By Justin Pelletier,Staff Writer

LEWISTON – By all rights, the goal didn’t mean much.

With time winding down during a recent game, Joe Gauthier took a few strides over the red line and fired the puck at an empty net, sealing a win for his Blue Devils.

But in his mind, Gauthier realized that his goal was a personal victory of sorts.

“My first couple this year, I kind of missed,” admitted Gauthier, half blushing beneath his grizzled face. “After that, I may have gotten them all, I don’t know.”

Afterwards in the locker room, teammates started heckling Gauthier, calling him the “king of empty-net goals.”

“He scores all kinds,” said Lewiston coach Tim Smith. “He doesn’t score on many open nets from center ice, but a lot of his goals are in close. I can think of goals he’s scored from the tops of the circles, garbage goals, all kinds this season.”

According to Smith, Gauthier’s penchant for scoring goals from within five feet of the goaltender has earned him another nickname.

“The kids call him Sniper Joe,” Smith said, a smirk widening across his face. “There haven’t been too many games this year where Joe hasn’t got any points, and it’s nice that when he hasn’t, someone has stepped up for us.”

Gauthier has a simple reason for scoring more goals this season – patience.

“I’m taking my time and picking my corners a lot better,” Gauthier said. “Most of the goalies, they go down, so if you wait a couple of seconds more, they almost will all leave the top side open.”

The chance for Gauthier to lead with a letter on his jersey and to score goals at crucial moments was delayed a few days. Gauthier had to sit out the season opener because of a penalty in a preseason game.

“Penalties and Lewiston have gone hand in hand for years, and that’s something that we’ve had to work on,” said Smith. “The guys are aware of some of the penalties we’ve taken, and they are working on limiting those penalties behind the play, and down the stretch we haven’t taken those. We’ve still taken some penalties, but we’re not taking the stupid penalties.”

Gauthier also learned a lesson.

“I was out when everyone else got the letters,” said Gauthier. “I just had to show that I was going to be a leader, that I was going to work with (the coaches). Once I came back to playing, and once everything settled, I got that.”

The coaching staff has seen Gauthier grow, and has no regret of providing Gauthier with the chance to lead.

“I think he realized he’s a senior and that he wanted badly to win a championship with this team,” said Smith. “He realizes we need to rely on him.”

Against Cheverus tonight, Lewiston will need Gauthier’s contributions if it hopes to add another number to its championship banner.

“I think it’s important (for our line to produce) because, especially in the playoffs, we have (scored) a lot of the goals,” said Gauthier. “Any goal we score can help the team out. It’s really big to be here, I just want it to be good. I just want it to end well. I want us to win.”

And you can bet that, given the opportunity, Gauthier will bury any puck that is near an open net.