Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi shoots the puck past Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Brianna Doucette during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

AUBURN — Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s game plan was to grind away at the Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland Red Hornets on Saturday night.

The Rangers executed it to perfection in a 8-2 victory in a girls’ hockey contest at the Norway Savings Bank Arena.

The Red Hornets had a 1-0 lead after one period, but the Rangers stormed back in the second to make it 3-1, before pulling away in the third period.

Courtney Sullivan had a hat trick and an assist to lead the Rangers, while Jayme Morrison had a pair of goals and an assist.

“The problem that we have had is starting slow, and I think once we get some goals, we get going,” Sullivan said. “We just brought up the intensity and we are in pretty good shape. When other teams get tired, we really step it up.”

The Red Hornets had the start they were looking. Only 3:29 into the contest, Taylor Callier stole the puck in the neutral zone and skated all alone and beat Rangers goalie Jordyn Owens for an unassisted goal.

The score line doesn’t tell the whole story, according to Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland coach Dana Berube.

“There’s been lots of improvement since the last time we played them,” Berube said. “We saw Greely at the beginning of the month. Down 3-1 after two, third period, it got us away from us a little bit. I called a timeout to reset and I think we responded right away with a goal.”

The Rangers defeated the Red Hornets 11-1 on Dec. 1.

Greely started putting the pressure on after giving up the opening goal and controlled the play for the remainder of the period.

Despite putting seven shots on Red Hornets goalie Manny Guimond, the Rangers couldn’t get the puck past her during the first 15 minutes. That changed quickly in the second.

The Rangers (8-1-0) started the second period with a full two-minute power play and found the back of the net 54 seconds into the middle frame. Bridget Roberts scored the goal, and Madison Pelletier notched the assist.

“Getting the goal, the girls started to move a little bit,” Greely/Gray-New Gloucester coach Nate Guerin said. “I thought we had better shot selection in the third. We were trying to keep the puck low and give ourselves more second chances. That worked.”

The Rangers were 1-for-3 on the power play, while the Red Hornets were 0-for-2.

Greely took a 2-1 lead at the 6:23 mark of the second period when Morrison fired the puck past Guimond.

Courtney Sullivan found Morrison in the slot and Morrison gave the Rangers a 3-1 lead heading into the third period by scoring with 3:07 remaining the second.

Sullivan found the back of the net 2:13 into the final period when she skated through the Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland defense in the offensive zone. She fooled Guimond by roofing the puck to the top shelf. Lauren Gervais started the play and was credited with an assist.

“The first one I was at (a bad) angle and stuff like that,” Sullivan said. “(Guimond) is more tired and she’s a good goalie, so try to shoot where she isn’t. She had a good glove (hand) so you either go high or low and not right at her stomach or right at her glove.”

Not even two minutes later, the puck was loose right in front of Guimond. Molly Horton got a piece of it to make 5-1. Leah Walker and Morrison picked up the assists.

Sullivan picked up her second goal 23 seconds later at the 4:31 mark of the third period.

The Red Hornets (2-4-1) finally got their second on goal of the game when Brianna Doucette jammed the puck past Owens at the 5:37 mark.

Sullivan picked up her third goal with 7:38 remaining in the game, with the helpers going to Brooke Clement and Danielle Holt. Camilla Lattanzi capped the scoring off later in the period.

Owens only made one save in the game, while Guimond made 28.

nfournier@sunjournal.com

Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Isabel Berube and Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi race to control the puck during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Madison Pelletier and Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Taylor Caillier jostle for position in front of the puck as Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Anna LeBlanc tries to block the puck during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Bridget Roberts and Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Jillian Bergeron race to gain control of the puck during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Bridget Roberts pushes back on Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Taylor Caillier during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Jillian Bergeron joins the play from the right. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

Greely/Gray-New Gloucester’s Camilla Lattanzi and Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland’s Destiny Garland watch the puck skitter across the ice during Saturday night’s hockey game at the Norway Savings Bank Arena in Auburn. (Andree Kehn/Sun Journal)

Copy the Story Link