AUBURN — Kylee Spugnardi razzled and dazzled Wednesday night in Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s 7-2 girls hockey victory over Mt. Ararat/Lisbon/Morse/Medomak Valley at Norway Savings Bank Arena.
The senior had a hat trick in the win, while Mackenzie Grenier had a team-high four assists.
“As you could see, she was wearing the hard hat because she got some very skilled goals,” Red Hornets coach Dana Berube said of Spugnardi. “Mackenzie is kind of continuing to progress. … She’s making more D-to-D outlet passes, and getting her head up and making some really good decisions with the puck.”
Spugnardi opened the game by skating into the offensive slot to unleash a wrist shot past Eagles goalie Riley Walters 45 seconds in.
The Eagles (1-9) showed their offensive skill a few minutes later when Val Swenson ripped a shot from the left circle, which beat Red Hornets keeper Izzy Jalbert (eight saves) at the far post.
“Val Swenson, she’s a heads-up shooter,” Eagles coach David Hunter said. “For a freshman, she’s gaining confidence every shift she’s on the ice.”
Spugnardi put the Red Hornets (6-3) up 2-1 when she skated deep into the offensive zone and flicked a backhander past Walters (24 saves) midway through the first period.
“She’s the type of player you almost have to play girl-on-girl and just match her,” Hunter said of Spugnardi. “It’s tough because we don’t have enough players on our bench to be out there as much. … She’s a skilled player, and she has a way of getting away, whoever we (match her up) with.”
The Eagles peppered Jalbert for the remainder of the first period but couldn’t get anything by the senior.
“I think we needed to work off some Christmas cookies or something — maybe we had too big of a break,” Hunter said. “They came out and were excited in that first period, but we got tired with a short bench.”
Berube had adjusted his bench for the first period. He said it was a team decision but didn’t elaborate.
“We were sitting a player or two in the first period because we needed to — team decisions,” Berube said. “It gave some other girls some other opportunities in those spots. It wasn’t the ideal lineup we wanted in the first, but I thought once we got to the second, we gained some more possession and had better decisions with the puck.”
Defender Avery Cologna scored in the slot area early in the second and the Red Hornets’ lead spread to 3-1.
Spugnardi completed her hat trick five minutes into the second stanza for a four-goal cushion.
Helena Moon blasted a shot into the goal from nearly the same spot Swenson did in the first period to extend the Red Hornets’ advantage to 5-1 in the final minute of the middle stanza.
“She works hard, that was a good goal and she has had some good looks,” Berube said of Moon. “She got her first goal earlier in the year for high school. It was good to see. … Her teammates were excited for her. You can tell what she means to the team.”
Grenier had an assist on all three goals in the frame for the Red Hornets.
“I just saw my teammates were open in front of the net and I was open,” Grenier said. “I just kept taking shots because that’s what we work on in practice.”
Swenson notched her second tally early in the third period when her shot from the left circle found a lane through traffic into the net. Breanna Eaves had the assist.
“She picked her spot,” Hunter said of Swenson. “She looked up and fired one off. She said it went where she wanted it to go.”
Olivia Doyon tipped a Grenier point shot for the Red Hornets’ sixth goal.
“I kinda saw the goalie was kind of being blindsided.” Grenier said. “So, I just took a shot and Olivia had her stick at the right spot and it went in. It worked in our favor.”
Berube said the team practices a tip drill.
Ella Labelle scored on the game’s only power play late in the game off a faceoff win. Her defensive partner, Grace Ducharme, had the assist.
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