AUBURN — Caleb Albert played the role of not-too-late hero for Edward Little on Wednesday night.

The Edward Little senior scored the game-winner to give the Red Eddies a 3-2 overtime victory against rival St. Dom’s at Norway Savings Bank Arena.

Albert got his stick on the puck before St. Dom’s goalie Jayden Lynn could glove it for a stoppage.

“It’s such a crazy feeling, I went the whole game with a bunch of chances,” Albert said. “I was finally able to bury one with the help of my teammates in the last few seconds there. It’s an awesome feeling.”

Campbell Cassidy notched his second assist of the night on the goal.

Edward Little coach Norm Gagne isn’t surprised the Saints (5-7) gave the Red Eddies (9-2) a run for their money.

“I told our players yesterday at practice: They have been playing very good hockey the last couple of weeks,” Gagne said. “I told them, ‘They can beat you and they can beat a lot of teams.’ I am sure it was a confidence-builder for (St. Dom’s). I just think we didn’t have a good offensive night tonight.”

St. Dom’s coach Dan D’Auteuil said the Saints put forth an effort to earn a win, but it wasn’t to be.

“The kids played their hearts out, you couldn’t ask anything better of them. They did everything they should have,” D’Auteuil said. “They worked as hard as they could but the puck didn’t bounce. We had our chances.”

Cassidy had Edward Little’s first opportunity in overtime by skating through the Saints’ defense, but Lynn made a pad save early in the extra session.

Albert’s late-game heroics wouldn’t have been possible if it wasn’t for his defensive play earlier in overtime.

Miles Frenette had the best chance for the Saints midway through the overtime as his shot nearly crossed the line, but Albert batted the puck away from the goal line at the last second. A second attempt for St. Dom’s almost went in.

“That was a crazy chance; I was the one on the goal line,” Albert said. “I had the puck right next to my skate — it was an inch from going into the net. It was crazy. I thought the game was over right there. I thought they were going to call the game right there. Thankfully they didn’t and we got it out.”

The Red Eddies took a 1-0 lead five minutes into the first period when defenseman Brody Keefe’s slap shot from the right boards beat Lynn cleanly. Cassidy and Tate Morse had the assists.

“That was a great shot,” Gagne said of Keefe’s goal. “It was a nice play there.”

Cassidy gave Edward Little a 2-0 advantage 5 minutes, 17 seconds into the second period with an unassisted effort.

St. Dom’s responded on the next faceoff when Erik Jones’ shot beat Ducharme.

The Saints evened the contest at 2-2 when Ethan Pelletier found the back of the net.

“I think we are starting to learn we can’t give up,” D’Auteuil said. “We may give up that one or two goals, but we have that comeback. We get better as the game goes along. Our legs seem to get a little better, but we seem to play better.”

Edward Little had an early power play in the third period and the Red Eddies peppered Lynn but couldn’t get the go-ahead goal.

Gagne said the Saints’ defensive game plan gave Edward Little fits all night long.

“They play a solid D-zone coverage,” Gagne said. “They pack it in and they wait for their opportunities to fly somebody to get it out, and then they put pressure on in the offensive zone. We tried to control the neutral zone and get back at them before they can get set up. We had a lot of opportunities, we just didn’t score.”

St. Dom’s had its own power play later in the third period. Timothee Ouellete just missed a scoring opportunity on a backdoor play.

The Saints, despite the loss, will use the game as momentum going forward.

“It’s the confidence that we can play with anybody,” D’Auteuil said. “EL is one of the top teams — a good team — and we played with them the whole game.”

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