Lewiston offense dominant in win over Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland

LEWISTON — Having shaken off the rust from its season-opening loss, the Lewiston girls hockey team appeared to return to its 2019-20 state-championship form Wednesday night.

The Blue Devils bounced back from Saturday’s loss to St. Dominic/Gray-New Gloucester/Winthrop with a 12-1 victory over the rival Edward Little/Leavitt/Poland Red Hornets at the Androscoggin Bank Colisee. Lewiston

Both teams are breaking in new goaltenders: Lewiston has Kim McLaughlin taking over for Camree St. Hilaire, while the Red Hornets have Mckenzi Horton filling the spot vacated by Manny Guimond. Despite the lopsided score, Lewiston coach Ron Dumont was pleased to see the opposition continue to battle until the final whistle.

“Regardless of the score, we are happy to get pucks in the net, starting to work our systems a little bit better,” Dumont said. “But it was also nice, EL stuck with it and got some shots on Kim. It gave her work, too.”

McLauglin made 11 saves, while Horton stopped 19 shots.

Red Hornets coach Dana Berube said Horton did well for a goalie playing her first career game.

“We have girl in net who has eight practices in her life,” Berube said of Horton. “Quite honestly, I thought she made some good saves … some rebound shots fell right to (Lewiston). She has a great attitude and she will continue to improve. This year is more about our seniors and girls who will be contributing the next a couple of years.”

Sophomore Leah Dube led Lewiston’s offense with a hat trick, and Rebecca Lussier contributed two goals and an assist.

Brie Dube opened up the scoring in first period for Lewiston (1-1), slipping the puck past Horton four minutes into the contest.

With less than two minutes to play in the first, Leah Dube found Leah Landry, who fired a shot that fluttered like knuckle ball on its way to the back of the net for a 2-0 lead.

Rebecca Lussier picked up her first goal in the opening two minutes of the second period. The goal was set up by Kristen Lachance and Arianna Vallee.

Those three players make up the gray line, which is Lewiston’s third line.

“It was great to get them involved, they are more out there like a checking line, even though we don’t check,” Dumont said. “They are eating up minutes for us, which is great, but they were able to get their offensive (game going). I am very proud of them.”

Sophia Hartley put the Red Hornets (0-1) on the board nearly five minutes into the second period, cutting the deficit to 3-1. Assists went to Kylee Spugnardi and Eve Martineau.

“Some of our girls have improved, you don’t necessarily see it in a game like this,” Berube said. “Eve Martineau is one of the best defensemen in the state.”

Lewiston scored four straight to end the second period: Bailee St. Hilaire notched a goal, Rebecca Lussier scored her second and Leah Dube tallied a pair.

That late flurry pushed the lead to 7-1. All of the goals in that late flurry were unassisted, except Lussier’s, which was set up by Alyssa Marcoux and Nadia Roy.

Leah Dube secured the hat trick in the third period when she skated in and fired a backhand shot that beat Horton.

“My line helped me a lot, they are really good at passing,” Leah Dube said. “We all just work so well together, it’s just perfect.”

Leah Landry added a goal with a slap shot from the right circle.

Defenseman Paige Pomerleau also scored in the final period to stretch the lead to 10-1 with an individual effort. Vallee and Emma Begin capped the scoring with late goals.