AUBURN — Madyson Boulet was in a groove in the season opener for the St. Dom’s/Winthrop/Gray-New Gloucester girls hockey team.
The senior goalie stopped 30 Lewiston shots as the Saints upended the defending state champions 3-2 Saturday night at the Norway Savings Bank Arena.
Boulet’s two biggest stops of the evening came in the final two minutes with the game tied at two. Lewiston’s Leah Dube was hauled down on a shorthanded breakaway with 1:09 remaining but got a shot attempt off with Boulet making the save.
Dube was awarded a penalty shot and again, Boulet made her 29th save of the game.
“You just have to read her, the way she puts her stick (down), the way she skates,” Boulet said of her preparation on a penalty shot.
Saints (1-0) coach Paul Gosselin said it’s not unusual for the team to practice breakaways.
“Every five or six practices, we will end the practices with a shootout, so she definitely has some chances (in practice),” Gosselin said. “Some of our drills are 1-on-0s anyways to work on the girls’ skating. She definitely has a good luck on that.”
The Saints were able to ride the momentum with Isabella Webster scoring on a Saints power play, as her shot rang inside the left post and then hit inside the right post with 26 seconds remaining to put the Saints up on top. Her linemate Giselle Ouellette had the assist.
Webster gave credit to her teammate for her success as Webster finished the game with two goals and an assist.
“I think having Gigi up there (as a forward) really helped me out, as we had her on (defense) the past few years,” Webster said. “Having her up there moving the same way that I move is very helpful.”
The loss snapped the Blue Devils’ (0-1) unbeaten streak, as they finished last year 20-0-1 and state champions.
With less than two weeks of practice, Lewiston is still working some things out.
“(Boulet) made some good stops. I thought we could have distributed the puck better on some of those 2-on-1s and we know that,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “To give credit where credit is due, she did a good job. She kept us at bay.”
The Saints jumped out to a 1-0 lead just past the six-minute mark of the opening period as a Ouellette shot squeaked past Blue Devils goalie Kim McLaughlin (nine saves). Webster had the assist.
“(Lewiston) is a good team, good program, coming in and getting the first goal against them, bring in a lot of confidence,” Gosselin said.
Lewiston tied the game up with a little over four minutes to go in the first period as Lilly Gish came in from the left circle and the puck trickled puck past Boulet.
“Sometimes that’s the way it goes, it seems like it fits in with the whole year, not what you expect,” Dumont said. “There wasn’t a lot of prettiness out there. The last one St. Dom’s had was pretty, going to corner.”
Webster put the Saints ahead 2-1 with three and half minutes remaining in the first period as she made a deke and put home the puck in the net on the backhand.
Lewiston assistant captain Madison Conley picked up the loose puck right in front of Boulet and shot it past the Saints keeper for the lone goal of the second period to tie the game. Paige Pomerleau had the initial shot and picked up the assist on the goal just past the eight-minute mark.
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