AUBURN – If the Leavitt hockey team thought that Gardiner was going to go quietly Wednesday night, it quickly had its minds changed early in the second period.
The Tigers scored to get their first momentum of the evening, but it was a short-lived rally. Leavitt responded with a tally only 46 seconds later on its way to a 5-3 victory.
“It woke them up a little bit,” said Leavitt coach Ron Rouillard. “They realized it wasn’t going to be as easy as they thought it was going to be. They stepped it up. They still got away from their positions a little and got away from the team play. We talked about that, and they brought that back together a little bit.”
Leavitt (8-1) scored two more goals to build a 5-1 lead, and held off Gardiner’s hopes for a comeback.
Evan Longchamps had three goals and an assist. Linemate Justin Rouillard had a goal and two assists while Steven Rouillard had two assists. Richard Thibault had 20 saves in net for Leavitt.
“We just try to find the open ice and the open man,” said Longchamps. “We pass well and practice working together. If the open ice is there, we take it.”
It was a Longchamps goal that answered Gardiner’s tally to make it 4-1. He had scored just 30 seconds into the period off a rebound.
Gardiner’s Kevin May converted a centering pass from the right corner at 2:10 to make it 3-1, but Longchamps backhanded in a rebound just 46 seconds later.
“Richard was doing good,” said Longchamps of Thibault. “We just tried to keep them out of there and keep it in their zone.”
The lead went to 5-1 with 9:02 left on Zach Chouinard’s shot from the point. Leavitt outshot Gardiner 23-7 in the period.
“Their goalie was phenomenal,” said Rouillard of Gardiner’s Chris Howe, who had 46 saves. “They were getting the puck on, and he was making some great saves. I can’t take anything away from their goaltender.”
Klinton Peckham scored for Gardiner with 7:39 left in the period. Gardiner (1-6) got a Peckham goal on the power play in the third as the Tigers had a pair of two-man advantages, but Leavitt still managed to outshoot Gardiner 15-6 in the period.
Leavitt took an early 2-0 lead on goals by Justin Rouillard and Longchamps. Rouillard scored on a rebound after a feed out of the right corner at 4:08. Longchamps scored on a backhander from the right side with 5:10 left in the period.
“My kids came out in the first period, and they worked very hard,” said Rouillard. “They moved the puck very well and cycled very well. After that, they got away from it a little bit. They started to do a lot of individual stuff. We need to make sure we focus on the team stuff.”
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