Girls hockey: Saints hold off Navigators’ late push

AUBURN — Goalie Abrianna White had a quiet third period for St. Dominic/Winthrop/Monmouth until the final minute when Scarborough/Falmouth pressed to tie the game.

After seeing no shots in the first 14 minutes of the period, she stopped two in the final minute to secure a 2-1 girls hockey victory for the Saints over the Navigators on Wednesday at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

“It was very stressful because it’s the last minute, but I think it went really (well) for being the last minute after practically having no shots in that period,” White said.

White finished with 17 saves in the game.

The Navigators (0-2) got an offensive zone faceoff with just under seven seconds remaining and pulled goalie Ella Wiley. The Saints (2-3) got the puck off the faceoff and almost put it into the open goal 170 feet away to ice the game.

Navigator’s coach Rob Carrier hoped to have a stoppage sooner so he could pull Wiley (23 saves) and draw with more time remaining.

“We were looking to get a stoppage at the two, two-and-half minute mark and were looking to draw something up,” Carrier said. “We were trying to get a whistle, and unfortunately, we didn’t get a whistle until the very end of the game.”

Prior to the whistle with seven seconds remaining, the most recent stoppage was with 3:30 remaining.

Maddie Weymouth scored the eventual game-winner 16 seconds into the third period. Her slap shot beat Wiley on the blocker side, breaking a tie and giving the Saints a 2-1 advantage.

Hope Melevsky of Falmouth/Scarborough passes the puck while being defended by Maddie Weymouth of St. Dom’s/Winthrop/Monmouth on Wednesday in Auburn. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Weymouth wasn’t necessarily looking to shoot at Wiley’s blocker.

“I was aiming my shot, but I don’t where it was expecting to go,” Weymouth said. “I was surprised it went in, but I was happy.”

The way the game was going, Carrier knew someone was going to be the beneficiary of good fortune.

“You knew it was going to be one of those things where something funky has to happen in order for a team to get that (go-ahead goal),” Carrier said. “The fact it was them and not us is disappointing, but that’s why the games are played.”

Both teams had quality shots on goal early in the first period, but Wiley and White stopped every attempt.

White said she enjoyed going toe-to-toe with Wiley throughout the game.

“I think the goaltenders were really (well)-matched,” White said. “It made the game 10 times more fun and intense because both teams could have taken (the win) tonight.”

Aiva Dorman broke the scoreless deadlock in the middle of the first period when she put a shot on the net. Wiley stopped it, but Dorman put home the rebound.

The Navigators carried the play in the second period. They had two power plays in the period and put four shots on goal on the man advantage. White stopped them all.

The Navigators created another nice opportunity when they tried a backdoor play to Trinity Grenier, but her shot missed the half-open net.

“We have to stay out of the box; it isn’t a good thing and it showed (tonight),” Saints coach Paul Gosselin said. “We didn’t want to let them back in the game, and they were creeping back into the game a little bit.”

The Navigators were 0 of 2 on the man advantage, while the Saints had no power play opportunities.

Falmouth/Scarborough finally got on the scoreboard when Amelia Brann ripped a shot at the top of the left circle tying the contest up 1-1 with less than two minutes remaining in the second period.

The Saints had a few grade-A chances in the middle frame, but Wiley stopped Gabby Allen and Emily Andrews on a breakaway attempts.

“We definitely had scoring opportunities, and I was just talking about that (to the girls),” Gosselin said. “The goals will come. If you don’t have scoring opportunities, you can’t score, but we had scoring opportunities tonight; we just need to finish a little better.”