LEWISTON – For two periods, St. Dom’s defense seemed invincible. Even when Cape Elizabeth’s speedy forwards got some room in the third frame, it wasn’t enough.

Tough, physical and quick on their skates, the Saints upended one of the top Class B hockey teams in Maine on Monday, downing the Capers 6-2 at the Colisee in a rare Monday evening performance at the Colisee.

“That’s a very good win for us over a tough Class B team,” said St. Dom’s coach Bob Boucher. “They are one of the best teams in the state.”

“When you come out flat like we did against the top team in the state, this is what happens,” said Cape Elizabeth coach Jason Tremblay. “If you don’t come out sharp against a team like that, you don’t win.”

Jon Rutt scored twice for St. Dom’s, while Dylan Nadeau had a goal and an assist, and Tom Gosselin chipped in with two assists. Pat O’Neil, Mark Anthoine and Mike Carpenter potted the other St. Dom’s goals in a game that was more physical than most Saints’ games have been this season.

“They’re much more of a skating team,” said Tremblay. “They’ll skate you into the ground, and they did that to us tonight.”

Add in a physical first period, and Cape Elizabeth looked lost in the first 15 minutes of play.

“We were able to get on the body early,” said Boucher. “The first period was a solid period for us, all the way around on offense and on defense.”

The Saints controlled play from start to finish in the opening frame, outshooting Cape Elizabeth 11-2. Rutt struck first at 3:32 when he picked up the puck at center ice and moved through three Cape players, including last defenseman back, Jeff Croteau. His wrist shot gave the Saints a 1-0 lead.

Just 28 seconds later, Nadeau converted a perfect cross-crease feed from Gosselin to push the lead to 2-0, and Carpenter blasted a low slap shot from the right point through traffic with 27 seconds remaining in the frame to open up the Saints’ lead to 3-0.

“We were just flat,” said Tremblay. “There was nothing more to it.”

Neither team managed any offense in the second period, although both had golden opportunities.

Cape’s best scoring chance of the first two periods came at the six-minute mark when Dan Rautenberg forced a shot on a rush up the left side. The puck flew through St. Dom’s netminder Brady Blackman’s pads and clanged off the right post, rebounding back to Blackman, who shoveled it to a defender for a rush the opposite way.

“We weren’t doing much right in the second,” said Boucher. “It was a combination of their solid forecheck and our disorganization.”

The Saints’ Pat O’Neil missed a great chance to extend his team’s lead with just six seconds remaining in the middle frame when he went in uncontested on Bernstein but fanned on his deke.

In the third, Cape twice pulled within two on goals by Andrew Gibson and Drake Livada, but St. Dom’s kept responding, using goals from Rutt, O’Neil and Anthoine to put the game away.

The next game for the Saints is Saturday when they square off against rival Lewiston at the Colisee.

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