AUBURN — Three games into the season, Lewiston and Leavitt/Edward Little are still learning a bit about themselves as hockey teams.

If Saturday’s early-season matchup is any indication, both teams now know their potential lies beyond the regular season.

In a palpable playoff atmosphere, with spectators lined around both ends of the rink, Lewiston benefited from a fortunate bounce and held off a strong surge from Leavitt/EL in the final five minutes to earn a 1-0 victory at Ingersoll Arena.

“They’re a lot like last year. They didn’t lose a lot and they picked up a good goalie,” Lewiston coach Ron Dumont said. “This was a big test for us to see where we stood, and under the circumstances, we’ll take this one.”

Early in the second period, Lewiston forward Mikaela St. Laurent tried to set up in front of Red Hornets keeper Tori Sanford. She lost her stick, and scrambled to find it in the low slot. The puck found its way back to her, though, along the goal line near the right corner after a pass from Makaela Field went awry. St. Laurent fired the puck back toward the middle, where it caromed off a defender’s skates, through Sanford’s pads and over the goal line for the lone score in the contest.

“That pretty much goes across the board with this team. They work hard,” Dumont said. “We have to make our own breaks. What we may lack here and there, we’re going to make up for in hard work.”

“They got a good bounce there, and we didn’t get any,” Leavitt/EL coach Eric Geoffroy said.

The teams traded power plays in the remaining minutes of the second frame, with neither side able to convert.

In the third, the Blue Devils (2-0-1) started to slow, particularly on defense where they were missing a key player due to a game disqualification in the team’s previous contest.

“We would have liked to play a little more offense, but it was working,” Dumont said. “They weren’t getting too many good, quality opportunities.”

Leavitt/EL (1-1-0) took full advantage, possessing the puck and putting pressure on Lewiston and freshman keeper Paige Fontaine. But the newcomer kept her composure, stopped chance after chance late in the game.

“She’s solid as can be, and that’s obviously a big consideration in figuring we were going to sit back a little bit,” Dumont said.

“The game plan was to get people in front of the net and try to get the puck to the net,” Geoffroy said. “I thought we played a solid game, and just couldn’t get one in. They were controlling the middle of the ice real well, and we didn’t get any real good shots off. We pressured them hard at the end.”

Fontaine’s shutout is the first official shutout of her high school career, and she hasn’t allowed a goal in better than five periods of play. She’s allowed three in eight periods this season.

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