturday) to have a chance to win the state championship,” Dube said.
Dube’s goals were the few chances the Blue Devils had all night.
“I think we had a little bit of advantage, not as far as shots, but possession,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “We weren’t getting much early, (the Red Hornets) did a good job keeping us away from the critical areas. When we did get those chances, we were fortunate, Leah Dube was on tonight.”
Red Hornets’ coach Dana Berube said his girls played the best they could.
“(Lewiston) is a hell of a team and they proved that again,” Berube said. “I thought we did a lot of good things; it was a tough one to lose at this point of the year. But (we) have nothing to keep our heads down. (We) had a great season and (we) battled to the end tonight.”
The first ten minutes of the game was a tight-checking matchup. No. 2 Red Hornets (11-6-2) goalie McKenzi Horton (14 saves) made a breakaway stop on Lewiston defenseman Lilly Gish in the middle of the first period.
Lewiston won the regular-season games 7-1 and 2-0 against the Red Hornets.
“We were really out of sync in that second matchup. Tonight, I think we were a little bit more in sync,” Dumont said. “You have the nerves, too. After the first, I told them to spread it out a little bit, they were getting bunched up in (the first period). That’s typical when your energy is high and your adrenaline is going.”
Dube took the game over with five minutes remaining in the opening frame, starting when she received a pass in the neutral zone from linemate Toree St. Hilaire. Dube split the two Red Hornet defenders at the offensive blue line and her wrist shot from the slot beat Horton.
“It was very interesting and nerve-wracking because there were no goals yet,” Dube said. “I knew I had to pop (a goal) in to get (our offense) started and show them we are in this game, too.”
Dube then picked the top-left corner from the slot with a minute to play in the first period for a 2-0 lead.
“There’s nothing (Horton) could do on those (first) two goals, maybe she wants the last one back,” Berube said. “The way my team played and responded, obviously we wanted this one, I am happy for them (for the season we had). They should be proud of themselves.”
At the start of the second period, Dube’s slap shot from the right point found a hole and beat Horton 20 seconds into the frame.
“That group of five: (forwards) Leah Landry, Toree St. Hilaire, (Leah Dube), Lilly Gish, and Charlotte Cloutier (on defense). The whole group, it’s one person, (they’re connected together),” Dumont said. “Tonight, it was Dube that had the magical touch.”
The Red Hornets had the first power play of the game in the middle of the second period, but couldn’t get much on Lewiston goalie Kim McLaughlin (seven saves).
Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland had another power play in the third period, but again, Lewiston’s defense limited the Red Hornets’ chances.
“We just didn’t have a lot of offensive zone time. Lewiston, like us, got a lot of sticks in (passing and shooting) lanes,” Berube said. “That interrupted a lot of stuff.”
The Red Hornets were 0-for-2 on the man-advantage and Lewiston was 0-for-1.
Lewiston will face South champion Scarborough — a 3-1 winner Wednesday over Cape Elizabeth/Waynflete/South Portland — in the state championship game Saturday at 3 p.m. at Troubh. The Blue Devils split the season series with the Red Storm. The Blue Devils suffered their first loss of the season 4-2 on Dec. 15 to Scarborough, but came back Feb. 3 to defeat the Red Storm 3-0.
Dumont will work on cleaning up a few things at practice the next two days before Saturday’s game.
“I told them I know I am an old nitpicker, but we still have things we still have to work on,” Dumont said. “We will prepare the best we can, but the clock is ticking now.”
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