LEWISTON – Dominic Savoie never saw his third goal of the night – just his seventh of the season – hit the back of the net.

“I thought I missed the net,” Savoie said. “I didn’t know until I heard the sounds, and Beaton and Morin were rushing at me.”

He missed the goal – the eventual game-winner, even – but was lucid enough afterwards to see the hats float down from the stands.

Savoie, an unassuming, 18-year-old grinding forward, scored his first Quebec Major Junior Hockey League hat trick Friday night, netting his team’s first, third and fourth goals to lift the Lewiston Maineiacs to a 5-3 win over the PEI Rocket.

“I know the whole team is so happy for Dominic,” Lewiston coach Don MacAdam said. “He’s not a glory guy, and I think everybody appreciates what he’s done.”

Perhaps even more amazing was that, for the last 12 games, Savoie has been a fixture on the team’s blue line, willingly substituting for suspended 16-year-old defenseman Garrett Clarke.

“The coach asked me if I wanted to play (defense),” Savoie said. “I said, ‘Of course.’ It was kind of hard, but I really enjoyed it, and I think it helped the team.”

Friday was his first game back, and, due to another suspension (to Lewiston captain Danick Paquette), began the game slotted next to Pier-Olivier Morin and Alex Beaton on the team’s second offensive unit.

“It makes you feel so good when someone who’s done so much for the team gets rewarded in any way,” MacAdam said. “But a hat trick, and they were really important goals, not like a hat trick in a 9-2 win.”

Savoie’s smile during the post-game interview process could have been the Statue of Liberty’s beacon – wider and brighter than usual, even.

It may get even bigger, too. MacAdam said following the game that Savoie will get another chance with that same unit in the team’s next contest, Sunday afternoon against his former team, the Shawinigan Cataractes.

“How could you not?” MacAdam said. “He’s earned that position, no question.”