LEWISTON — St. Dominic Academy brought the heat in the second period, scoring three of its five goals in a 5-3 girls hockey rivalry win over Lewiston on Friday at The Colisee.
“It’s a good win,” Saints coach Paul Gosselin said. “I think it’s our third in a row right now, so it feels good. We’ve been working hard on certain things, and those seemed to be evident in the game.”
The Blue Devils (2-3) scored first on a goal by Crew Langley 5 minutes, 13 seconds into the game.
Lily Fortin scored four minutes later to even the score for the Saints (4-3).
The rest of the first period was evenly matched and scoreless. Lewiston put six shots on goal and St. Dom’s attempted seven.
Blue Devils coach Scott Laberge said he expected Friday’s game to be competitive because the two teams are comparable in skill and results. Gosselin said the same about Lewiston, and both coaches noted that the other team was somewhat unfamiliar because they haven’t faced each other or had any familiar opponents so far this season.
“To get on the board early, you could see it lifted them up a little bit,” Laberge said. “A lot of nerves on this team, we’ve got a lot of freshmen, so it took them almost half a period to kind of work those out. Regardless of how your team is playing, whether you’re having a great season or a bad season, this game usually means a little more than all the other ones because of the rivalry.”
The action picked up in the second period, with a goal just 40 seconds in by Lauren Hanlon for the Saints.
“I think we preach quick starts to try and get that going, make sure they’re on time and they definitely heeded the call,” Gosselin said. “That was good.”
Emily Andrews scored the Saints’ third goal at 1:49 in the second, bringing the score to 3-1.
Less than a minute later, Lila Theriault scored for Lewiston at the 2:15 minute mark.
Aiva Dorman of St. Dom’s said she felt the Saints had a “little more energy, because our coaches were definitely a little mad at us.” She said the team “picked it up so we didn’t get yelled at.”
“We had some good ice time (in the first period), we just needed to finish plays and take a little bit more time,” Gosselin said. “I think we were hurrying on our passes. Once they settled down and started looking up and taking the time, we were able to hit the open man.”
The next big play was when Lewiston’s goalie, Tatum Hunt (18 saves), made a save on a St. Dom’s breakaway. Hunt kept the Saints from scoring again until Dorman scored the Saints fourth of five goals 13:30 into the second.
“I don’t even know how that went in, to be honest,” Dorman said. “It basically went off the side of her pad, and it was a very weak shot.”
Moira Craig scored St. Dom’s fifth and final goal about six minutes into the third period. Her goal was assisted by Avianna D’Auteuil and Gabby Allen, who teamed up on assists twice during the game.
“I definitely think it started when we went up the ice and we all just kind of connected across,” D’Auteuil said. “Our passes were really nice and crisp across the ice. I thought they were really nice passes.”
D’Auteuil logged a team-high three assists, Georgiana Davidson and Allen finished with two assists apiece and Aubrey Fortin tallied one.
D’Auteuil, who is an eighth-grader, said the team environment is fun and that she’s enjoying playing for the Saints.
“We have really good chemistry together,” she said. “I think we have a good chance at a championship run.”
The Saints offense shot on goal eight times in the third period, while the Blue Devils got off three shots. Laberge said the Blue Devils need to work on making the right decisions on the ice.
“I think nerves got to them a little bit, they were a little panicky, just throwing the puck away instead of looking for that open teammate,” Laberge said.
Lewiston’s final goal was scored by Emma Berube with 36 seconds left in the game. The Blue Devils found the back of the net in all three periods, they just couldn’t match the Saints second period scoring run.
“It felt good to get the win after a couple years because we haven’t won in a while,” Dorman said of the St. Dom’s-Lewiston rivarly. “It was good. I know a lot of people on the team, so it’s definitely interesting to play against them.”
Avaya Desjardins, Courtney Lachance and Dulac each had an assist for the Blue Devils.
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