LEWISTON — The last two undefeated girls’ hockey teams in the state faced off to kick off the New Year on Tuesday. The prohibitive team-to-beat took the first shot from a surprising fellow unbeaten, then out-lasted its rival.

With a 3-0 win at Androscoggin Bank Colisee, Lewiston moved to 10-0, while Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland dropped to 8-1-1, yet still firmly the No. 2 team in the North region.

The Blue Devils and goalie Camree St. Hilaire had to fend off the first four shots on goal of the game, but a post hit by Lewiston’s Gemma Landry 3:30 into the game seemed to shift the shooting tide in favor of the hosts, whose first shot on goal came just under a minute later.

The next 12 shots on goal were in favor of Lewiston, including the opening goal with 3:47 left in the opening period. Grace Dumond’s open shot from the right point went off Red Hornets goalie Manny Guimond and in. Leah Landry and Brie Dube provided the assists with the game in a 4-on-4 situation.

“I know Manny very well,” Dumond said. “She tends to drop to her knees, and I just saw the wide-open top corner, and I was like ‘I’m just going to do it,’ and it ended up working out.”

“It certainly gives us a boost,” Blue Devils coach Ron Dumont said. “It settles us down. We got one now. We certainly didn’t expect this to be a 10-0 game. We knew we’d have to work three periods. But obviously whenever you can get the first goal on the board in a big game… (it’s) certainly to our advantage to settle us down and to start rolling people out.”

The Red Hornets broke their shooting drought 3:30 into the second period, but St. Hilaire stopped Izzy Berube’s re-directed shot and her rebound try. Those were the only two shots on goal for the Red Hornets in the middle frame.

“I thought we had a really good first. I thought the second half of the second period we struggled a bit,” Red Hornets coach Dana Berube said.

Lewiston had plenty of shots on goal, with the ninth of 15 in the period finally getting past an active Guimond. Blue Devils captain Katie Lemieux finished the scoring play nine minutes into the second. Lilly Gish — who moments before had hit the post — and Gemma Landry assisted on the goal.

Guimond stopped a Sara Robert shot 15 seconds into the third, but Robert got revenge just over four minutes into the frame, finishing off a nice sequence of passing from Dumond to Gemma Landry to Robert.

“Between the second and third, at 2-0, I told them, I said ‘You know what they’re going to do. They’re going to give you a big push here. And the way to answer it is you got to weather it or put one in the net yourself,’” Dumont said. “Sara, it was beautiful goal. That was a nice shot. And that, I think, took the wind out of them a little bit.”

Berube used his timeout after the goal, “just to settle them down and tell them, ‘Look, we need to learn from this game, learn from the mistakes that we made, and try to clean up our effort a little bit.’”

The Red Hornets did send four shots St. Hilaire’s way in the final period, to at least try and get back in the game.

“We had one in the third where, I think it was our white line, Caroline Audette made a pass to my daughter (Izzy) on the far wing, and she brought it to the net and there was some good traffic. And we needed a little bit more of that,” Berube said. “When you’re playing a team that solid and that defensive, a good goalie, you know, to me you got to get pucks to the net and bodies to the net, and we just — you know, you got to give them credit, they worked their butts off and limited our opportunities. So my hat’s off to them.”

St. Hilaire stopped all 10 shots she faced, and Dumont said it was a “perfect scenario” for her to get some early shots to get her into the game.

Guimond stopped 31 of 34 shots and was “very solid again,” according to Berube, who chalked up Dumond’s ice-breaker to being a “pretty impressive” shot that “not too many girls” in the state can take and make.

The two rivals will meet again Jan. 23 in Auburn.

wkramlich@sunjournal.com

Madison Conley of Lewiston High School shoots on Edward Little High School goalie Maranda Guimond during the second period in Lewiston on Tuesday. Guimond made the save.  (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Eve Martineau of Edward Little High School crashes to the ice between Leah Landry, left, and Charlotte Cloutier of Lewiston High School during the first period in Lewiston on Tuesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Caroline Tracey, left, of Edward Little High School and Sara Robert of Lewiston High School battle during a second period face off in Lewiston on Tuesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)

Jillian Bergeron, left, of Edward Little High School and Leah Landry of Lewiston High School compete for the puck during the first period in Lewiston on Tuesday. (Daryn Slover/Sun Journal)