LEWISTON —Fiona Landry played like the veteran that she is on Wednesday.
One of three seniors on the Lewiston/Oak Hill girls hockey team, Landry scored two goals and had an assist in the Blue Devils’ 6-2 victory over Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Medomak Valley at The Colisee.
“Fiona is filling in because Courtney Lachance got hurt in our game Saturday — she’s going to be out for a week,” Lewiston coach Scott Laberge said. “Fiona started out on (defense) and jumped up as a wing on that line. They didn’t miss a beat; they worked really well.”
Landry’s linemates were Crew Langley and Lila Theriault.
Mt. Ararat coach David Hunter said the Eagles are still developing, with six of their 13 players newcomers.
“There’s three defenseman and four forwards that are getting a lot of ice time and they are getting in shape,” Hunter said. “We are getting those other girls in when we can.”
Lewiston (1-1) got on the board first when a 2-on-1 developed in the offensive zone. Landry’s shot bounced off Mt. Ararat goalie Riley Walters’ (18 saves) midsection, and Theriault, a freshman, put home the loose puck with a backhander in the crease seven minutes into the first period.
Another freshman, Kylie Dulac, put the Blue Devils up 2-0 with a shorthanded goal nearly 90 seconds later.
Laberge said most of the freshmen should make an immediate impact this season.
“They work well together, those two,” Laberge said of Dulac and Emma Berube. “We are excited to see what that line can do.”
The Eagles (0-1) put pressure on Lewiston netminder Tatum Hunt (12 saves) early in the middle frame, but the first-year goalie stopped every shot sent her way.
Lewiston added two goals within 20 seconds in the second period. First, Berube — one of three Oak Hill players on the Blue Devils roster — hit a strong backhander that found its way into the net at the 10:48 mark. Then Landry scored her first goal when she unleashed a slap shot from the slot 11:08 into the second.
Two minutes later, Avaya Desjardins found the back of the net after skating in on a breakaway and shooting the puck past Walters for a 5-0 Blue Devils lead.
“When she’s down, you have to shoot high,” Desjardins said of Walters.
Allie Hunter put the Eagles on the board three minutes into the third period when she was all alone in the offensive zone and her wrist shot got past Hunt.
“Her and the returning players, they are trying not to get down when there are goals against us or plays against us, and get the team uplifted and show the girls that never-quit attitude,” Dave Hunter said of Allie Hunter and the other veteran players.
Landry scored her second goal after Desjardins chipped a pass in Landry’s direction at the Blue Devils’ offensive blue line, and Landry skated in and buried the puck, then crashed into the boards, to give Lewiston a 6-1 advantage. Theriault also had an assist on the goal.
“She came back to the bench after and said, ‘Coach, I might have to sit one out,'” Laberge said of Landry’s hard collision with the boards. “But she didn’t; she went right right back out.”
The Mt. Ararat co-op’s second goal came on a long-distance slap shot by Lisbon’s Sophia Cote in the final three minutes of the game.
David Hunter said the team will work hard until the final whistle.
“They never give up,” David Hunter said. “They have a never give-up attitude. They get up at roughly 3:30 in the morning to go to practice at Bowdoin at 4:50. That’s a lot to ask of them. They are the toughest kids in high school hockey because they want to play that bad.”
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