AUBURN – For the second straight Saturday, Edward Little and St. Dominic Academy met in boys hockey at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

Just like last Saturday, it was all Red Eddies as the “visitors” this time around defeated the Saints 7-0.

Jack Keefe, Aiden Gonzalez and Xander St. Pierre each scored two goals for the Red Eddies. Keefe and Gonzalez each had an assist also.

Keefe and Gonzalez are both juniors and on the Red Eddies’ top line known as the red line. EL coach Norm Gagne thought especially that unit was doing everything well in all aspects of the game.

“I thought we moved the puck a lot better this game than the last game (against St. Dom’s),” Gagne said. “We used our teammates a lot better and I thought last Saturday we didn’t move the puck as well. Tonight, I was looking for them to use their teammates more and I thought we made some nice plays.”

The Saints, who have nine freshmen and one sophomore on the roster, are still trying to get their footing at the varsity level and head coach Dan D’Auteuil thought the Red Eddies took advantage of the young Saints squad.

“They capitalized on every mistake we made and I thought we outplayed them in the first half,” D’Auteuil said. “They got three breaks and they scored, they took advantage of them and we couldn’t take advantage of (our breaks).”

St. Dom’s had an early power play but it was the Red Eddies who struck while shorthanded. Keefe notched his first goal of the game at the 3:45 mark.

EL stretched the lead to 2-0 near the eight and half minute mark of the first half when Gonzalez potted his first goal of the contest.

“We work really well together: me, Keefe and Wesley (Clements), we all work really well together,” Gonzalez said. “We really work well together, so we create a lot of scoring chances. That’s what we did today, we put the puck in the net.”

Keefe put home his second goal with 8:46 remaining in the opening half (boys hockey is playing two 23-minute halves due to COVID-19 protocols).

The Eddies struck twice quickly in the second half. Gonzalez put home a wraparound effort at the 3:22 mark.

Soon after, Campbell Cassidy was fed the puck deep in the slot and fired it point-blank past Saints goalie Nathan Jones.

Sophomore forward St. Pierre’s shot slipped past Jones as the Red Eddies lead was extended to 6-0. St. Pierre added his second goal of the game as he chased down the puck in the offensive zone before Jones could beat him to it and St. Pierre deked to the right and slid the puck in the open net.

Cassidy had an assist on both goals.

“I told the coaches after the first half the white line, our second group, was struggling a little bit,” Gagne said. “They had some good chances and they came back in the second half. Xander lit it up, he had two. It was nice to see them score some goals too.”

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