AUBURN — Timely goals and timely saves boosted the Edward Little boys hockey to victory Wednesday.
The Red Eddies defeated Cheverus/Yarmouth 3-0 at Norway Savings Bank Arena behind Campbell Cassidy’s two goals and Gage Ducharme’s 21 saves.
“What helps me the most, mindset-wise, is my teammates are going to go out and trying their best to score,” Ducharme said. “I have to do my best to keep the puck out of the net.”
Cassidy has 23 goals and 26 assists this season and has recorded at least one point in all 16 games for the Red Eddies (13-3).
“My teammates and my linemates give me the puck, and I give it back to them,” Cassidy said. “We just find each other.”
Cheverus/Yarmouth coach Dave St. Pierre said his team played well for two-thirds of the game.
“We played a really good second and third period,” St. Pierre said. “We certainly didn’t show up through the first 15 minutes. You can’t do that against a good team. We were in a hole a little bit, but to our credit, we came back and played hard for the last two periods.”
Cassidy scored the game’s first goal after he picked up a loose puck when Andrew Clements lost his balance in the offensive zone. Cassidy then ripped a shot past Cheverus/Yarmouth goalie Neal McQuarrie (20 saves) midway through the first period.
“The first one was huge because it gave us momentum and put them on their heels,” Cassidy said.
Red Eddies goalie Gage Ducharme then made a point-blank save later in the first period, keeping the 1-0 lead.
Ducharme had to be sharp in the second period and made a few more point-bank saves.
“He made a couple of backdoor leg pad saves,” St. Pierre said of Ducharme. “He’s a really good goaltender and has a lot of experience. He came up big and kept the lead for them. Otherwise, who knows, maybe we climb back in and it’s a different outcome.”
McQuarrie was also on his game as he stopped a Red Eddies 2-on-1 attempt.
“Their goalie played a really good game too,” Edward Little coach Norm Gagne said. “He came up with some big stops.”
Cassidy scored his second goal when he put home a rebound on Joe Martel’s shot attempt in the first minute of the third period.
After that goal, Cheverus/Yarmouth (10-4-2) peppered Ducharme with four quick shots, but couldn’t get the puck behind him.
“I thought our fore-check in the second and third was much stronger and we were able to force turnovers more,” St. Pierre said. “We got pucks to the net, and we hemmed them in a few times where our forwards did a nice job. Hopefully, we can bring that for three periods next game.”
Edward Little’s Gavin Levesque almost gave the Red Eddies a 3-0 lead, but his slap shot rang off the post.
Tate Morse added an empty-net goal to cap the scoring.
“Tate, what a stick-handling display he put on there,” Gagne said. “He said to me, ‘I didn’t know the net was empty.'”
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