AUBURN — The Edward Little boys’ hockey team started slow, but a six-goal second period led to a 9-0 victory over Cony/Hall-Dale/Monmouth at the Norway Savings Bank Arena on Saturday afternoon.

Logan Alexander and Ben Cassidy each had hat tricks while Ben Lane-Robichaud had a goal and two assists.

“I guess we had a lot of momentum, we ended the (first) period pretty well with using (our) system,” Alexander said. “We had a lot of energy in the locker room — coach hyped us up. I guess we used all that and we put the (puck) on net.”

Rams head coach Shawn Johnson liked the vibe of his team heading into the game.

“We came ready, at the beginning anyways, we were doing the system that we were planned on doing and trying to keep up with them,” Johnson said. “We knew we were coming in against a good team, we knew it. The best we were trying to do with our system was to try to slow them down. The first period I thought we did a pretty good job of it.”

Edward Little (5-3) got the first power play of the game when Joe Arps was called for roughing. Off the ensuing offensive faceoff, EL’s Jack Keefe was called for hooking, and that negated the remaining 1:52 of the man advantage at the 3:20 mark of the opening frame.

Once play returned to 5-on-5 action, the Red Eddies struck when Gage Doucette’s pass from the top of the left circle found Logan Alexander in the slot and he beat Rams goalie Matty Shea with a backhander. The tally came at the 6:56 mark of the period.

Ben Cassidy made it 2-0 only 10 seconds into the second period on a goal set up by Keefe.

“The coaches in that intermission were telling us we needed more shots and we needed momentum — we needed to click more together,” Cassidy said. “Getting that goal was big, as the floodgates were open.”

The wheels fell off for the Rams in a three-minute stretch of the second. Lane-Robichaud streaked into the offensive zone all alone after a pass from Doucette and scored to make the Red Eddies’ lead 3-0 at the 5:02 mark. Cassidy notched his second goal of the game 50 seconds later.

Gunnar Winslow scored an unassisted marker at 6:35, and Cam Sturgis capped the three-minute, four-goal barrage at the 8:02 mark for a 6-0 lead.

“That pretty much did us in and we couldn’t recover from it,” Johnson said. “As much as we tried, I tried to keep their heads up and everything, they were done at that point. It was hard to get them back, and that’s what I am working on with this group of kids is to not ever give up, no matter what the score or situation. I want them to be able to work through that and be mentally tough.”

Johnson is proud of the effort his team gave in the third period, during which the Rams (3-5) had a couple chances to score but the puck slipped off players’ sticks.

EL coach Norm Gagne wasn’t surprised with the Red Eddies’ quick-hitting offense in the second period.

“I told them since the beginning of the year, we could score goals in bunches when we play together,” Gagne said. “We made some pretty plays — the first goal was a pretty play when Gage (Doucette) passed to Logan (Alexander).”

Alexander picked up his second goal of the contest with a minute remaining in the second, and EL took a 7-0 lead into the locker room. He later completed his hat trick in the third period.

Cassidy also completed his hat trick in the third period.

EL’s Noah Toussaint made 10 saves for the shutout, while Matty Shea made 19 saves for the Rams in the loss.

 

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