AUBURN — Scoring came at a premium in Wednesday’s girls hockey rivalry game between St. Dom’s and Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland.
Emily Andrews managed to score twice to pace the Saints past the Red Hornets 3-0 at the Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Andrews said the Saints’ intensity increased as the game wore on.
“We started to pick it up when we realized we weren’t scoring, and we were trying to realize we needed to be open in more areas and be prepared for more rebounds,” Andrews said.
While the goals didn’t come in bunches for the Saints, coach Paul Gosselin said the offense generated chances throughout the game despite some players not feeling 100 percent.
“We had some offensive zone penetration,” Gosselin said. “… The zip wasn’t there totally and the focus was a little bit off, but we did OK.”
The Red Hornets didn’t generate the same offensive chances.
“We didn’t have much opportunities, but we worked hard,” Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland coach Dana Berube said. “That’s really what I was kind of looking for through the course of the game.”
Both teams created scoring chances in front of the crease that came up empty early in the first period. On one of those, Red Hornets goalie Izzy Jalbert made a sprawling point-blank save to keep the game scoreless.
Berube credits Jalbert for keeping the Red Hornets in striking distance throughout the game.
“She’s feisty … she battled well, and she gave us a chance in the third,” Berube said. “It would have been nice to get that one at the beginning of the third.”
Kylee Spugnardi had the Red Hornets’ best scoring chance in the third period.
St. Dom’s (2-3) got on the board first when Lily Fortin, an eighth-grader, corralled a rebound of a shot by senior Georgina Davidson and fired the puck into the goal 12 minutes into the opening period.
“We have been working on that zone presence and getting rebounds,” Gosselin said of Fortin’s tally. “She was in the right place.”
Power plays were fruitless for each team in the second period, and Jalbert’s goaltending continued to keep the Red Hornets (2-3) in the game.
“I thought in second, we did well on the (penalty kill); we had a couple of PKs to kill, and I thought we did well in that,” Berube said.
The Saints were 0 for 4 in the game on power plays, and the Red Hornets went 0 for 1.
Emily Andrews got the puck past Jalbert (25 saves) when she scored a wrap-around goal nearly 12 minutes into the middle frame. Assists went to Madeline Andrews and Moira Craig.
“I just saw the opportunity; the girls weren’t on me very well,” Emily Andrews said. “I just saw an opening and went for it.”
Saints goalie Alana Wheeler made a big stop early in the third period on a breakaway by Spugnardi to keep St. Dom’s lead at 2-0.
Wheeler made 14 saves for the shutout.
“It’s a tough thing when you don’t have a lot of shots and have them come down and rip one like that,” Gosselin said of Wheeler stopping Spugnardi. “She did a great job keeping her composure and being where she needed to be.”
Emily Andrews scored her second goal late in the third period off assists by Madeline Andrews and Gabby Allen.
“I was just in the right place at the right time,” Emily Andrews said. “The team really set that one up for me, and I just got lucky.”
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