LEWISTON – Lewiston spent much of Friday night’s game against Cony short-handed, so it seems only fitting that two of the Blue Devils’ three goals came with one of their own skaters in the penalty box.

Scott Geoffroy and Adam Longchamps each scored short-handed goals and Nate Gruz roofed a wrister at even strength to power Lewiston past Cony 3-0 Friday at the Central Maine Civic Center.

The win sets up a Lewiston-Edward Little final Saturday in the third annual Mac’s Grill Tournament.

“We were very pleased at how the kids came out and played hard tonight,” said Lewiston coach Tim Smith. “We know Cony isn’t a team that gives up, no matter what the score is, and they proved that tonight.”

The two teams battled through a scoreless third period, despite several Lewiston miscues that gave Smith a golden opportunity to work on his penalty killing unit.

“I was a little upset at the way we played undisciplined,” said Smith. “If we are going to compete this year, we need to keep those penalties in check.”

The players, however, seemed to thrive while a man down.

In a sloppy first period, Lewiston managed the only goal at 9:35 of the period.

Trying to kill off one of three penalties in the first frame, Geoffroy broke up a pass in the neutral zone and skated across the Cony blue line. With a screen of Cony defenders in front of him, Geoffroy launched a slapshot toward netminder Mike Lovaglio. The puck seemed to skip just in front of the startled goaltender, landing behind him for a 1-0 Lewiston lead.

“He may have been screened,” said Cony coach Chad Foye. “Still, though, I think he saw it and it just missed him. Those kids on the Lewiston team have some great shots, and it showed tonight.”

“We noticed in the warmups that maybe shooting low was the way to go,” said Smith. “We told the guys to keep the shots low and hard.”

In the second, Lewiston tallied two more goals.

Gruz slipped behind two Cony defensemen and roofed a wrist shot from three feet to beat Lovaglio.

Then with 1:45 to play in the second frame, Longchamps scored Lewiston’s second short-handed goal of the night on a slapshot from the right faceoff circle. In a situation similar to the first shorthanded tally, Lovaglio seemed to be just off his angle, allowing the shot to slip by.

Brian Nason tended goal for the Blue Devils, stopping all 13 shots he faced for the shutout in his first varsity start.

jpelletier@sunjournal.com

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