AUBURN — The Edward Little boys hockey team is heading to the Class A semifinals.
To get there, the Red Eddies defeated rival Lewiston 5-1 in the boys hockey quarterfinals at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Edward Little coach Norm Gagne lauded the team’s mindset for Saturday’s game.
“In a game like this, you have to have that inner spirit,” Gagne said. “I can’t teach that inner spirit, but it comes with mental toughness, mental discipline, teamwork, taking responsibility. I thought the kids did that. They came out with a positive attitude, and they took charge. They got pucks on net.”
Top-seeded Edward Little (17-2) will face the fifth-seeded Thornton Academy (14-5) on Tuesday at Cross Insurance Arena in Portland at either 6 or 8 p.m.
Junior Tate Morse led the Red Eddies on Saturday with two goals.
“Tate had a great game; he really worked hard,” Gagne said. “That line, (Cassidy) Campbell, (Tate Morse and Jack Keefe) killed penalties really well, too.”
The eighth-seeded Blue Devils (9-11) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first period when Tanner Anctil fired the puck past Red Eddies goalie Gage Ducharme.
The Red Eddies responded on the next shift. Morse attacked to the net and beat Lewiston goalie Evan Greaton only 21 seconds after Anctil’s goal. The assists went to Gavin Levesque and Cassidy.
Minutes later, Edward Little’s Aiden Gonzalez took a swipe at a loose puck in the slot, and it rolled past Greaton (24 saves) for a 2-1 lead 11:11 into the first period.
“(Edward Little) came out hard. We weathered the storm the first 10 minutes,” Lewiston coach Jamie King said. “We got that bounce and we couldn’t come back from (them tying the game). We had (19) shots; it’s hard to win a game when you don’t get that many shots.”
Lewiston had an early power play opportunity in the second period when Edward Little was penalized for having too many players on the ice. The Blue Devils kept the puck in the offensive zone for most of the power play but didn’t get any shots past Ducharme (18 saves).
The second period turned in Edward Little’s favor when Lewiston’s Daven Langelier was called for a tripping penalty midway through the stanza. Morse scored his second goal of the game off a faceoff from the right circle to extend the Red Eddies’ lead to 3-1 at the 10:03 mark.
Morse said it was a designed play after teammate Peyton Dyer won the faceoff draw, and that it was an important score because Edward Little plays well after insurance goals.
“We play (well with) a two-goal lead,” Morse said. “We keep going; we don’t stop, that’s just the beginning for us. We do that as a team. We keep the pressure on.”
Early in the third period, the Blue Devils had a power-play opportunity after Gonzalez went to the box for interference. Lewiston’s Adrien Theriault nearly swept the puck into the net with seven seconds remaining in the man advantage, but his shot missed.
Ducharme said his teammates did a good job helping him out throughout the game, and added that team defense has been improving the past few weeks.
“Lately, in practice, we know that we need a strong defensive core,” Ducharme said. “We have the scoring touch, but we need a defensive core to shut down the game.”
The Blue Devils had another power-play 3:55 into the third period, but it only lasted 44 seconds because Anctil hooked Red Eddies defenseman Trey Coulombe on a partial breakaway.
“We have been struggling on the power play all year,” King said. “We had two good games where we put a lot of goals in. If you can’t win the faceoff and (Edward Little) dumps (the puck), it’s a regroup (in your defensive zone) and you can’t get set up.”
The Blue Devils went 0-for-3 on the power play, while the Red Eddies were 1-for-5.
Cassidy snuck a shot in between Greaton and the post to give Edward Little a 4-1 cushion 10:13 into the third period.
“I told them in the locker room, if you get that fourth goal, we can dump the puck (down the ice) and use our neutral zone forecheck,” Gagne said. “That’s basically what I wanted to do.”
Wesley Clements capped the scoring with an empty-net goal with under two minutes remaining.
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