LEWISTON – As the dust settled and the ice cooled down after a hectic second period, the Edward Little hockey team knew what needed to be done.

The Red Eddies had seized momentum of their game with Lewiston Wednesday night during a second period in which both clubs went toe-to-toe, dishing out as many goals as body checks in a physical and fast-paced period. EL had taken the lead with goals 22 seconds apart. Now EL needed defense and discipline.

“Discipline wins hockey games and teamwork as well,” said EL coach Craig Latuscha. “It’s all about the team this year, and that was some effort.”

EL held off Lewiston in the final period for a 7-4 victory. The Red Eddies (3-2) held the Blue Devils (1-3) to just eight shots in the period and killed off a two-man advantage to secure the win.

“We haven’t beaten Lewiston in two years,” said EL forward Corey Larue. “So we kept grinding away. It feels good to win. We wanted this more than anything. This was one of our goals at the beginning of the year, and we met it.”

Larue had four goals and an assist, including the second of two in a 22 second span late in the second period. It gave EL a 4-3 lead after Lewiston opened the period up 1-0 and squandered a lead twice.

“The second period was the turning point of the game,” said Lewiston coach Norm Gagne. “We took the lead at the end of the first period. We came out in the second and they got two goals back-to-back, and we seemed to lose our composure. After that, we never got back to the game plan.”

Down 1-0 after a Casey Poussard goal late in the first, Larue tied it at 3:32. A Chris Carver short-handed tally made it 2-1 for the Red Eddies at 5:47. Lewiston answered with Poussard’s second of the game at 6:10 on the power play, and the Blue Devils took the lead with 4:27 left in the period on a Joey Klemanski goal.

EL finished the period strong with goals by Corey Binette and Larue in the final few minutes. Binette scored when Zach Ward threw it toward the net for Binette to redirect with 2:39 left. Then just moments later, Larue scored off a dish from Billy Brewster.

“We’re starting to believe,” said Latuscha. “When the boys believe, good things are going to happen.”

EL had to find a way to be strong defensively in the third and be more disciplined to hold the lead.

EL did just that, producing a solid final 15 minutes. Lewiston pressured but only fell further behind. Larue scored at 6:42 and set up Craig Michaud for a 6-3 lead.

“We’ve been in a lot of one- and two-goal games,” said Larue. “It was nice to get up by a couple of goals.”

Lewiston did get a Jon Roy tally with 2:18 left, but Larue nixed any Blue Devils hopes with an empty net goal.

“They got the momentum and rode it the rest of the game,” said Gagne. “It was like we were pressing the whole time.”

We had our chances, but we were pressing.”